Soul lessons for Sunday

Alternate title: The Gospel according to Rio

The Ancient Greeks saw the seat of the soul as the heart. We modern humans, despite periodic heartaches, tend to visualize ours “selves” as being in our heads.

While talking to 10-year-old Rio today about where in the vehicle Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’s soul was located (he couldn’t decide) I asked him where in his body he felt the essence of Rio was located.

He thought long and hard—furrowed his little brow—then rubbed his right hand over his heart and said, “Here.”

Then quickly qualified, “But I could be wrong.”

Rather than kiss him on top of his head, on his cheek, or on his mouth—as is my normal fashion—I leaned down and kissed him above his heart. Sensitive child that he is, I have no doubt he was right. The seat of your soul is wherever you feel it is, I told him.

He has a wonderful mind—inherited from me—but he has an even better heart. He’s truly a blend of the best that both his mother and I have to offer.

PS: You absolutely must read Ian Fleming’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the story of the original transformer, out-loud to a child. If you do not have a child, you must go out and borrow one forthwith. Fleming’s tale of the magical car and the Pott family is a true masterpiece of the English Language. The flow, the cadence, the subtle humor, and amazing soul of the book make it by far the most wonderful thing I’ve ever read.

I wish I could write even half as well.