A Dialogue of Self and Soul

March 6, 2025

I don’t normally choose to reveal too much in these blog pages about my rich inner life, in part because I’m a private man, and in part because I’m not sure how much my readers want to know about my spiritual pursuits.

But there are great changes underway in this country and on this planet, so perhaps in response to these events it’s time for me to give you a glimpse into my inner world.

For several years now I’ve been writing a daily journal, inspired by the book Writing Down Your Soul by Janet Conner. These morning pages as I call them are an opportunity for me to vent my frustrations, record my successes and failures, express my appreciation, and ask questions of my higher self.

I’m not always relaxed enough or open enough to receive answers to my questions. Or maybe I just need to learn to listen better to my intuition when it speaks to me. But sometimes, something – soul, buddha nature, God, whatever – is able to get past my defenses, past my opinions, past my mind chatter, to touch my heart. Sometimes these messages come through dreams, sometimes through meditation or chanting, and sometimes through my morning pages.

This week I came across what I wrote the morning of May 9, 2022:

Dear Soul,

What‘s on your mind? I wonder if you and I have anything significant to contribute to others, to society, to the planet during these crazy political and ecological times, or whether we will just mark time until I die? I’d prefer the former, but I’m willing to accept the latter if that is our soul’s destiny/choice/karma. It’s hard to be a bystander in this time of upheaval, but maybe our job is to work on ourself and be an example, rather than preach to people in my writings. So here I am, Soul – thy will be done. What’s on your mind? Do you have any preferences, any words of wisdom, any guidance?

Dear David,

Of course we have preferences. We prefer that you and I and we work together in whatever course of action or inaction that we choose… Yes, I hear your doubts, Dave – you just thought that I was being wishy washy and non committal. But what would you have me do – make predictions about the future? Or tell you what to do next? All you and I can ever really do is be aligned with each other and with the god Force in each moment, and then make choices based upon our alignment and our intuition.

There are many larger forces at work here and now on this planet, and Putin is just one manifestation of a dying order, as is Trump. Something greater is emerging on Planet Earth, and Trump and Putin and Xi and their countries will have to adapt to changing realities in the evolving collective human consciousness. Yes, the coming months and years will get ugly at times, but your job Dave is to remain aligned with the Greater Good and not let yourself be swayed by the cheap dramas being perpetrated by ignorant fools. Just keep being centered on your [Buddhist practice and your soul] and you will play a constructive role in your remaining time on the physical plane. We love and appreciate you, Dave, and we haven’t forgotten you. Keep up the good work – we see what you’re “up” to, and we approve with heart – heartily approve.

Love, Jacob

In reviewing that writing session, it now seems to me that the first paragraph directed to me was from my soul, and then the second paragraph shifted to a message from Jacob, one of my spirit guides with whom I have been consciously communicating off and on since 1988.

I don’t know if Jacob is my guardian angel or an ascended master or a buddha from another dimension, but whoever he is, he’s a wise and loving consciousness who offers kindness and encouragement when I need it. Such wisdom is available to each of us, but first we have to ask, and then we need to listen to the answers in whatever form they come to us.

In these times of turmoil I like to recall an excerpt from A Dialogue of Self and Soul by my favorite poet, W.B. Yeats:

When such as I cast out remorse,

So great a sweetness flows into the breast.

We must laugh and we must sing,

We are blessed by everything,

And everything we look upon is blessed.