Many believe healing is synonymous with curing and it certainly can be, yet it’s possible to be cured and not to have healed. Returning to wholeness is one definition of healing, and I like that one best. I interpret it as a return to our core essence.

1. SCRIBBLE PAD
Soulful Healing?
At what level of
human existence
does healing begin?

2. Optimum healing?
In May of 1997, when I spoke on behalf of the
American Academy of Family Medicine in
Paris and Lourdes, France; concerning
prayer and the practice of medicine, I was
adamant that any and all healing which
does not encompass the soul is at best
transitory healing.
My work and experience as a hospital
chaplain and healer has completely
convinced me that this a bottom line truth.

3. Healing: curing vs wholeness
Many believe healing is synonymous with
curing and it certainly can be, yet it’s
possible to be cured and not to have
healed. Returning to wholeness is one
definition of healing, and I like that one
best. I interpret it as a return to our core
essence.

4. Baseline path to wholeness
 1st... restore the soul
 2nd... calm the mind
 3rd... heal the body

5. What does the word “soul” mean?
No one can give a definition of the soul. But
we know what it feels like. The soul is the
sense of something higher than ourselves,
something that stirs in us thoughts, hopes,
and aspirations which go out to the world
of goodness, truth and beauty. The soul is
a burning desire to breathe in this world of
light and never to lose it—to remain
children of light.
Albert Schweitzer, medical missionary & Nobel peace prize laureate

6. Why put “soul” first?
• illnesses of the soul (are) of more concern
than illnesses of the body
• the soul carries our fundamental Self, that
mysterious, enduring part of us that is able
to survive death and achieve union with
God
Sanford, Healing Body and Soul, 120

7. Soul growth: “as above so below”
The soul is full of possibilities--it is not unchangeable.
Physical realities and possibilities are but a
reflection of Spiritual realities and possibilities. Just
as the brain and body may be trained, the soul may
also be trained. .. just as the mind and the body
must grow, mature, fail and succeed, so must the
soul achieve insight and skill. The body and mind
can lapse into darkness, sickness, and confusion;
and so too the soul. Repetitive and countless
learning opportunities are needed for mental and
physical development and also for soul
development and soul maturity.
Miller, 13-14

8. Insights from those who know!
• Stay alert. It is your soul which matters.
• If your soul is harmed something irreparable
happens, the extent of which you won’t realize until
it will be too late.
• As soon as you notice the slightest sign of
indifference, the moment you become aware of the
loss of a certain seriousness, of longing, of
enthusiasm and zest, take it as a warning. You
should realize that your soul suffers if you live
superficially.
• People need times in which to concentrate, when
they can reach their inmost selves.
Albert Schweitzer, medical missionary & Nobel peace prize laureate

9. Insights from those who know!
The emotional complaints of our time, complaints we
therapists hear every day in our practice, include
• emptiness
• meaninglessness
• vague depression
• disillusionment about marriage, family, and relationship
• a loss of values
• yearning for personal fulfillment
• a hunger for spirituality
All of these symptoms reflect a loss of soul and let us know
what the soul craves.
Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul

10. Soul neglect is a serious issue
When the soul is neglected, it
doesn’t go away, it appears
symptomatically in obsessions,
addictions, violence and loss of
meaning.
Harry Moody, The Five Stages of the Soul

11. Are there stages of soul growth?
• The structure of the great religions of the
world—Christianity, Judaism, Taoism,
Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism--are all
rooted in ideas of progressive
developmental passages
• The notions of stages of the soul, in short,
is a universal one
• Stages of soul growth can be charted
Harry Moody, The Five Stages of the Soul

12. Points of consideration
• From a spiritual perspective, the purpose of
life is to achieve soul realization
• Spirituality completes us
• Spirituality unfolds in a series of steps and
stages
• Spiritual awakening requires struggle and
effort
• Each person’s experience of the Stages of
the Soul is similar, yet uniquely different
• The Stages of the Soul are “spiritual”
stages

13. The five stages of the soul are
Each one of these stages leads naturally to the next,
and is an extension of the one that comes before it
1. The Call
2. The Search
3. The Struggle
4. The Breakthrough
5. The Return
A contemporary media example of explanation is the
book and movie “Jonathan Livingstone Seagull”
Harry Moody, The Five Stages of the Soul

14. Care of the soul
• is not a project of self-improvement
• is not a way of being released from the
troubles and pains of human existence
• care of the soul touches another dimension
• soul is its own purpose and end
• we are well on the way toward soul when we
live as much from the heart as from the head
• Ultimately, care of the soul results in an
individual “I”, an I you never would have
planned for or maybe even wanted.
Thomas Moore, Care of the Soul

15. For more information contact
David Grinstead, MA, CHt
336-380-0203
coachg@livealife.biz
www.livealife.biz