The soul is here, the soul is there.

The soul cannot be seen. Or as a famous French pathologist once put it: I have examined hundreds of dead bodies and never once have I seen a soul. End of story? Well, we learn that the soul departs from the body after death, so he was probably looking in the wrong place.

I am very rarely conscious that it exists, being too busy and caught up in this world. My body, like the centre of gravity, keeps me firmly on the ground. But every now and then I get a glimpse of where it could be hiding. Not long ago we had a guest at our table who some years before had almost drowned and in the process had a near death experience. While her body was falling to the bottom, "something" experienced an endless consciousness. The body losing its vice like grip on things had no choice but to give way to something else as it sank to the bottom. This experience entirely changed her life.

In Rabbi Ashlag's allegory of the soul and the body, the soul is kept under lock and key in a cellar for many years, being allowed out now and then, under close guard, to get a bit of light. Why should one have to lock it up in a dank and dark cellar? So that when it is ready to come into the light it will not get fried in the heat, like many people who after winning millions of dollars on the lottery find their lives falling apart, being unable to cope with so much light in one go.

So what can I do, as my body stays firmly in control of life? Go look for a near- death experience? I don't think so. Go find a nice dank and dark cellar in the neighborhood to live in for twenty years? I don't think so. Near-death sounds a bit too risky, so how about a death experience. As David Hawkins says, the only time we actually experience death is when our ego "dies." The Torah similarly encourages us "to kill' ourselves in our spiritual practice. In other words make a conscious effort to reduce the body's vice-like grip on the soul. And that sounds better? Maybe, and I have one very practical solution.

Have you heard the story of the wise man from Alexandria? Well one day he was walking through the market place and suddenly one of the street vendors showered him with the vilest expletives imaginable. The wise man burst out in uncontrollable laughter. All the standers by were totally amazed at his response and when he eventually recovered they asked him how he could possibly laugh after being insulted in such a way. He calmly replied that he pays people to insult him and this man had done it for free.

Paying someone to insult you may be a little less dramatic than a near-death experience and a bit more expensive, but it is one, though rather painful way at times, to encourage the body to release its grip on the soul.