Soul Train

Last week, I posted some thoughts on how I try to understand the word “soul” and my own soul.  This week, I thought I would let you know how John Ortberg describes it in his book Soul Keeping.  He uses several word pictures to describe the soul, but there is one actual diagram that shows the soul as the thing that connects or integrates our body, mind and will.  I took that a step further and envisioned a geographically large European country that only has three major cities and no small towns.  The only connection between the cities is a high-speed train (Hunger Games style).  There are no roads and no navigable lakes or rivers in the country.  In one city, there is a renowned university, in another, a large stadium for sporting and cultural events and in the third the only church in the country.  Living in any of the individual cities is ok, but the only way to experience the country fully is to take the train.  The train system was financed and built by the government, but due to the complexity, maintenance is time-consuming and expensive.  Also, while the train is free to ride, citizens have to take the time to get on it to get to the other cities.   I think any of these analogies break down when you are trying to describe something as complex and elusive as the soul, but I think God is pleased when we think about it for more than a second.  I am interested to know what you think.