The soul was never born and the soul will never die. The soul is like a chalice bearing the divine spark of the spirit struck off from the virgin spirit of the one great absolute God. In essence, then, the soul is divine. In its potential, it is godlike because it holds a portion of God. It clothes itself in matter in the form of a human body. It gathers this about itself as it descends deeper and deeper into matter and into the coarse vibrations of the earth plane

. Time and again the soul returns to earth through the gates of birth and death. It does this in search of ultimate perfection and spiritual growth. Such perfection comes slowly to the soul through different lessons of knowledge and experience that it has chosen to go through. However, most of these experiences are forgotten until a certain degree or level of conscious awareness is reached, and this is accomplished as a result of progress on the spiritual path.

The soul knows that it is only by undergoing certain experiences that the complete beauty of the celestial jewel of itself can be brought to fulfillment, much as a diamond can only be brought to completion and perfection as it is polished facet by facet on the polishing wheel of the craftsman. The soul is undergoing a similar polishing treatment on the wheel of birth and death. This continues until the light within the soul radiates through for all to see and appreciate.

The soul at death sets aside the garment of matter it has robed itself in during its life on earth. At its next approach to incarnation it takes on a new garment, especially chosen as suitable for that particular journey along its pathway of new earth lessons. The garment is woven to meet the needs and requirements of the weaver, who is also the wearer of the newly woven garment. At the end of each lifespan or incarnation, it adds to itself the virtues of the life it just finished. When it next reincarnates, these virtues are added to the basic structure of itself and this is evolution of the soul.

To the degree that the soul has perfected itself (as the individual is a many faceted being) that is the degree to which the light shines through. As a many faceted diamond, that can only shine to the degree that it has been polished, so the soul or individual can only vibrate to the degree that it has been perfected.

Vibration is also consciousness and so to the degree of perfection we have attained, that is our level of consciousness. That is why we are said to be locked in a level of consciousness. Light cannot shine through a facet or facets as yet unpolished. So many people are caught up in the glamour of matter. The soul would like to push on in evolution and perfect its virtues, but there is a tremendous pull in the other direction through desires, emotions and the senses that slow down our progress and sometimes even take us backwards. These things we must guard against, and therefore, life must have discipline and orderliness in order for us to keep up in evolution and go forth in our spiritual growth.

This is why all religions are good, as they set forth a series of do’s and don’ts in life in order to guide us along the right path. Later on, as we grow in perfection, and we enter the path of initiation, the soul takes over and we are no longer guided by the stars, but are then guided by the soul. What this means is that in ignorance we were compelled to do something, but because of greater enlightenment by means of initiation we go forward, direct to the goal.

Now we know what the goal is and how to reach it and the frustration we have so long experienced is now gone. The one thing that we must also guard against is pushing too hard or trying to go too fast along the path. Caution must be exercised as the body can only absorb and reflect higher vibrations just so fast and no faster than the nervous system can purify itself. If we force the body, we break the body down, disorganize the mind and we get into trouble.

To go easily is the only safe and sure way. The soul longs to reach the goal as soon as possible, but the soul does not desire a setback. The soul is an instrument of the divine spark and there are numerous forces and vibrations and truths that will be released to us for our control and use, but they cannot be forced upon us, the same as truth cannot be poured on our heads. We must grow into them as we become more and more polished until at last we can no longer tell the light from the instrument of light; full reflection and full perfection. Now the diamond is no longer a relative diamond, it is a permanent absolute diamond; the soul has at long last accomplished its mission; the spark has returned to the flame.