Father I love you. Test

Soul and mind according to Brother Aurelius.

         “Brother Aurelius?"

         -Yes, Brother Raymond.-

         “Brother Aurelius, I described my experience to you earlier, and now I want to share this event with others. So, my first question to is, ‘What do you say is a soul?’”

         -Brother Raymond, in my work on the Trinity, I have identified the soul as a, ‘spiritual substance’- “For whereas the soul is a spiritual substance,[1]” -and I also identified the mind as a spiritual substance,- “ . . . so the mind, which is a spiritual substance, must be raised upright to those things which are most elevated in spiritual things,[2] not by the elation of pride, but by the dutifulness of righteousness.[3]”

         “Thank you Brother Aurelius. From my experience I have seen this spiritual substance but I do not know what it is. Obviously it is not something from our world. The soul must be a spiritual substance for if it were a material substance it would be dependant on some other material cause, whereas it is not. In truth I am not preoccupied with this mystery. I am however consoled, because I now know, as a soul I can live without my body, and I can live for eternity, and, at some point my body will return to me.”

         -Brother Raymond.-

         “Yes, Brother Aurelius."

         “If we subtract from that which is man, which is so called with the conjunction of body, the mind and spirit remain.[4]”

         “That is exactly how I was when I left my body. My spirit with my mind existed outside of my body, as did the rest of my soul.”

         “Brother Aurelius, I now know, that when God speaks to me, He does not speak to my brain, he does not speak to my flesh, he does not speak to my ears, he speaks to me, the immortal me, to Me, to my spirit in my rational soul. Body or no body, conversation between God and a Person, is between God and our spirit.[5] To be present to others, our spirit must also be in communion with other spirits. One of the great truths I have learned, is that ‘the visible is always a sign of the invisible.’ The visible head is always a sign of the invisible spirit. The visible body is a sign of the invisible soul.[6]

`        -Yes Brother Raymond.- “Be therefore like Him in piety, and earnest in meditation: for "the invisible things of Him are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made;" (Psalm C. 6 (7)) look upon the things that are made, admire them, seek their author. If thou art unlike, thou wilt turn back; if like, thou wilt rejoice. And when; being like Him, thou shalt have begun to approach Him, and to feel God, the more love increaseth in thee, since God is love, thou wilt perceive somewhat which thou wast trying to say, and yet couldest not say." [7]

         “So Brother Aurelius, the visible is always a sign of the invisible. Because we live in bodies, our eyes are the only windows our invisible spirit has to see visible works, the visible power of the hand of God.[8] Our eyes see the visible signs (the exterior); our spirit sees the invisible hand, the power of God (the interior).

         You know Brother Aurelius, I always found that the word Father (in reference to God) was a very visible sign of his loving Presence. Brother Aurelius, did you not say that words are also signs?”

         -Yes, Brother Raymond.-

         “All instruction is either about things or about signs; but things are learnt by means of signs. I now use the word "thing" in a strict sense, to signify that which is never employed as a sign of anything else: for example, wood, stone, cattle, and other things of that kind. Not, however, the wood which we read Moses cast into the bitter waters to make them sweet, nor the stone which Jacob used as a pillow, nor the ram which Abraham offered up instead of his son; for these, though they are things, are also signs of other things.

         There are signs of another kind, those that are never employed except as signs: for example, words. No one uses words except as signs of something else; and hence may be understood what I call signs: those things, to wit, which are used to indicate something else. Accordingly, every sign is also a thing; for what is not a thing is nothing at all. Every thing, however, is not also a sign.

         And so, in regard to this distinction between things and signs, I shall, when I speak of things, speak in such a way that even if some of them may be used as signs also, that will not interfere with the division of the subject according to which I am to discuss things first and signs afterwards. But we must carefully remember that what we have now to consider about things is what they are in themselves, not what other things they are signs of.” [9]

         “So Brother Aurelius, words are also signs, and signs must of course be in reference to something else. When I hear the word “Father,” and when my spirit focuses on God our Father, the curtain on the word Father opens, and my mind sees Him. I see His every act that loves me as only a Father can. I can then live with Him. Words are curtains. To know what they conceal, we must open them and walk through them, that our spirit may see what they reveal. Every revelation delivered by a word must be an emotional experience,[10] if one is to come face to face with the invisible Truth[11] and Reality[12] behind the created visible word.”

         Brother and Sister Reader, how can you know someone’s will if you do not hear and receive their spoken word? My voice is nothing but a public address system for words, but words originate in my spirit. If I wish to reveal my will to you, I will speak to you and if you hear and receive the Word(s) I speak, (signs of my presence) you will then know my will. Otherwise, no one knows my will except me and those whom I wish to reveal my will to, i.e. those whom I speak to personally. Not only do my words reveal my will to you, conversely my will reveals my word to you.

         Now let’s look at this text from St. John’s gospel, "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him" (Mt 11:37; cf. Lk 10:22). Therefore Christ, the Son who knows the Father, (His Father’s will) reveals the Father (His will through Christ’s word). At the same time the Son (Word of God) is revealed by the Father (the will of God). (Mt 16:17).

         So, if you wish to know the Father, you (your spirit) must cleave to His Son, to his each and every word. Since his words speak his Father’s will, the Holy Spirit will then enable you to meet God the Father, in, with and through His beloved Son. Hearing the Father’s will, you will also meet Jesus His Son, His Word. You will then be able to love (truly love, cleave) to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit for, we cannot love those we do not know.

         Soul according to Brother Thomas.

         “Brother Thomas, can you tell us something about our soul?”

         -Brother Raymond,- “To seek the nature of the soul, we must premise that the soul is defined as the first principle of life of those things which live: for we call living things animate,” -i.e. having a soul,- “and those things which have no life, inanimate.” –i.e. not having a soul.-

         “Now life is shown principally by two actions, knowledge (spirit) and movement (soul). The philosophers of old, not being able to rise above their imagination, supposed that the principle of these actions was something corporeal: for they asserted that only bodies were real things; and that what is not corporeal is nothing: hence they maintained that the soul is something corporeal. This opinion can be proved to be false in many ways; but we shall make use of only one proof, based on universal and certain principles, which shows clearly that the soul is not a body. (Bracketed words are the author’s.)

         It is manifest that not every principle of vital action is a soul, for then the eye would be a soul, as it is a principle of vision; and the same might be applied to the other instruments of the soul: but it is the "first" principle of life, which we call the soul. Now, though a body may be a principle of life, or to be a living thing, as the heart is a principle of life in an animal, yet nothing corporeal can be the first principle of life. For it is clear that to be a principle of life, or to be a living thing, does not belong to a body as such; since, if that were the case, every body would be a living thing, or a principle of life. Therefore a body is competent to be a living thing or even a principle of life, as "such" a body. Now that it is actually such a body, it owes to some principle which is called its act. Therefore the soul, which is the first principle of life, is not a body, but the act of a body; thus heat, which is the principle of calefaction, is not a body, but an act of a body.[13]”

         -Brother Raymond, that was a tough read. Do you think it will be understood?-

         “Sure Brother Thomas, our readers are starving for knowledge.”

         Dear Reader, we can say whatever has life, has a soul. Each different level of life however, (plants, insects, animals and man) has a different kind of soul, but a soul nevertheless, a soul with special appetites and attributes that enables plants or creatures to grow and develop and attain their full potential. Only humans have an intellectual soul, a rational soul.

         The word soul is an all-embracing word. You will see that our soul contains our spirit, our mantle and energy cells. Humans are the only creatures that have a rational spirit. The rest, mantle and energy-cells we have in common with the animal and plant kingdom. We also share their same powers, which will be described a little later on

Our soul has bulk but no matter.

         “Brother Thomas, my soul had no bones, no skin, no organs, so, I presume it has no weight or bulk like my body has?”

         -Brother Raymond.-

         “The soul is simple in comparison with the body, inasmuch as it (the soul) does not occupy space by its bulk.” [14] (Brackets and underline are the author’s.)

         Brother Thomas tells us, the soul has bulk but it does not occupy space by its bulk. This I confirmed earlier, when I described what my soul looked like.

