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The Three Souls
Our last column (May 2005) introduced the concept of the soul cluster—the awareness that each of us has not one, but three distinct souls. We also discussed how this percept was once widely held by many of the indigenous cultures, from the Inuit hunters of the north to the Lakota Sioux of the Plains Indians, from the Shuar (Jivaros) of Amazonas to the Vodou practitioners of the Caribbean.
In our latest book, Spirit Medicine (Hay House, 2004), my wife Jill Kuykendall and I have drawn upon the perspective of the kahuna mystics of Hawai’i to offer a detailed indigenous perception of the soul cluster. In sharing some of this information here, we hope that it will create much thought and discussion among our readers because this information holds the key to authentic initiation.
The Over Soul
The Hawaiian word for the higher, immortal, spiritual aspect of the self is aumakua, a term that might be translated as "utterly trustworthy ancestral spirit." It could also be interpreted as "the spirit that hovers over me," revealing why so many perceive it as a benevolent winged being or guardian angel. It is variously known in the West as the higher self, the god self, the angelic self, the transpersonal witness, the overself, or simply as the oversoul.
Occasionally, individuals who have a spontaneous mystical experience or lucid dream will find themselves in the presence of an immensely powerful and beneficent god-like being. The average person usually interprets this event, and attendant conversation, as a visit from a deity, a mythic spiritual hero, or even from God, and of course, we must always acknowledge the possibility that this may be so. But most often, the supra-human visitor and source of that uncommon dialogue is that person’s own god-self, their oversoul.
The kahunas know that our oversoul is always in contact with us, throughout every moment of our life. The ease with which this connection may be activated reveals something that when we are embodied here on Earth, the spirit world is not in some faraway, remote location. The invisible realms are all around us, all the time, and our oversoul can be accessed right here, right now, once we know how.
Our oversoul is in constant attendance, carefully watching everything we do, listening with concern to every word and thought, monitoring every choice and decision, silently applauding when we succeed, silently feeling concern when we fail. It never interferes with our life, nor does it ever tell us what to do. This is because the power of individual choice and free will is always honored.
Our oversoul contains within itself all the experiences garnered in our past lives, and thus it possesses all the knowledge of which we ever might have need during our lifetime. It communicates best with us through the medium of inspiration, sending us ideas and hunches, dreams and visions, revealing it to be the origin of our intuition.
Our personal oversoul is one of our spirit teachers, and often when we sit in silence, a feeling of tranquility may begin to pervade us, filling us with a sense of utter peace. We may notice that if we consider some problem at such moments, the answer to the dilemma usually appears in our mind. Our oversoul is the source of that feeling of tranquility as well as the origin of the information that arrives in our conscious awareness in response to need.
This is why our great friend, the Kahuna Nui Hale Makua, was found of saying “You will never find a better teacher than yourself.”
From the kahuna perspective, the oversoul is also the ultimate source of who and what we are, serving as our personal creator. In this capacity, it is the immortal soul-aspect that divides itself, sending in an energetic hologram of its essence that takes up residence within our body at the beginning of each new life cycle. This essence contains and reflects the totality of the character that we have developed across countless lives.
The divine breath (of life), what the Hawaiians call the ha, is the vehicle through which this spiritual transfer occurs. When we are born, we receive our ha with our first breath, and it remains with us throughout life until we release it with our last.
It is the divine breath that conveys our immortal soul's seed into our new body at life's inception and then carries it back to its oversoul source at life's end—an insight that is clearly reflected in the Judeo-Christian traditions that proclaim with authority that God breathes life into form. In Latin, the word for breath is the same as the word for spirit--spiritus. In Hebrew, the word for spirit and breath is also the same--ruach.
For the kahuna, however, it is not some monotheistic, authoritarian, creator-god that breathes life into us. It is our personal god-self--our oversoul, our own immortal spirit.
The Body Soul
When the incoming oversoul essence takes up residence within a new body at the beginning of life, it encounters a distinct and separate "body soul"--a composite holographic field derived from both the mother and the father. This body soul is carried by the energetic matrix around and within which the physical body has taken form in the womb of the mother.
On the biological level, when the two gametes, the egg and the sperm, come together and fertilization occurs, this results in a new genetic pattern to which both mother and father contribute. The same holds true at the spiritual-energetic level. The energy of the mother and that of the father, associated with the gametes, merge, producing a new energetic matrix that carries ancestral imprints derived from both family lineages.
The first task of the incoming oversoul essence is to achieve a successful meld with the matrix of the body soul. Balance is achieved when this is accomplished, and the new personality of the individual then begins to grow and mature, manifesting quirks reminiscent of both motherly and fatherly ancestors. There are, as well, idiosyncrasies derived from our own personal ancestors--our past selves in former lifetime existing as soul memories recorded within the essence of our oversoul. The merging of these three ancestral lineages, personal, maternal, and paternal, creates a unique form to our personality for each lifetime.
The body soul is thus revealed to be analogous to the unconscious or subconscious mind in Western psychology. From the kahuna perspective, this self-aspect performs much like a faithful servant in that it does what it is told. In the West, an appropriate analogue might be the inner hard drive of a computer, and this becomes quite obvious as we review how it functions.
For example, the entire operation of the physical body is under the direct control of the body soul. Our hearts continue to beat and we continue to breathe without our having to think about them because our body soul is responsible for these functions. These physiological processes include, by association, our biological drives (evolutionary software) and our innate, instinctual impulses (ancestral imprints).
As our personal inner hard drive, one of the body soul's primary functions is memory. In this capacity, it serves as the repository from which all personal records of our life experiences can be accessed. These include, by association, all our habitual and learned behavior (programming).
