Question: What is the difference between the soul and the soul body? (Vol. II, #159)
Answer: This is one of the most intimate questions which has ever been asked,
and it cannot be answered directly, but only by illustration. As children
learn certain intellectual truths beyond their grasp by a pictorial
illustration, infant humanity learned deep religious truths through myths and
allegories.
The vital (etheric) body is composed of four ethers. The two lower ethers are
particular avenues of growth and propagation. In the vital body of a person
whose chief concern is with the physical life, who lives as it were, entirely
for the sensual enjoyment, these two ethers predominate, whereas in a person
who is rather indifferent to the material enjoyment of life, but who seeks to
advance spiritually, the two higher ethers form the bulk of the vital body.
They are then what Paul calls the "soma psuchicon," or soul body, which
remains with man during his experiences in purgatory and the First Heaven
where the essence of the life lived is extracted. This extract is the soul,
whose two chief qualities are conscience and virtue. The feeling of conscience
is the fruit of mistakes in past Earth lives, which will in future guide the
Spirit aright and teach it how to avoid similar missteps. Virtue is the
essence of all that was good in former lives, and acts as an encouragement to
keep the Spirit ardently striving upon the path of aspiration. In the Third
Heaven this amalgamates thoroughly with the Spirit and becomes a part thereof.
Thus in the course of his lives man becomes more soulful, and the soul
qualities of conscience and virtue become more strongly operative as guiding
principles of conduct.
But we can perhaps gain a better idea of the difference between soul and
soul body if we consider the allegory contained in the ancient Atlantean
Mystery Temple, the Tabernacle in the Wilderness. This God given symbol was
furnished with all the implements of soul growth necessary for the development
of man. Among them there was in the sanctuary the Table of Shewbread. Upon
this table there were twelve little cakes made into two piles of six each and
on each pile there was a little heap of incense. Now will you remember,
please, that the grain from which these cakes were made was given by God to
man, but it was necessary for man to plant it, to till the soil, to water and
to nourish the tiny plants. He must also harvest them, thresh the grain and
crush it into flour. He must knead the dough and bake the bread before he
could bring it into the temple and have bread to shew as product of this labor
with the God given grain.
This God given grain represents opportunity. Twelve kinds of opportunities
come to man each year through the twelve departments of life represents by the
twelve houses in his horoscope. But many may neglect these opportunities, as
the ancient Israelites might have thrown their grain in a corner and let it
lie. If so, he will be like the servant with one talent who went and buried
it. On the other hand, if he tilled the soil and nourished the grain of
opportunity for service in the Lord's vineyard, then there will be an increase
which he may harvest, and prepare to bring into the Lord's temple at the
proper time to show that he had faithfully cultivated every opportunity for
service, and made the most thereof according to ability.
We note, however, that these twelve cakes of shew bread were not themselves
offered up to the Lord, but on each pile of six there was a little heap of
incense which represented the essence of the shew bread. By analogy this is
the essence of our service; you will understand why by another little
illustration found in the experience we go through to gain physical faculties.
As you remember, during the time when we went to school and learned to
write, we made most awkward motions and contortions with the arm and body in
order to form letters on the paper. We blotted our copy books so that they
looked most hideous, and our attempt at writing was anything but beautiful.
Nevertheless, by degrees we acquired the faculty, and in the course of years
we forgot all about the experience of those early days when we endeavored to
cultivate it. But this is the point: if we had not gone through the cumbersome
experience we would not now possess the faculty of writing, and another point
is this: after we have acquired the faculty it is unnecessary to remember the
cumbersome methods of its acquirement. Similarly also, the coarse physical
substance, the grain of the shewbread, was not offered to the Lord, but only
the essence or aroma thereof, the faculty of skilled service, the benevolence
which we have cultivated in doing good to others.
The two little piles of incense were therefore taken to the altar of incense
in front of the second veil and lighted. There ascends as cloud of smoke in
the outer or eastward part of the temple, but only the aroma, pure and free
from smoke, penetrates through the veil into the inner sanctuary. By analogy
therefore we may liken the shewbread to the experiences which we go through in
serving and helping others; the frankincense which is on top of the pile of
shewbread may be likened to the essence of sympathy and helpfulness which we
extract from these services, the soul growth contained therein. This is seen
about us as a golden aura which constitutes the soul body. But though this
glorious vehicle is made of the two finest ethers, it could not by any process
amalgamate with the Spirit itself, any more than the incense can burn without
emitting smoke and leaving behind a residue of ashes. Therefore by the
spiritual alchemy of the evening exercise of Retrospection, or in the natural
process after death, this soul body is burned without the veil (in the First
Heaven), and the aroma or the soul penetrates the veil to the very innermost
sanctuary as pabulum for the Spirit.
Thus the Spirit carries with itself the aroma of all its past lives. A
younger soul which has had only a few existences from which to draw
experiences and soul growth, is cruel and selfish for it has not performed
service to others. But one who has gone through many lives, who has learned by
sorrow and suffering to feel and to do for others, responds instantly to the
cry of pain, because the soul in him or her is the quintessence of service and
therefore always ready to aid others regardless of personal comforts and
enjoyment.
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