Common Questions about
Soul Development

What is soul development?

Our soul has one fundamental purpose and activity: to make knowledge manifest in the material world. It reveals its knowledge by engaging in a process of radiating unfoldment. This unfoldment process is cyclical in nature and its evolution entails numerous changes, steps, and characteristics. Our soul moves through a series of cycles or stages on its journey to full expression. There are seven evolutionary stages of the soul, each of which reflects shifts in human consciousness regarding our self and our relationships with others. To evolve and move through the soul stages, we need to acquire skills for dealing with our shadow, defined as what we fail to recognize and acknowledge within ourselves.

To learn more about the seven stages of soul development, see Susan Trout's book Born to Serve

What is the shadow?

The shadow is the human psyche’s unconscious that is not accessible to the conscious mind. The shadow holds the memories and energies of neglected, undeveloped, unlived, negative, and destructive aspects of ourselves as well as our unrealized potentials. We act from our shadow whenever we neglect our wellbeing. This can show up in reactions (e.g., guilt, anger, fear, blame) to other people and to events. By doing inner work and attending to all aspects of our health, we are able to live from a centered place. Our willingness to meet the shadow is the first step on the road to health––physically, emotionally, and mentally.

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soul development 
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What is inner work?

The journey of soul development requires that we dissolve our obstacles to personal growth as we engage with the world. As we understand our motivations and personality tendencies, obstacles are exposed. In the later stages of soul development, we become willing to learn how to work with the obstacles, thereby using life as a classroom with unlimited opportunities to heal and be healed. It is this process that is referred to as inner work. As we do our inner work and heal personally, we have more energy and become a clearer instrument of healing for others and for the planet. We can choose to show another way by holding a space for others to be healed of conditions that we have healed or are healing within ourselves. Being of service to humanity and the planet is the gift of our inner work.

For more on inner work, you are invited to explore the Universal Tributes. The ten Tributes and their Tenets provide a roadmap for inner work, showing us how to shift our thoughts, actions, and words in order to look within rather than without for wholeness.