Pneuma- The Higher Reality
(part 2)

The Spirit Bears the Soul

Birth of the Soul-

The soul is first the receiver and then the reservoir for all of life’s experiences. She is the essential partner of the spirit in this thing called life. Every breathing being comes into this world with a soul, but how do the souls of God’s creatures of consciousness come into being? What divine process is responsible for giving birth to the soul? Well, perhaps “birth” is not the best word to describe this spiritual phenomenon, but we know that everything has come from spirit, which is also true of the soul. The notion that spirits bear their companion souls may seem a little peculiar at first because we would expect spirit to give birth to spirit, which God has done for His children of spirit. Or in a similar way, the birth of child is something we can make sense of because it is flesh from flesh, but what about bringing consciousness from spirit?

By divine design, our natural world is patterned after the higher spiritual reality of God, so we can use this world to learn about the higher, spiritual realm. So, if we know when life begins in the natural, it may provide clues about when the soul is born of the spirit. Now for a variety of reasons including that of simple logic, there is absolutely no doubt when a human life begins. It is the moment of conception when the two half lives of the egg and the sperm come together to become one. From this moment on, the baby only needs what EVERY human being needs- appropriate food and shelter. It is really that simple, but many still cannot see this obvious truth. Even so, surely this “miracle of nature” moment has spiritual significance as well. I believe this natural union that forms a new life is also the spiritual moment when the soul (consciousness) is conceived. Consciousness is the result of spirit entering matter. The material world is the platform and home for consciousness to be born. While consciousness begins when spirit meets matter, it certainly doesn’t end there. Yes, the soul (consciousness) grows and matures as we live in this world in hopes of entering holy matrimony with the Spirit of Christ, which we will look at later.

Well, so far we have only addressed WHEN the soul comes into being, but what about the how? Well, it should be clear that the soul must come from the spirit, which is the source of all life. Like the Word of God, our spirit also enters our personal void to fill it and learn from it. Now, if we are seeking wisdom about the birth of the soul, we should go back to the beginning of the self-conscious man. If Eve represents the soul, then let’s again look into how Eve came into being?

Genesis 2:21
So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. 22 Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. 23 The man said, "This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called `woman,' for she was taken out of man."

Again, let’s keep in mind that we are not reading science lessons here! It is necessary to first put on our spiritual glasses before reading anything in a spiritual way. Without such vision, some still actually believe that the first female human was created from a rib of the male human! Sure, God could have performed this “miracle” and could have made our moon out of cheese, but He didn’t. God didn’t break the laws of nature to create humans because the infrastructure that took billions of years to create was already in place. As we surely know by now, many stories and even words of the Bible are signs to help us. They are symbols, similes and yes shadows of a higher, spiritual reality. This is certainly true with the story of Adam and Eve.

For far too long, many have taken this quite literally adding more confusion and deception to an already nonsensical story that has been passed down through the generations. What few Bible readers may know is that there were similar stories of persons coming into existence from another’s body part going back into the ancient fables and mythology. There it was said that Athena, goddess of wisdom, sprang from the forehead of Zeus; and Ea, the god of wisdom, was said to have come from the ear of Ninurta. There was also Aphrodite, the goddess of love, who was given her birth from the sea foam created around the male genitalia of the castrated Uranus. Fortunately for seekers of the truth, the rib of Adam story is not as far-fetched as these fairytales because there is hidden meaning behind the words.

We read that the LORD God took out a “rib” from Adam and closed the hole with flesh. As it turns out, this little word “rib” is the Hebrew word “tsela” that can have an entirely different meaning than just a bone from our side. In many cases throughout the Old Testament books, this word is translated as “side” or “a side”. In other words, a “side” of Adam was taken to mean that “half” of Adam (the spirit of man) was used to create Eve (the soul of man). Of course it seems a little ridiculous to think something as intangible as spirit could be divided in half, but this is simply the best way to explain this spiritual phenomenon in physical terms. What is important here to understand is that Adam (spirit) and Eve (soul) were first ONE and that the soul came OUT OF the spirit. This brings to mind something similar that we see in nature called mitosis. This is the process when a cell divides to create TWO from one. Does this remind you of anything?

John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

In the beginning of man’s life on earth was the soul, and the soul was in the spirit and the soul was spirit- a wonderful enlightenment! Many Bible readers continue to overlook the depth and power of this first statement from the Book of John that has an ancient, even pre-biblical beginning. As some have come to learn, this passage was written or at least established by the Hindus hundreds of years before the early Christians penned it. Even so, truth is truth; and the important message being described here is that moment before all things when there was only God. Interestingly, God had His Word there and they were both collectively ONE God. So in the Beginning (even before the Genesis of man!), God and His Word were one in the same way as Adam and Eve were one- after all, they are God’s offspring. Is there is any doubt that all life has been patterned after God? This was my main theme in Shadows of a Higher Reality, which is why we can find clues and revelations all around us in the natural world and in the Bible.

Another important clue telling us how the soul comes to be is what first happens to the spirit. The LORD God (Word of God) caused the man (Adam, spirit of man) to fall into a deep sleep, which is to say, the spirit of man became unconscious/unaware. This is important because it is when the spirit is unconscious that the soul is taken from the spirit. This makes perfect sense because the soul is the keeper of consciousness. It is clear that our lives and spiritual makeup are patterned after God who is our Father. With this in mind, we should then see the correlation between God/Word and spirit/soul.

