Overcoming the Soul Frustration In Depression

WHEN IT COMES to realness of self, we quickly delve into the material, the source, the direction, and the destination of the soul. We cannot escape it. Soon we deal with the ethereal. Soon we are in a place very unlike the world we think we belong in. Even those most spiritual of persons are awkwardly set in such a locale.

The consummation of a soul is a meeting with God – face to face, as it were – where, for one split second, we gain the spiritual wherewithal to know God is (or was) with us.

We know God’s presence has licked the innermost corner of our souls in this:

“Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development, invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.”

— EDGAR ALLAN POE (1809–1849)

But there is also something that takes us away from this enjoyment of God by the manifestation of us, individuals, greeting our souls. When we enjoy such supremely developed beauty – like Pachelbel Canon in D – we have the very vehicle that takes us into the Holy of Holies, by the agency of our human-seeking-divine spirituality.

We must endure many levels of frustration in this life – some frustrations enter and reside at the level of our souls. If we cannot address these frustrations – making them better, or even acceptable – we find we sink further into the nebulous world of our soul’s frustration. Honesty is the key, and the courage to be honest; to be bold.

***

Frustrations they rise,

When our souls are scowled,

There our weakness lies,

Where our integrity’s fouled.

When we must lie,

And betray ourselves from within,

Our inner selves die,

And we find ourselves in sin.

***

Soul frustrations are those things within life that we lie about – that which, deep down, we know are true. What happens if we tell people we’re happy when we’re really actually very sad, confused, angry, or hurt is we lie only to ourselves, and we cause our souls distress.

When our souls are frustrated, we’ve gotten into habits of lying about how we really feel to the outside world. It’s like we’re one person in the world (our outer persona) and another person (with unacknowledged issues) within ourselves.

This is about being at one with ourselves.

When we betray ourselves then we’re in line for depressive illnesses – this is why during grief we may be thrust into depression; it’s because our identities have been torn, and our operating integrity is broken.

***

Depression can be thought of as a misfiring of our inner selves. Whenever we lose our operating integrity due to grief – when our identities are torn – it causes soul frustration. The inner fabric of our being is challenged and it flounders. What we must do to reduce soul frustration is simply be truer to ourselves. That takes courage.

© 2013 S. J. Wickham.