Journey of the Soul

What happens to our soul from

this life to the next?

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The soul, in many religions, spiritual traditions, and
philosophies, is the spiritual and eternal part of a
living being, commonly held to be separable in
existence from the body; as distinct from the
physical part. It is typically thought to consist of a
human's consciousness and personality, and can be
synonymous with the spirit, mind or self. The soul is
believed to live on after the person’s physical
death, and some religions posit that God creates
souls.
– Wikipedia
The soul and the spirit are connected, but
separable (Hebrews 4:12). The soul is the essence
of humanity’s being; it is who we are. The spirit is
the aspect of humanity that connects with God.
– GotQuestions.org
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Thou hast, moreover, asked Me concerning the
state of the soul after its separation from the body.
Know thou, of a truth, that if the soul of man hath
walked in the ways of God, it will, assuredly, return
and be gathered to the glory of the Beloved. By the
righteousness of God! It shall attain a station such
as no pen can depict, or tongue describe. The soul
that hath remained faithful to the Cause of God,
and stood unwaveringly firm in His Path shall, after
his ascension, be possessed of such power that all
the worlds which the Almighty hath created can
benefit through him.
– Bahá'u'lláh
Gleanings p. 161
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Here I stand, bruised and buffeted and maimed

And here I wait, embarrassed and ashamed
Exposed to your every loving scrutiny
Fearing the rewards of my foolish mutiny
Yet, knowing that only Your touch will cure
That only in Your arms would I feel secure.
Erase those untruths tattooed on my brain
Loosen the shackles that cause so much pain
Restore in me the positive pole
Heal me, O Great Physician of the Soul.
An uncivilized civilization
Has filled me with multiple frustration
My nerves are all jagged round the edges
Resulting from Life’s broken pledges
Extract the tyrannical oppression
Of desire for material possession
Disinfect with your sacred aspersions
Ego’s wild cacophonous assertions
Only You can snatch me from hell’s gaping hole
O Thou great Physician of the soul.
Thou hast asked Me concerning the nature of the soul.
Know, verily, that the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly
gem whose reality the most learned of men hath failed
to grasp, and whose mystery no mind, however acute,
can ever hope to unravel. It is the first among all
created things to declare the excellence of its Creator,
the first to recognize His glory, to cleave to His truth,
and to bow down in adoration before Him. If it be
faithful to God, it will reflect His light, and will,
eventually, return unto Him. If it fail, however, in its
allegiance to its Creator, it will become a victim to self
and passion, and will, in the end, sink in their depths.
– Bahá'u'lláh
Gleanings p. 155

My bewildered mind and my broken heart

Over the years, have drifted apart
And I totter on the verge of schizophrenia
Now only You can rid me of such mania
Returning poor suffering humanity
To a blissful state of sanity
Without which no human soul
Could fulfil its Cosmic role
Make us fit to reach God’s eternal goal
O Thou great Physician of the soul.
– Joy Philippou PhD
Bahá'í Poet
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One Day every soul will come up struggling for itself, and
every soul will be recompensed fully for all its actions,
and none will be unjustly dealt with (Súrih 16:111).
Verily We have revealed the Book to thee in Truth, for
instructing mankind. He, then, that receives guidance
benefits his own soul: but he that strays injures his own
soul. Nor art thou set over them to dispose of their
affairs (Súrih 39:41).
Just as God fills the whole world, so the soul fills
the body. Just as God sees, but is not seen, so the
soul sees, but is not itself seen. Just as God feeds
the whole world, so the soul feeds the whole body.
Just as God is pure, so the soul is pure. Just as God
dwells in the innermost precincts (of the Temple),
so also the soul dwells in the innermost part of the
body.

– The Qur’án
– From the Jewish Holy Writings:
Talmud, Berakot 10a

O my mother Nut, stretch your wings over me;

Let me become like the imperishable stars,
like the indefatigable stars.
O Great Being who is in the world of the Dead,
at whose feet is Eternity,
in whose hand is the Always,
O divine beloved Soul who is in the mysterious abyss,
come to me.

