Latest

The latest news from the Joomla! Team

Soultalk2 (Continue)

Where do I come from? (under construction)

The soul comes from the spiritual worlds of God. Therefore it is a stranger when it comes to this world. We are told in the Writings that the soul is created at the time of our conception. At the same time that the first cell is formed in the womb of the mother, at that very instant the soul comes into existence. Our soul did not exist before, in the same way that that cell in the womb did not exist before. The soul, being exaltd above entry or exit, ascent or descent, cannot be physically placed inside a body or have any connection with material things. We are also told that the soul is not in the body, because the soul is a spiritual entity. You cannot explain its spiritual reality into words. But words are all that we have to understand it. They just stimulate our mind. But we must understand that a spiritual thing cannot go into a material thing. Only a material thing can go into another material thing. So that means that our soul does not go into our body, it is only associated with it. `Abdu'l-Baha has given us an example. He says that the relationship of the soul with the body is like the relationship of the light with the mirror. When you look in the mirror you see the light, but the light is not really inside the mirror. If you want to put your hand into the mirror and get the light out you cannot do it, it is only a relationship. If you break the mirror the light is not affected. The light is somewhere else, but it appears in the mirror. This is like our soul.

When a child is born, it brings with it all that it has. All that it has acquired in the womb of the mother it brings with it. It does not leave anything behind. Now when you are born it is the time to start to acquire qualities and virture. The same thing is with the soul.

Soultalk1

Introduction: The intersection of science and faith

A number of scientists as for example Dr Eben Alexander (neuro-surgeon) and Dr Mary Neal spine-surgeon) were extremely sceptical about NDE's but after their own NDE experience they changed completely.

Dr Melvin Morse and Dr Long have documented hundreds of NDE's.

More and more scientists believe now that consciousness survives after the death of the brain.

This means that the brain is only a transmission station between consciousness and our body.

Similar concepts are also found in many religions The Divine Messengers, founders of religion speak about the human spirit or the soul which survives death.

In the past the Divine Messengers have spoken very little about the human soul because man was not ready to understand.

Jesus doesn't speak much about the soul. Also in Islam there is only one verse in the Quran about the soul; Muhammad says "Tell the people that the soul comes from the command of God. That's all it says.

The Baha'i Writings and the human soul (from Wikipedia)

But today because man is destined to come of age, to grow up, and because of the greatness of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah, we are so lucky that He has revealed to us so much about the soul.

The Bahá'í Faith affirms 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.[29] Bahá'u'lláh stated that the soul not only continues to live after the physical death of the human body, but is, in fact, immortal.[30] Heaven can be seen partly as the soul's state of nearness to God; and hell as a state of remoteness from God. Each state follows as a natural consequence of individual efforts, or the lack thereof, to develop spiritually.[31] Bahá'u'lláh taught that individuals have no existence prior to their life here on earth and the soul's evolution is always towards God and away from the material world.[31]

Qualities of the soul (Adapted by permission from a talk by Mr Addib Taherzadeh)

To understand a bit about the qualities of the soul we can look at nature. The world of nature and the world of spirit are one. God has not created two different worlds, the physical world separate from the spiritual world. No, they are one entity. All of God's creation is one entity. Therefore the laws that govern the physical world as we know it, the same laws are applied in the spiritual world. The same law that is in nature you will find it in the world of man. The same laws of nature you will find in Religion. All the teachings of God you will find a counterpart in nature. Everything you see in nature is a shadow of something spiritual. It is a counterpart of something far greater than what you see in this life. You see for example a tree, it is a shadow of something in the spiritual world. For everything there is in this life there must be counterparts in the next life. You should not think of it as a place, this world and the next which is a spiritual world. The spiritual worlds are infinite in their range. Creation is never finite, never limited, it is infinite in range. We know as Baha'is that the universe has no beginning and no end to it, either in time or in space. Anything that is God's creation will never stop, there is no such thing as nothing. As long as God existed this creation existed. It is a beginning which has no beginning and an end which has no end, both in time and space.

