Soul connections.

9 min readMar 31, 2021

Apparently random thoughts are constantly rolling around in my heads and then there are times when we get focussed or obsessed with something. I understand that this phenomenon is not unique to me! I find writing blogs and mindfulness a great way to help me focus, so here are some musing and ramblings.

One of the things I was fascinated with, this week, was the ship that got stuck, in the Suez Canal, disrupting world trade. It’s now free but I still do not know, for certain, what it was called. All reporters called it the Ever given but I think it had evergreen written on its side: a rose by any other name or people refusing to let someone or something self-identify! Glad it’s free to sail now — maybe we will all find our wings soon.

As well as listening to the news this morning, I was struck by the words, in the Quran, which indicated that right action means we must not “kill the soul” and then watched “Tina” a two-hour film documentary. In the documentary Tina Turner says “my heart went boum, boum and it means that a soul has met.” This resonated particularly because of what I had read earlier, her Buddhist faith and the fact that, I believe, everything is ultimately connected. It also made me reflect that there is more than one way to kill a soul and how amazing that so many of us survive. That instinct of survival makes me think of a song by Gloria Gaynor and a poem by Maya Angelou.

I will survive by Gloria Gaynor

At first, I was afraid, I was petrified
Kept thinking, I could never live without you by my side
But then I spent so many nights thinking, how you did me wrong
And I grew strong and I learned how to get along

And so you’re back from outer space
I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face
I should have changed that stupid lock
I should have made you leave your key
If I’d known for just one second you’d be back to bother me

Go on now, go, walk out the door, just turn around now
’Cause you’re not welcome anymore
Weren’t you the one, who tried to hurt me with goodbye?
Did you think I’d crumble? Did you think I’d lay down and die?

Oh, no, not I, I will survive
Oh, as long as I know how to love, I know I’ll stay alive
I’ve got all my life to live, I’ve got all my love to give
And I’ll survive, I will survive, hey, hey

It took all the strength I had not to fall apart
Kept trying hard to mend the pieces of my broken heart
And I spent, oh, so many nights just feeling sorry for myself
I used to cry but now I hold my head up high

And you see me, somebody new
I’m not that chained up little person still in love with you
And so you felt like dropping in and just expect me to be free
But now I’m saving all my loving for someone who’s loving me

Go on now, go, walk out the door, just turn around now
’Cause you’re not welcome anymore
Weren’t you the one, who tried to break me with goodbye
Did you think I’d crumble? Did you think I’d lay down and die?

Oh, no, not I, I will survive
Oh, as long as I know how to love, I know I’ll stay alive
I’ve got all my life to live, I’ve got all my love to give
And I’ll survive, I will survive, oh

Oh, no, not I, I will survive
Oh, as long as I know how to love, I know I’ll stay alive
I’ve got all my life to live, I’ve got all my love to give
And I’ll survive, I will survive, I will survive

Still, I Rise BY MAYA ANGELOU

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don’t you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I’ve got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise.

The Quran

I have been reading 7 different,English translations of the Quran : basically, checking out what I get from each chapter (surah) with the different translations. It is amazing how something can resonate so differently depending on the word or phrase chosen.

This morning I was reading chapter 25/Sura 25. The translation of the title Al-furqān is itself interesting. If you think about it the meaning is roughly the same but they do have a different resonance.

Asad, The message of the Quran, the book Foundation 2003: Al-furqān: The standard of true and false.

Haleem, The Qur’an, Oxford 2005, Al-furqān: The differentiator

Nasr ed, The study Quran, Harper Collins 2017 Al-furqān: The Criterion

Muhammad al-Ghazali, Journey through the Quran, Dar al-Taqwa 1998, Al-Furqan, The discrimination.

Verse 68 reads: the one quoted above:

Saheeh international Al- Muntada Al islami trust: “or kill the soul … “

Haleem “…. Nor take a life which God has made sacred …”

Asad, “… do not take any human being’s life — (the life) which God has willed to be sacred …”

Nasr ed, The study Quran Harper Collins 2017 “… and slay not the soul that God had made inviolable.”

How to win friends and influence people, Dale Carnegie

I recently accepted an offer, for free coaching, from one of my employers. It feels good to have an outsider’s perspective and since he recommends, the above book, I have started reading it. Its good to have a reminder and get reacquainted with our values.