The Bible tells us that in the Beginning God “spoke” into the void and said, “Let there be light!” Light is synonymous with thought, with consciousness and with expression. This was the Beginning of Consciousness when God’s Word went out into creation to fill it with life and create an image of God. So in the same way, the soul (consciousness) emerges from the spirit into the body to fill and learn from it. So it should be clear that the soul is becoming the image of our spirit just as our spirit is becoming the image of God. I think we see a more pure influence of the spirit in the younger years of life. Not long after children learn to speak and before the world has had any great affect on their thinking, children seem to express the innocence and purity of the spirit within.

However, it isn‘t long before the soul is in the middle of a battle of duality. On one side she has her spiritual self speaking to her before she can even effectively communicate herself. Inevitably after being bombarded by the information of the material world, her natural self grows stronger, and a personality emerges that is a blend of the spiritual and the natural. All too often the personality is governed by the genetics of the soul’s natural parents, the circumstances of her natural environment and the teachings of the natural world.

Yes, some certainly believe they are merely the product of their parents genes, but what about our spiritual Parent? You can tell the children of God from the orphans of the world. As Paul explained, the spiritual soul (mind) is the one who follows the will of the spirit and takes on the image of the spirit. In this way, our spiritual self can shine through into the world, which is what Jesus told us (Matthew 5:16). Of course, this requires some degree of surrender to our natural tendencies and acceptance of the spirit’s desires. What some call “inner peace” is obtained when our soul and spirit are unified like a husband and wife being only led by love. In this healthy relationship, the spirit (husband) is willing to give her the totality of his life, love and attention. In turn, the soul (wife) is obedient and desires to carry out the will of the spirit. She follows the lead of the spirit even if it seemingly looks to be a mistake. Noah certainly followed his spirit because he knew that God was speaking to him in this way. Consider too the martyrs who followed their hearts (spirits) to their natural deaths. Sometimes they suffer together, but either way, we must understand that they are distinguishable “parts” of our spiritual being as Job and other writers of the Bible understood.

Job 7:11
"Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit,
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

Notice that Job said he would speak out through his spirit. Truly this is the only way to directly communicate with God. Job goes on to say that he will complain because of the bitterness in his soul. (Yes, it seems we all have an outspoken male and a nagging woman within us!) Clearly, Job and all the prophets understood there is a differentiation between the soul and spirit. Paul wrote that the Word of God was able to separate them like marrow from the bone (Hebrews 4:12). This really corresponds to what Jesus said about marriage- let no man separate what God has joined. So yes, the spirit and soul collectively make up our spiritual self.

As discussed earlier, this union is our Adam/Eve nature within each of us. If we can see that each of us is male/female then many New Testament teachings on “men’s” and “women’s” roles take on a whole new meaning. For example in 1 Peter 3:7 we read that the “woman” has (according to the divine order of God) been made lower and weaker than the man. Then the spiritual translation is saying that the soul is made a little weaker than the spirit. Yes, this is true and for good reason. Again, it is obvious from any history book that carnal men with ulterior motives have abused this spiritual truth on purely natural levels to oppress women. This was unfortunately true all throughout the history of Judaism and Christianity. This is just another example of what the naturally minded swine of religion will do with the spiritual pearls of God’s truths.

I admit that it is possible these writers, like most men of his day, were sexist. However I would rather take the high road and give them the benefit of the doubt. Either way, we should always aspire to find the spiritual truth they very certainly may be representing.

So the soul comes from the spirit, but even though the soul may begin “weaker” than the spirit, she can achieve the level of equality but not superiority. When the soul is born from the spirit, she is not equal and certainly not greater than her life giver. We see this divine pattern’s derivation from God Himself. Didn’t the Son/Word, who was God and with God, come from the Father in the Beginning? Yet, we know that the Son is not greater than the Father (John 14:28); however, the Son can and will become the equal of the Father after being qualified (John 10:30). Jesus became the Son of God and therefore the face and heir of God (John 14:9). And in the end, we know that even the Son will be subdued by the Father (1Corinthians 15:28). All of creation has been endowed with God’s potential, even desire, for divine harmony.

Like the Word that came from God, when the soul comes forth from the spirit she is also entering the “void,” which we call the body. And her purpose is essentially the same as that of the Word- to gain a higher level of consciousness and discover (know) the truth of identity. Upon coming forth from the spirit, the soul enters the body, which is like entering a dark new world. At this point though she is like the mind of a child- sinless and pure. She is like a perfect virgin, but this pristine state will not likely last because the devil and his domain (the temporary world) are always trying to pull her down deeper into hell. In this way, the soul is the medium between the two worlds- the spiritual and the natural. Upon entering this world, she is constantly wooed by both the spirit and the flesh, which leads to stress. The soul that finds peace is the one that is wise enough (like the five virgins, Matthew 25:1-13) to stay pure and wait for her mate- the mature spirit of Christ. However, life is about choices, so the story of the carnal soul is much different than that of the spiritual soul.

Dissolution the Soul-

Most do not want to hear about this subject, and I guess I can understand why. In actuality, many are likely taught that the soul is immortal, but that is just not the case. While it can be said that the spirit of man (the true and higher self) is immortal, the state of his soul is conditional and is not necessarily immortal. So yes, in spite of popular belief the life of the soul can end in destruction, or more accurately, I should say- dissolution. I do not hold this belief alone because Jesus himself speaks of the soul’s destruction.

