ONLY HUMAN

A wide-ranging spiritual interpretation of human nature.

Most people misunderstand what human nature is, maintains Soski in his nonfiction debut. Often people use the idea as an excuse for failings (“What do you want from me? I’m ONLY HUMAN!!!”). This, he says, is the source of much of the frustration and misdirection in life, since a clear understanding of what makes up human nature is a prerequisite for success and happiness. The book attempts to clarify it by differentiating it from its side effects: “how much have human beings ourselves really improved, changed, or evolved?” Soski asks. “Not the circumstances of our life, but our humanity?” In part to answer such questions, the author devises a “Human Operating System”—the common aspect that all humans share even when their personality traits, abilities, and experiences differ—and traces how it affects every aspect of human life. Soski, a self-described engineer who has a consultancy and coaching company called Straight-Up Soulutions, sees this system as having two complementary halves: the “Primitive Soul,” which governs the actions of the body, and the “Angelic Soul,” which, he says, “motivates us to search out a purpose and meaning for our life that is bigger than us as individuals.” In clear, easy-to-follow prose, accompanied by bullet points, charts, and illustrations, the author anatomizes the interconnected workings of the two souls in ways that will be invitingly familiar to readers of mainstream New Age spiritualist texts. The book puts a strong emphasis on the division between the real and the illusory, which leads to advice to temper the Primitive Soul and encourage the Angelic one. Still, some readers may wonder at the amount of anti-scientific thinking in this book, especially coming from an engineer, as when Soski writes, “It is believed that all living things contain a common life force that defines our existence, identity, and capabilities,” or when he asserts that “Mind does not physically exist. The mind is the manifestation of the soul.” Nevertheless, even the most hardheaded readers may agree with the sentiment behind the idea of an Angelic Soul.

An involving and enthusiastic call to listen to the better angels of our nature.