         I certainly saw it has “bulk,” but it is “spiritual bulk.”

         Everything about our bodies is material, mechanical and bulky by design, since bodies are necessary to interact with the physical universe we are placed in. Since the universe is matter, to subdue it as spirits incarnate, we must use matter and, matter is bulk and occupies space.

         Our spirit and our soul however, are not corporeal. They have bulk that does not occupy space, because they are a spiritual substance. Like the spoken word, they take up no space. Whether I speak one letter or I read every book ever written, words, though real and present, take up no space in my intellect. Whether one’s memory remembers one day or a lifetime, my memory takes up no space. If, in our imagination we see one glass of water or ten glasses of water or a hundred glasses of water or an ocean of water, what we imagine takes up no space.

         Imagination, like our other faculties (intelligence, knowledge, memory, emotion, will, courage, determination, vision etc.) all have unlimited potential, yet like my soul, they do not have bulk or occupy space.

         In my experience, my soul was visible to my spirit. Being out of body I saw it. However, without God’s intervention, spiritual beings could never be visible to the eyes of my flesh, since flesh must see phantasms before a person is able to identify what they see. Without God’s intervention, it is impossible to see spiritual beings. But that does not mean they are not there. Our fleshy eyes are meant to see physical things; they cannot by their nature see spiritual things. That does not mean spiritual things are not there.

         Once my soul was out of body, I could easily see my soul since I was no longer bound by a body that could only see visible things through flesh and blood eyes. While in our bodies, we can only see the visible. Nevertheless, (body or no body) we must always remember, it is the invisible reality behind the visually visible, which is always its first cause. Without the invisible reality there would be no visible. Our eyes must see visible signs that our spirit may pierce these and see the invisible First Cause, God.

         This is one aspect of my existence and make-up that I find absolutely fascinating. My soul, which has no weight and takes up no space, is indispensable for activating my 83.9-kilogram body.[15] Without my soul, my body is useless, indeed, it would not be.

         “Brother Thomas, this question about our soul not being matter, could you shed more light on this?”

         -Gladly.-

         -Brother Aurelius in his work Gen. ad lit. vii, 7,8,9 proves that the soul was made neither of corporeal matter, nor of spiritual matter.-

         “I too answer that, the soul has no matter. We may consider this question in two ways. First, from the notion of a soul in general; for it belongs to the notion of a soul to be the form of a body. Now, either it is a form by virtue of itself, in its entirety, or by virtue of some part of itself. If by virtue of itself in its entirety, then it is impossible that any part of it should be matter, if by matter we understand something purely potential: for a form, as such, is an act; and that which is purely potentiality cannot be part of an act, since potentiality is repugnant to actuality as being opposite thereto. If, however, it be a form by virtue of a part of itself, then we call that part the soul: and that matter, which it actualizes first, we call the ‘primary animate.’

         Secondly, we may proceed from the specific notion of the human soul inasmuch as it is intellectual. For it is clear that whatever is received into something is received according to the condition of the recipient. Now a thing is known in as far as its form is in the knower. But the intellectual soul knows a thing in its nature absolutely: for instance, it knows a stone absolutely as a stone; and therefore the form of a stone absolutely, as to its proper formal idea, is in the intellectual soul. Therefore the intellectual soul itself is an absolute form, and not something composed of matter and form. For if the intellectual soul were composed of matter and form, the forms of things would be received into it as individuals, and so it would only know the individual: just as it happens with the sensitive powers which receive forms in a corporeal organ; since matter is the principle by which forms are individualized. It follows, therefore, that the intellectual soul, and every intellectual substance which has knowledge of forms absolutely, is exempt from composition of (material) matter and (material) form.”[16] (Bracketed words are the author’s)

         “Brother Thomas, this explains why a soul can animate and generate a zygote cell through to stage 2 pre-embryo, through to stage 3 embryo, through to stage 4 infant, through to stage 5 adolescent, through to stage 6 adult and through to our last stage as a human being, stage 7 a senior. It (the soul) being exempt from composition of matter and form, quite simply “embraces” his/her unique body, then develops it, continuing from conception through to their entire pilgrimage on this earth, finally coming to his/her Father’s loving arms.

         Brother Thomas, after seeing what I saw and reading yours and Brother Aurelius’ writings, and after reading all the references to our soul in the Bible, and after the many spiritual experiences I have had, there is absolutely no doubt that “I” am a rational soul, created by God, animating a body of flesh and bone.”

Soul is a spiritual substance.

 

         Suspended in my soul state above the bed, I saw my soul with three major divisions, each with a different appearance, each having different function. Each part had substance. All parts were a bright white. As I hovered, I saw my soul had energy-cells,[17] contained in a fine and delicate mantle. The mantle was exquisite, radiating royal beauty, it had length, width and depth. It seemed like a fabric so splendid, as to be priceless. I was that white “ball” at the head of the mantle.

         -Brother Raymond,- “For whereas the soul is a spiritual substance, and whereas itself also was made, yet could not be made by any other than by Him by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing is made . . .”[18]

         “Thank you Brother Aurelius. Though the word “spiritual” tends to suggest without form,” the soul is indeed a definite substance with its own form with each of its three parts being different, i.e. spirit, mantle and cells.

         “Brother Thomas, in your 2nd article on question 75 (Part one of the Summa) you covered this point well.”

         -Thank you Brother Raymond. On the question, “Whether the Human Soul is something subsistent?” my argument concludes with the sentence,-

         “We must conclude, therefore, that the human soul, which is called the intellect or mind, is something incorporeal and subsistent.”[19]

         It is certainly without material form and material substance where the eyes of the flesh are concerned, but our soul is definitely a spiritual substance without it’s own form,” I replied, “since it takes its form from the body it has been created to animate. It takes the form of a zygote, of an embryo, of a baby, of a child, of a teenager, of an adult and of a senior.

         Should a person be born with three arms, it will take the form of a body with three arms. Should a person be born with no legs, it will take the form of a body with no legs.

         “Brother Aurelius, I know for a fact that our soul is something subsistent.[20] Obviously I do not know what it is made of, but it is definitely a spiritual substance with many parts as we can see from this drawing.

         I do know that I, my spirit, (with my mind and all my intellectual faculties) was at the head of my soul. The head in this spiritual substance is Me, my spirit, my will, my love, my understanding, my reasoning, my perseverance, my courage, my audacity, my determination; with my mind, my memory, my imagination, my vision... all of these things constituting my consciousness, my history, everything that I am but without a body.

         My corporeal eyes do not see, my corporeal ears do not hear, my corporeal tongue does not speak and my corporeal fingers cannot touch. My spirit and my soul do all these things. My spirit sees using eyes that belong to the flesh, but looking belongs to the spirit.

         Because my spirit and my soul have a body, my spirit touches using fingers that belong to the flesh, but feeling belongs to the spirit.

         Because my spirit and my soul have a body, my spirit hears, using ears that belong to the flesh, but listening belongs to the spirit.

         Because my spirit and my soul have a body, my spirit speaks audibly using a tongue that belongs to the flesh, but words belong to the spirit.

         Firstly however, I must speak as a spirit, and as that spirit made in the image and likeness of God I must speak the truth. This I must do before I allow my spirit to be voiced by the flesh, for the body knows absolutely nothing and can do absolutely nothing on its own. I must speak spirit to spirit, to God and to others.

         “Brother Aurelius, did you not touch on this point in your work on the Holy Trinity?”

         -Yes Brother Raymond.-

         “We behold by the sight of the mind, in that eternal truth from which all things temporal are made, the form according to which we are, and according to which we do anything by true and right reason, either in ourselves, or in things corporeal; and we have the true knowledge of things, thence conceived, as it were as a word within us, and by speaking we beget it from within; nor by being born does it depart from us.

