Spirit or soul is the immortal human essence. Originating in the eternal God, it returns to God in the end. The body, on the other hand, is made from clay and is but a vestment that clothes the spirit.
This is a rather universal conception, widespread in all religions, although they differ on the details. The soul may ascend to heaven, descend into hell, merge with the Godhead, sleep until the general resurrection, or transmigrate into another earthly body; regardless, survival of the spirit is a common thread in all faiths.
These texts include descriptions of a “spiritual body” that clothes the soul in the next life. Others conceive of the spirit as having its own form and structure.
Coterminous with the flesh during life, it then separates and ascends to the spirit world after death. Father Moon offers additional insight into how people on earth already live in both worlds, by virtue of the resonance between their spirit and flesh.
This speaks to how people with spiritual gifts can perceive the spirit world during earthly life. The spirit truly finds its wings after death, when it is no longer tied down to the body and can travel freely at will.
Nevertheless, earthly life is important as the training-ground where the qualities of the spirit needed for fulfillment in heaven are developed; that is the subject of the next section.
1. Soul and Body
The body is the sheath of the soul. Talmud, Sanhedrin 108a (Judaism)
Then the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. Genesis 2.7
And He originated the creation of man out of clay, then He fashioned his progeny of an extraction of mean water, then He shaped him, and breathed His spirit in him. Qur’an 32.8-9
The soul is characterized by knowledge and vision, is formless, an agent, has the same extent as its own body, is the enjoyer of the fruits of kar- mas, and exists in samsara. It is also enlightened and has a characteristic upward motion. Nemichandra, Dravyasangraha 2 (Jainism)
Ts’ai-wu said, “I have heard the names kuei and shen, but I do not know what they mean.” The Master said, “The [intelligent] spirit is of the shen nature, and shows that in fullest measure; the animal soul is of the kuei nature, and shows that in fullest measure. It is the union of kuei and shen that forms the highest exhibition of doctrine. “All the living must die, and dying, return to the ground; this is what is called kuei. The bones and flesh molder below, and, hidden away, become the earth of the fields. But the spirit issues forth, and is displayed on high in a condition of glorious brightness. The vapors and odors which produce a feeling of sadness, and arise from the decay of their substance, are the subtle essences of all things, and also a manifestation of the shen nature.” Book of Ritual 21.2.1 (Confucianism)
Someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” You foolish man! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or some other grain. But God gives it a body as He has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is alike, but there is one kind for men, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 1 Corinthians 15.35-40
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
Investing all His heart and mind, God formed the human body out of dust as a place where the spirit self, a life manifesting the principle of eternity, can live and grow. No work of art could be greater. God did not make it by saying to the dust, “Arise!”
No, God invested all of His heart, mind and energy into forming this body. Then, He completed the human being by blowing a life spirit into it. God created the first man with a special blessing, as a being that could live forever in the corporeal and incorporeal worlds within God’s dominion. But he fell. (8:80, November 8, 1959)
Our spirit self, or spirit, is a substantial yet incorporeal reality, which can be apprehended only through the spiritual senses. It is the subject partner to our physical self. Our spirit can communicate directly with God and is meant to govern the incorporeal world, including the angels.
In appearance, our spirit self matches our physical self. After we shed the physical self, we enter the spirit world and live there for eternity. The reason we desire an eternal life is because our innermost self is the spirit sel,f which has an eternal nature.
Our spirit self consists of the dual characteristics of spirit mind (subject partner) and spirit body (object partner). The spirit mind is the center of the spirit self, and it is where God dwells.
The spirit grows through give and take action between two types of nourishment: life elements (생소) of a yang type that come from God, and vitality elements (생력) of a yin type that come from the physical self…
The spirit can grow only while it abides in the flesh. Thus, the relationship between the physical self and the spirit self is similar to that between a tree and its fruit. (Exposition of the Divine Principle, Creation 6.3.2)
Human beings consist of a dual structure: a mind-like self and a body-like self. The mind grasps the vertical standard. The body holds a horizontal standard. Consider an ideal person, living by God’s ideal standard and receiving God’s love.
When God’s love sounds vertically in the mind or spirit self, it resounds horizontally through the body. The spirit self, with its vertical standard, picks up the vibration of God’s true love and transmits it to the physical self, where it resonates through the person’s relations with his or her surroundings. (177:216, May 20, 1988)
Our spirit self and physical self should resonate like a tuning fork. When a tuning fork is struck, it makes a nearby tuning fork resonate at the same frequency. By the same principle, once God’s love moves in our spirit, our body automatically responds.
What causes our mind and body to resonate 100 percent and brings them into the realm of oneness? It is not God’s wisdom or power. It is only love. (138:255, January 24, 1986)
Both the body and the mind are composed of cells. Do you know that you have a spirit self, and that it has five spiritual senses? The cells of the inner self and the cells of the outer self resonate with each other.
The spirit self, our inner self that lives for eternity, and the physical self, our outer self that can live on earth only, should resonate with each other in love. When they resonate with God’s love, their spiritual cells and physical cells are linked together in the same vibration.
