Today I started my day in meditation with a group I recently joined in Putney. I was up late last night and, to be honest, I had to will myself there. It would have been so easy to linger under the covers a little longer and to miss the crisp air and the new snow of the morning. We always begin our meditation with a poem or a quote. Had I pushed the snooze button, I would have missed this one.

Reading from a note in his own hand, written on an old library catalogue card, Bob shared a piece of Wendell Berry's wisdom. On the wings of Bob's voice, a beautiful and precise suggestion for the definition of soul landed in my morning. Fulfilling a longing I didn't know I had.

Soul is fundamentally a biological concept, defined as the primary organizing, sustaining and guiding principle of a living being. Soulcraft is the skill needed in shaping the human soul towards its fulfillment in its unity with the entire universe. The universe and human soul find their fulfillment in each other. Soul gives to the multitude of living forms wondrous powers of sensation and motion. Soul in all its diversity of expression, enables the flowers to bloom in the meadows. It enables all manner of living forms, the birds, the fish, and other living beings to find their way through thousands of miles on their migration journeys back and forth across continents and in the dark depths of the sea. The entire universe is sustained in all its vast interwoven patterns by the mysterious power of soul.

And Bob, the way you are making brilliant use of discarded library catalogue cards just about slays me. Thank you!