         And when we speak to others, we apply to the word, remaining within us,[21] the ministry of the voice or of some bodily sign, that by some kind of sensible remembrance some similar thing may be wrought also in the mind of him that hears, similar, I say, to that which does not depart from the mind of him that speaks. We do nothing, therefore, through the members of the body in our words and actions, by which the behavior of men is either approved or blamed, which we do not anticipate by a word uttered within ourselves. For no one willingly does anything, which he has not first said in his heart. And this word is conceived by love, either of the creature or of the Creator, that is, either of changeable nature or of unchangeable truth.”[22] (Bold text and italics are the author’s.)

         “Yes Brother Aurelius, my spirit and my soul are the active ingredients where the existence of my flesh is concerned. Our dear Lord tells us, “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”[23]

Soul is not a body.

         Brother Thomas tells us, “the soul, which is the first principle of life, is not a body, but the act of a body; thus heat, which is the principle of calefaction,[24] is not a body, but an act of a body.”

         He adds: “As everything which is in motion must be moved by something else, a process which cannot be prolonged indefinitely, we must allow that not every mover is moved. For, since to be moved is to pass from potentiality to actuality, the mover gives what it has to the thing moved, inasmuch as it causes it to be in act. But, as is shown in Phys. viii, 6, there is a mover which is altogether immovable, and not moved either essentially, or accidentally; and such a mover can cause an invariable movement.

         There is, however, another kind of mover, which, though not moved essentially, is moved accidentally; and for this reason it does not cause an invariable movement; such a mover, is the soul. There is, again, another mover, which is moved essentially--namely, the body. And because the philosophers of old believed that nothing existed but bodies, they maintained that every mover is moved; and that the soul is moved directly, and is a body.” [25]

Is my soul under my control?

         It was only much later when I realized I did not have complete control of my soul. While I was hovering above my body, the only part of my soul that I was conscious of being in, was my spirit. Indeed I am my spirit.

         I sensed I had no control over the energy-cells. I later realized I did have control of the mantle since it is an extension of my spirit. I was responsible for hovering above my body, in much the same way I was responsible for body movements when I was in the flesh. Moving around, while carrying a heavy wet pile of meat, is like being an elephant. In my soul state, the moment I considered returning into my body, it was done. It was then that I realized I could also go anywhere simply by thinking about it. Indeed this was the same power I had in the physical world, except thinking had to be converted into physical locomotion for actual realization.

         At the time, I had no idea how to operate the mantle where movement is concerned. I simply didn’t realize movement of my mantle was responsible for the movement of my body parts.

         When I left my body, I did not consciously decide how my soul would exit, I did not know what my soul looked like, much less how to travel with it. I did not consciously decide my mantle should envelop the energy-cells. I did not even know I had a mantle or energy-cells. Further, when I left my body, the energy-cells were all in a row, many collapsed one into the other and enveloped by the mantle. Who decided this? I didn't. I did not decide that I should exit from my right side, from the rib area. I did not decide that I should arc myself above my body and then unwrap the mantle and expose the energy-cells once my soul was above my body. I did not decide that once unwrapped, these energy-cells should assemble in a pile, nor that they should sit still and pulsate bright white light.

         When I returned into my body, it was not my decision that the energy-cells would once more be lined up one behind the other and wrapped by the mantle for the return trip. Nor did I decide that I should arc back in. Nor did I decide that I would return through exactly the same spot from which I exited. Nor did I decide that I would envelop and permeate my body.

         I did not decide which part of my body I would occupy first or last. I did not decide that my spirit would be the first to return and envelop and permeate my brain. I did not decide that my soul would firstly return to the left extremities of my body, then the right side of my body. I did not decide how the energy-cells would disperse throughout my body. All of these things happened instantly, though I did experience in that instant, “stages” of return into my body. I may have been responsible for all these things happening without knowing it, simply because soul movement is instantaneous and activated by my intellect though I do not know how. This was a whole new experience for me; I was ignorant of the power between thought and action. I never had the experience of having something done the second I thought of it. Clearly this is the way life is in the spirit.

         With the exception of speech and movement, I do not have control over whatever else my soul can do. Now that I think about it, this is the same as for my body. With the exception of speech and movement, I do not have control over my liver, or my heart, or any other such part of my body that functions whether I wish it or not. The only part of my soul that I do have control over is my spirit and mantle.

         This I now know, my spirit and its extension the mantle and the energy-cells do everything where biological and spiritual life is concerned.

         When I walk, my intellect is moving me via my mantle and my legs, like stilts, respond accordingly.

         When I eat, my intellect is moving the bodily parts I need for eating via my mantle (and the energy-cells?) thus I am fed and nourished.

         When I speak, words are begotten by my spirit, the mantle moves the body parts I need and my biological “talking parts” deliver the sounds.

         When I see, my intellect via my mantle (and energy-cells?) moves and operates the body parts I need to see, allowing light and images to be received by my eyes and transmitted to my intellect, but it is my spirit that does the looking.

         Whatever I do, it is my intellect doing it, using the mantle and the energy-cells instructing my body on how to respond to the invisible conscious will of my spirit in the visible world I live in.

         When it (my soul) was outside my body, it performed flawlessly, taking me out, suspending me over the bed and bringing me back, fully reinstating me the way I was before I exited from my body.

         There is no doubt about it, my spirit and soul are gifts from God. My spirit made in his Image and my soul an absolute “engineering” marvel that only God can make. These gifts allow me to animate a body here on his earth, and later in Heaven with my glorified bodily. We will cover reunion of body and soul a little later on.

         It is the soul and not the body that feels pain.

         While in this state (out of body) I lacked for nothing, I wondered if I could still suffer. I asked Brother Aurelius about this:

         -Brother Raymond,-

         “ It is the soul not the body, which is pained, even when the pain originates with the body, the soul feeling pain at the point where the body is hurt. As then we speak of bodies feeling and living, though the feeling and life of the body are from the soul, so also we speak of bodies being pained, though no pain can be suffered by the body apart from the soul. The soul, then, is pained with the body in that part where something occurs to hurt it; and it is pained alone, though it be in the body, when some invisible cause distresses it, while the body is safe and sound. Even when not associated with the body (the soul) it is pained; for certainly that rich man was suffering in hell when he cried, “I am tormented in this flame.” (Luke 16:24) But as for the body, it suffers no pain when it is soulless; and even when animate it can suffer only by the soul's suffering. If, therefore, we might draw a just presumption from the existence of pain to that of death, and conclude that where pain can be felt death can occur, death would rather be the property of the soul, for to it pain more peculiarly belongs.” [26]

         “Brother Aurelius?”

         -Yes, Brother Raymond.-

         “Because pain can be felt anywhere in the body, does this mean the soul is everywhere in the body? And, does this mean the body cannot feel pain if it has no soul?”

         -Good observation Brother Raymond.-[27]

         “The soul . . . may feel pain without the body: but without the soul the body cannot.[28] So, to it (the soul, to you and me) belongs sensation and not to the body. Now we know the soul can experience happiness and suffering during this life and after the death of the body.” (Bracketed words are the author’s.)

         Brother Aurelius I know this is true. I once had an experience that clearly shows the soul can feel pain without the body. From this experience (and there are many others) I bear witness that our souls can be free from the body and experience pain, happiness or heartbreak.

There will never be enough tears.

         In my late teens, I applied and received admission to a truly great, religious order, the De La Salle Brothers of the Christian Schools. At first we were housed in temporary quarters in Ajax Ontario. These buildings were a number of long wooden barracks, built during the war. A year or two later, we moved into a spanking new Mother House in Wexford Ontario.

         I began in the juniorate and eventually came to be admitted to the novitiate. The juniorate was for newcomers, a place for us to adjust to the environment of the religious community. Once we felt comfortable being there, and once Brother Director felt that we should take the next step, we were invited into the novitiate.

         As novices, we would receive the religious habit of the order and spend a year apart from the Juniors and Scholastics, discerning and preparing our hearts to enter into the scholasticate where we would make our first temporary vows.

         The receiving of our religious habit was a very solemn event. In our beautiful chapel, before the Blessed Sacrament, one by one, we were vested with the religious habit of the order. This included a black robe without buttons or sash, a black skullcap called a calotte, a black mantle (cloak) and a rabata. A rabata looks something like what some lawyers wear in court, a stiff white collar with two rectangular bibs in the front. I will never forget the happiness that filled my heart that blessed day.

