[082] World Scripture - The Immortal Soul - 1. Soul and Body

[대태양/김현수]

World Scripture Ⅱ

Part One - God and Creation

Chapter 5. Life after Death and the Spirit World
2) The Immortal Soul

Spirit or soul is the immortal human essence. Originating in the eternal God, it returns to God in the end. The body, on the other hand, is made from clay and is but a vestment that clothes the spirit. This is a rather universal conception, widespread in all religions although they differ on the details. The soul may ascend to heaven, descend into hell, merge with the Godhead, sleep until the general resurrection, or transmigrate into another earthly body: regardless, survival of the spirit is a common thread in all faiths. 

These texts include descriptions of a “spiritual body” that clothes the soul in the next life. Others conceive of the spirit as having its own form and structure. Coterminous with the flesh during life, it then separates and ascends to the spirit world after death. Father Moon offers additional insight into how people on earth already live in both worlds, by virtue of the resonance between their spirit and flesh. This speaks to how people with spiritual gifts can perceive the spirit world during earthly life.

The spirit truly finds its wings after death, when it is no longer tied down to the body and can travel freely at will. Nevertheless, earthly life is important as the training-ground where the qualities of spirit needed for fulfillment in heaven are developed; that is the subject of the next section.

1. Soul and Body

Religious scriptures

The body is the sheath of the soul.

Talmud, Sanhedrin 108a (Judaism)

Then the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Genesis 2.7

And He originated the creation of man out of clay, then He fashioned his progeny of an extraction of mean water, then He shaped him, and breathed His spirit in him. Qur’an 32.8-9

The soul is characterized by knowledge and vision, is formless, an agent, has the same extent as its own body, is the enjoyer of the fruits of karmas, and exists in samsara. It is also enlightened and has a characteristic upward motion.

Nemichandra, Dravyasangraha 2 (Jainism)

Ts’ai-wu said, “I have heard the names kuei and shen, but I do not know what they mean.” The Master said, “The [intelligent] spirit is of the shen nature, and shows that in fullest measure; the animal soul is of the kuei nature, and shows that in fullest measure. It is the union of kuei and shen that forms the highest exhibition of doctrine. “All the living must die, and dying, return to the ground; this is what is called kuei. The bones and flesh molder below, and, hidden away, become the earth of the fields. But the spirit issues forth, and is displayed on high in a condition of glorious brightness. The vapors and odors which produce a feeling of sadness, and arise from the decay of their substance, are the subtle essences of all things, and also a manifestation of the shen nature.”

Book of Ritual 21.2.1 (Confucianism)

Someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is alike, but there is one kind for men, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.

1 Corinthians 15.35-40

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

Investing all His heart and mind, God formed the human body out of dust as a place where the spirit self, a life manifesting the principle of eternity, can live and grow. No work of art could be greater. God did not make it by saying to the dust, “Arise!” No, God invested all of His heart, mind and energy into forming this body. Then, He completed the human being by blowing a life spirit into it. God created the first man with a special blessing, as a being that could live forever in the corporeal and incorporeal worlds within God’s dominion. But he fell.

(8:80, November 8, 1959)

Our spirit self, or spirit, is a substantial yet incorporeal reality, which can be apprehended only through the spiritual senses. It is the subject partner to our physical self. Our spirit can communicate directly with God and is meant to govern the incorporeal world, including the angels. In appearance our spirit self matches our physical self. After we shed the physical self, we enter the spirit world and live there for eternity. The reason we desire an eternal life is because our innermost self is the spirit self which has an eternal nature. Our spirit self consists of the dual characteristics of spirit mind (subject partner) and spirit body (object partner). The spirit mind is the center of the spirit self, and it is where God dwells. The spirit grows through give and take action between two types of nourishment: life elements (생소) of a yang type that come from God, and vitality elements (생력) of a yin type that come from the physical self… The spirit can grow only while it abides in the flesh. Thus, the relationship between the physical self and the spirit self is similar to that between a tree and its fruit.

(Exposition of the Divine Principle, Creation 6.3.2)

Human beings consist of a dual structure: a mind-like self and a body-like self. The mind grasps the vertical standard. The body holds a horizontal standard. Consider an ideal person, living by God’s ideal standard and receiving God’s love. When God’s love sounds vertically in the mind or spirit self, it resounds horizontally through the body. The spirit self, with its vertical standard, picks up the vibration of God’s true love and transmits it to the physical self, where it resonates through the person’s relations with his or her surroundings.

(177:216, May 20, 1988)

Our spirit self and physical self should resonate like a tuning fork. When a tuning fork is struck, it makes a nearby tuning fork resonate at the same frequency. By the same principle, once God’s love moves in our spirit, our body automatically responds. What causes our mind and body to resonate 100 percent and brings them into the realm of oneness? It is not God’s wisdom or power. It is only love.

(138:255, January 24, 1986)

Both the body and the mind are composed of cells. Do you know that you have a spirit self, and that it has five spiritual senses? The cells of the inner self and the cells of the outer self resonate with each other. The spirit self, our inner self that lives for eternity, and the physical self, our outer self that can live on earth only, should resonate with each other in love. When they resonate with God’s love, their spiritual cells and physical cells are linked together in the same vibration. Therefore, as the cells of the eyes vibrate, they can see everything in the spirit world as clearly as the physical world. They can see by virtue of their perfect resonance.

(171:103, December 13, 1987)