Character and soul

The character of sound, of light, of wine, of the grain in worked wood, of a companion animal … or of their owner, may be soft or hard, simple or complex, weak or strong, bad or good. Experience builds character, apparently, in a young person’s mental and moral qualities1. For animals as for people, character flowers in freedom from fear – of the known and the unknown, of death and the hereafter.

We only see death; the free animal
has its decease perpetually behind it
and God in front, and when it moves, it moves
into eternity, like running springs.’  2

The conscious character wilts in dread of an unfortunate, unjust, inopportune, or even timely or overdue end of life. How then will experience ever set us free?

A person’s character expresses their soul, according to a temperament set by their personality3. Soul is the spiritual quality of an individual, human or animal, or of a creation such as a piece of music or a building, a club or a nation4. Being the immaterial part, soul is timeless and therefore free of the conscious self, its importance, its memories and ambitions, hopes and fears. And experience lays bare the soul.


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C.P. Doncaster, Timeline of the Human Condition, star index