         Once vested, we went to our pews. When everyone was vested we sang the “Veni Sancte Spiritus,” after which we went into personal adoration, prayer and thanksgiving in front of the Blessed Sacrament.

         No sooner were my eyes closed, when I found myself standing in a narrow entrance in one of the walls of the old City of Jerusalem. It was a very narrow entrance, only one person at a time could pass through.[29]

         I was astonished when I saw the barren, rocky landscape outside the wall. Then, from my right (outside the wall) our dear Lord comes by. A large wooden cross was on his right shoulder and both of his arms were holding on to the left transverse in front of Him, the foot of the cross being dragged over the rock behind him. He was exhausted, struggling to stand under the weight of the cross. He stopped. Slowly he turned his head and looked at me. Our eyes locked. There was not another person in sight.

         “I died,” he said, “that you may have this day.”

         There was a short period of silence. It is impossible for me to describe the love and goodness his countenance mirrored. Words do not exist that would enable me to describe this Face of Love and Goodness. He was committed to his Father and his love for Him. What he was doing, how he was dressed, what he was suffering, was secondary to his Love for his Father. Everything was as nothing, compared to his love for his Father.

         “You shouldn't have to do this,” I said with eyes full of tears. “You didn't do anything wrong.”

         Calmly and quietly, but with a voice filled with determination, he replied,

         “This is something I must do.”

         In the tone of his voice, it was clear he had to follow this course. He came here for this very purpose.

         I was overwhelmed with the injustice being mercilessly heaped on this Ocean of Love, I cried and cried and cried. My tears were such I was in convulsions with a heartbreak that knew no limit. I could never cry enough tears to calm the grief I was experiencing. Through the grace of God, I did not link my sins to his need to suffer in love for his Fathers will. Had I realized this at the time, I would surely have cried in anguish without end. I am sure I would have fainted.

         Then, Jesus, God’s only beloved Son, turned his head away from me. Slowly, laboriously and painfully he continued on with his cross.

         I saw where he was heading, to the top of a stone mound that had the appearance of a skull’s crown, but only the crown and brow portions. It was such a perfect shape, there was no doubt it had the appearance of the upper section of a skull.

         My crying was now completely out of control. Tears were streaming down my cheeks while I was shaking with an indescribable heartbreak.

         When I “returned to the chapel,” there was not one tear in my eyes, nor was my body trembling in sorrow. My brother novices on either side of me were in meditation and were not disturbed whatsoever.

         Yet though I was crying profusely and experienced a heartbreak the likes of which I had not known before, this was not a body experience but one that was had by my soul. I remember what you said, “The soul, then, is pained with the body in that part where something occurs to hurt it; and it is pained alone, though it be in the body, when some invisible cause distresses it, while the body is safe and sound.”

         So Brother Aurelius, without our body our soul can truly suffer, but conversely it should also be able to experience great happiness

Is our soul incorporeal and subsistent?

         “Brother Thomas, in this out of body experience, I saw my soul with all of its constituent parts. It certainly has substance and form.”

         -Brother Raymond, our Brother Aurelius says;- [30]

         "Who understands that the nature of the soul is that of a substance and not that of a body, will see that those who maintain the corporeal nature of the soul, are led astray through associating with the soul those things without which they are unable to think of any nature--i.e. imaginary pictures of corporeal things. Therefore the nature of the human intellect is not only incorporeal, but it is also a substance, that is, something subsistent.” [31]

         Brother Thomas adds,

         “. . . it must necessarily be allowed that the principle of intellectual operation which we call the soul, is a principle both incorporeal and subsistent. For it is clear that by means of the intellect man can have knowledge of all corporeal things. We must conclude, therefore, that the human soul, which is called the intellect or the mind, is something incorporeal and subsistent.” [32]

Is there only one soul in me?

         I never thought that there was more than one soul in me, but...

         “Well, Brother Thomas, is there only one soul in me? In my experience I only saw one soul.”

         -Brother Raymond,-

         “Plato held that there were several souls in one body, distinct even as to organs, to which souls he referred the different vital actions, saying that the nutritive power is in the liver, the concupiscible in the heart, and the power of knowledge in the brain.[33] Which opinion is rejected by Aristotle (De Anima ii. 2). If we suppose, however, that the soul is united to the body as its form, it is quite impossible for several essentially different souls to be in one body.... [For] an animal would not be absolutely one, in which there were several souls. For nothing is absolutely one except by one form.... Against those who hold that there are several souls in the body, he [Aristotle] asks (De Anima i. 5) what contains them?  that is, what makes them one? It cannot be said that they are united by the one body; because rather does the soul contain the body and make it one, than the reverse.[34] We must therefore conclude that in man the sensitive soul, the intellectual soul, and the nutritive soul are numerically one soul . . .” [35]

Movement of the soul.

         I wondered what would cause my soul to leave my body. I do not remember willing that “I,” (my soul) should leave my body. I never even dreamed such a feat was possible. However, I was in deep reflection having just experienced life leaving and returning to my body. I may have thought of something that would have had the same effect, i.e. my soul leaving my body, for I wondered why I did not die (from the earlier experience) why did my soul not leave my body then? If I wanted to, could I leave my body again? Do I have the courage to do so? Can't answer these questions today.

         The two experiences I had, were surely experiences initiated by God. These occurred when I was meditating or reflecting or visualizing a Truth, a mystery, or a text, or where I was simply moved in prayer to being in God's presence.

         What has taken me a long time to realize, is that my soul, with all of its parts, left my body without rupture or pain either to body or soul. My soul (without any disturbance whatsoever, except for leaving my body inanimate by its absence) literally left every corner of my body, every nook and every cranny of my body. I felt my leaving these corners and my leaving these nooks and crannies. It was like I was a floodlight that had completely filled a room (my body) and then leaves it instantly letting its absence leave every corner of my body dark, alone and desolate. One instant I was everywhere in my body, in another instant I was out of my body. One instant my body could move, in another instant it could not.

         Contrary to my first experience when I felt life leaving my body while I remained there, in this instance I felt my consciousness leave every part of my body. I was in all those parts and was conscious of my leaving the flesh, a process that had absolutely no discomfort of any kind. Your soul is you and my soul is me. Our spirit in our soul is our consciousness, our intellect, and our mind. Our soul also contains the hundred or so energy-cells as well as a beautiful and exquisite mantle.

Events in our soul/body life.

First, we are a spirit with a soul and a body.

         “The Church[36] teaches that every spiritual soul is (1005) created immediately by God, it is not ‘produced’ by (997) the parents and also that it is immortal: it does not perish when it separates from the body at death, and it will be reunited with the body at the final Resurrection.”

         Our soul is the form of the body and not the other way 'round. Over the centuries, there have been many persons blessed by God, who recorded their insights and knowledge of who and what we are. As a result, Mother Church teaches,[37]

         “The unity of soul and body is so profound that one has to consider the soul to be the "form" of the body: i.e., it is because of its spiritual soul that the body made of matter becomes a living, human body; spirit and matter, in man, are not two natures united, but rather their union forms a single nature.”

         Since God creates a spiritual soul (a person) immediately at conception, the conceived zygote is a human person with a body that is and always will be in development.[38]

         While our personhood now exists, our human becomingness continues through to stage 2 pre-embryo, to stage 3 embryo, to stage 4 infant, to stage 5 adolescent, to stage 6 adult and to our last stage as a human being, stage 7 a senior citizen.

         Inasmuch as a mother provides resources for her baby’s physical growth and development, I believe it is from the zygote stage onwards, that this new person, this new soul and spirit, in all of its simplicity, beauty and fragility, is most affected by the mother’s spiritual, mental, emotional and physical health or illness. As we saw earlier, our spiritual stability or instability, has a profound impact on our biological health.

Secondly, we are a spirit with a soul with no body.