Matthew 10:26
"So do not be afraid of them. There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Many have heard this strong warning from Jesus, but how many actually believe that God destroys the souls of the wicked in hell? Most conveniently read that God ‘can’ do this, as if to say that God doesn’t actually destroy souls in hell. Well, Jesus didn’t make idle threats nor do we have any reason to believe that he speaking hypothetically here. No, I seriously doubt Jesus would just throw out these words to simply scare his listeners to God. Fear is not the way to God. Instead, God uses love to draw us near, but sinful things cannot come near to God. And it is for this very reason that evil souls have no place in the Kingdom of God.

I think the reason that some are very hesitant to accept the fact that souls are destroyed in hell is a matter of linguistics. They are simply misunderstanding what the words destruction, soul and hell actually mean in this context. Many are still taught that hell is the underworld where sin, Satan and all sorts of evils exist. Well, this is basically true, but our world is the lower world where ALL of these things exist. This is the place where the devil is able to kill the body, but where God can and does dissolve both body and soul. We know that the word soul is akin to consciousness, which brings us closer to understanding what Jesus is really saying here. Nothing evil can enter the Kingdom of God, and this is why the carnal consciousness of many, even though they believe, cannot be saved. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God and neither can the soul attached to it. This should not really come as a surprise because Jesus talked about this kind of destruction or dissolution on many occasions. He told us that most were on the path leading to their destruction while few would actually find the narrow gate of salvation (Matthew 7:13-14).

I must admit that the term “destruction” is a bit harsh and probably not the most accurate way to describe what happens to the unsaved, carnal soul. I know some Bibles use the word "lost" to describe what happens to souls in hell. Like water that is LOST after being spilled on the ground is closer to the true sense of the word, I think. Or we could think of the soul as the leaves that are put on by the tree (spirit). As we live our lives, our soul grows and matures providing a canopy over the spirit. Like the leaves, the soul is there to help the spirit grow. And then after each season (life) the leaves fall away from the tree, but not in vain. Every ring in the tree is a past life full of memories of that season, so the soul is not actually gone forever. In this way, any “part” of the soul that has become worthy and holy through the eternal life in the Spirit of Christ is retained. Nothing good is lost.

I know that some are taught the soul is immortal. Unfortunately, this is just another area of confusion because many confuse the soul with the spirit. Yes, the spirit is eternal because this is our life line to God. If this could be severed, we would cease to exist. While spirit can never cease to exist, it certainly can be impeded or disrupted by our life’s choices. Jesus referred to a man’s natural death as being asleep, which is to say that the spirit can loose consciousness but can never actually die. Now on many occasions we read about the salvation of one’s spirit, but there is only one account of the soul being saved in the New Testament writings. Here it is-

1 Peter 1:8
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

To my knowledge this is the only mention from the apostles of the soul being saved. Peter says that the salvation of our souls is the GOAL of our faith. Moreover, he said that they were already receiving. This should really resonate about WHAT salvation is and from WHERE we are being saved. In this case, their souls (minds) were already being saved from the darkness of this world. How? These souls were living in the light of the Spirit of Christ. You see, we are spirit from God that has come into this world in human form with the goal of becoming the image of God from the inside out. This transformation begins in our mature spirit and then translates itself into our minds and into our actions. So if we have already matured and have taken on the Spirit of Christ, then now our soul must follow and become an expression of our spirit. In this way, she is saved from death. Consider this passage from Paul.

1 Timothy 2:15
But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety.

As I have said before, it is possible that Paul was like many of the men in his day- a sexist who looked down upon women. OR it could be that Paul was speaking spiritually here saying that SOULS are saved through bringing Christ (the image of God) into the world. This makes perfect sense because our spirits cannot bring Christ into the material world without the help of the soul, his helper from the beginning (Genesis 2:18). So let’s go back to the beginning and follow the life of the soul.

Each soul comes into this world with a bit of a predisposition, which is inherited from all the past lives of her husband, the spirit. In each life, the soul leaves the spirit and enters the world to become more and more aware of the flesh that contains her. After being placed in this “garden”, she (like Eve) begins taking in the knowledge of the physical world through her natural senses. The carnal soul will then forget the spirit, who is her life, and will identify her self with flesh. In doing so, she learns from the natural world that she is male or female, black or white, tall or short, fat or skinny. Every soul that comes into the world must overcome these lies concealing her true identity and life. If she is wise and mature, she will begin to seek out the spirit and giver of life. However, if she continues to please only the flesh, she will be handed the same fate as her body.

Something we must always keep in mind is that everything is spirit from God because God is all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28). This means that our soul and even our body is a manifestation of spirit. The body is formed from the spirit of the earth while our soul is formed from the substance of the spirit. When life here in this world ends, the body gives back its spirit to the earth from which it was created. In the same way, the soul is dissolved and absorbed back into our spirit, which is very similar to how water manifests itself in three different states. Suppose the body to be a block of ice, the soul to be bucket of water and our spirit to be the water vapor surrounding them both. Then death is like an intense heat of a fire coming upon them all. With no knowledge of three state of water, it might appear to some that the ice and water were destroyed by the heat, but this is not the case. The ice and water were simple transformed into a higher state called water vapor. It is unseen, but it is certainly not annihilated or destroyed. The same can be said of our body and soul. The soul that is not ready to be saved is transformed and the body dissolved back into Mother Earth. Truly, we will all are salted with that divine fire after each life. Furthermore, we are all being tested (even qualified) while living each life in this world. We are here to learn the right thing to do.