– The Louvre Museum is the largest national museum of France, the most
visited museum in the world, and a historic monument. The above is a
beautiful inscription on a sarcophagus (tomb) in the Louvre
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The nature of the soul after death can never be
described, nor is it meet and permissible to reveal its
whole character to the eyes of men. The Prophets and
Messengers of God have been sent down for the sole
purpose of guiding mankind to the straight Path of
Truth. The purpose underlying Their revelation hath
been to educate all men, that they may, at the hour of
death, ascend, in the utmost purity and sanctity and
with absolute detachment, to the throne of the Most
High. The light which these souls radiate is responsible
for the progress of the world and the advancement of
its peoples. They are like unto leaven which leaveneth
the world of being, and constitute the animating force
through which the arts and wonders of the world are
made manifest. Through them the clouds rain their
bounty upon men, and the earth bringeth forth its
fruits. All things must needs have a cause, a motive
power, an animating principle. These souls and symbols
of detachment have provided, and will continue to
provide, the supreme moving impulse in the world of
being.
– Bahá'u'lláh
Gleanings p. 155
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The soul has two main faculties. First, as outer
circumstances are communicated to the soul by the eyes,
ears, and brain of a man, so does the soul communicate its
desires and purposes through the brain to the hands and
tongue of the physical body, thereby expressing itself. The
spirit in the soul is the very essence of life. The second
faculty of the soul expresses itself in the world of vision,
where the soul inhabited by the spirit has its being, and
functions without the help of the material bodily senses.
There, in the realm of vision, the soul sees without the
help of the physical eye, hears without the aid of the
physical ear, and travels without dependence upon
physical motion. It is, therefore, clear that the spirit in the
soul of man can function through the physical body by
using the organs of the ordinary senses, and that it is able
also to live and act without their aid in the world of vision.
This proves without a doubt the superiority of the soul of
man over his body, the superiority of spirit over matter.
For example, look at this lamp: is not the light
within it superior to the lamp which holds it? However
beautiful the form of the lamp may be, if the light is not
there its purpose is unfulfilled, it is without life -- a dead
thing. The lamp needs the light, but the light does not
need the lamp.
The spirit does not need a body, but the body
needs spirit, or it cannot live. The soul can live without a
body, but the body without a soul dies.
– `Abdu'l-Bahá
Pairs Talks pp. 86-87
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A great Indian teacher has described the process
of awakening to the presence and guidance of
the soul in these words:
As the crust of our outer nature cracks, as the
walls of inner separation break down, the inner
light gets through, the inner fire burns in the
heart, the substance of the nature and stuff of
consciousness refines to a greater subtlety and
purity and the deeper psychic experiences
become possible in this subtler, purer, finer
substance; the soul begins to unveil itself, the
psychic personality reaches its full stature. The
soul then manifests itself as the central being
which upholds mind and life and body...It takes
up its greater function as the guide and ruler of
our nature.
– Sri Aurobindo, the Life Divine
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“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake:
some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting
contempt.” Similarly, Jesus Himself said that the wicked “will
go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal
life” (Matthew 25:46). With the same Greek word used to refer
to both “punishment” and “life,” it is clear that both the
wicked and the righteous have an eternal/immortal soul. The
unmistakable teaching of the Bible is that all people, whether
they are saved or lost, will exist eternally. True life or spiritual
life does not cease when our fleshly bodies pass away in death.
Our souls will live forever. In fact, the promise of the Bible is
that not only will our souls live forever, but also that our
bodies will be resurrected. This hope of a bodily resurrection is
at the very heart of the Christian faith (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).
While all souls are immortal, it is important to remember that
we are not eternal in the same way that God is. God is the only
truly eternal being in that He alone is without a beginning or
end. God has always existed and will always continue to exist.
All other sentient creatures, whether they are human or
angelic, are finite in that they had a beginning. While our souls
will live forever once we come into being, the Bible does not
support the concept that our souls have always existed. Our
souls are immortal, as that is how God created them, but they
did have a beginning; there was a time they did not exist.
– Without a doubt the human soul is immortal. This is clearly seen in
many Scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments: (Psalm 22:26; 23:6;
49:7-9; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Daniel 12:2-3; Matthew 25:46; and 1
Corinthians 15:12-19. Daniel 12:2)