         When the body begins to decay, we lose our humanity. The body returns to the earth from whence it came. The moment biological life leaves our body, AND when the spirit knows this is it, our spirit and our soul, (our personhood, our history, our will, our intelligence, our memories, everything that we are, all your lifelong decisions, acts and experiences) instantly depart from the body and appear before God for the fate that awaits us.[39]

         Once, when speaking about this book, a lady asked me what color is our soul. I told her white, since that was the color of my soul when I saw it. I do not believe that our soul changes color because of our good or bad actions in this world. What God has made is good and no one can change that. What we can do is change our use of what he makes, and this is forever inscribed in our spirit, our personal lifelong history is there. This is what I think purgatory is, on the one hand seeing our life-long history, one that we wrote without regard for our relationship to God as His child, suffering excruciating heartbreak, until we are truly contrite for having turned our back on our loving God. As far as hell is concerned, replace crying and weeping with gnashing of teeth in complete and total despair. In any case, it is our record that will save us, or punish us or condemn us. I related earlier how I was in convulsions and could not stop crying, when I saw our blessed Lord, pure Love, suffering for nothing he did. How will it be when I see, it was my sins that brought all this suffering on Jesus, he who is Love?

Then a spirit with a soul and with a body.

         On judgment day, bodies from all over the world and from all time will rise to be reunited with their souls and their spirits.

         Our personal history can then be summarized as follows:

         Stage 1, God knows us.[40]

         Stage 2, we are conceived first as a zygote. At that moment God creates our soul, we then become a human person. This soul completely embraces and permeates the human body (the zygote cell) and each and every subsequent cell until the body dies.[41] How can a soul (spirit, mantle and energy-cells) such as I described contain a zygote? I have seen my soul leave a 185 pound man which it enclosed, then take my spirit and 100 to 120 energy-cells, collapse them, curl up like a cucumber and then open up and “float” above my body, “returning the collapsed energy-cells” to their individual status. It also reversed the process when (in a split second) it returned into my body, into each and every cell.

Our soul embraces and permeates our physical self, from a zygote, to a pre-embryo, to an embryo, to a baby, to a child, to a teenager, to an adult, to a senior until we come into full bloom. Our soul contains the zygote cell, and as it (the zygote) grows, so does the soul, (spirit, mantle and energy-cells) in it, through it and around it. It is at this stage that the soul becomes the form of the body and permeates everything that is in it. When a head appears, when arms appear, when legs appear, they remain in the enclosed soul, which stage by stage retains the form of the body, “growing” with the head and arms and legs etc.

When death comes, God brings our spirit (like a rose in full splendor) into his Kingdom, whereupon our soul awaits the resurrection of our body to bring it into complete glory. Our soul is who we are, and includes every intellectual resource we need to minister to God, body and soul. The soul then, is the form of the body, from a zygote cell body to the body we have when we breathe our last breath.

         Stage 3, our spirit guides the growth of our body from the zygote to the pre-embryo stage.[42]

         Stage 4, our spirit guides the growth of our body from pre-embryo stage to the embryo stage.[43]

         Stage 5, our spirit guides the growth of our body from the embryo stage to the fetus stage.

         Stage 6, our spirit guides the growth of our body from our fetus stage to our infant stage.

         Stage 7, our spirit guides the growth of our body from our infant stage to our adolescent stage.

         Stage 8, our spirit guides the growth of our body from our adolescent stage to our adult stage.

         Stage 9, our spirit guides the growth of our body from adult stage to senior citizen stage.

         Stage 10, life leaves our body.

         Stage 11, our body returns to the earth.

         Stage 12, our soul leaves our body and receives its reward or punishment.

         Stage 13, at end of time, our body is resurrected, is united with our soul and is glorified to minister to God with the angels and saints, or it is condemned for eternity.

         It is because of our spiritual soul that a person becomes (from conception to death) a living human, a man or woman. Our maleness or femaleness is a becoming process from conception to death. A human is never static, is never at any given point a “full and complete” human. It has taken millions of “man” years to create me, which for God is no time at all. I have evolved from God’s knowledge of me, through the animal chain, through generation after generation to September 23rd 1933. Only at death does a male or a female end its becoming journey. At death, when the soul leaves the body, the male or female body becomes a corpse. It decomposes and is no longer a human body. It is now dust from whence it came, but it will become a glorified body at the time of its resurrection.

A brain in a vegetative state is not a person in a vegetative state.

“A brain in the vegetative state is not a person in the vegetative state. We often read about persons who “come back to consciousness” after being without any apparent sign of consciousness for months and years. The following article appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on July 4th 2006.

“Man's brain rewired itself.

Car crash victim regains speech and movement. Man's nerve fibers cut years ago, but cells stayed intact Jul. 4, 2006. 05:17 Ammarilynn Marchione Associated Press

A man who was barely conscious for nearly 20 years regained speech and movement because his brain spontaneously rewired itself by growing tiny new nerve connections to replace the ones sheared apart in a car crash.

Terry Wallis, 42, is thought to be the only person in the United States to recover so dramatically so long after a severe brain injury. He still needs help eating and cannot walk, but his speech continues to improve and he can count to 25 without interruption.

Wallis' sudden recovery happened three years ago, but doctors said the same cannot be hoped for people in a persistent vegetative state, such as Terry Schiavo, the Florida woman who died last year after a fierce right-to-die court battle. Nor do they know how to make others with less serious damage, like Wallis, recover.

"Right now these cases are like winning the lottery," said Dr. Ross Zafonte, rehabilitation chief at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who was not involved in the research. "I wouldn't want to over enthuse family members or folks who think now we have a cure for this.''

Wallis has complete amnesia about the two decades he spent barely conscious, but remembers his life before the injury. "He still thinks Ronald Reagan is president," his father, Jerry, said in a statement. The research on Wallis, published yesterday in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, was led by imaging expert Henning Voss and neurologist Dr. Nicholas Schiff at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City and included doctors at JFK Medical Center in Edison, N.J.

Wallis was 19 when he suffered a traumatic brain injury that left him briefly in a coma and then in a minimally conscious state, in which he was awake but uncommunicative other than occasional nods and grunts, for more than 19 years.

"The nerve fibers from the cells were severed, but the cells themselves remained intact," unlike Schiavo, whose brain cells had died, said Dr. James Bernat, a neurologist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in New Hampshire, who reviewed the research.

Nerve cells that have not died can form new connections; for example, nerves in the arms and legs can grow about an inch a month after they are severed or damaged. However, this happens far less often in the brain.

The new research suggests that instead of the sudden recovery Wallis seemed to make when he began speaking and moving three years ago, he (his brain) may have been slowly recovering all along, as nerves in his brain formed new connections at a glacial pace until enough were present to make a network.” (Allowing his spirit and his brain to function once again. Bracketed text is the author’s.)

Terry was always in his body, but because his brain was damaged, he could not communicate. The link between his spirit and his brain was “out of order.” As the brain healed, his spirit could once again use it to activate his body.

         There is one question I still fail to comprehend. Why on the one hand, is it OK to keep a man or a woman alive with tubes and machines, a human who is “brain dead,” (yet whom we still and must recognize as a person)[44] while we allow abortion because the zygote body, or a pre-embryo body, or an embryo body, or a fetus body, is (according to some laws) not deemed to be a person[45]?

         The argument given, is that the zygote body/soul, the pre-embryo body/soul, the embryo body/soul, the fetus body/soul are not considered to be persons. But, it wasn’t that long ago, when women were not considered to be persons,[46] yet, they had adult bodies. What ignorance is this? Are we to continually shame our God with the intellect he gave us? The body does not make us a person, it makes us a human. Our spirit, created in the image and likeness of God is what makes us a person. In an article, which appeared in Zenit ZE050228, Dr. Gian Luigi Gigli, president of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations, had this to say.[47]

         “The vegetative state is a "pejorative term" which implies lack of humanity,” warns Dr. Gian Luigi Gigli, president of the International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations.

         “Q: What does it mean to be in a vegetative state and what is the Church's position?

         Gigli: A vegetative state is verified in some patients when they come out of a coma, and it is characterized by a prolonged condition of wakefulness without apparent awareness on the part of the patient either of himself or of his surroundings.

         The physiotherapy for this disorder is not yet clear, and the cerebral lesions that can cause it are of different types and in many areas.