Mark 8:35
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36
What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? 37

There is no doubt that this world will test us. Yes, God wants us to learn what is right and to become perfect in His sight. He wants us to know good from evil. Moreover, God wants this knowledge written in our hearts and not just in our minds. In this way, we will no longer rely on the laws, books or governments of the world to guide us. Either way, the Truth closes in on mankind from all directions. By accepting the truths that are being gathered by mankind from every branch of study and reasoning, we are moving ourselves closer to God. All truths lead us closer to the Truth. This is especially true as we continue to increase the knowledge of the sciences, which I will go into later in this writing. But for now, let’s briefly consider some of the findings from the field of psychology.

The Id, the Ego and the Superego-

You may recall this trio of terms from Psych 101 (a class I barely remember). Well if you will bear with me, I want to revisit this tripartite division of the human psyche (soul) in a more spiritual way. I bet you never thought Freud’s work would be used to support spiritual truths! Neither did I, but as it turns out, he was on to something. However before we delve too deeply into the spiritual implications here, I think we should first familiarize ourselves again regarding the distinctions that Freud assigned to each of these three components of our psyche. By the way, isn’t it interesting that he found there to be three subparts making one whole!) Yes, isn’t it wonderful! It seems clear that God’s triadic fingerprints imprinted on all of creation have also left an impression on Freud’s insight into human psychology.

First there is the ID, which has been defined as the source of our psychological energies produced from the more instinctual needs and drives. The id would be considered the most primitive part of the psyche. Next is what is called the EGO, which in this particular context is considered the mediator between the id and the superego. So in the Freudian sense of the word, the “ego” is responsible for organizing/balancing our thoughts and decisions between instinct and reason. Lastly there is the SUPEREGO, which is considered our most inner and evolved part of conscious that is extenuated/governed by rules, morals and an overall desire to be “perfect.” Obviously, the superego often stands in opposition to the id with the ego in between.

I suppose that you can already see some similarities between Freud’s ideas and the spiritual insights I am sharing in this writing. Again, we surely know by now that all sorts of truths are waiting to be discovered, and that every seeker of truth will find the divine pattern of God in his/her findings. This is why I now want to reconsider Freud’s trio of psychological terms in a more spiritual way beginning with a little extrapolation and redefinition of his terms.

Looking at the ID in a more spiritual way, we see that it is essentially what I call the natural/carnal mind of man. This is the lower mind that is the product of this lower world. Because it is housed in the brain and lives in accord with the body, it seeks to serve and feed the desires of the flesh. We would assume that primitive man was led almost exclusively by this “part” of his psyche. It should be obvious that this kind of mind is enmity before God and must be destroyed with the flesh that it supports.

As for what Freud calls the “ego”, I would call this the foundation of the soul. In essence it is the soul because it is the medium between two worlds- the natural and the spiritual. Many times it can be the battleground between the desires of the flesh and the will of the spirit. Similar to Freud, I see the soul as the “place” where the final decisions are made and then carried out as actions in this world.

Finally, the superego then refers to our spiritual self. The spiritual self is the harmonic union of our spirit and soul that when mature will produce the life of Christ. Whether we acknowledge it or not, the spiritual self is striving to be perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect. And yes, our spiritual self does stand in opposition to the carnal mind. Now while Freud would probably make the claim that this desire for perfection comes from natural sources like society’s morals and norms, I disagree. I say it is inherited, genetic; we have inherited the genetic makeup of God. Could any child of God become anything but perfect? It should be clear to the spiritually acute that our deep seated need to be better human beings is coming from within our being. The overwhelming evidence showing that cultures are becoming more and more civilized is simply a byproduct of this spiritual transformation within us.

While studying about the human psyche, I also found some very interesting information concerning the brain. Because the brain is really like the natural shadow of the mind, it makes sense to also understand how it functions. Like many things in this world of duality, you are likely aware that the brain has evolved into two separate hemispheres. But did you also know that the human brain has developed THREE distinctive sub-structures, or layers? This is another example a triadic truth surfacing in the natural world, which is pointing us back to the Source of all life. Scientists have discovered that each of these three regions of the brain is responsible for different levels of consciousness. While all of these are found in the human brain, they are not all present in less evolved creatures, and there are even some creatures like the jellyfish that have no real brain at all.

Now the most rudimentary part of the human brain consists of the brain stem and the cerebellum, which is remarkably similar to the reptilian brain. This most inner region of the brain only controls the most basic body functions and instinctive survival skills. Surrounding this most primitive part of the brain is what has been called the limbic system consisting of the amygdale and hippocampus. This is where the human being is able to produce emotions, personality and some memory functions. This region of the brain is also found in other animals such as dogs, horses and monkeys.

As you might have realized, our brains and their levels of conscious activity has developed from the center outward. It is almost as if the fossil record of our mental evolution has been stored for us to find there within the brain itself. So finally we come to the most outer region/layer of the brain that is also the most evolved region of the brain- the cerebral cortex. Here in this very thin layer of cells that is also called the neocortex our highest mental functions are performed and our deepest thoughts are born. Having and utilizing this most evolved part of the brain has given man the ability to philosophize about God and life- essentially separating him form the rest of the animal kingdom. It may come as no surprise that this is also the region of the brain where our dreams are created.

