Hey everybody, this is Stacey. Welcome back—or perhaps welcome for the very first time if you’re just joining us.

If you’re starting here -or reached the very last episode in the list, I want to invite you with open arms to go all the way back to the beginning. Start with those very first eight episodes of The Soul Podcast. Maybe it’s been months or even years since you first heard them. Or maybe you binged them just last week. Either way, there’s fresh value waiting for you there. Those early episodes lay the foundation for everything we explore together, and they hold truths that reveal themselves differently each time you return.

In those first eight episodes, I make an important observation that feels more vital today than ever: Every culture, for as far back as we can trace human awareness—and probably much further—has been aware of -and in deep agreement about- one fundamental thing: there is an eternal part of all of us. The soul.

In the early episodes, I look back as far as 70,000 years, drawing from ancient cave art, burial rituals, and the earliest spiritual expressions we know of. Across continents, languages, and vastly different ways of life, the idea of something immortal within us persists. From Indigenous traditions to ancient Egyptian concepts of the ka and ba, from Hindu atman to the philosophical inquiries of Plato and beyond—humanity has consistently pointed to this invisible, enduring essence. It’s not a modern invention or a religious add-on. It’s woven into the very fabric of what it means to be human. The soul is not a new idea. 

Quoting Socrates, around 3,000 years ago -before the rise of the current religions, Plato wrote, "The soul of man is immortal and imperishable." 

Think about that. Christianity claims to be the protector of the soul, yet we've known about the soul since before Socrates - long before Jesus was born. 

There are two great intangible concepts that stand out in this human journey: the soul and love. Every single culture we’ve ever encountered has words for them. Think about that. You can’t see them, touch them, weigh them, or put them in a test tube. Yet we all know they exist. We feel them. We long for them. We organize our lives around them. Love and the Soul.

Let me explain what I mean by that. The soul is that eternal spark—the part of you that existed before this body and will continue after it. It’s your truest identity, your consciousness, your unique expression of the divine or the universal. Love, on the other hand, is the force, the energy, the movement. It’s how the soul connects, expands, heals, and remembers itself. They’re inseparable. The soul without love is like a lantern with no flame—present, but not fully alive. Love without the recognition of the soul can become fleeting or conditional. But together? They create the profound, transformative experiences that make life meaningful.

Without a sense of love we are empty human boxes. Love illuminates us. 

This isn’t just ancient philosophy or poetic speculation. Look at what happens when people cross over and come back—near-death experiences, or NDEs. Study after study shows that the vast majority of those who return from an NDE report the same core revelation: life is all about love. When they’re on the other side and asked questions—by beings of light, by loved ones who’ve passed, or by their own higher self—those questions almost always revolve around love. “How much did you love?” “Did you learn to love unconditionally?” “What did you do with the love you were given?” The message comes through again and again for all the many years people have been speaking about, writing about and studying NDEs: love is the curriculum of our human existence. Everything else—achievements, possessions, status—fades into the background. The soul’s report card is written in the language of love.

Love isn’t just an integral part of our journey here on Earth.
We could argue that perhaps love is our journey.

It’s the reason we incarnate, the curriculum of the soul. Every relationship, every heartbreak, every act of kindness or forgiveness, every moment of deep connection or painful separation—it’s all part of the soul learning the infinite nuances of love in human form. Experiencing it Living it. Touching it. Love stretches us. It asks us to grow beyond ego, fear, and limitation. It invites us to remember who we really are.

As Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet and mystic, so beautifully put it: 

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” 

And think of all those barriers that hide you away from love. Perhaps the greatest is fear. Fear of hurt. Fear of the unknown. Fear that you're not worthy. Fear in all it's forms can make you close yourself off for the vague belief you are protecting yourself -all the while living in hunger of love. Hate may be the opposite of love, but fear is love's greatest nemesis.

And elsewhere Rumi says: “Love is the whole thing. We are only pieces.”

Plato, drawing from ancient Greek thought, reminded us of the impact of love: “At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet,” and Aristotle echoed the depth with similar insight. “Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.”

And even Einstein observed with wonder: “Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love.”

Pierre de Chardin, the 20th century scientist and spiritual teacher said,
“Love alone is capable of uniting living beings in such a way as to complete and fulfill them, for it alone takes them and joins them by what is deepest in themselves.”

These aren’t just pretty words. They point to the same eternal truth: Love is the journey -and the soul and love are intertwined at the deepest level.

So when you return to the beginning and listen again—with fresh ears, perhaps after everything you’ve experienced since the first time—you’ll see that the truth has been hidden in plain sight all along. It remains hidden in plain sight today, even in our hyper-connected, materialistic world. We chase success, possessions, status, and distractions, yet the quiet voice of the soul keeps whispering: Remember love. Remember who you are.

We are all souls—eternal, radiant beings—temporarily housed in these beautiful, fragile human forms. And right now, in this lifetime, we are here to define and experience all the details and nuances of love. The unconditional kind. The messy kind. The trans formative, healing, world-changing, Earth- healing kind. The love that forgives, that creates, that sees beyond differences, that connects us across time and space.

Take a moment right now, wherever you are—driving, walking, sitting quietly—and feel into that. Your soul knows love. It is love at its core. Every challenge you face is an invitation to love more deeply. Every joy is love expressing itself. Every connection is the soul reaching out to another soul, saying, “I see you. I remember you.”

If this resonates, go back to those first eight episodes. Let them remind you. And then keep going—because the journey never really ends. The soul’s exploration of love is infinite.

Thank you for being here with me on this path. I’m so grateful to walk it alongside you. If something in today’s reflection stirred your soul, share it with a friend or leave a comment. Your journey matters. Your stories matter. 

Until next time, keep listening to that still, small voice inside. It’s the voice of your eternal self, guiding you home through love.

Be well, love deeply, and remember—you are so much more than your body.