The counterpart of the soul in this world is the embryo

We want to know what the soul is, and we cannot understand it. If we can find something in this life which is the counterpart we can find out some of the characteristics of it. We can find out from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Baha that the counterpart of the soul in this physcial life is the embryo which is growing in the womb world. We know almost everything about the embryo. It begins with one cell, and we notice that cell has a capacity to multiply itself in a certain way and eventually becomes a perfect human being at the end of nine months. The soul is the same, when it comes to us at the time of conception it has no qualities, no attributes, no knowledge, no virtures, but it can acquire them in this life. The only souls which do not have to acquire all these qualities are the Manifestations of God. This is the difference, when They are born They have all the knowledge, They did not have to acquire it. This is because Their soul has no beginning. Of course our soul has a beginning.

What is the purpose of the embryo?

Now we will see an important similarity. What is the purpose of the cell growing in the mother? The purpose is that it may grow and acquire limbs and organs. The same thing is with the soul that it may acquire spiritual qualities. It may acquire knowledge, wisdom and all the other virtues which takes a lifetime.Other similarities are that the embryo growing in the womb of the mother, this is not its place for eternity, it is for a very short period of time, only nine months, it is only temporary. The purpose of this growing in the womb of the mother is to prepare for this life, to be born here, that is why it is growing there. That is its purpose. It is the same thing with the soul. This world which we are attached to so much is not our home, it is only a transitory thing, it is only for a short period. We have to pass from here.

The difference between embryo and the soul is that man has free will

The laws of the physical world and the spiritual world are the same, but when you apply the law on a higher level something is added to it which is not to be found on a lower level. For example you will find a child will grow in the womb of the mother without any control, it cannot have any say in it, it is involuntary growth. It is subject to the laws of nature. But that same law when you apply it to the soul which is on a higher level, you see that man has control over himself, he has free will. He can choose to acquire good qualities or not. The choice of free will has not been given to the lower world of nature, but it has been given to us. So you can become a good man or a bad man. You notice other similarities.

The embryo recieves help

You find that when the embryo is growing in the world of the mother it will receive help from outside without even knowing it. It receives help from its mother and father who love it, from the doctors and nurses, the whole society. The same is in this life. All we do in this life is through the positive influence of the Holy Souls who are in the next life. They are assisting us, enabling us to grow spiritually, if we want to. The `if’ is the free will that God has given us. They cannot help us if we do not wish to acquire these qualities and perfections.

 What is my Purpose? (under construction)

The purpose of life is to acquire qualities and virtues so that we can carry ourselves into the next world as spiritual giants. But this is not the end purpose of life. The end purpose is something far greater.

What is the end purpose of the soul?

Again look at nature and the Writings. Everything that begins an organic life begins with a seed. A tree begins its life with a seed. The same with a child. Look at a tree, it grows and grows then it reaches a point where it fulfils itself when it produces its own seed. It has produced its child. It has reached the purpose of its existence if it produces its fruit, its seed. Our soul is the same thing also. It has to produce a fruit. Remember, it begins at the time of conception, if grows spiritually and acquires virtures and perfections, but it has to eventually produce a fruit. Now we look at the tree again, we notice that the tree cannot produce a fruit by itself. It cannot become pregnant unless there is a relationship with another factor, the male and female factor. The tree is the female, it produces its fruit, but it has to be pollenated from another source. Our soul is the same thing, the soul is female in the same sense. If it has to produce a fruit it has to establish a spiritual, a mystical relationship with another agency. So then our soul becomes fertilized, becomes pregnant. Here again we see in nature this relationship is involuntary, we see the tree is pollenated in a certain way, but with the soul has a free will, it is like a marriage, it has to find a partner, it has to choose. Who will it find. Most people give their souls to this physical, material world. Then the child of that partnership is not worthy, that child is materialism. It is a lower partnership.

We have the choice

Many people come into the world and they die and they have nothing to show for their life but materialism, this is the fruit that their soul has produced. Because the soul has a free will, it has a choice. But let us see what God wants to do, which partner He has chosen for us. Where is the partner for our soul that we can establish a spiritual, a higher relationship. We are told in this day that agency is Baha'u'llah. He is the Manifestation of God for this age. Our soul must give itself to Him, establish a mystical intercourse, a spiritual relationship with the influences of His revelation. So that this may fertilize our souls, then our soul becomes the mother of something very precious, and gives birth to it. Then you look at that child which our soul has given birth to. It is known as the spirit of faith. This is the final purpose of our lives. It comes into being as soon as you say ` I believe' in Baha'u'llah. In the beginning it is very small, just a little flicker of light. This is very precious, you must look after it, help it to grow. Just like a mother who gives birth to a child, it is difficult, and it takes a lot of hard work to bring it up and train it and protect and perserve it and help it grow. This is the most important work.

