The True Definition of Soul
The one true remedy for obsessive ascension is courageous descent.
New-age spirituality and self-development culture is obsessed with ascension.
Everywhere you look, expansion is valorized. We are told:
vibrations must be high,
consciousness must broaden,
kundalini must rise.
We are encouraged to transcend our messy, human lives and merge with the infinite. You’ve got to open your heart and see the light, be the light.
But there is a shadow side to this endless upward striving.
The infinite expansion of consciousness directly mirrors the infinitely expanding economy idealized by our extractive, ecocidal, capitalist culture.
Both are trying to escape the natural limitations of the Earth. Both are prioritizing the inhale to avoid the exhale. Both are emphasizing expansion to deny the counterbalancing necessity of contraction.
There is nothing inherently wrong with ascension or expansion. The upward path toward Spirit is a beautiful, sacred part of being human. But it is not even half the story.
Spirit vs. Soul
Soul is a commonly used word that means different things to different people. For some, Soul is synonymous with Spirit — a concept interchangeable with other terms like Atman (Sanskrit), Buddha-nature, Neshama (Hebrew), or Ruh (Arabic).
However, in the Ecotone paradigm, Soul is something very specific, quite distinct from Spirit.
According to the Nature-Based Map of the Human Psyche, human experience is organized into three primary realms:
Upperworld
Middleworld
Underworld
The Upperworld is the realm of Spirit. It is where we perceive universal Truth — the eternal, undifferentiated energy that animates everything. Spirit is where we merge with all that is and remember that we are “one with everything.” It is the top pole of the magnetic, vertical axis of 3D reality..
The Middleworld is the horizontal plane. It is the realm of mundane life. where we exist most commonly. It is where we act out our personality traits and interface with the various aspects of our waking ego. In the Middleworld, we have friends, family, a job, daily habits and duties to ensure our material survival.
The Underworld is the realm of Soul, the bottom pole of the vertical axis. It is where we perceive personal truth — defined by specific location where you are planted, the shape you take and moves you make as an individual being. Soul is the source of your unique gifts, your brilliance and blind-spots. It includes the sub- and unconscious aspects of your psyche, the fruitful darkness that possesses all the mysterious, buried treasure of your being. Soul represents your one true place of belonging, your irreplaceable role within the web of all beings.
An ecocentric example to illustrate the difference between Spirit and Soul:
Spirit is the general, abstract concept of a “Tree,” whereas Soul is this specific Oak, in this particular watershed, holding this one bird’s nest, rooted deeply in this specific patch of dark soil.
As depth psychologist James Hillman put it: “Spirit likes wholes; soul likes eaches.”
The Art of Inscendence
Yes, you are one with everything. But you are also a distinct inhabitant of the wild Earth, carrying a highly specific, mythopoetic gift to share with your ecological niche. The shape you take is a unique key designed for a very specific lock.
To discover your one true place of belonging, you cannot float up into the ether. You must descend.
Cultural historian Thomas Berry called this downward journey “inscendence” — the paired opposite of “transcendence.”
You cannot find your Soul in the light. Instead of seeking out and up, you must pull back, dive down and in. If you want to know Soul, you must root around in the dark, subterranean soil of your own psyche.
You have to endure (or even embrace) the forces of compression and contraction that densify the subtle stuff of Spirit into the concrete, individuated, experiential reality of who you actually are.
The Dangers of the Excess Ascension
Ideally, we have access to all the gifts of our unique personality as we navigate the Middleworld, held in balance by the healthy tension between Spirit above and Soul below.
However, to pursue Spirit without a solid foundation in Soul leaves you scattered, disoriented, and anxious.
People living primarily Upperworld lives often take a transcendental view of everything. They want to exist above it all in order to avoid the heavy lifting of real-world particulars. This is an understandable impulse, especially when the Middleworld feels chaotic, dangerous and devoid of meaning.
But without the grounding anchor of Soul, it is easy to become an escape artist, employing “spiritual bypass” techniques to survive or avoid the complex discomfort inherent to being human.
Common examples include:
Toxic positivity — Focusing exclusively on the positive to dismiss genuine pain, such as saying “everything happens for a reason” or “just be positive” during a crisis.
Judging “negative” emotions — Repressing anger, fear, or sadness by believing you must always feel peaceful, joyful, or any of the “higher” emotions.
Using vague spiritual platitudes — Responding to pain with clichés like “it’s all part of the plan” or “it was a blessing in disguise” to avoid deep emotional processing.
Abdication of responsibility — Blaming life issues on karma, lack of manifestation, or “low vibration,” rather than taking personal responsibility and practical action.
Spiritual superiority complex — Believing you are more evolved than others, judging them for being “negative,” or using meditation/prayer to avoid real-world problems.
