Our Souls Are Earned

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The Greek-Armenian philosopher, George Gurdjieff, believed that we are born without a soul and that our life goal is to grow and develop our soul - our souls are earned. 

He also believed that most of us tend to go through our lives as automatons - going about our day to day in an unconscious state. And that we need to work on ourselves in order to rouse ourselves out of this state.

I’m intrigued by these ideas. 

The first suggests a measure of control over ourselves and our destinies. The idea that we aren’t simply fated to be this way or that, that we are indeed open books that can be written by ourselves (or, if we’re not careful,  others). But that depends on us. 

The second point builds on the idea that our souls are grown and developed. That we need to do the work to get there. To wake ourselves from the social, cultural or environmental parameters that work to constrain us from becoming who we were meant to be, who we should be. But it’s down to us and the effort we’re willing to put in. You have to enjoy the process, of doing that work. 

These ideas resonate with me. They’re not easy ideas and they’re certainly not a given. But they leave it in our hands. I like that. 

The point is that they give us a measure of choice, a measure of control.

Really, they give us (more than) a measure of hope. They give us a path forward.