03/11/2025
Our world has a high focus on self-care, self-awareness, and self-sufficiency, but we’re still losing the battle for our souls. The soul and the self are not the same thing, and, as John Ortberg points out, “The neglected soul doesn’t go away; it goes awry” (Soul Keeping, 46).
I hope you have good self-care, but do you have good soul-care?
The word psychology comes from the Greek word psyche, which means “soul.” Psychology was originally about soul-care, yet modern psychology often focuses more on the self. To address the soul directly sounds too “religious” in an age of secularism. Sigmund Freud, not known for strong religious convictions, wrote, “Treatment of the psyche means … treatment of the soul. One could also understand it to mean treatment of sickness when it occurs in the life of the soul” (idem.).
The Journal of the American Medical Association recently reported that despite the rise of the mental health profession, people are becoming increasingly vulnerable to depression. Why? Martin Seligman, a brilliant psychologist with no religious ax to grind, has a theory that “it’s because we have replaced church, faith, and community with a tiny little unit that cannot bear the weight of meaning. That’s the self” (idem.).
We revolve our lives around the self. Ironically, the more focused on self we become, the more we neglect our souls. Our language reflects our obsession with self. If you’re empty, you need to fill yourself. If you’re stressed, you need to take care of yourself. If you’re trying to succeed at work, you have to believe in yourself. If you’re getting a tattoo, you need to express yourself. If you’re not getting your own way, you should stand up for yourself.
But what if your self is a train wreck?
Self reminds us we are an individual unit that needs to “pull itself up by its bootstraps.” The soul reminds us we are not made for ourselves. Soul is what exists before God. Soul is needed for the depth of poetry, art, and music. Former opera singer Scott Flaherty said, “I mean, when you sing, you’re giving voice to your soul.”
Imagine singing, “Then sings my self, my Savior God to thee,” or “Jesus, lover of my self.” We know that the self is not the soul, and we understand that the neglected soul becomes an anxious soul.
The writer of Hebrews admonishes us, “But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls (Hebrews 10:39, ESV). When we preserve our souls; when we center our souls in the rest of Jesus (Matthew 11:29); when we love the Lord God with all our souls (Matthew 22:37); then our souls can be all right even when everything in the world is all wrong.
So, I ask again: How are you caring for your soul today?
