Soul Crimes

Dear God,
You have shown me many things this year. It started over a year ago on a bike ride in my hometown on a cold day in upstate New York when I stumbled upon a man who had hanged himself over a tree overlooking the Mohawk River. That was the first time I had seen death face to face. His dangling head and flannel jacket staring right at me directly, forcing me to confront what was to come next in my life. Watching my own father enter in and out of hospitals time and time again, cracking jokes about his own self-destructing habits that was taking portions of him away from me, my sisters, my mother. By November, he was gone. And now once again, death enters my life with the suicide of my mother's best friend, a mother figure in my childhood years, who checked herself into an Albany, NY hotel and ended her life an hour later. Memories of playing with her two daughters, eating her homemade strawberry pastry cookies while she smoked furiously around us and shared stories from her daily life as a nurse's aide. What crimes of the soul were taking place that day in her head that made her ultimately decide to no longer push forward?

In examining my own life, and listening in on other people's lives, I have come to understand only slightly more the possible reasons as to why a soul may decide to suddenly slip away. Every day, little "soul crimes" are committed against each other. They are not indeed called this exactly, but I fear that you may need to clarify what you mean by the "Seven Deadly Sins" as there seems to be some confusion. In reviewing my own definitions, I remember them to be:
 

Pride is excessive belief in one's own abilities, that interferes with the individual's recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.

Envy is the desire for others' traits, status, abilities, or situation.

Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.

Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.

Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.

Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

From an Eastern perspective, Mohandas Karamachand Gandhi, one of the most influential figures in modern social and political activism, considered these traits to be the most spiritually perilous to humanity.

* Wealth without Work

* Pleasure without Conscience

* Science without Humanity

* Knowledge without Character

* Politics without Principle

* Commerce without Morality

* Worship without Sacrifice

But I fear that there is nothing quite extensive enough regarding the actual individual crimes against the soul of a man or woman. Recently, I came across a most fitting song by Damien Rice, called "9 Crimes" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smKb79ltpaU and in watching it, I was reminded that we, as humans, commit crimes against each other. You see the singers sing about "going away for awhile" and whether or not if it's alright with the other person. And I realized then that it is indeed a part of even my Eastern studies as in Tantra, we demonstrate exercises to bringing people connected to one another through visualization exercises, touch, mirroring and being "present" in each other's arms. How many times have you watched each of us "abandon" people we love, albeit perhaps only in a minor way here or there, but ultimately, this instinct to indeed "leave another" may become more and more comfortable to the point where we end up leaving our partner, our friends, our work, our spiritual practice, and maybe, just maybe, even our own soul?

When I am working with people, I am demonstrating to them the story of their lives through the imprint of the body. The soul wants to take hold through our physical body, but our logical mind blocks us, handicapping us from the actual needs and desires presented by the soul. As Deepak Chopra once stated, "Everything we need to heal ourselves is already within our own body. We are our own inner pharmacy." For anyone who knows Chopra's philosophies on healing, you know how he integrates the soul into the actual physical healing of the body. We cannot deny the effect of touch, of words, of emotions, of unrepressed emotions, of love on our physical body, and even further, on our souls. Is it ok to leave that part of ourselves for awhile? Is it a crime for us to decide to leave another person's need for soul-saving? Is it ok for us to disconnect for awhile, leaving the needs of other's on the back burner due to the innumerous reasons we may give you as to why we "think" we have to? At what point have we committed a "soul crime" against another?

I believe that we are already experiencing the effects of all of the soul-crimes all around us daily. I need not tell YOU that we are all hurting in one way or another. I simply want to know in what way besides being present for one another can we truly be making a difference? Do you qualify different soul-crimes based on how personal of an experience it is in relation to our daily life such as an experience with a close loved one versus an actual abandonment of an entire country, such as Darfur? Is it a small crime to go away for awhile God, and perhaps simply worry about our own little day to day needs?

I will not give away the answer. I think the video ending shows us something invaluable regarding the ability to "pick up the pieces" and actually use them. Broken, shaken, stirred, we are shown over and over through the power of 'shared experience' that love is indeed the miraculous glue that keeps our souls in tact. It is not our physical body that actually contains the proof of our life's ability to give or receive love. It is the part you cry for when we miss the very point of the proof you left us. I see it now, in every person's soul, the proof there of all we ever are born to be and to die for.

Thank you for showing me the answer despite every time I missed the point, the failed attempts, and the inability to comprehend what I was experiencing before me.

With love ongoing,

NAYKA