Most of us strive to live more soul-inspired lives. As we start our day we set an intention to carry our highest spiritual energy into our day. We are tested though, sometimes as soon as our feet touch the floor, by the everyday happenings of life. This is the human experience.

The Dance of Soul and Personality

Soul calls us. But our physical, mental, and emotional bodies respond to what happens as we dance in everyday reality. Things can get warm and spicy when our minds or emotions take the lead. Sometimes we notice and quickly realign with spirit. Sometimes we respond. And, sometimes we just react. At best we find ourselves in a dance between spirit and form, at worst we lose our center and dance wildly out of control.

It’s a predictable pattern, but we are not alone in the experience. While the process can be discouraging, disappointing, and sometimes, if you’re like me, downright disheartening, there is a purpose and order that lies beneath what we manifest.

Co-ordinating the personality is like watching a dramatic, passionate, and expressive modern dance. There is excitement, turmoil, and stimulation as the elements of personality strive to work together. We experienced this as a battle or drama between the mind, emotions, and physical body.

It is the aspects of the personality dancing here, and the soul does not influence the movement. The desire nature and the sensual call of pleasure and passions are strong. There is a dominance of one, then the other. The drive is for feeling good, having fun, and being successful in the world in which we operate. This phase asks us to begin to regulate our physical and emotional desire natures.

We must all take this essential first step on the spiritual path. The soul cannot work effectively through an individual who has not taken control of his desires or cannot adequately provide for expression of the soul.

For this person, the focus tends to be more selfish and concerned with what is in their own best interest. Because there has been no soul contact to this point, there is no action by the personality based on its promptings. The coordination of the vehicles may take many lifetimes.

Once the three aspects of personality have achieved a degree of coordination, the individual begins to be more effective in the world. This dance reflects the effect of a coordinated personality. As the elements of personality work together in an organized way, it becomes more effective and efficient. It communicates a clear, coordinated, and expressive message.

As the mental, emotional, and physical desires work together, they begin to function successfully in the world under the personality’s direction. We realize the duality of our natures. Additionally, the ability emerges to control and manage the impulses that arise from the personality when we are no longer enslaved by physical impulses and desire. We actively work to become decent, morally virtuous people with good character.

The individual is now ready for a spiritual awakening.

The soul begins to seek communication with the awakening personality through gentle whispers and subtle impressions. The real dance between soul and personality starts here. The personality is significantly coordinated but operates largely independently. There are distinctly different expressions in their unique notes of both the soul and personality. The soul calls gently, and the personality responds for moments, yet it still seeks to be individual and independent.

While the uplifting and satisfying influence of the soul is sensed, the conflict between higher and lower self continues to be a key point of focus. This struggle will take several lifetimes to resolve, but this phase signifies the beginning of the shift from personality dominance to the soul’s full expression.

The individual begins to function (although inconsistently) as the disciple of the soul and under its direction. There is a gradual process of adjustment and correction in the way that personality and soul work together. The individual begins to ‘observe’ themselves from a ‘fitness for duty’ perspective. There is an increasing desire on the part of the individual to listen to and work on behalf of the soul. Once this process begins, there is an acceleration in the union of the soul and personality.

The individual increasingly recognizes the influence of the soul in their life. They awaken to the reality that the personality itself is an instrument operating on behalf of the soul. Like in the Paso Doble, where the cape is the instrument, the individual recognizes that the personality itself is the garment that the soul wears for its expression in the world. The personality begins to take direction from the soul and attempts to manifest its intention.

The realization dawns for the individual that they are, in fact, the soul. With this recognition, there is an intentional shift to act on behalf of the soul as its instrument. More and more, there is a willingness to subordinate to what is sensed and inspired by the soul. There is more fire and will expressed, as the two learn to work as one.

The soul and personality now recognize their identity in the other. They seek to express as a unified whole with intention and determination. The soul calls, the personality responds without hesitation, and they increasingly move together with a unified expression. Their energy and steps align with a purpose to express in a united and vibrant way. Onlookers to this expression observe it with a sense of wonder. It expresses perfection and clarity. Indeed, we are energetically drawn into it, at some level realizing this too, is our own destiny.

The boundary between what is personality and what is soul is dissolving. The personality radiates the light of the soul in its everyday expression. The soul directs its movement and activity. The personality is increasingly the soul. The soul is able to use the vibrancy, passion, and attractiveness of the personality to express its intention.

There are no dramatic highs and lows, jumps or falls in this individual. They exhibit a steadiness, intention, and purposeful rhythm. There is little energy lost as the two, the soul and its personality instrument, move as one through the steps of life with seeming ease and flow for a singular purpose. The destiny of the soul is unfolding.

The movement between the soul and personality has become measured and coordinated. The two elements move as one, with few breaks in expression or direction. Their steps, rhythm, and purpose match effortlessly. The energy and efficiency of their work are maximized. Their combined movement is graceful and elegant, and their activity is attractive, highly effective, and purposeful.

The personality is now fully transfigured and soul-infused. The duality of the dance between personality and soul is resolved, and the soul is now fully manifest. The personality is the fully radiant expression of the soul itself.