         The patient, alternating sleep with wakefulness, does not give answers that seem to make sense. It is not a terminal illness and does not require machines to guarantee vital functions.

         However, the patient needs care, in particular, to be hydrated and fed, sometimes with patience through the mouth, more often with a probe or a tube in the abdominal wall, the PEG [percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy].

         For the Church, the patient in a vegetative state is a human person, in need of affectionate care. The discussion that has taken place between moralists and Catholic health institutions in past years has focused on indefinite continuation of hydration and nutrition, even if hopes for a resumption, though partial, of consciousness seem to be diminishing.

         Some have seen in the prolongation of hydration and nutrition aggressive therapy; others have interpreted it as euthanasia by omission of the suspension of care, considering the mortal consequences that inevitably derive.

         From outside the Church, the pressures of scientific societies, magistrates and some family members are very strong, as is occurring in the Terri Schiavo case in the United States, in favor of the suspension of hydration and nutrition. They are pressures based on the attribution of the little value of life, when its "quality" is greatly reduced. However, resistances are also very strong by those who see in such procedures a surreptitious method to authorize, in fact, euthanasia in countries where it is prohibited, extending it later, as is already occurring, to other conditions such as dementia, mental retardation or acute ictus.

         Q: Up to what point is the vegetative state "vegetative"?

         Gigli: Beyond the term, which should be reformed because of its pejorative character - referring to a condition of the patient's lack of humanity - it must be acknowledged that a rudimentary perception of pain cannot be excluded, as there are studies that prove the persistence of rudimentary processes of recognition and discrimination of stimuli.  An indirect proof that there are doubts of a neuroanatomic and neurophysiological order on the total lack of perception of pain in these patients is the common practice of subjecting them to pharmacological sedation during the 15 days in which the death of the patient is effected after the suspension of hydration and nutrition. The vegetative state is diagnosed too often with excessive speed, with a high percentage of mistaken diagnoses, including within qualified health institutions. In particular, it must not be confused with other neurological conditions in which there is a state of prolonged reduction of the levels of consciousness.

         Q: What did John Paul II say that was new in the treatment of patients in vegetative state in his historic address last March 20?

         Gigli: The Holy Father, in as you say his "historic" address, pronounced words that serve to clarify misunderstandings among Catholics, avoiding - for example - suspension of hydration and nutrition in cases in which it should not be done, as unfortunately has occurred in some North American Catholic hospitals. Despite the fact that there are many attempts by moralists and Catholic health institutions to reduce the scope of the Pope's words, his message was very clear. For the Pope, judgment on the quality of life and on the costs of care cannot prevail over the respect due to the patient's life. Hydration and nutrition must be considered as ordinary and proportionate means for the objective that they intend, i.e. to nourish the patient. As such, they are morally obligatory, even if they are administered through a tube. For the Pope, the fact that there is a high probability that the patient will not recover consciousness cannot justify the interruption of basic care, including hydration and nutrition. Otherwise, there is euthanasia by omission.  Moreover, the Pope called for the raising of our societies' level of civilization, supporting with attentive solidarity the families of patients in vegetative state. After the Pope's words, I believe that for a doctor, a nurse or a Catholic health institution nutrition and hydration may only be interrupted if they no longer achieve their effect, or impose grave burdens on the patient - who on the other hand appears to tolerate them in an admirable way over many years - or family members, something which should not occur in civilized countries, in which basic care should not be a luxury.

         Q: You wrote the book with Dr. Nathan Zasler, a Jewish doctor. Is there a meeting point between Catholics and Jews on the topic of nutrition and hydration in the vegetative state?

         Gigli: The Jewish world is very diversified. Rabbi E.N. Dorff's article, which forms part of the work, clarifies adequately that for the majority of Orthodox rabbis and for many Conservative rabbis the doctor has the obligation to do everything possible to maintain the life of the patient in vegetative state. Other rabbis allow treatments not to be established, but prohibit their suspension once begun. Instead, the Reformed and secularized Jews tend to decide according to their conscience. In general lines, however, it seems that we could say that the Jewish tradition is hesitant when it comes to suspending treatments such as hydration and nutrition, on which the life of a patient in vegetative sate depends. The congress and the volume that derived from it certainly demonstrate great respect for the Catholic position on the part of famous Jewish scholars.”

Is my soul incorruptible?

         While in my soul state, I was conscious of not being deficient in any way. I was not all over the place, but in a specific location. I was also conscious that my spirit and my soul did have length and width and depth.

         “Brother Thomas?”

         -Yes Brother Raymond.-

         “I now know my soul has substance. It is white, so pure, so radiant, and so delicate, like material from another time and place. Is our soul incorruptible?”

         -Brother Raymond,-

         “Granted even that the soul is composed of matter and form, as some pretend, we should nevertheless have to maintain that it is incorruptible. For corruption is found only where there is contrariety; since generation and corruption are from contraries and into contraries. Wherefore the heavenly bodies, since they have no matter subject to contrariety,[48] are incorruptible.

         Now there can be no contrariety in the intellectual soul; for it receives according to the manner of its existence, and those things which it receives are without contrariety; for the notions even of contraries are not themselves contrary, since contraries belong to the same knowledge. Therefore it is impossible for the intellectual soul to be corruptible.

         Moreover we may take a sign of this from the fact that everything naturally aspires to existence after its own manner. Now, in things that have knowledge, desire ensues upon knowledge. The senses indeed do not know existence, except under the conditions of "here" and "now," whereas the intellect apprehends existence absolutely, and for all time; so that everything that has an intellect naturally desires always to exist. But a natural desire cannot be in vain. Therefore every intellectual substance is incorruptible.”[49]

Incorruptibility and delight.

         Dear Brothers and Sisters, your body and your soul with your spirit, makes you a human being, a spirit incarnate, a spirit in flesh and blood in God's blessed creation.

         I now know for a fact I do have a soul with a spirit. This is no longer a question of faith. Though my body can die, I cannot die. You and I are truly eternal beings. There below was my body, and here above it was spirit and soul, ME, with my memories, my history, everything that I am without my body. I was now in my incorruptible state. I felt liberated and was truly filled with delight.

         "Brother Thomas, you said something on this did you not? On the question of incorruptibility and delight?”

         -Yes Brother Raymond.-

         "Delight has the character of passion, properly speaking, when accompanied by bodily transmutation. It is not thus in the intellectual appetite, but according to simple movement: for thus it is also in God and the angels. Hence the Philosopher says (Ethic. vii, 14) that "God rejoices by one simple act": and Dionysius says at the end of De Coel. Hier, that "the angels are not susceptible to our passable delight, but rejoice together with God with the gladness of incorruption."[50]

         "Thank you Brother Thomas. I too rejoiced in the gladness of knowing I was incorrupt. It is one thing to believe in our soul's incorruptibility and quite another to KNOW we are truly incorruptible, that we are eternal. What a difference this makes in our vision of things, in our outlook on life, in our priorities, in our relationships with others and our peace of mind. I too rejoice together with God and the angels with the knowledge and joy and gladness of having an incorruptible soul. Now I know, my stay here on this earth is transitional and does not end with the death of my body.

         Nothing of the spirit of this world has value. The values and priorities constantly shouted to us by the spirit of this world are lies, incredible deceptions. Only God is Truth, and he has spoken through the prophets and through his blessed Son, Jesus Christ. With our eternal reality now a virtual certainty, there is nothing else for one to do, but to live our life in the Kingdom NOW, as God’s Children, being about our “Father’s business” [51] as Jesus teaches us how.

Do we need our bodies to be truly happy?

         “Brother Thomas?”

         -Yes Brother Raymond.-

         "As I hovered above my body, I was happier than I have ever been. Here I was, the complete me, but without that heavy, corruptible mass of flesh. Do I need my body to be truly happy?”

