ESCHATOLOGY OF THE SOUL

A summing-up of the development of my thoughts over many years about the destiny of the soul. It is speculation since I have no way of truly knowing its exact fate. But I have the strong intuition that something resembling my speculations will come to pass for myself - and for all other human beings. The worst idea a person can have is that there is no ultimate metaphysical destiny in store for his metaphysical soul. A yet worse idea is that souls do not exist at all (see my book Souls Exist, 2^nd ed., 2013).

I conceive that following my death, my soul will return to the Universal Soul (aka God) from whence it came. It will contain all of the metaphysical qualities that it developed during the experiences of biological, interpersonal and societal existence. These qualities are manifold, but the soul is unitary, and its fate on returning to God will depend on the amalgam of these qualities. If God deems my soul worthy, it will be incorporated into His nature. If not, it will be discarded among the vast trash pile of unworthy souls. (A short hand for these fates are the terms: ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’.) God needs worthy souls. He needs them to augment His own nature, to provide it with more depth and breath. The attraction between man and God is a reciprocal one.

What are the qualities that form the worthy soul? They are familiar to all thoughtful individuals: wisdom, insight, vision, honor, kindness, self-awareness, self-respect, character, vitality, creativity, boldness, determination, endurance, modesty, spiritual consciousness—especially this last one. Others may come to one’s mind. The unitary soul, however, is an amalgam of all the qualities—or lack of them—that will determine its final destiny and relationship to the Universal Soul.

All this, as I have said, is speculative, subject to the limitations of my mind and my language. However, there is a fine line between speculation, which is the product of one’s imagination, and intuition, which is insight into reality. I like to think that my speculations about the destiny of the soul are more intuition than imagination.