The blessed being
An ode to the soul by Ken Heylen
Reaching the zero point
The sacred foundation
World for the Soul is rooted in the timeless wisdom of Islam—not as a label or limitation, but as living truth that speaks to every human heart. My journey has been shaped by the Islamic principles of soul purification (Jihad al-Nafs), honoring the fitrah (pure nature), and pursuing divine connection. But the soul knows no boundaries. The longings of the heart for God, for truth, for liberation—this transcends all labels. This work is for everyone who recognizes that the world as it is does not honor the soul. For Muslims: this is a space where psychological guidance is perfectly aligned with Islam, where you never need to fear shirk, but rather strengthen your bond with Allah. For everyone: this is a space where the universal truth of the soul is central, where you learn to make worldly life (dunya) subordinate to the soul frequency and strengthen your God-consciousness (taqwa)—that divine connection which has been a fact since your birth.
The fire that never dies
I came into this world as fire! Not the fire that burns, but the fire that reveals, that makes visible everything that does not stand in the light of truth.
While people around me lived in smoke and shadow, I saw the lie everywhere and felt something ancient moving within me: a knowing that this was not my reality.
Where others cherished their wounds, I refused to play along. I spat out the darkness, not from hatred, but from love and loyalty to the sacred.
That fire made me an outsider and also a seer. It burned away everything that was not real, it made room for all that was meant to be.
When I later started my practice as Ken Heylen Counseling, I still hid behind the title of my diplomas, the direction in which I graduated, but at the same time I still felt suffocated in a jacket that was not mine. A jacket that did not allow my full soul path to unfold. This was still not the freedom my soul deserves. The fire no longer wanted to learn about healing. It chose life as healing.
That was the beginning of my true path, not as just another counselor, but as a unique Alchemist of which there is only one.
Preparing the soil
The inner protection
The child of God in the midst of the storm.
While adults around me forgot their humanity, I felt something other than fear. I felt God.
Not as a concept or prayer, but as permanent presence, as fact, as true home. As if a baby lived within me that I was allowed to carry, a pure spark that I must not drop and had to protect like a rugby ball against the tackles of every challenge in life! Not from resistance, but from loyalty to what matters, to what is essence!
From that day I knew that my primary task in this life was not to save others, but to protect and honor the child of God within myself—with pure intention (niyyah) and unwavering faith (iman). So devoted that it can only be symbolized 24/7 by a fiercely passionate and intense fire. A fire that became my warmth and thus also warmth for everyone who unwillingly lives in cold, a warmth that proves to you "you are always welcome". The message with which I once changed the life of the abandoned baby within me and now also changes the life of everyone who wishes it. A role model that represents never-ending loyalty and indomitable devotion that every baby deserves.
As a young child I sat at my bed on my knees, literally praying to God, hands folded on the bed, begging for protection, because around me I found nothing but screaming, abuse and the denial of honor. It seemed as if the answer failed to come, because the tyranny continued. Later I understood that His silence was my formation. He did not give me what I asked for, but made me into what I needed: a father for my own soul.
Thus my so-called "OCD" also became a shaping of my sacred territory: rituals with which I guarded the light within the walls of my being.
I learned that aversion can also be love, the love that refuses to let impurity enter. Because oh yes I abhor everything that attacks light and everything that rudely dismisses gentleness!
The trial
Love as fire that purifies.
My path was not marked by pain, but by trial (ibtila)—each test an invitation to purify my ego (nafs).
The first woman came not as a partner, but as a lesson in compassion. She showed me how treacherous goodness becomes when you use it against your own soul. I chose concern instead of truth, and I felt the price: the extinguishing of my own fire. Not through her fault, but through my compromise that went against myself, to save her.
The second woman brought the opposite: seduction, desire, the brilliance of the outside world and the external. This experience was a mirror in which I saw how quickly light can be sold for attention. With her I learned that love requires no martyrdom and no begging, but a stream that can only be real when it flows in two directions, no matter what.
These trials in love cannot transform if I were to call one of them narcissists. The blame is on me. God tested me and where I first failed, through that failure I found the way to a purer image of love.
