ONE spiritual speaker seminar says that the average lifespan of Filipinos is 70 years. He went on to speak that many of us worry so much on how this 70 years is lived and don’t bother on the life beyond it when we know that we are talking about a life of forever. We strongly believe that when our physical bodies die, our spiritual being which is often distinguished as souls, continue our journey to eternity.
My understanding of the soul is limited to the idea that once our physical forms die, the soul separates from the body, faces the Great Judge to determine where we will spend this forever or eternity. It could be in heaven where there is rejoicing or in hell where there is suffering.
There is also the belief that sometimes the spirit or soul of a person, who cannot find immediate peace after the physical death, lingers and make its presence felt with loved ones. Sometimes, stories would tell about souls or spirits providing clues of their murderer or where their bodies are hidden. The soul therefore is an immaterial or intangible form of life that transfers us from the world to a different realm where eternity is lived.
The belief that a person is a soulful being has ample implication on human behavior. Soul speaks that there is an afterlife. Those who believe that they have one see life on earth somewhat as a preparation for this eternal existence. This life preparation means one tries to live a moral life to ensure that the soul goes to heaven to be with the Creator and have eternal happiness while failing to live a moral life leads one to the other side. This idea also support the concept that life on earth is temporary and that life here is not the ultimate goal. The soul therefore motivates a person to do good and avoid evil.
Not only it motivates a person to do good but the soul serves as an active agent for a person to do moral acts. The soul represents the spiritual nature of a person. When a person acts, the soul works through the person’s conscience, heart, and mind. The soul acts as a channel in communicating with the Creator trying to listen to the dictate of the divine. The soul serves as a bridge to the other side of the world. The soul is understood then as something good. It can only be stained with darkness when a person does not listen to it and continues to do evil until the soul itself, turns to darkness. That is why when a person commits a horrific act, oftentimes he/she is called someone who has no soul at all.
There are many people who do not believe in the soul aspect of life and they argue that life ends on physical death. Since there is no life after this death, their goal is to experience worldly happiness. They may care about moral but it has nothing to do about eternal life. They do not care about spiritual things and scoff on spiritual practices. Life is all about satisfaction of the body, that oftentimes, to the regress of the soul.
I do not have sufficient knowledge whether there is a way for us still living in the material world to communicate with those on the other side of life. People have attempted various mediums to reach this other side to understand the phenomena of death and immaterial life. I have heard about non-Christian practices in reaching spirits and souls such as “the spirit of the glass, spirit of the coin, Ouija, and some paranormal activities/practices. The idea here is to try to seek some signs or messages that are not comprehensible to the understanding of normal people by having a direct communication with spirits and souls from the other realm. We have many extraordinary stories and reports corroborating to the truthfulness of this transcending but same stories still leave loopholes of their legitimacy. Why would we disturb the lives on the other side when should focus on taking care of ours?
The question lies whether it is moral for us to try to connect with them using our own means of communication. When we try to do this, we tend to break a barrier between two dimensions which is very dangerous and sinful. We believe that prayer is still the best and only way of communicating with the souls and spirits. Also, our concern should center on how to feed our soul and listen to it in order to live a moral life. It is our soul who faces the savior in the end, and the soul presents everything of us. It better be healthy or we’ll be damned.