In his exploration of soul, Phil Cousineau explains how it is part and parcel of the spiritual search for meaning.
"To listen to everyday conversation or read a daily newspaper in this light is to quickly learn to appreciate how the word has persisted despite the awkwardness of trying to describe it. We still constantly stretch to capture her gypsy heart with proverbs, parables, similes, metaphors, folk sayings, and song lyrics, expressions that plumb the depths of language when we describe how we search our soul or lose it; how eyes are windows to the soul, or why harmonious architecture is full of soul and concrete jungles are soulless; how carefully handicrafted works are soulful and assembly line goods devoid of it, or how we give our souls up to God and sell them to the devil; how we break our hearts but lose our souls, have mortal bodies but immortal souls, seek out food for the soul and devour soul food; how soul mates long to live together, and soul brothers share soul handshakes; how we do soul work, suffer soul loss and drift like lost souls, study soul theft and soul retrieval in anthropology studies, play duets of "Heart and Soul" on the piano and select "Soul and Inspiration" on the jukebox, earnestly try to harmonize mind, body, and soul in therapy, or just plain describe folks as hearty souls, troubled souls, gentle souls, old souls."