Through relationships we clear the subconscious, there was quite a bit left in the dark that all had to come to the surface/consciousness before I could develop further. So I have no use for stamps, labels and pointing fingers. I only benefit from how I can understand that this was God's love, which through truth shone light on the lies and on the ignorance in me. I can only grow if I acknowledge the failure in myself and the love in God.
Together, the trials in love showed me the sacred middle. Not the cold of self-denial, not the fire of seduction, but the quiet glow of God that breathes through me and can only exist through unwavering loyalty to truth.
Since then I know: God does not save from the outside. He awakens the fire within to be loyal to our soul and to His love. And this awakening of fire is true Alchemy. Where energy is converted into the light that makes the path visible between God and your soul, and makes that an absolute priority.
The mission
World for the Soul.
In a world immersed in the material (dunya) and that has forgotten its soul, World for the Soul was born. Not merely as an organization, but as a counterweight. An oxygen supply from God, in a society that has squeezed its lungs shut.
World for the Soul is not a system, not a school, not a church. It is the water in which the little fish can swim again, after struggling on the shore. It is the world where souls that have been forgotten for years finally receive what they are entitled to.
When people enter my field, something happens that they cannot control. Not only because of what I do, but especially because of what I am. My presence lights the fire in rooms where they kept the darkness. Some then close the door. Others stand still and breathe truly for the first time. They don't run away, they go for more oxygen, more mirrors, they want to live in truth.
World for the Soul is the movement with THE medicine for this time: the light that no longer asks for permission.
My task is not to convince, to heal or to save. My task is simple: to be present as truth and to represent it, so that the soul in the other remembers who it is. The ego can flee, the ego can hate me, the ego can do what it wants, but my fire and light will continue undisturbed.
World for the Soul is the field in which that happens. The natural restoration of balance in a world that has lost its origin. And I am merely the guardian of that stream, an ambassador for God's love.
Planting the seeds
The closing - ode to the soul
In a world where the soul is dishonored and forgotten, I light the fire and bring an ode to the soul. Not as a savior, but as a reminder, a breath that says: we have never been lost, only forgotten.
I carry that light first and foremost for my children: Yasmina, Ayden and Ryan.
Each of them embodies a different facet of my indomitable heart. Yasmina is able at a young age to let her higher self lead. Ryan has known from an early age that by sharing you give not only the other but also yourself a higher value. Ayden is the indomitable and unshakeable loyalty, he lets love prevail and has always answered my devotion and never let it be overshadowed by fear. He has given me back exactly what I gave him, the only person in the world who gives me back as much from himself. Even when they make him afraid, he remains in truth.
Remaining in truth, no matter what, is the highest form of love, and love is only real when it hides nothing.
World for the Soul is not my work, but our collective breath in a world that is learning to breathe again and that resuscitates all that is dead in humanity. You only have to consciously choose it.
Are you ready to truly live?
Make your appointment and transcend death, by truly living. Transcend the darkness by being the light, transcend the cold, by being the fire.
Growing the tree
The path to mastery
This is not wisdom borrowed from books. This is not theory plucked from a diploma. This is lived truth, tested by fire and proven through mastery.
45 years of life experience learning to navigate the world without losing my soul. 45 years where every challenge, every trial (ibtila), every dark night brought me closer to truth.
15+ years in the field, not as a therapist treating symptoms, but as an alchemist guiding souls back to their origin. Thousands of conversations, thousands of masterys, thousands of moments witnessing what happens when someone returns to truth.
6+ years of intensive Islamic study—not as a hobby, but as a life path. Studying the principles of soul purification, jihad al-nafs, tazkiyah. Learning to understand why Islam places the soul so central and how this wisdom is universally applicable.
Years of exploration through different faith traditions—Catholic faith, Jehovah's Witnesses, and more—not to judge, but to recognize: all truth points to the same source. The language differs, the rituals differ, but the soul recognizes its own truth.
Psychology and therapy studied—4 years of psychology, 3 years of therapy—and then transcended. Because I understood that the system does not serve the soul. That diagnoses do not honor truth. That people don't need treatment, but remembrance.
What makes an alchemist? Not the diplomas. Not the titles. But the ability to see what others have forgotten. The ability to speak truth when others remain silent. The ability to stand in the light, regardless of the storm.
This work is not my validation by the system. This work is my devotion to the soul—yours, mine, and everyone who is ready to truly live.