What is the purpose of our lives?

What is my Purpose?

The purpose of life is to acquire qualities and virtues so that we can carry ourselves into the next world as spiritual giants. But this is not the end purpose of life. The end purpose is something far greater. Again look at nature and the Writings. Everything that begins an organic life begins with a seed. A tree begins its life with a seed. The same with a child. Look at a tree, it grows and grows then it reaches a point where it fulfils itself when it produces its own seed. It has produced its child. It has reached the purpose of its existence if it produces its fruit, its seed. Our soul is the same thing also. It has to produce a fruit. Remember, it begins at the time of conception, if grows spiritually and acquires virtures and perfections, but it has to eventually produce a fruit. Now we look at the tree again, we notice that the tree cannot produce a fruit by itself. It cannot become pregnant unless there is a relationship with another factor, the male and female factor. The tree is the female, it produces its fruit, but it has to be pollenated from another source. Our soul is the same thing, the soul is female in the same sense. If it has to produce a fruit it has to establish a spiritual, a mystical relationship with another agency. So then our soul becomes fertilized, becomes pregnant. Here again we see in nature this relationship is involuntary, we see the tree is pollenated in a certain way, but with the soul has a free will, it is like a marriage, it has to find a partner, it has to choose. Who will it find. Most people give their souls to this physical, material world. Then the child of that partnership is not worthy, that child is materialism. It is a lower partnership.

Many people come into the world and they die and they have nothing to show for their life but materialism, this is the fruit that their soul has produced. Because the soul has a free will, it has a choice. But let us see what God wants to do, which partner He has chosen for us. Where is the partner for our soul that we can establish a spiritual, a higher relationship. We are told in this day that agency is Baha'u'llah. He is the Manifestation of God for this age. Our soul must give itself to Him, establish a mystical intercourse, a spiritual relationship with the influences of His revelation. So that this may fertilize our souls, then our soul becomes the mother of something very precious, and gives birth to it. Then you look at that child which our soul has given birth to. It is known as the spirit of faith. This is the final purpose of our lives. It comes into being as soon as you say ` I believe' in Baha'u'llah. In the beginning it is very small, just a little flicker of light. This is very precious, you must look after it, help it to grow. Just like a mother who gives birth to a child, it is difficult, and it takes a lot of hard work to bring it up and train it and protect and perserve it and help it grow. This is the most important work.

When we leave this world we bring with us all our virtues and qualities and perfections to the next world. When death takes place, it is the law of physics that everything returns to its origins. The body returns to its origins which is dust, and the soul returns to its origins also. Where is the origin of the soul? Where did it come from. It came from the spiritual worlds of God. But look at the difference. When it first came it had nothing, but now look what it has acquired. First of all it has an identity. Baha'u'llah says that you keep your identity in the next life. You are what you are, and you will come across other identities, other human beings and you associate with them. You have now got an identity which you didn't have before you were born. The soul carries with it everything good which it has. It cannot take with it anything which is bad. Bad has no existance of its own. It is simply a lack of good. When you are talking of existance either something exists or it does not exist. For example, darkness has no existence. Darkness is the lack of light. Light exists. For instance if someone asks you to get some light, you can take a candle from one room to another. But is someone asks you to bring some darkness you cannot because it doesn't exist. Poverty does not exist. It is the lack of riches. You cannot say I am a poor person and I have a lot of poverty. Its nothing. When you are poor you have one little coin. When you are full of hatred you cannot take it to the next world with you, it is just a lack of love. You cannot take bad things with you, they don't exist. If you are a murderer that means that you have very little good, you have destroyed all the good you carried with you.

It is the same law of nature that the childbrings everything it has with it, and it cannot bring something that it has not got. The same with us. You can only take love, generosity, forgiveness with you.

You will see another similarity. Look at theWritings and at nature. When the child is growing in the womb of the mother, most of the limbs are not useful, it cannot use its legs and run in the womb of the mother. Those limbs and organs are useful for this life. He acquires them in the womb of the mother for the next life. So the purpose of our soul acquiring divine virtues are really not for this life, but for the next life. You have to love each other, this is a marvelous spiritual teaching. This love is meant really for the next life. You have to carry it to the next world. Although you use it here too in this world, and it is very good, and you benefit from it, but I can assure you that there are millions of people in this world today who don't love anything, and yet they live. People are full of hate, they kill, they destroy, and yet they live. You see these qualities and virtures are aimed for the next life. Yet we benefit from them here.