         -Brother Raymond, I have dealt with many objections to this question, most of them stating that the soul cannot be happy without the body. Here (in part) is my reply.-

         “Happiness is twofold; the one is imperfect and is had in this life; the other is perfect, consisting in the vision of God. Now it is evident that the body is necessary for the happiness of this life. For the happiness of this life consists in an operation of the intellect, either speculative or practical. And the operation of the intellect in this life cannot be without a phantasm, which is only in a bodily organ, as was shown in the First Part, Question [84], Articles [6], [7]. Consequently that happiness which can be had in this life, depends, in a way, on the body.

         But as to perfect happiness, which consists in the vision of God, some have maintained that it is not possible to the soul separated from the body; and have said that the souls of saints, when separated from their bodies, do not attain to that happiness until the Day of Judgment, when they will receive their bodies back again. And this is shown to be false, both by authority and by reason.

         By authority, since the Apostle says (2 Cor. 5:6): "While we are in the body, we are absent from the Lord;" and he points out the reason of this absence, saying: "For we walk by faith and not by sight." Now from this it is clear that so long as we walk by faith and not by sight, bereft  of the vision of the Divine Essence, we are not present to the Lord. But the souls of the saints, separated from their bodies, are in God's presence; wherefore the text continues: "But we are confident and have a good will to be absent . . . from the body, and to be present with the Lord." Whence it is evident that the souls of the saints, separated from their bodies, "walk by sight," seeing the Essence of God, wherein is true Happiness.

         Again this is made clear by reason. For the intellect needs not the body, for its operation, save on account of the phantasms, wherein it looks on the intelligible truth, as stated in the First Part of the First Part, Question [84], Article [7]. Now it is evident that the Divine Essence cannot be seen by means of phantasms, as stated in the FP, Question [12], Article [3]. Wherefore, since man's perfect Happiness consists in the vision of the Divine Essence, it does not depend on the body. Consequently, without the body the soul can be happy.

         We must, however, notice that something may belong to a thing's perfection in two ways. First, as constituting the essence thereof; thus the soul is necessary for man's perfection. Secondly, as necessary for its well-being: thus, beauty of body and keenness of perfection belong to man's perfection. Wherefore though the body does not belong in the first way to the perfection of human happiness, yet it does in the second way. For since operation depends on a thing's nature, the more perfect is the soul in its nature, the more perfectly it has its proper operation, wherein its happiness consists. Hence, Augustine, after inquiring (Gen. ad lit. xii, 35) "whether that perfect Happiness can be ascribed to the souls of the dead separated from their bodies, "answers" that they cannot see the Unchangeable Substance, as the blessed angels see It; either for some other more hidden reason, or because they have a natural desire to rule the body."

         -In my reply to Objection 1, I said,-

         “Happiness is the perfection of the soul on the part of the intellect, in respect of which the soul transcends the organs of the body; but not according as the soul is the natural form of the body. Wherefore the soul retains that natural perfection in respect of which happiness is due to it, though it does not retain that natural perfection in respect of which it is the form of the body.

         The soul desires to enjoy God in such a way that the enjoyment also may overflow into the body, as far as possible. And therefore, as long as it enjoys God, without the fellowship of the body, its appetite is at rest in that which it has, in such a way, that it would still wish the body to attain to its share.

         The desire of the separated soul is entirely at rest, as regards the thing desired; since, to wit, it has that which suffices its appetite. But it is not wholly at rest, as regards the desirer, since it does not possess that good in every way that it would wish to possess it. Consequently, after the body has been resumed, Happiness increases not in intensity, but in extent.”

         -In his work Gen. ad lit. xii, 35, our Brother Aurelius said,- "the souls of the departed see not God as the angels do."

         “This is not to be understood as referring to inequality of quantity; because even now some souls of the Blessed are raised to the higher orders of the angels, thus seeing God more clearly than the lower angels. But it refers to inequality of proportion: because the angels, even the lowest, have every perfection of Happiness that they ever will have, whereas the separated souls of the saints have not.”[52]

Space “occupied” by a soul.

 

         Out of body my soul would be about 61.0 to 91.94 centimeters in length, about 30.48 - 45.72 centimeters wide and about 20.32 - 22.86 centimeters in depth, considering the height of the energy-cells.[53]

         The mantle (an extension of my intellect) and energy-cells trailed behind my spirit. The mantle is a living, clear, transparent veil-like substance.

         The mantle seemed to be of a silk like material, with a fine thin dark border at its edge. It had the appearance of having great worth.

         The pulsating energy-cells, resembled pearls. They pulsated with an inner light and seemed unstoppable in this regard. They were clearly waiting, even impatient to be “useful” once again. This is difficult to describe.

         Regardless of size however, I was there, a complete person, but without a body. A body does not make me a person. I am a person because I am a soul with a spirit. This is what makes me the person I am. A body simply makes me a male or a female human being.

Sensing one’s soul.

         Would you like to sense the presence of your spirit and soul? At a time when it is very quiet in your home, lay on your bed. Be very still, relax and bring your mind to a complete rest. Abandon all thoughts of the outside world, all thoughts about other things. Slowly (take your time) awaken your consciousness to the presence of every part of your body, from your head to your neck, to your shoulders, your arms, your forearms, your hands, your torso, your thighs, your legs, your feet and your toes. During this process, you will be conscious of two sensations.

         First you will have a conscious awareness of your own presence, of you, of your spirit in your head. That spiritual presence in your head is not your brain but YOU.

         Second if you listen with your spirit, you begin to realize that your entire body is present to you. In fact it is the extension of your spirit, (the mantle) through which you are present to all your bodily members.

         Bring your awareness to your right arm, not only are you conscious of your arm and forearm and fingers, you  also become conscious of their forms, of their entity as a unit (right arm,  forearm and hand). You become conscious to the fact that you contain these parts of your body. Now bring your awareness to your left arm, you are now conscious of your left arm, forearm, hand and fingers, and you know you contain them also. And so on for your chest, your legs and your feet. Become conscious of each part. Wait for a few minutes. You can feel the form of each of these parts either individually or collectively. You have power in these forms, and they in turn have power over your body. The form and its power is you, your spirit and its extension, the mantle, together they are what we identify as our soul

         Flesh and blood cannot be conscious of forms, only your spirit can do this. It is the mantle that animates the body and not the body that animates the soul. Never can your body take your soul anywhere, it is always you, your soul, your mantle taking the body where you wish to go.

         Your spirit can detect any and all bodily activity normal and abnormal. Your spirit faithful sentry that it is, is on constant alert, listening to each and every part of your body, seeing things near and far. Your spirit, though anchored by your body, has absolutely no limit on where it can bring you spiritually and intellectually.

         “Brother Aurelius, you really covered this question on the soul. I simply do not know how you did it. We have no record that you even saw a soul. Yet, your observations are entirely accurate, something I can vouch for not because of any learning I have but because I did see my soul.”

         -Thank you Brother Raymond. In my letter to holy Jerome I wrote,-

         “For it (the soul) pervades the whole body which it animates, not by a local distribution of parts, but by a certain vital influence, being at the same moment present in its entirety in all parts of the body, and not less in smaller parts and greater in larger parts, but here with more energy and there with less energy, it is in its entirety present both in the whole body and in every part of it.”

         For even that which the mind perceives in only a part of the body is nevertheless not otherwise perceived than by the whole mind; for when any part of the living flesh is touched by a fine pointed instrument, although the place affected is not only not the whole body, but scarcely discernible in its surface, the contact does not escape the entire mind, and yet the contact is felt not over the whole body, but only at the one point where it takes place.

         How comes it, then, that what takes place in only a part of the body is immediately known to the whole mind, unless the whole mind is present at that part, and at the same time not deserting all the other parts of the body in order to be present in its entirety at this one? For all the other parts of the body in which no such contact takes place are still living by the soul being present with them. And if a similar contact takes place in the other parts, and the contact occurs in both parts simultaneously, it would in both cases alike be known at the same moment, to the whole mind.

         Now this presence of the mind in all parts of the body at the same moment, so that in every part of the body the whole mind is at the same moment present, would be impossible if it were distributed over these parts in the same way as we see matter distributed in space, occupying less space with a smaller portion of itself, and greater space with a greater portion.

