Do Sociopaths have Souls?
by Julia Melges-Brenner. Copyright Sabrina Scott, Inc. All rights reserved. Written for and originally published in Kajama.

Dear Julia:

I was recently talking with some friends about sociopaths and all sorts of interesting questions came up. For example, do you think it's possible that sociopaths lack souls? There certainly seem to be evil people in the world; I'd love to hear your thoughts on how they came to be that way.

Karen

Dear Karen:

First let's define "sociopath." While the term probably makes most people think of serial killers, there are many people diagnosed as sociopaths who lead ordinary lives, at least on the surface. In fact, some researchers put the incidence of sociopathy in the general population as high as four percent, or 1 in 25 people, which means that you and I probably know our own fair share of such individuals.

Basically, sociopaths are people who seem to have no conscience and are incapable of empathy. They lie, manipulate and deceive to get what they want, and they do so without any guilt or remorse. They seem to be fundamentally unable to truly love and care about others.

Of course, labels like "sociopath" are troubling because nothing is as black and white as we'd like to think. Just as some people are highly compassionate and empathetic, others fall at the other end of the spectrum to varying degrees. Most people who regularly engage in hurtful, selfish behavior are simply un-evolved spiritually, so they have a less developed conscience than the average person.

Since we are spirits housed in physical bodies, most of us have a so-called higher self and lower self, and are constantly struggling to overcome our biology in order to live by higher ideals. We call people who are extraordinarily good at overcoming their lower natures saints, and people who fail miserably at it sociopaths or just plain evil. In some of us, the light of our higher selves shines brightly through, while in others, that light is impossible to find.

The higher self is the soul. When it incarnates in a human body, it must struggle to both impart its own essence into the body and acquire wisdom through the experiences it has while in the body. When we are awake, this higher self comes through during periods of deep reflection, sudden insights and intuitions, and the voice of our conscience. Since it must come through a mind that is rooted in physical conditioning and all the desires and fears of the body/ego, this voice is often distorted. The more spiritually evolved and integrated with the higher self we are, the more clearly we hear the voice of our conscience. It is the voice of the higher self that stops us from acting on selfish impulses; it's the higher self that urges us to be kind, do the right thing, and try to become better people.

While I'd like to further the idea that everyone is equally "spiritual" by nature, there do seem to be people in the world who are missing something essential. They may seem intelligent, physically healthy and even successful in the world, but they show no indication of having any higher consciousness. I can think of two people I've been very close to who seem fundamentally different on a spiritual level from everyone else. They seem to lack not only conscience and empathy for others but also self-awareness and the ability to honestly observe and question themselves.

Their energy feels different from other people's as well: There is something missing or vacant in them. Though they may otherwise seem normal and in some cases highly intelligent, they are emotionally one-dimensional. For example, in the midst of a highly charged situation wherein everyone else is distressed or in tears, these individuals will remain cold and indifferent. Though many sociopaths are very good at pretending they care, they are never truly moved by others' pain and heartache.

How to explain such people? First I think we need to open our minds to the idea that not every human body on the planet is inhabited by the same type of soul. The following is just one way to look at things. I'm not saying this is the absolute answer - no one really knows - but it does fit with what some of the greatest metaphysical minds have taught while explaining some puzzles about the nature of humankind.

Imagine that our souls are beings from another dimension that became aware of this beautiful realm we call Earth. We felt drawn to personally experience this dimension so we sought vehicles we could use in order to explore the Earth plane. Where most souls we call human chose the bodies of apes, metaphysical beings of different natures perhaps chose other animal bodies. These animals existed here before we began to inhabit them; we just saw an opportunity and found a way to join with the animal body in order to incarnate here. (None of this should be taken as a denigration of animals, by the way, as many animals seem to be more sociable and loving than the average sociopath!)

Just as our experiences in these bodies impacted our souls, our souls impacted these bodies. Since our souls brought a whole new level of consciousness to the table, apes quickly began to evolve into what we now call human beings. This rapid biological evolution led to endless possibilities for ever higher levels of experience.

If it's possible for the souls of what we call humans to do this, it's possible for the souls of other sorts of beings to do the same thing. It's also possible that sometimes bodies are born without the soul of a being from another dimension. I'm suggesting that sociopaths may either lack souls or have souls that are different in nature from the rest of us.

Humans differ from animals because we are capable of self-reflection and have a conscience. If a body were to be born without a human soul, it would have no higher self, no conscience, and ultimately no higher spiritual purpose. As it would not be here to learn spiritual lessons, its main motivations would be to seek pleasure in the moment and survive. Since it would have no higher destiny, no wisdom from past lives to draw upon, and no higher self guiding its decisions, it wouldn't behave like people with souls do; it would behave like a sociopath.

This doesn't mean that everyone who seems to lack conscience is sub-human or soul-less. Many are just young souls or people who have yet to awaken to their higher nature. Some people are almost completely controlled by their lower natures, and some are being strongly influenced by negative outside metaphysical entities.

In order to be more than physical beings, we must develop our higher natures. Developing our higher natures requires more than intellect: we have to follow our hearts to what is right and important beyond worldly concerns and physical survival; ponder ourselves from a higher perspective; and contemplate the deeper meaning of life. We must learn to think for ourselves and develop spiritual awareness so that we can consciously live from higher values instead of unconsciously acting from the instincts and desires of the body and the mindless programming of socialization. This is the freedom we stand to gain from spiritual development.

While this theory is certainly far out, it does explain why some people seem to be morally bankrupt, as well as why otherwise ordinary individuals sometimes behave like "animals." Whether you believe everyone has a human soul or not, it's obvious that some people are lacking in conscience; when this lack of conscience is extreme, the result is sociopathy.

- Julia



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