What happens in the next life? Let us look atnature again. You will notice that when a child is in the womb of the mother, towards the end, it has perfect eyes. But it cannot see anything, because there is no light there. There, that instrument of the eye is useless. Its not meant for the womb of the mother. It is meant for the next life. So what happens when it is born. The combination of light in this world, which did not exist in the womb, and the eye, the combination of the two, makes that eye a useful instrument. The same thing is with the virtures which you take with you to the next life. These qualities and virtues are instruments. In the next world, these qualities become like our limbs and organs. Whatever is in the next world similar to the light, which is the counterpart of the light, that thing whatever it is, and I personally think that it is the Word of God, that combines with all the virtues of love, unity, justice, generosity, brotherhood, these combined together makes our spiritual beings progress. It becomes part of us, it becomes our useful limbs and organs. What will you do with love in the next world, we don't really know, but whatever happens to the love that you have in your heart and you take with you to the next world, combined with whatever it is in the next life, becomes part of our being.

There is another similarity here between thechild in the womb of the mother and the soul, and it is this, that the child cannot acquire these limbs and organs in this life, it has to acquire them in the womb world. If we do not acquire eyes and ears and hands and feet, and then we are born, this world is not the place to acquire them. We have to acquire them in the womb world. This is why we are told that we have to acquire these virtues and bring them with us to the next world. We cannot acquire them in the next life.

You can use them in the next life, but youcannot acquire them there. When a child has no hands or no feet, we say he is handicapped. He grows, he lives, yes, but he is handicapped, because he has failed to develop them in the womb of the mother.

There is another thing we can examine. This isnot really examples we are looking at, but principles. We have a principle of life in the physical world, and we apply it to the spiritual world. It is an application of the same principles and laws that are in existence.

Often we wonder where is the next life, where isthe next world? In order to understand you can look at nature and the Writings of Baha'u'llah. Look at the pregnant mother and the child which is growing, where is that child? That child is here. It is not born yet, but still it is very close. It is in fact in this world already, it is walking with its mother. Only a barrier prevents him from seeing and realizing it. But he is here in this world. The next world is so close for the child that it is already in it. What happens with an egg which breaks open and a chicken comes out? Where was the chicken before the egg breaks? It was here. But just a shell prevented it from realizing where it was. It is exactly the same thing with us. The next world is here. It is nowhere else. It is very close to us, but it is hidden from our eyes. Baha'u'llah has made it very clear in His Tablets why it is hidden from our eyes. The same God Who has not not given to the child in the womb of the mother the capacity to understand the next life, to see it, because if the child in the womb of the mother had any conception of the vastness and greatness and beauty of this world in comparision to the womb of the mother, hewould not wish to stay there for one moment. You would have a revolution on your hands. Nobody would want to stay in that dark and narrow and confining place of the womb world if they could see the vastness and beauty of this world. But God did not give it the capacity, as long as it is in the womb of the mother, it is blind and deaf and dumb and doesn't know a thing. This isgood for him, it brings stability to his life, it is a protection for him. The same God has closed our vision to the next world. He says if ever a person could understand to the extent of a needle's eye, the glory and the greatness and the beauty of the next life, then he would take his own life. He would not want to wish to stay here for a moment. If you had any knowledge, if you could percieve something of the next life then our life would be very unstable here, nothing could happen in this world as it is happening now. That is closed to us. Our mind is limited. The soul works within our mind. The mind is the instrument of the soul, as the body is an instrument of the soul. Every limb and organ of the body is an instrument of the soul. Our eyes see because of our soul. When we die we no longer see with our eyes because the soul is no longer attached to the body. Our mind is an instrument of the soul to think, but it is limited. Its spiritual eyes are closed. God has not given us the capacity to understand more than what it has experienced. Baha'u'llah tells us that one of the proofs of the existence of the soul is our dreams. That we are sleeping and yet we are moving around. Yet in our sleep, dreams are always limited. You never can come in the morning and say that I dreamt something that I absolutelysaw and understood the next world, to see exactly what it is because this is impossible. Whatever it is we see is limited to our experiences. We can develop on the level of our experience. We cannot rise above that level. We are limited. Because we are limited our soul stays in this limitation. It is like bringing a bird and putting it in a cage. That bird cannot move out of the cage. If the bird is in a room, and all the doors are closed it cannot see anything outside. Our souls are limited here. It has no capacity to understand even what the next life is like, because the instrument for thinking which is the brain is limited, and we discover things through our brain. So the instrument is limited. The soul cannot work through it beyond its limitations.

