I previously wrote about the powers of the soul in separate drafts; you can read those drafts linked over here – this draft is an overview of those powers. Once we start practicing these powers by virtue of living in soul consciousness, our outlook towards ourselves and others changes greatly for the better.
Each power builds on the previous one, so it’s best to take some time to practice these powers one at a time until you feel you’ve mastered it before moving on to the next one. I learned these lessons from my spiritual advisors. Of course, it’s not enough to just know and practice these powers. The true value of it is revealed when we practice the right power at the right time – that is what can take a while to master.
The first power is the power to detach. The last thing we want is to attach our state of mind to those of others, but most of us can’t help ourselves from reacting when others are emotionally charged. When they are happy, we become happy. When they are saddened, we feel the same. Why do we keep ourselves beholden to others? It’s as if we are on a leash under their control. While it’s important to empathize with others, it’s equally important to remain detached to their emotional state (but not from people themselves).
Once we learn to detach, we need to practice the art of dying, because we can die any moment. We need to remain light, happy, and powerful at all times, so we can stop holding onto things and move on (which includes forgiving others in our minds so we can keep moving forward). We need to be able to practice this every day and not just at the end of our lives when it’s too late.
When we learn to detach from people and we stop holding onto things, we start practicing tolerance. Tolerance requires having a high level of acceptance with others; it means to love others unconditionally. A mother is a perfect embodiment of someone who practices tolerance with her children by loving them unconditionally. Most importantly, to be able to practice tolerance with others we need to be able to practice tolerance with ourselves first.
It’s only when we practice the first three powers can we activate the fourth power, the power of acceptance. Acceptance means we must accept our reality before we can influence it, as well as not concerning ourselves with the actions of others. It’s about focusing on others’ strengths and virtues rather than getting fixated on their weaknesses. It requires focusing on the solution rather than getting stuck in the problem and it means we should focus on what we can change (our own actions) without trying to change others. Only those who can practice acceptance can be content with their lives.
When we practice these four powers — detach/withdraw, let go, tolerate, and accept — we experience stillness in the mind; this means our intuition becomes stronger, and therefore our vibrations become higher. It’s only then we are able to discern between right and wrong, true and false. We are not simply going by what others are telling us, but we are mindful of the vibrations we receive from them. We can’t simply go by what others say, lest we risk being fooled, misled, and even being betrayed by them.
Following this, we practice the power to decide. We need to discern between right and wrong before we can decide on how to proceed. That requires trusting ourselves rather than seeking advice from others. We should think twice before asking for advice as well as with giving feedback. We can advise others when they seek our advice, but we must encourage them to make those decisions for themselves.
Power to confront is the penultimate power we need to practice. We must learn to confront our weaknesses rather than be enslaved to them. We must exercise our will to do what’s right.
We need to confront others’ wrong and/or unethical behaviors and tolerate their habits/values. We usually do the reverse. Confronting others’ wrong behaviors/injustices involves standing up and doing the right thing, which usually requires paying a price. Edward Snowden comes to mind as a shining example as one to stand up and voice his concern against mass surveillance for the sake of our privacy.
He wrote in his book:
The reason you’re reading this book is that I did a dangerous thing for a man in my position: I decided to tell the truth.
The final power is the power to cooperate. It’s only when we practice the first seven powers that we can activate the eighth power. We practice this by listening to others, understanding them, and empathizing with them. We treat them with compassion just as we treat ourselves. We use our positive energy to influence others. It’s only by doing the right actions that we can inspire others to do the same.
While these powers are easy to understand, to practice them is not so easy – partly because we have lost touch with our inner-divinity. We are so used to living in body consciousness that even though we know we are souls, we are unable to act like one. It’s only when we are able to master the art of practicing the right power at the right time that we can be our best selves and elevate others in the process.
