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Mind and Soul
Mind is about all we have of universe reality that is subject to our will--and our soul faithfully replicates and portrays the harvest of the temporal decisions that the mortal self makes. But it is not so much what mind comprehends as what mind desires to comprehend that ensures soul growth; it is not so much what mind is like as what mind is striving to be like that constitutes spirit identification. And it is not so much that we are conscious of God as that we yearn for God that results in universe ascension. What we are today is not so important as what we are becoming day by day and in eternity.
Mind is the cosmic instrument on which our human will can play the discords of destruction, or upon which this same human will can bring forth the exquisite melodies of God identification and consequent eternal survival. The God-Spirit bestowed upon us is impervious to evil and incapable of sin. (1217)
But these mortal minds of ours can be twisted, distorted, and rendered evil and ugly by the sinful machinations of a perverse and self-seeking human will. Contrary-wise, this very same mind can be made noble, beautiful, true, and good--thus reflecting a spirit-illuminated will provided only that our choice is both to seek to be God-knowing and always to attempt to do God's will.
Factors in the evolutionary creation of an immortal soul are:
The human mind and all cosmic influences antecedent thereto and impinging thereon.
The divine spirit indwelling this human mind and all potentials inherent in such a fragment of absolute spirituality, together with all associated spiritual influences and factors in human life.
The relationship between material mind and divine spirit, which connotes a value and carries a meaning not found in either of the contributing factors to such an association.
The reality of this unique relationship is neither material nor spiritual. It is the soul.
The potential for such soul evolution is inherent in the two universal urges of mind:
the impulse of the finite mind of the creature to know God and attain the divinity of the Creator.
the impulse of the infinite mind of the Creator to know man and attain the experience of the creature.
This supernal transaction of evolving the immortal soul is made possible because the mortal mind is first personal and second because it is in contact with superhuman realities. (1218)
Therefore it possesses an endowment of divine ministry that ensures the evolution of a moral nature capable of making moral decisions. Thus mortal mind can effect a bona fide creative contact with spiritual ministries and with the indwelling Father-Spirit--and a soul is born.
Evolution of the soul
The soul is super-material but sub-spiritual.
In one sense, it is a storehouse that contains everything of spiritual value emanating from our earthly lives.
It interacts both with our mortal mind and with our indwelling God-Spirit.
The more spiritual our minds become, the more closely our soul approaches the divine Spirit-within to the degree that, with the consent of the human mind, the soul gains the authority to commit our eternal future to the quest of finding the Universal Father, seeking to be like him, and to the doing of his will.
Our soul is thus the primordial embryo of what we will become during the next phase of our eternal career.
How then do we make the most of our opportunities for divine guidance in the development of our souls?
Perhaps for most of us, our progress will be at a maximum if we initiate an evolutionary role for our own alter ego. We start by making it our personal habit to maintain continuous but silent contact between our finite mind and our alter ego--which, at this learning stage, is a stand-in for the God-Spirit within.
Success or failure is in direct proportion to how much of our waking time we succeed in spending in a relationship by which our every thought, every word, and every moment of the day is shared in dialogue with our pseudo spirit companion.
However to provide tentative answers to serious questions, we must draw upon our prior knowledge of the Father as it was revealed to us in the life of Jesus of Nazareth.
Then, in any situation in which we find ourselves, our decision making may be guided by a single potent question, "What would Jesus do?" And over time, what commenced as a one-sided and completely human relationship will gradually progress to a state in which our forthcoming decisions approach ever closer to bearing the essence of divinity .
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