Soul Searching

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Washington, of course, is the city where the rest of the country comes to make its voice heard. The open rectangle of green grass on the Mall is one of the most powerful outdoor public spaces in the modern world. It’s where Martin Luther King gave his "I Have a Dream" speech and the destination for protesters about abortion, gun control, foreign policy, and countless other causes. Yet I’ve also enjoyed spring days strolling along the Mall while my kids clamor to pet someone’s dog.

Take note of outdoor spaces where people gather to share in the ordinariness of life and, in being together, keep city life vibrant. More than the physical landscape or architectural design of a city, it is people, individually and collectively, who are the true force that enlivens and empowers a place.

Ironically, commitment to saving the souls of our cities might lead to greater protection of wilderness. As James Hillman has frequently pointed out, Americans tend to see their cities as the place where the innocent become corrupted and where soul is lost, rather than found. He has argued passionately on behalf of reversing this trend, thus protecting nature from too much human contact and reanimating our cities from within. For to seek soul only in nature, or within ourselves, is to miss the wondrous natural creation that is a city—a convergence of community, commerce, street life, history, nature, geography, politics, art, and people that offers a perpetually renewing source of life.

Pythia Peay is a writer based in Washington, D.C., where she receives regular doses of inspiration from the Georgetown Flea Market and the Potomac River. Her book on feminine spirituality, Soul Sisters: A Sacred Way for All Women, will be published this year by Tarcher/Putnam. Some of the material in this article is adapted from

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