         “Brother Aurelius, pardon me for interrupting, but this has a certain similitude with God and his presence throughout creation. Like God (present throughout creation), my soul is everywhere in my body, not less here and not more there, ‘not less in smaller parts and greater in larger parts.’” This opens my eyes to a greater and clearer understanding on how God can be everywhere, and not less here than there.”

         If, therefore, mind is to be called material, it is not material in the same sense as earth, water, air, and ether are material. For all things composed of these elements are larger in larger places, or smaller in smaller places, and none of them is in its entirety present at any part of itself, but the dimensions of the material substances are according to the dimensions of the space occupied. Whence it is perceived that the soul, whether it be termed material or immaterial, has a certain nature of its own, created from a substance superior to the elements of this world, - a substance which cannot be truly conceived of by any representation of the material images perceived by the bodily senses, but which is apprehended by the understanding and discovered to our consciousness by its living energy.[54]

         These things I am stating, not with the view of teaching you what you already know, but in order that I may declare explicitly what I hold as indisputably certain concerning the soul, lest any one should think, when I come to state the questions to which I desire answers, that I hold none of the doctrines which we have learned from science or from revelation concerning the soul.” [55]

         “Brother Aurelius, I simply have to embrace you.” (Big spiritual hug!)

Soul needs nothing.

In my soul state, could I move from place to place? The thought did not cross my mind. I was simply too caught up in the moment and too inexperienced to think I would like to go here or there.

“Loving Father, while I was outside of my body, I was fully conscious. I needed nothing whatsoever. I had no appetite, no thirst, I was neither hot nor cold. And why not? I had no body.  I wanted nothing, and did not feel without or missing or lacking in anything. I felt complete and in peace. Except for being alone and at the mercy of this experience, I felt no other concern or need whatsoever.”

         I did however look at my body. I looked in wonder and with some confusion. I did not want it back, yet?

Relationship between body and soul.

         “Brother Thomas, I really liked what you had to say on the relationship between body and soul.”

         -Hold on Brother Raymond, I did write something on that. Hmmm lets see... Summa, Question 75, second paragraph of my answer...  Ah yes, here it is.-

         “For man's being consists in soul and body; and though the being of the body depends on the soul, yet the being of the human soul depends not on the body, as shown above; and the very body is for the soul, as matter for its (the souls) form, and the (body) instruments for the man (his soul) that puts them into motion, that by their means (bodily parts) he (soul and spirit) may do his work. Wherefore all goods of the body are ordained to the goods of the soul, as to their end. Consequently happiness, which is man's last end, cannot consist in goods of the body.”[56] (Bracketed words are the author’s.)

         “Thank you Brother Thomas. I don’t know what we would do without the insight and sharing by persons such as you and Brother Aurelius.”

         Dear Reader, I urge you to read Brother Thomas’ last paragraph as many times as is necessary until you fully understand that the body is there for the soul.

Our soul is intellect.

         1. My soul left my body without any instructions from me, from my spirit. I had no say as to what part or parts should leave first, or second, or third. As it happened, I sensed my leaving my body firstly from the extreme left side of my body, then through the right side of my body. As my soul left my body, I was conscious of my mantle leaving it, moving from the extremities of my body to outside my body. I was simply drawn out of my body, drawn from every cell, every nook and cranny, without pain of any kind. I left my body without damaging either my soul or my body in any way. I also returned to my body without damaging either my soul or my body in any way.

         2. Securely wrapped in the mantle, the energy-cells left my body. I estimated the number of energy-cells to be somewhere between 100 and 125, they were all partially collapsed one into the other, making their total length about that of twenty cells. Their composite length in the wrapped mantle was nowhere near what it should have been if they were lined up one behind the other. Can some energy-cells be part of a composite energy-cell system, where they collectively become interconnected? Can one or more parts of the same organ, receive energy and standard operating procedures from more than one energy-cell?

         3. My soul then arced out of my right side and came to rest above my body. Why it did this, why it stopped at that particular vantage point, I do not know.

         4. When I did come to a stop above my body, the mantle opened up. Its outer edges were slightly ruffled and frilly like the “fins” of a cuttlefish. I tried to draw these wave-like ruffles, but came nowhere near doing it any justice. The wavelength and its amplitude were perfectly symmetrical, gloriously frail and fragile, performing with flawless precision. There is no way (without being an expert artist) I could do it any justice with my poor drawing skills. Its “fins” shimmered ever so slowly, constantly, effortlessly and gently. It seemed the mantle knew it had to wait there, to idle in park mode. This serene pastoral appearance should not be mistaken for any lack of energy. The speed and effectiveness with which my soul exited and returned to my body, would shame the speed of light.  I cannot adequately describe the perfect relationship the soul has with its parts and with the body.

         I wondered why it was necessary for the mantle to unwrap itself exposing the energy-cells. Had this not happened however, I would not have known about the energy-cells. My soul hovered above my body. Was this due to my spirit? Why did its “fins” oscillate? Was an energy-cell responsible for providing the power for the mantle to oscillate? I simply do not know. What all this demonstrates, is that we have a particular intelligence and power where our soul and its modus operandi is concerned, an intelligence and a power we do not yet understand. Is it time to seriously research this aspect of our existence? I am convinced that our intellect has a pivotal roll where the operations of our biological body is concerned. A role, that is to some degree passive where our will is concerned, but which can be quite active if we so choose. I will discuss this point further when I talk about Moses, Mandela and other great personages.

         Then there was the behavior of the energy-cells. Like lights on a Christmas tree, pure white light excitingly and rhythmically pulsated from each sphere. Each sphere’s energy supply was localized, constant, appeared to be self-sufficient and without limit. These energy-cells gave me the impression their energy was unstoppable, so steadfast and determined was their oscillating light. I did not count the number of these energy-cells, but would guess it would be about 100 to 125. Their very presence delivered an unmistakable sign of self-sufficiency and determination, messaging an unquestionable right to be here. This was their place in God's creation. Once the mantle opened up, like obedient children the energy-cells sat there quietly, pulsating their white light with a great deal of excitement and waited. Were they there to energize and animate my organs? Were they a sort of intelligence (spiritual software) to link, to operate and to program our organs in their respective rolls? Were they a part of my intellect focused on organ performance?

         After awhile I pondered my return into my body. In my ignorance I thought if I stayed out of my body too long, it would no longer be able to receive me. Would it have broken down in any way because I was no longer there? And if it did, would I be able to return? Because of my lack of knowledge, I thought my body could only survive so long without a soul. I realize now, that this experience left my body alive with its own biological life, and though alive, my brain was in limbo. All my operating parts (I presume) were on hold.

I was disheartened at the prospect of having to return to my body. I really did not want to go back to that pile of heavy wet meat but what choice did I have?

As I pondered this concern, (not even willing it) the entire process went into reverse. In less time than it takes to blink an eye, literally, the mantle wrapped itself around the energy/guidance cells and I became a tubular arc once again. Spirit first, I returned into my body, using the same point of entry as the earlier point of exit. Instantly, I felt my presence radiate to every part of my flesh. Once more I saw the world through human eyes.

I sensed one spot (a pinpoint) on my right side that felt open. I willed that this “hole” (either biological or spiritual) be closed. In a flash, something popped into place and I was now very complete, enclosing my heavy body once more. Was my will instrumental in closing that last spot? As microscopic as it was, it was most uncomfortable to live with an open “space” in my side, whose presence I could feel. When my return was over I felt normal again, though once more I was in a heavy cumbersome body with all this clothing. What a journey that was!

Soul, visible and invisible?

It is difficult to understand that our soul is invisible. Here were all these parts, all this life and energy. Being present in my soul and not in my body brought me into a higher state of being, where I could see both my body and my soul. As long as I was seeing through eyes, I could only see the visible, which (we must never forget) is always and only a sign of the invisible, the true reality. Now, without my eyes, and being in spirit, I could see both the visible and the invisible. Though I saw my soul and my spirit, I do not know what all the parts of my spirit and my soul are. It is abundantly clear however, that Me, the first and last of who I am, was truly created as a person, since here I was without a body and yet here I was Me, a person and lacking for nothing.