Dreams-

The human brain is truly a wonderfully powerful instrument we can use in this world. However, we must understand that it is the mind that is real and able to sense beyond the flesh. Yes, the world of the natural senses is a formidable opponent vying for the mind‘s attention, but the spirit has a secret weapon that can be used at the end of every day. Every night the mind/soul disconnects from the senses of the flesh and the cares of the world. She is then free to be lifted up by the arms of the spirit into the matrix of dreams.

Dreams are the universal “place” where the spirit/soul tandem of every person can escape the physical restrictions of this world and have a conversation with oneself. I have always been fascinated by dreams- both their content and their origin. I consider them to be the best part about sleeping. Now, most consider dreams to simply be byproducts of each one’s natural memories and environment, but I believe they can be much more than this. Dreams seem to represent a gateway into all the possibilities of the mind. I also see dreams more as a spiritual playground for the soul, and the spirit is the guardian overseeing this nightly journey.

There is a popular children’s song that sings, “...life is but a dream.” And it is because here in this temporal world everything we see is simply part of the great divine dream of God. Think about it- to dream is to create. Creation began because God imagined it. We read that God said, “Let there be light,” but God didn’t speak with human words into the void. God spoke with His Word, which is His Consciousness, into the void. As I wrote about in God Is- Everything Else Isn’t, God “lost” Consciousness and in effect began to dream. Within this dream a world that was not there before was willed into existence, and because it did not exist in God’s eternity it cannot last forever. Even so, creation and all dreams have their purpose, which is to come into the knowledge of self. For this purpose, God’s Spirit moves through the divine dream to animate it. God, through man, is able to bring about an image of His self, His love. Upon filling the void of ignorance with the knowledge of the Truth, God awakens and the dream of creation comes to an end.

Our minds have the same need as God’s does- to create. Our minds dream so that they can create and then experience a world where the only limitations spring from our beliefs. So, in our dreams, if we believe it to be so, it happens. In our dreams we leave the world of time, space and matter and enter a world much like the higher reality of heaven. Our dreams are woven together using memories of the past and occasionally some visions of the future. Every spirit that reincarnates back into this world carries with it some experiences of its past lives. Most have had that “feeling” of falling in a dream, but maybe have never actually fallen in such a way- or so they may think. I believe that many of our feelings and fears that surface in dreams or in life are memories from past lives. This would certainly explain the many cases of phobias for which there are no other explanations. Suppose someone drowned in their previous life, then a fear of water would seem very logical. Or if they fell from a great height to their death, then a fear of heights makes perfect sense.

Most of us could say we have had strong feelings of “de ja vu” as the result of dreams. In our dreams we sometimes receive premonitions of the future that are then later deemed as de ja vu. In a higher dream or meditation state, the mind is able to peek into the porthole of time according to the degree our spirit’s light can penetrate the darkness of the unknown. Jesus, having the brightest of spirits, envisioned how his life was going to unfold, but this personal clairvoyance is not unique to him. For any son of God, there is a stronger sense of predestination as they draw closer to their Father because they are becoming more like Him.

One last interesting thing about dreams is they can teach us control. In most dreams, we seem to have no control. We feel like we are falling, but we have the ability to fly! We feel like we are going to be hurt, but we are the god of our dreams! This is my point. As we dream, we the creator of our universe have the power to control the dream. All the characters are our creations, and we can take control of them and every aspect of our dream once we realize this. Yes, this is the key! We must realize this, believe this and practice this. Do you see then how our dreams shadow our lives in this world? This world is only as real as our spirit believes it to be. Jesus, being a mature spirit (Son of God), was able to take control of this dream world and do what others could not. How could Jesus walk on water? He did because he (God) believed that he could. Jesus came to the realization that this world was the world he (God) created. By claiming our true identity, mountains will be moved and the dead will be raised. These miracles are more than mind over matter, but are spirit over mind and then mind over matter. All power and peace come from God into our spirit, so here is where the soul must find her rest.

A Restless Night-

Psalms 77:1
I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. 2 When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted.

Psalms 77:3
I remembered you, O God, and I groaned; I mused, and my spirit grew faint.

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It was one of those LONG days. I suppose everyone has them once in awhile, but little did I know that it was also going to be one of those LONG nights. I began the day feeling groggy and ended it feeling exhausted. I felt that a good sleep was necessary and even inevitable, yet here I am writing this note. I don’t understand it- all day I felt so tired and was desperately looking forward to lying down and just going to sleep. Then finally my day ended, and it was time to rest. Crawling into bed instantly gave me a sense of comfort as I sensed a peace flowing through my whole being. I had no idea it would be a fleeting moment.

It wasn’t long after laying my body down, I did what I do most nights- I began to clear my mind. As my body lay there motionless, my mind began to slow down in the stillness of the night. I closed my eyes and then slowly my mind broke free from the cares of the day while squelching out all communication of the senses. I could sense my soul getting lighter and lighter, nearly disconnected from the natural world. Then just before entering the door into that spiritual realm of dreams something happens. I am not exactly sure what it was, but I hear what should be an insignificant noise. Yet it was just loud enough to hear, so it might as well have been a train whistle outside of my window. This rather small noise broke the silence of my peace. It started a chain reaction that brought my soul back down to earth- to the world. With a jolt from soul to body, my outer being was awakened, then soon my body temperature had risen and my skin started to perspire. My once weary soul was now a restless soul that had been reunited with the sense of the body and the cares of the world.

