Metaphysical meaning of soul (mbd)
soul.
Meta. The Scriptures give spirit, soul, and body as constituting all of man. Spirit is I AM, the same in character as Divine Mind, or God. Soul is man's consciousness--that which he has apprehended or developed out of Spirit; also the impressions that he has received from the outer world. Soul is both conscious and subconscious. Body is the form of expression of both spirit and soul. In its invisible forces it expresses Spirit, and in its seeming materiality it pictures the limitations of soul. When man puts out of consciousness all limitations and realizes the perfection of Spirit, his body will be perfect; in other words the salvation of the soul results in the redemption or spiritualization of the body.
The ether, the astral, and the soul are virtually one. It is in this realm of the soul that ideas first take form. The soul is not the realm of God ideas, but is the second emanation in the creative law. This is the "garden" of Genesis 2:8 in which are all possibilities. But the Supreme Being lies deeper than soul. The mind must grasp ideas in their absolute, unrelated, and unlimited degree before God can be comprehended.
Man is eternally one with the Father in His divine essence as the divine will, but when that will is sent forth to carry out the ideals of the Father, wisdom, a condition is set up, a state of consciousness called the soul, and its outer court called the body.
This realm of things made, or consciousness of condition, is termed the soul. The body is the outer court of the soul, and an exact representative, in form, of the ideals that are revolving in the inner realms of its domain.
The planet on which we live is a type of every man's soul. The solid part represents the body, the electrical currents that permeate it from center to circumference, and far beyond, represent the passions and emotions of man; the clouds are a fit symbol of human thoughts that have been thrown out by the discords of unwise thinking.
All these are things, and are undergoing constant change. They appear to progress from lower to higher forms; men have observed this progression and called it evolution. This perpetual change is symbolic of man's consciousness--which is going through just such an evolutionary process as is observed in the planet.
The ego is building, and these states and conditions are the evidence of its handiwork.
The difference between soul and spirit --also the difference between the Spirit of God and the indwelling Christ--is as follows:
The soul touches both the inner realm of Spirit, from which it receives direct inspiration, and the external world, from which it receives impressions. But as man brings into expression the original purity of the divine consciousness his soul is purified and established in its primitive innocence.
The spirit is the divine center in man and is always in the Absolute; it does not become involved in effects but stands as the creative Cause of the absolute good.
The indwelling Christ is the Son of God or spiritual nucleus within each individual, about which all our thoughts must harmonize before we can bring into expression the divine consciousness. The Spirit of God is the divine consciousness carrying out the Christ ideas.
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