So you see the next life is here.

Baha'u'llah tells us another thing. In this life God has created degrees of existence. These degrees of existence are all progressively revealing the attributes of God, but we find the higher levels, or higher kingdoms are dominating the lower levels, and the lower levels are blind to the existence of the higher kingdoms. You find out for example that in the vegetable kingdom does not understand the animal, and the animal does not understand the reality of man. But the opposite is true, man understands the animal and the animal understands the vegetable. But there are degrees of existence. In this life there are infinite varieties. Even amongst human beings each one is distinct, unique. There are not two things the same. But all things are on different levels, humanity is on one level, animals, there are many degrees of animal, many grades of animals, you come across for example a worm which is on the lowest scale, and you come across intelligent animals. Look at all the degrees He has created. It's the same thing in the next life. Humanity will be graded, we will be divided into levels, depending on what we carry to the next world. Whatever capital we take to the next world from there on you start your level. Baha'u'llah tells us that in the next life, those that are on a lower level will not understand those on a higher level. This is the way God likes it, He likes these divisions. We may not like it, we may all like to be in the same place, but God says that we must be divided, just like in the nature, look at all the divisions, could He not just have created man, what's the use of all these silly little mouse and insects? He loves these divisions. Those who are on a higher level will encompass those who are on a lower level. But again on each level the souls will progress and grow.

The hot seat: Questions Christians ask

 THE LIGHT WORLD
Heather Niderost , Baha'i Canada Publication
ISBN: 978-0-88867-141-7
Product Code:B3-099
Price: $8.00
Soft Cover, 9" X 6.5", 37 Pages.
Many scholarly books have been written about life after death.  But this little book written by a mother surpasses them all...
This little book was first published nearly 20 years ago, and it is as timely today as it was then. 

It talks about life after death. It recounts the author's experience of losing her ten year old son, Eric, but it is Eric's voic we hear.

He tells his readers, young or old, how he died and, through the aegis of the Bahá'í Writings, what life and death are all about.

Its objective is "to remove the fear of death from the minds of our children".
This could have been a very sad book.  A child Eric who died iin a car accident.
But it is not. Eric tells us about his grand adventure of the spirit.
Because it is a truly happy book it has helped many, many grieving families, and continues its healing journey.
If you click on picture below a preview will download.

 

Random Image

webalexnewspaper1.jpg

I MADE DEATH A MESSENGER OF JOY FOR THEE
It is difficult for most people to talk about death.

  • The best way is to think how young children approach death. With wonderment. Young children do not fear death. Adults need PROOFS and we are providing conclusive scientific evidence on this website that consciousness continued after the brain has died. the joyful message that death is not the end but a new beginning.
  • We invite you to spend a few minutes studying the slide show as it gives an extra-ordinary insight how children, who had Near Death Experience (N.D.E.)tried to explain their experience both in words ( "I saw the sun and it had a happy face") and in pictures. But there is much more.
  • In the VIDEO section (see menu) you wil see a blind woman who could SEE after she died. We also included a video of a renowned neuro-surgeon (Harvard university) who as most doctors didn't believe in afterlife but ........ after his own N.D.E. experience changed completely.
  • In the section LINKS we provided for those who are very critical some extracts from scientific studies and the conclusions are baffling! The reason why we got interested in this subject is that my wife and myself spent several years in the cancer ward of a children hospital where death is a daily occurrence. Our son Alexander passed away when he was 11 years and 11 months old ...
  • This website is a celebration of his life and hopefully can help parents who experienced a similar tragedy. It is difficult for most people to talk about death. The best way is to think how young children approach death. With wonderment. We invite you to spend a few minutes studying the slide show as it contains the joyful message that death is not the end but a new beginning.

Who's Online

We have 158 guests and no members online

Statistics

Users
2
Articles
22
Articles View Hits
288327