So there I lay trying to calm my soul and cool my body. One hour passes then two, but my restless soul continued to wander. Afraid of letting go, my soul would not surrender her concerns and kept racing on into the night. While I am not tired I know that my soul needs to rest. She and my body must take time to recoup from a busy day. The fear of another noise, another itch or another worry continued to haunt my unsettled mind into the night. This conflict continued to the point where my soul’s disobedience was causing my whole being discomfort, anxiety and even fear. If she would only let go then she could freely fly with my spirit into a more peaceful world above the cares of the world.

After growing weary with hours of anguish my soul did eventually surrender to the comfort of my spirit. It is moments like this when I distinctly know that I am more than a mind (soul) and certainly more than a body. I am a triadic creature of spirit having a mind and body. It was clear to me that my “being” was out of alignment. You see, “I” am spirit, but I know that my mind and body needed rest. My spirit’s invitation and desire for peace were being disregarded by my agitated mind. Typically this kind of rebellion is what often times causes those sleepless nights. If nothing else, I have learned that sometimes it is the spirit that is willing, and the soul that is not. Sometimes my mind experiences great difficulty in breaking free from feelings of the flesh and cares of the world. When will my soul learn that my spirit is her way to the freedom and peace of God?

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Above is something I wrote during and after one of those restless nights, which I discovered later to be quite similar to what the Psalmist wrote thousands of years ago. I suppose the restlessness of the soul is universal to every child of God trying to find his way through the world and home with God.

Psalm 43:5
Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Oh my soul! Why are you so disturbed within me? Have you had this type of conversation with your soul (mind)? Some would say that this conversation would be impossible because the there is only a mind within us. Yet here is the Psalmist speaking to his soul, and we find this kind of dialogue in countless other passages of the Bible. The human being is spirit (our divine life), soul (our helper) and body (our vehicle). Consider this passage written in Isaiah.

Isaiah 26:9
My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you.
When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.

Our souls yearn for God while in the darkness of this world because He is the Lover of souls that can comfort them. In the morning when the light makes the Truth more visible, our spirit for God as a child longs for his parent. This passage from Isaiah again shows there is distinction between the soul and the spirit of man. One could say that the soul relies on the spirit for life while the spirit relies on the soul to tell him about life. We read above that we are here to learn about righteousness. Oh yes! We are here to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil! Remember? And as we learn, we grow and mature.

Yes, the soul comes into being to be the spirit’s helper and really his extension (connection) into this lower world. She becomes the coupling between spirit and matter, between eternity and time, even between heaven and hell. The soul relies on the spirit for life, but the spirit relies on soul for the knowledge of salvation used to overcome the world. Because the soul is more of an extension of our spiritual self, she is often referred to in a more possessive manner, which is apparent in many passages of the Bible. This idea of the soul being something we possess is also expressed in the phrase about someone “selling their soul.” Unfortunately, but also interestingly, this sense of ownership was also true of how women were treated and still are in some cultures. It is interesting because it again shows that many have been following shadows while oblivious to the higher realities. The higher reality is that the soul (not the woman) is to be submissive the spirit by regarding the spirit as her guardian, caretaker and master. The sense that the soul is something we have was even true of the Lord Jesus Christ who spoke of his troubled soul in second person.

Matthew 14:32
They went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. 34 "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch."

This is one of those passages that reinforces the truth that Jesus was exactly like us; he was a human being that felt pain while in this world. Notice that Jesus didn’t say, “I am overwhelmed with sorrow.” Rather, he said that his SOUL was overwhelmed because this is precisely where he was experiencing his pain. Obviously, Jesus knew how to distinguish between his body (flesh), his soul (consciousness) and his spirit (divine life). So when Jesus spoke in first person, he was his spiritual self. He said, “I am the life, the truth and the way.” It should be clear that here Jesus was speaking from his spirit- the Spirit of Christ. This means that the “I AM” is the spiritual essence of Jesus (and of us all) because I AM is Christ (Word/Consciousness of God).

Surely we know that every “part” of our being is able to speak. Certainly the body when it is hungry, tired or wounded speaks to us without using words. Clearly the mind can communicate, and examples of this are given by those who are able to differentiate within their being that they are more than a body or mind. So this leads us right back to the real question each must ask himself. If I am more than body and mind, who or what am I? We are spirit- spirit from God! And yes, when our higher self speaks that is our spirit from which the Voice of God can be heard. Understanding these distinctions of our being brings about important ramifications concerning Christ our Savior. Clearly by his own admission, Jesus like everyone else had a soul that anguished in times of stress and a body that experienced pain up to his death. This entails that the troubled and even tempted SOUL of Jesus was not the truth, way and life of salvation. Jesus was saved from death like all of us must be- by God (Hebrews 5:7). So then through the spirit of Jesus have come the truth, the way and the life of salvation! Now, Jesus’ whole being has been saved and is the Savior of the world!

Yes my friends, Jesus lives! He lives in a higher world that is above us, around us and certainly within us. Through the divine being of Christ Jesus, God is reaching into our spirits to bring us the will of God. In turn, our spirits must then translate the will of God into a language that will inspire the soul to follow. Sometimes the message is “lost in translation” because the soul may become too enamored in the Maya of the world. Every moment she is faced with the choice between living for the flesh or the spirit, the world or God. Undoubtedly, it is this stress placed on the soul that brings about the feelings of pain and suffering.