Therefore, as the cells of the eyes vibrate, they can see everything in the spirit world as clearly as the physical world. They can see by virtue of their perfect resonance. (171:103, December 13, 1987)
2. Death: Transition to a New Life
The hour of departure has arrived, and we go our ways—I to die, and you to live. Which is better God only knows. Socrates, in Plato, Apology 42 (Hellenism)
The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Ecclesiastes 12.7
It is We who give life, and make to die, and to Us is the homecoming. Qur’an 50.43
Now my breath and spirit goes to the Immortal, and this body ends in ashes; OM. O Mind! Remember. Remember the deeds. Remember the actions. Isha Upanishad 17 (Hinduism)
Man’s real nature is primarily spiritual life, which weaves its threads of mind to build a cocoon of flesh, encloses its own soul in the cocoon, and, for the first time, the spirit becomes flesh. Understand this clearly: The cocoon is not the silkworm; in the same way, the physical body is not man but merely man’s cocoon.
Just as the silkworm will break out of its cocoon and fly free, so, too, will man break out of his body-cocoon and ascend to the spirit world when his time is come. Never think that the death of the physical body is the death of man. Since man is life, he will never know death.6 Nectarean Shower of Holy Doctrines (Seicho-no-Ie)
One man believes he is the slayer, another believes he is the slain. Both are ignorant; there is neither slayer nor slain. You were never born; you will never die. You have never changed; you can never change. Unborn, eternal, immutable, immemorial, you do not die when the body dies.
Realizing that which is indestructible, eternal, unborn, and unchanging, how can you slay or cause another to be slain? As a man abandons his worn-out clothes and acquires new ones, so when the body is worn out a new one is acquired by the Self, who lives within.
The Self cannot be pierced with weapons or burned with fire; water cannot wet it, nor can the wind dry it. The Self cannot be pierced or burned, made wet or dry. It is everlasting and infinite, standing on the motionless foundation of eternity. The Self is unmanifest, beyond all thought, beyond all change. Knowing this, you should not grieve.7 Bhagavad-Gita 2.19-25 (Hinduism)
You prefer this life, although the life to come is better and more enduring. All this is written in earlier scriptures; the scriptures of Abraham and Moses.
Qur’an 87.16-19
I inquired of Africanus whether he himself, my father Paulus, and others whom we look upon as dead, were really living. “Yes, truly,” replied he, “they all enjoy life who have escaped from the chains of the body as from a prison. But as to what you call life on earth, that is no more than a form of death. But see, here comes your father Paulus towards you!”8 Cicero, On the Republic 6.14 (Hellenism)
Onyame9 does not die; I will therefore not die. Akan Proverb (African Traditional Religions) Meet the Fathers, meet Yama, and meet with the fulfillment of wishes in the highest heaven; casting off imperfections, find anew thy dwelling, and be united with a lustrous body. Rig Veda 10.14.8 (Hinduism)
Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Here indeed we groan, and long to put on our heavenly dwelling, so that by putting it on we may not be found naked.
For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has done in the body. 2 Corinthians 4.16-5.10
Teachings of Sun Myung Moon
In the Korean language, the word toraganda means “to die,” but its literal meaning is “to return.” To where do we return? Not to the soil of the cemetery. It means to return to the original place of departure, the place of origin.
It is a place beyond the origin of history… even the dwelling-place of the Creator. Since we originated from God, we should return to Him. The universe has natural cycles. The snow covering the mountains melts, flows down through many small valleys into streams and rivers and on into the ocean.
Then it evaporates and becomes a vapor. Through this circulation, water thus returns to a higher state. Likewise, we want to return to a higher and better place. (299:61, February 4, 1999)
Humans originate from God’s mind, grow up and mature in God’s bosom of love, and make a family on earth that can embrace the whole world with love. Through this process, they will return to God’s bosom of love as mature persons. This is the path of our life. (135:267-68, December 15, 1985)
A human being’s essence is spiritual. When you go to the spirit world, you will recognize more deeply that the essence of being human is to live for the sake of others.
Then, why do people deal with everything so selfishly? It is because humans have a blood relationship with Satan, the angel who violated the law of heaven. (2:138, March 17, 1957)
People are meant to live on earth in good families and, after perfecting their internal spirit self, go to the Kingdom of Heaven in the spirit world. The Kingdom of Heaven in the spirit world is our original homeland, where we live eternally as spirit beings in God’s love.
Due to the Human Fall, human beings no longer have a properly functioning spirituality. They live in ignorance of their spirit self and the spirit world.
Nevertheless, human beings, unlike any other animal, possess a spirit self and go to the spirit world. If only people understood this! (343:196, January 29, 2001)
We were born as eternal life, and therefore go to the spirit world after death. Life there will be on a different dimension. In this limited world, we cannot move freely, but the other world is a higher-dimensional place where we can do anything. You can jump beyond time.
With true love, whatever you desire, you will receive, anytime and anywhere. The spirit world is boundless. We are created as eternal beings. Each of us is that way because we are the object partners of the eternal God, participating in His true love.
If we become such object partners of true love, then when we go to the spirit world, we will be completely free. However, to realize this, you must be trained in true love here on earth.
You are not yet ready. Without fulfilling your responsibility to prepare yourselves well, you cannot go to the realm of freedom in the spirit world. But once you perfect true love on Earth, you can go there anytime. (216:116, March 9, 1991)
Sun Myung Moon