The body soul is also the source of our emotions and feelings, revealing why it is often referenced as the emotional body. It is through emotional response to our life experiences and the generation of feelings (reactions) that the body soul communicates with our composite soul cluster/self, telling us what it likes, as well as what it dislikes. In this sense, the body soul will never lie to you. It will always tell you how it feels--about this family member or that friend, about this job or that life opportunity.
The body soul actively observes the outer world in which we live, as well as the inner worlds in which we think, feel, and dream. As the body's mind, it uses its five senses to gather information, revealing it to be our perceiver, as well as the interface between our self and reality-at-large.
As that interface, the body soul functions as the sender and receiver of all psychic experience. It is also the self-aspect through which connection with the spirit worlds is achieved. That inner portal through which our spiritual helpers and teachers can be accessed is located within it, much like a modem built into a computer. It is through the body soul that we achieve connection with all that exists beyond the self, including, of course, our oversoul.
The body soul can reason, reaching literal, deductive conclusions that are based on direct experience. These may be logical or illogical... but you only put your finger in a candle flame once. The body soul remembers what works, as well as what hurts, and in this sense, it is programmed to respond in a way that enhances survival. It is in this manner that we can grow, acquire new skills, and become more than we were.
With relation to healing, the body soul is the self-aspect that is programmed to repair the physical body when we suffer a wound or become ill, revealing it to be our inner healer. It restores us by reading the genetic code recorded on the molecular template of our DNA, and by following the "energetic blueprint" carried by the matrix within and around which the physical body is formed.
These two patterns, biological and energetic, are in relationship. They come to reflect each other, and together, they create the overall personal pattern that is essential to the maintenance and restoration of the physical body. This pattern is necessary because the body soul is not creative, and it needs this blueprint to follow in making repairs.
Finally, like a good computer (or faithful servant), the body soul obeys orders. It does what it is told to do, and it functions best when it is given clear directives by the middle self or mental soul, the aspect that Western people often call the ego.
The Mental Soul
Between the oversoul seed-essence and the bodily soul, a third self-aspect takes form in response to our life as we live it. This is the middle self or mental soul, the intellectual aspect of us that thinks, analyzes, integrates information, and makes decisions.
This is the ego as described by Freud, and the conscious mind of Jung. It functions as our overall chief executive, and as such, it is the source of our will forces and our intentionality. This is our rational mind that possesses full reasoning powers. It is also the source of our creative imagination through which it can produce new ideas, intentions, and thoughtforms of things or goals that it wishes to experience or achieve.
Considered together, these functions reveal the mental soul to be our creative, intellectual, rational decision-maker and inner director--a self-aspect that evolves and changes as we grow in knowledge and experience. How well it directs depends on the beliefs it has accepted as so. If the mental soul believes itself to be powerless, one’s life may be experienced in the role of victim. However, if it believes itself to be powerful, we will have a quite different life.
When beliefs about reality at large are accepted as unalterable facts, then the mental soul cannot categorize them as belief systems and may be quite ineffectual when confronted by the belief’s effects. For example, when a person believes they have an incurable illness, they may actually succumb to their belief rather than to the disease itself.
The kahunas consider the feelings and emotions generated by the body soul to be energetic responses to the stimulation of belief patterns and as such, they inform the mental soul what beliefs are in operation, as well as how the body soul feels about this or that. The mental soul then has choice. It can decide whether to respond to the emotions, whether to follow them through, or whether to reject them as invalid.
In this sense, it is obvious that a good working relationship between the middle mental soul and the lower body soul is essential. The mental soul is the master; the body soul is the servant.
As our inner chief, the mental soul is motivated by order and tries to steer us successfully through the hazards of everyday life. It accomplishes its goals through directing the activities of the body soul that serves as its enabler.
In summary , what we think of as our “self” is actually a composite, a personal soul cluster of three functionally distinct soul aspects.
On the physical plane of existence, we perceive through our body's senses, conditioned by our anticipation of the future as well as our memories of the past. Through the vehicle of bodily consciousness, we experience the everyday world to which we respond with emotions and feelings. The body soul collectively expresses our personality and perceives subject and object as separate. It is motivated by pleasure, moving toward things, people, and experiences that it likes, and moving away from those that it doesn't. Like a good servant or personal computer, it follows the orders given to it by the mental soul.
The mental soul (or conscious mind) includes the intellect and higher aspiration. It is the source of our will forces and works through intelligence to create forms of expression on the physical and mental planes of existence. The conscious mind thinks in extended space and time, gaining knowledge, true individuality, and illumined understanding through its powers of discernment and discrimination. It recognizes the union of subject and object, rather than seeing them as separate, and it functions as the inner director and decision-maker. As such, it is motivated by understanding and order.
Our oversoul is the spiritual source from which we emerge at birth and to which we return at death. This is the “god-self” who listens to our prayers and responds to our needs. It is the wise being who serves us as spirit teacher and advisor during life, and who communicates with us best through dreams, visions, ideas, and through the medium of intuition.
This is our immortal self-aspect that provides us with access to the collective knowledge and experience of all our past lives, pooled into one holographic field. It is who and what we really are (there), continually growing, increasing and becoming more in response to the choices we make in our lives on the physical plane (here).
This process of never-ending change began a very long time ago, and it will continue as we pass through life after life after life during our long journey across eternity.
Until next month, allow me to invoke the spirit of my great Hawaiian friend, Kahu Hale Makua, and extend to each of you the Light and the Love of the Ancestors, The Source of Life, rejoicing in the Power and the Peace, braided with the cords of Patience, revealing the tapestry of the strongest force in the Universe, your Aloha.
--with warm thoughts--Dr Hank
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