Sorrows of the Soul-

Psalms 31:7
I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my affliction and knew the anguish of my soul.

Nearly every soul that has ever lived in this world experiences moments of true anguish. The writer of this psalm did. All of the apostles did. Jesus certainly did. Yes, Jesus was one of US, and we will be one like him. Along the path to where Jesus is are going to be moments of unhappiness, bitterness, fearfulness and loneliness. And yet, this is exactly what we need to feel in order to teach us that this world is not our permanent home. We can never find complete content in this world apart from God. Even Jesus, who was closer to God than any other soul, cried out in tremendous emotional pain. But wait! Isn’t our relationship with God supposed to bring us peace? Well, in the world of opposites, peace comes at a price. The fact that the Son of God suffered while in this world brings raises an important point about suffering.

Every soul in this world will suffer from discontentment, but for a variety of different reasons and in different ways. The spirit of Jesus was mature and ready to be God. However, his soul had to come to this realization and then to submission. Certainly this surrender was the cause of most of his pain. Also there was also the frustration that he must have felt trying to teach his followers along with the sadness of having to leave them in this world. By example, Jesus showed us that coming before God as His Son is not easy and certainly not without pain. It is hard because while our spirit may be mature and willing, our soul must still be made ready. Many times our souls are still too immature because they are still clinging to the nature and life of the flesh. We shouldn’t think of this as the soul’s fault, but rather her burden and even her reality that she must overcome.

Even though the soul has come from spirit, she enters this world as flesh beginning the deception. Everyday the soul is bombarded with sensory perceptions essentially brainwashing her. The irony is that this “brainwashing” information is actually polluting the soul and keeping her in a spiritual dark. So simply by living in the flesh, the soul is kept connected to the physical world where there are all sorts of sufferings. Paul said that to be out of physical form meant to be at home with the Lord in spiritual form (2 Corinthians 5:8). If the spirit represents the wings of the soul, then the flesh is like an anchor. As long was we are in the flesh, we are tied down by it. So the implications of this mean that while our spirit may be strong enough to lift our soul into the state called “heaven,” she is unable to stay there forever. She is still attached to the world of time and the world of suffering. It is as if a bungee is tethered to the soul because no matter how far she is removed from world and her physical form, at some point she is again pulled back to the lower realm of the flesh. While residing in a physical form we cannot completely remove this tether, but with a strong spirit we can maintain an aerial, spiritual life. You know this is living above the world, and not of the world.

Unfortunately there is no getting around pain; it is a necessary part of the salvation equation. This is the clear message shown by Jesus and taught by Paul. Just as mothers endure the pain of childbirth to bring new life into the world, so do we suffer to bring Christ into the world. We are the spirit children of God that come into this world to learn to love as our Father loves. Whether it is physical, mental or spiritual, all pain is to tell us that something is wrong, so we shouldn’t see pain as our enemy. Instead understand, as Paul did, that it is a kind of motivating factor used in our spiritual development. Some creatures of low consciousness can scarcely sense physical pain and certainly have no way of experiencing emotional pain. Could one hurt the feelings of a worm by calling him gross and slimy? Ask yourself why not? It is because the suffering (of the soul) is the byproduct of higher consciousness. The more we know, the more capable we are to care. The more we care, the more likely we are to suffer. While it is true that ignorance is bliss, God does not want us living in the darkness. How will humanity ever cure its social ills if we turn a blind eye? God wants us to see, to know and fight all the evil of this world.

Now, because the spirit is the center of our being and the very source of our life, it makes perfect sense that the healthier our spirit is the healthier our soul and body will be. A healthy spirit is one that is well fed by doing the will of God. As Jesus told us, this is our living bread. Those who do God’s will have an inner peace, strength and life that translate dramatic results through the rest of their being. This translation of health from spirit to soul to flesh is apparent in recent studies. Prayer and an overall positive attitude have been linked to overall good health and faster healing after an infliction. In order to produce a spiritual harmony throughout our being and life, we must have our body serving the soul, our soul serving the spirit and our spirit serving God. If any of these elements are out of order, then we have disorder. Many times it is the soul who bears the resulting sorrows. Being the conduit between the two worlds, she has the ability and burden of feeling both the discontent of the spirit and the natural pains of the flesh. From that most inner heartache to be with God to that nagging sinus headache, the soul seems to feel it all.

It is clear then that living our life outside God’s calling for us can have dire consequences on the health of the body and soul. Sometimes the soul takes control our lives like a queen over a kingdom because our spirit is as if asleep or lacking the maturity to lead. When this happens, the soul is often times deceived by the world causing her to abuse her reign of power and control. As discussed earlier, this can lead to an inflated ego rising up in just about every walk of life including religion. However, the soul may also become susceptible to worrying about worldly, nonessential things and thereby cause the body to fall victim to an assortment of illnesses. Some examples of this would be anorexia, overeating, hypertension, high blood pressure, ulcers and so on. Even doctors agree that many of these kinds of physical aliments are actually the result of mental disorders, or what we could call- soul disorders.