Premature forgiveness — Forcing yourself to forgive someone immediately to avoid dealing with the anger or hurt caused by boundary violations.
These are symptoms of excess expansion — Spirit devoid of Soul.
These tendencies leave us detached from the actuality of Middleworld existence. It sabotages our capacity to engage with the world as it is, to address real world social or political problems.
From this Upperworld perspective, everything is relative. It is therefore impossible to demonstrate true compassion or act upon deeply held values.
To insist upon inhabiting an abstract state of ascension undermines our capacity for authentic action and leaves us confused about what to do and where to go when shit gets real.
Soul is the Remedy
Holistic healing traditions like Ayurveda restore harmony by the application of paired opposites — coolness soothes excess heat; dryness eases excess moisture; mobility resolves stagnancy.
Just so — the descent to Soul is the solution for excessive expansion into Spirit.
Admittedly, descending into darkness sounds less sexy than ascending into heaven. In Western culture, the downward direction has been thoroughly demonized, associated with evil shadows and all the hell realms.
To be fair, the descent can be terrifying.
Roaming that mysterious terrain are the encroaching ogre of your nightmares, the most repulsive ideas and images you can imagine, and all the shameful aspects of yourself you’ve long ago banished for being unacceptable.
Befriending the Darkness
But here’s the thing: The subterranean darkness is where all the nutrients live.
Only the dark, dank soil of Soul contains the minerals needed for you to actually grow, rise, and bloom in a healthy way. Without that rooting down, your upward expansion is inevitably imbalanced, unstable, unsustainable.
Those terrifying monsters lurking in the shadows possess all your most magical gifts. They take awful forms only because that’s their last, best strategy to attract your conscious attention.
The only access point for the vital nutrients you need to live out your soul-aligned mission in life is to befriend your Underworld terrors and turn those tormentors into wise mentors.
Therefore, it is essential that you begin to befriend the darkness — to cultivate trust that the Underworld wishes you no harm. On the contrary, it is a treasure-trove of supportive resources begging to be excavated. The mysterious inhabitants of Soul are eager for your attention, longing to be integrated as vital advisors to guide your Middleworld movements.
Returning to the forest metaphor: when you know what species of tree you are, and precisely where in the forest you are rooted, familiar with the birds, squirrels and other beings with whom you cocreate this ecosystem, only then are you empowered to contribute to its healthy maintenance in a meaningful and personally appropriate manner.
To initiate the process of Befriending the Darkness for yourself…
Here’s a simple practice:
In the daylight, identify a sit spot in a natural environment nearby — somewhere you can rest with your back against a stone or tree; somewhere you can easily find again.
After dark, return to this spot. Use a flashlight to find it if you must, but remember, as Wendell Berry says: To go in the dark with a light is to know the light. / To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight, / and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings, / and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.
Bring a rattle, or a bell. Upon arrival, shake it to announce your presence.
Then, when you are ready, open yourself to your environment by sitting in silence.
Just sit. Wait. And notice. Use all your senses — sound, smell, touch, and sight, though your experience of sight will be appropriately altered.
Make yourself available to whomever shares this ecosystem with you. Perhaps it’s some bugs or a bird. Perhaps it’s unseen aspects of your psyche responding to the invitation.
If it gets too intense or feels dangerous, shake your rattle again to clear the area (physical and/or psychic).
Like a guest visiting a new friend, stay as long as feels comfortable, then thank them for their hospitality, and be on your way.
When you get “home,” do some writing to record and remember all the subtleties of your experience.
Then, if you like, please let me know how it goes!
The journey to Soul can be perilous.
It requires you to risk comfort for truth; to sacrifice safety for purpose; to surrender acceptance for authenticity. This takes courage.
But ultimately, it is the only way to become who you’ve always been. The descent is the only way to discover your unique ecological niche — your one true place of belonging, from where you can share the gifts only you can give and participate in the world as a generative, nurturing adult.
Guidance on this path is what we offer at Ecotone Academy. We help people navigate significant transitions with courage and clarity, using your personal crisis as an opportunity to step forward into the soul-infused life you know is possible.
If you’d like some personalized feedback about your current coordinates on the journey to Soul; if you’d like a look at the map; if you’re standing at a crossroad and would like a hint about which path to choose, take the Threshold Test.
The Threshold Test is a free, in-depth self-diagnostic rooted in eco-psychology. It is designed to pinpoint your precise coordinates on the journey to Soul and provide personalized, actionable feedback about the resources you have available at this juncture. Illuminate your brilliance, identify your blind-spots, and take your next steps with courage and clarity.
Until next time, happy trails. See you in the Underworld.
