The Seven Fold Life
"May your soul honor its Creator through empathizing with your own heart and feelings, learning from your own mind
and thoughts, connecting with your own body and needs, interacting with your surroundings, and striving to live a well-balanced life."
Anonymous
The Primary Four
Seven-Fold Life = acknowledging the four key areas of our life: Heart, Soul, Mind and Body, along with the Relationships and Resources
around us, and then trying to reach a Balance with them, just as Christ did. [Mark 12:29-31,
Matthew 10:8b-12,
1 Peter 5:8]
A common phrase often heard is doing something 'heart, soul, mind and body', and it refers to doing something with all of who you are,
your complete being. It is a very accurate description of who we are. Let us take a look at this more closely.
The Soul is who we actually are, the essential core of our being. It is the Will, the final decision maker; it is everlasting, unable
to be destroyed. It is spiritual rather than physical. It is part of the Eternal.
The Heart is an assistant to our Souls as the source of all emotions and feelings. It interacts with the world with passion and emptiness
and courage and fear and love and anger and hope and despair. It responds to situations with a combination of emotions and then relays
those feelings to the Soul. It is part of the Internal.
The Mind is another assistant to our Souls, as the source of all thoughts and ideas. It interacts with the world through mentally recording,
measuring, logically evaluating and reasoning through situations, and then relays its conclusions to the Soul. It is also part of
the Internal.
The Body is our physical shell, and the source of all our physical needs. It is the final assistant to the Soul, serving two functions.
First, it tells the Soul what it needs and what it wants, whether it be sleep, food, sex, action, warmth, protection or more. Second,
it is the agent of implementation for the Soul, carrying out the Soul's decisions. It is part of the External.
The Secondary Three
While these four make up who we are, there are three other aspects or 'folds' of our lives that we must consider. There is the world
with which we interact, and it can be split up into two basic parts, people and things, or Relationships and Resources.
Relationships involve the people in your life, in all degrees, whether an intimate friend, casual acquaintance or distant stranger.
This is paired opposite the Heart, as we usually manage our relationships with our emotions. Relationships are obviously External.
While we do have control over how we interact with others, we have no control over how they interact with us. Therefore, it is wise
to focus our energies on what we can control: ourselves.
Resources are the 'things' in your life that you use: money, time, possessions and skills are examples. This is paired opposite the
Mind, as we usually manage our resources 'mentally'. Resources are also External. So we must keep in mind that while Resources are
very important in our lives and that they are effective tools, they are not a part of 'us', who we are. Therefore, we do not have
the same measure of control over them that we do over ourselves. So, it is imperative that we focus our energies on what we can control:
our Emotions, Mind, and Body.
The seventh and final fold is Balance. This is the centerpiece, the area of your life that attempts to focus on balancing all the other
six areas. This is not to say that we should not specialize nor focus on some 'everyone-is-equal-because-everyone-is-balanced-in-the-same-way'
ideology. The answers lies somewhere in-between. You cultivate your strongest suit while at the same time not neglecting any of the
other folds. We believe that we are all equal as humans…and different in our skill sets and strengths. So balance does not mean to
put equal energy into each of the seven folds, but rather to remember to not ignore any one of them.
Within the Self, our souls tend to be pulled in one primary direction: either mental, emotional or physical, and that is a good thing.
The idea of balance is to not focus solely on our strongest one at the cost of the other two, but rather to strengthen the other two
enough to complement the strongest. All three should then be used to serve the Soul. At that point, the precious, intricate balance
'within' will lead to a balance' without'- your external surroundings of relationships and resources.
Overall
To visualize this, take a look at the
7-fold Life diagram:
The bottom three are our 'grounded' aspects; those things that we deal with in a very real, daily manner. The top three are our 'higher'
aspects; those non-tangible things that still have a very real presence in our lives. Thus, we need to seek a balance, while not necessarily
equal, in all six aspects, as we grow into who we are meant to be.
How it works
While the two folds of Relationship and Resources pretty much make up the basis for everything that happens to you,
what does that mean for what then happens within you?
Imagine yourself in a situation where a decision must be made. Your heart tells you how you feel about it all, while you mind evaluates
the situation, prioritizes, and determines possible conclusions. Your body may be indifferent to the situation or it may have its
own opinion on what should be done (especially if it involves food, sex or rest, for example). Once you the Soul has heard all three
'inputs', it then makes a decision on what should be done. The body then carries out the decision.
Your emotions are your reactions to any given event or occurrence. We cannot really change our personality; we can only minimize our
negative emotions over time and through effort, so please keep that in mind. How we feel about any given situation will just happen,
based on our personality and how we tick. Some people are more inclined to see the good in things; others to see the challenges. One
is not better than the other. What is key here is to recognize which emotions you are feeling, determine which will make you stronger,
and then put the weakening emotions behind you.
And listen to your mind, as it interprets the events. Your mind is an extremely powerful thing (as is your heart) and a lot wiser than
you give it credit. Do not ignore its evaluation of things. Just use it in concordance with the heart and body.
With the body, listen to and respect its own needs of energy, comfort, protection, and pleasure. Just do not let those needs be all
consuming. Again, let it be a part of the factors when reaching a decision, not the only factor.
Summary
So when we experience something, our emotions are our 'reaction' to this (how we feel about it), our mind 'interprets' it (what we
think it all means), and our body 'responds' to it (acts). The exact balance of this varies from person to person. Some people think
more with their 'heart', others with their 'head', and still others with their 'body'. Some people let their natural cravings of sex,
substance, or any other number of physical things outweigh everything else, just like some people focus only on their own emotions
and do not empathize with others, or others base decisions solely on logics and analyses and fail to recognize other factors. All
of these fail to recognize the most important part: the spiritual. Our soul is the 'decision maker'. We are our soul; the emotions,
mind, and body are our 'assistants'. We need to balance all of it. Embrace our emotions, understand the meaning of the situation,
and respect the body's core needs. And find the best answer, the best response, and then tell the body how to act. Mind over matter?
It is more like Soul over heart, mind, and body! You are not ignoring them; in fact, you are listening to each one carefully and facilitating
the discussion. Will this be easy? The answer to that is a resounding 'No'! However, the good news is that we have a source that we
can turn to which will educate us, encourage us and enable us to reach that balance. We discuss that source in detail later in this
site [click here], but for now just recognize this perspective, this balance as an option. Or you can choose to continue to respond
to life in the same way you are currently; you already know how that turns out.
We believe that if we recognize this interaction between the soul, heart, mind, and body, and utilize it, we will see positive results.
Those positive results will have a positive influence on the world around us- our resources and relationships. This in turn, will
cause more positive situations and occurrences and friendships and relationships, which, in turn, will make it even easier to minimize
our harmful emotions and limited interpretations, and on from there. Thus, we can change the vicious circle we are in to one of value!
We can change our rut into an open road!
So in your life, be aware of the Seven-fold Life. If you are having trouble understanding a situation you find yourself in, if you
are having difficulties with money, time, possessions, or people, if a part of this site is not resonating within you, stop for a
moment, and look again with this perspective, and see if it makes more sense.
29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love
the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' 31The
second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."
Freely you have received, freely give. 9Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in your belts; 10take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.
11"Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. 12As you enter the home, give it your greeting.
8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.