The nature of the soul is elusive. Spiritual in essence yet inseparable from the physical, eternal yet bound to the temporal. A part of us that aspires to something beyond us.

The delicate petals of a blue anemone, blossoming in spring and gone by summer, suggest the beautiful yet temporary nature of our physical selves. A new flower will soon wither and die, yet its beauty is only a tool for fulfilling its true purpose – to nourish the tiny seeds at its center which when dispersed by the wind will generate new life.

So too, our soul’s true purpose is realized when utilizing the body to spread sparks of goodness and holiness which will elevate the physical world around us while deepening and enriching the soul’s character, adding wisdom that the soul will carry on its journey.

One of the first prayers that we say upon awakening every morning reminds us of the Divine source of our soul :

“The soul You have given me is pure,

You created it,

You formed it,

You breathed it into me,

and You preserve it within me”

In the course of our day to day business we take for granted the fact that we are alive.We become oblivious to the presence of our soul and we ignore its yearning for spiritual sustenance.

These seemingly simplistic verses ask us to become truly aware of our soul’s existence, to acknowledge that my soul is a divine spark and was created especially for me by G-d, who breathed it into my body as I was being formed in the womb. I become aware that I am alive only because, at this moment, G-d orders the purely spiritual entity that is my soul to remain united with my physical self, and at some moment in the future, He will decide to set my soul free from this connection and allow it to return to its heavenly home .

In our self-image, we tend to see ourselves primarily from a physical viewpoint – young or old, beautiful or ugly. The purpose of this prayer is to jolt our self-awareness, to see ourselves from an eternal perspective. By remembering that we were born with a pure and holy soul, free from any sin or blemish, we are restored to a sense of purity and we become aware of a desire to live our lives in a way that will protect and maintain this state of purity.

Three flowers in the background symbolise the passage of the soul through three stages, as expressed in the continuation of this prayer, - this world, the world to come, and the days of the redemption.

The verse at the bottom, from the high holy day prayers, speaks of humility before our Creator :