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