蜜芽传媒

I wonder when your soul stirs?

In my line of work, I often get to ask people that question.

And the most common response I undoubtedly hear is: At a favourite place ... such as a shore-line or a hill-top or a river or in a forest...

So it comes as little surprise, in a way, that a scientific report this week finds that 鈥榩eople experience intense feelings of wellbeing, contentment and belonging from places that evoke positive memories - far more than [they do from] treasured objects such as photographs or wedding rings鈥�.

The research, by neuroscientists at the University of Surrey, argues that places which are intensely meaningful invoke 鈥榓 sense of calm, space to think and a feeling of completeness鈥�.

All of which, after a week full of so many difficult news headlines, makes me want to race off to my own favourite spot, a nearby and gorgeous well-spring!

This is not just about standing back and admiring an often beautiful view, however. Something can happen to us - within us - when we are there, within the place. As Rowan Williams once said: at best we are not 鈥榗onsumers of this world, we are in communion with it鈥� - which speaks to me of the spiritual relationship we can have with place, which we sense and intuit, I鈥檓 sure, even if we can鈥檛 put into words.

And the 鈥榮piritual鈥�, here, is so helpfully earthed, grounded in the physical - for spirituality is not about seeking some floaty state of disembodied reverie; but about being here, more fully - more soulfully, if you like. As part of the very beauty of the scene we behold.

I love the story in the Bible of God creating a person from the dust, and breathing life into them, so that they become (as the King James Version puts it) 鈥渁 living soul鈥� - something that brings the constituent parts of matter and spirit together, yet is somehow greater than the sum of the two.

That word 鈥榮oul鈥� is from the Hebrew nephesh, which means the 鈥榳hole of our being鈥�. And I think, when our soul stirs, that we glimpse something more of that whole - which in turn connects us to the greater whole of life.

I often run spiritual retreats outdoors, just to give people鈥檚 soul a better chance to stir. The ultimate point, however, is not to get away from the daily grind, but always to return to it, well.

To bring some of the beauty back to the less pleasing scenes of our life, and to find our own place more fully within them. For spirituality, in the end, is not about escape but embrace; it鈥檚 learning, all the time, to be here.

Show less