I came across this quote recently -- it's one of my favorites all time -- and began to ruminate:

"The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience."

                                                                    -- Emily Dickinson

The ecstatic experience! What can it possibly mean? Is it like a spiritual orgasm, concentrating all the energies of the body into a strong physical sensation? An emotional experience, like touching the outstretched fingertips of God? Or a spiritual experience, like flying through a spacious blue sky with nowhere to be?

How can we help our souls stand ajar every day? To avoid shutting them down, triple-locking them and then going back at least once to make sure the burglar alarm has been armed?

I love the idea that the soul is a door -- not a fixed, physical thing but an opening to another dimension, another way of seeing, another viewpoint. If we take it like that, letting the soul stand ajar may be like suspending our disbelief, or making room for the opinions of those we don't necessarily agree with.

I don't know about you, but having an ecstatic experience sounds pretty great, especially if it doesn't involve a painful disease, a hangover, becoming a drug mule or being arrested at 3 in the morning. :) So I'm gonna work on this soul thing, and see if it's all it's cracked up to be, If you want to join in, please feel free.