The first chapter “If you want to gather Honey, Don’t Kick over the Beehive” really made me think. I followed advise and read it twice and underlined particular passages. It makes it clear that no one likes to be criticised and even serial killers have an explanation for what they did. It relates the story of an American murderer who wrote in a letter “under my coat is a weary heart but a kind one — one that would do nobody any harm.”

It quotes Wanamaker: “I learned thirty years ago that it is foolish to scold. I have enough trouble overcoming my own limitations without fretting over the fact that God has not seen fit to distribute evenly the gift of intelligence.”

“Criticism is dangerous, because it wounds a person’s pride, hurts his sense of importance and arouses resentment.”

The story of Lincoln and the letter he never posted to General Meade was a very interesting one. A letter that only came to light after Lincolns death and never posted because he thought better of it.

The lesson of chapter one is do not criticise, condemn or complain. I love the As Dr Johnson said God himself, sir, does not propose to judge until the end of his days. Why should you and I.”

Principle 1

Don’t criticise, condemn or complain.

Chapter two: the big secret of dealing with people.

“There is only one way under high heaven to get anybody to do anything … Dr Dewey said that the deepest urge in human nature is the desire to be important. … We nourish the bodies of our children and friends and employees, but how seldom do we nourish their self-esteem? … a kind word of appreciation that would sing in their memories for years like the music of the morning stars. In our interpersonal relations. … Hurting people not only does not change them, it is never called for. … Emerson said: every human being is my superior in some way. In that, I learn of him. … Give honest sincere appreciation. Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.”

Principle 2

Give honest and sincere appreciation.

His Dark materials/The Book of Dust trilogy.

I love the books by Phil Pulman and the BBC adaptation. Lyra is a young girl who inhabits a universe parallel to our own. Brought up in a cloistered world of, she finds herself embroiled in a cosmic war between “good and evil.” A Wikipedia article states “At the beginning of The Amber Spyglass Lyra has been kidnapped by her mother, Mrs Coulter, an agent of the Magisterium who has learned of the prophecy identifying Lyra as the next Eve. … he (Will) rescues Lyra from the cave where her mother has hidden her from the Magisterium, which has become determined to kill her before she yields to temptation and sin like the original Eve.

I particularly enjoyed reading the bit when Lyra goes to the Land of the dead and releases the Ghosts who have become trapped indefinitely in the underworld. In this universe all people have a ghost which lives on after they die, ghosts have vague forms resembling the person when alive. The ghosts are harassed, without mercy, by Harpies, who “appear to hunger for information and knowledge in the form of stories, and appear to have the supernatural ability to know when they are being lied to and use the knowledge of this and other wrongful acts, committed in life by their victims to torment them. If my memory serves me correctly Lyra saves the day by telling good stories

A Passage to India E. M. Forster

We read the above in Secondary School and I recall, Mr Mathews, teaching us about one of the themes: “Only connect”.

That summer I read a number of Forster’s books and like the quote from Howards End: “Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer.”

Yesterday I was reminded of the following song which we played and sang along to: On one level it’s more than a sand its a prayer

I’m only human I’m just a man/woman
Help me to believe in what I could be and all that I am
Show me the stairway that I have to climb
Lord for my sake teach me to take one day at a time
One day at a time sweet Jesus that’s all I’m asking from you
Give me the strenght to do everyday what I have to do
Yesterday’s gone sweet Jesus and tomorrow may never be mine
So for my sake teach me to take one day at a time

Do you remember when you walked among men
Well Jesus you know if you’re looking below it’s worse now than then
Pushing and shoving crowding my mind
So for my sake teach me to take one day at a time
One day at a time sweet Jesus that’s all I’m asking from you
Give me the strength to do every day what I have to do
Yesterday’s gone sweet Jesus and tomorrow may never be mine
Yes just for my sake teach me to take one day at a time.

This Spring seems to be positively blooming particularly since the UK has just recorded the hootes March day since 1968 and the lockdown is easing. I wish all well particularly those who are celebrating or commemorating anything.

A few of the festivals/Holy days that I am aware of are: that have or are taking place:

SPRING EQUINOX (OSTARA); PASSOVER / PESACH; HOLY WEEK leading to Easter; HOLA MAHALLA/HOLA MOHALLA, THE NIGHT OF FORGIVENESS; HOLI

May we all be well, healthy and strong:

May we all be happy.

May we all abide in peace

May we all be forgiven and forgiving

May we all feel safe and secure

May we all feel loved and cared for.