In today’s age of “modern medicine,” nearly every case of mental illness is attributed to either a chemical imbalance or some kind of prior psychological traumatic event. I was considering the evidence that cases of children born with autism seem to be increasing in recent times. While some may blame diet or some other natural cause, I see this increase as surfacing of spiritual “scars” as a result of the battle the soul is fighting because of the choices mankind is making. It seems clear to me that this type of mental affliction is directly related to the information age or should I say the information overload age! Yes, we are pushing the human mind harder and harder as mankind keeps increasing the amount of information we intake. While most are able to adapt and excel in this environment, some are falling victim to this tremendous stress put on the soul. So these neurological conditions like autism, depression and panic attacks are more like coping mechanism for the soul that cannot cope.

Since individuals may actually be born with a psychological problem, their overload, or scarring, obviously occurred in a past life, which is just another example that we all must reap what we sow. This is how we learn- by trial and error. If we overload the soul with useless knowledge of our age while ignoring the ageless knowledge of God, there will be repercussions either in that present life, in the next life or both. And again, we should not look upon disease and illness as necessarily evil things. They must be for our overall good and growth or God would not have created them. Also we should not even presume that those with autism, down syndrome or other disorders are in a state of suffering. Because these souls may be less attached to the world around them, they may be in a more peaceful world than we know. God is in control, so we should rest assured that the karmic laws of this world are by God’s design for the greater good of all His children.

In the same way, suppose someone is diagnosed with schizophrenia. They might even determine that this person’s brain has a scientifically proven chemical imbalance. Most doctors would assume the body’s metabolism is to blame by not producing the right amounts of chemicals for the brain to operate correctly. It is never considered that there could be spiritual influences affecting the body and mind that, in turn, are causing the problem. It was in the news just last year of woman from San Francisco who heard voices telling her to kill her children. Hearing “voices” is not that uncommon, but actually carrying out horrendous crimes because of them is. In most (if not all) cases, psychiatrists would diagnose this as a mental disorder such as schizophrenia. In this particular case, the clinical defense being used was postpartum stress syndrome causing her schizophrenia. They would claim these voices are not real, but are figments of her imagination. But how do they really know this?

Luke 6:17
He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by evil spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them.

Either Jesus was a crazy man; OR he was right, and these “voices” are produced by actual unseen beings living amongst us then and today. There are many occurrences of Jesus casting out demons and evil spirits thereby curing the physical and mental condition of the recipient. While they did not have the vast medical knowledge that we have today, they still understood a very basic tenet of truth. All of man’s natural afflictions can be cured through spiritual means! This is true because everything is, in fact, spirit! You see, the heart of the problem isn’t that a man’s eyes don’t function, but rather that he cannot see God! Would a deaf man rather hear the birds sing or hear the voice of God speak within him? Jesus proved that we are healed from the inside out. Jesus proved there are unclean spirits that cause unclean health of the mind and body.

Doctors simply see illness in a very superficial way. The body to them is a conglomeration of chemical compounds, and the mind is merely an electro-active brain. This is the real problem with science in general including the medical establishment. They continue to only believe what they can see, measure or test. Most doctors have seen bona fide miracles, yet they refuse to believe there is something else- something spiritual at the core of the recovery. Slowly though, some are learning that there is power in prayer, in faith, in positive thought and in the spirit that can be translated into the flesh.

Now, I am not suggesting that there are no direct physical repercussions of physical ailments and accidents. If you ram your fist into a brick wall, bones will likely be broken. If you have sex with someone carrying an STD, you certainly could contract a disease. Yet even what might seem like a purely physical cause actually has its reality in the spirit. An example of this would be viruses. Yes, viruses do exists in the natural, but, like everything else that exists, they are actually spiritual entities that have a level of consciousness. Some might call them “evil,” but we should keep in mind that they are only doing what they have been divinely designed to do. It is the calling of the virus to seek out hosts- this is not unlike what God is doing, right!

Finally regarding the spiritual health of the soul, I recently watched the movie, The Exorcism of Emily Rose. For many different reasons, I found it interesting, and I would like to remark on couple of the facets in this intriguing story. The setting is essentially a court case in which a priest is on trial for the negligent death of Emily Rose, who was thought (by the priest) to be demon-possessed. One of the things that struck me was the prosecuting attorney who claimed to be “man of faith” that attended church every Sunday. What I saw was a religious hypocrite that was blind to the spiritual realm surrounding him. While I don’t know if this movie was an accurate portrayal of this lawyer’s beliefs and questioning, it sure seemed like a typical attack one might get from a religious intellectual. Basically, his questioning was aimed at refuting the notion that demons were tormenting Emily Rose. Instead being very ruthless in his tactics, he wanted to prove that her “condition” was based purely on mental and physiological abnormalities. He concluded that because her condition was physical, she needed a doctor of medicine and not a priest of faith.

I bring this movie up because I see many “believers” who have placed a great deal of their faith in science to the point they only perceive life through their natural eyes. I know there are many out there that call themselves Christian who go to church every Sunday and even read the Bible regularly. Yet, these same religious souls do not believe that demons exist. It is baffling how they can deny the existence of evil spirits, demons and such because to do so is to deny what Jesus believed, saw and wielded his power to overcome. If these entities do not exist, then Jesus must have himself been a delusional schizophrenic. No, Jesus didn’t have a doctorate in medicine, but he was acutely aware of what few others have ever seen. I believe we do well to trust his spiritual vision, diagnosis and treatment. Even more so, we should also accept that Jesus came into this world and realized that this world was not his home. What the man from heaven quickly discerned is that this world was indeed hell.

Pneuma Part 3>>

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