THE ETERNAL WAR BETWEEN SOUL AND THE SPIRIT

Happiness and joy is to have peace and serenity continuously within three realms; within our inner world (peace within), exterior World (peace with others around us) and relations with God (peace with commands and prohibitions of God). Each individual is created with three bodies: physical body, soul and spirit where the physical body is an abode for both soul and spirit. Each of these bodies belongs to a separate world/dimension. The physical body belongs to the physical world that we all live in. The soul belongs to the world where the souls of dead are currently living, and the spirit belongs to the world where the spiritual journey takes place for attaining the God.

The physical body is the body that is created from clay/dust (the creation of Adam), the soul that is designed with 19 groups of vices, and the spirit that is blown into human being directly from God, which is full of 19 groups of righteousness. As one can tell, soul and spirit are diametrically opposed to each other at the beginning, which causes all human beings to be unhappy!

The soul is designed with nineteen groups of vices, which are totally open to all kinds of temptations. Since it is designed only with vices, it is always prone to be controlled by the enemy! The enemy influences each and every vice of our soul and makes us do wrong and commit sins (in many cases, even without our will!) The following list indicates the nineteen groups of vices of our soul:

In other words, starting from our birth, two enemies are living within our physical body that works as the consultants to our mind (where the decision making process takes place). When a decision needs to be made, both soul and spirit consult the mind to have mind make the decision in their favor. Every mind shapes up within the environment that the individual is raised. If the individual is brought up in a moral environment, the decisions of the person will most likely to be moral (in favor of spirit). But if the individual is brought up in an environment where lying, cheating, bribing, etc. are the common theme, then the decisions of the person will most likely to be immoral (in favor of soul)

Yet, as majority of faith-based groups believe, the rules in regards to being moral and immoral have been set forth by God and they are very clear. According to this, those who obey the rules get rewarded and those who violate the rules get punished. On the other hand, it can be argued that when the rules are violated, first, God torments the violator; second, the spirit torments the soul; and third, for every negative behavior, there is retaliation from other parties. In other words, what goes around comes around. For instance, John steals something from Jane. Aside from suffering of his conscious bothering him so much (due to the torment of God and torment of spirit to soul), somebody else will also steal from John one day (not even knowing why she or he steals from John!).

God’s justice is so perfect, which works right away for all parties. Within the same example of stealing, John looses one figurative point from his cumulative, yet he is happy for what he has done. Jane, on the other hand, gains that one figurative point that John has lost, but she feels sorry for what she has physically lost (due to not knowing how the justice system of God works in reality).

The spirit, which we usually call our own, actually belongs to God. Hence, it is perfect from the beginning to the end. It has nineteen groups of righteousness within itself and always guides us to do the right thing (the reason why it is given to each individual). In other words, it asks us to do what God commands us to do, and asks us not to do what God prohibits. Since it belongs to God, it has the ability to punish our soul when the soul makes us to do something against the will of God. The following list indicates the nineteen groups of righteousness of the spirit:

The most important concept for every human being is to work on his or her soul, and within two processes first to cleanse and then to purify it. God in his holy books does not only recommend a happier and more joyous life, but also gives the prescription for attaining such a life. He indicates that salvation for anyone is possible only if they wish to reach God before death!

As one will understand right away, one does not need to claim to be a Jew, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist or anything to have salvation and therefore be entitled to joy and happiness. Just believing in the Oneness of God, and willing to reach God before death is enough. When one speaks about reaching God before death, he/she actually talks about redeeming God’s spirit, which is given to us as a trust (for a short term) back to its owner before death. But again, the key is that one does not have to fulfill anything!

Once the individual is willing to do that from his or her heart, it is God who makes it happen. In a way, it is just like having the desire to learn how to fly. Once you have the will and you go to flight school with determination, they will teach you how to fly! Yet, God’s guarantee cannot be topped! People usually think that having salvation is the hardest thing. On the contrary, it is actually the easiest thing that one can imagine. God promises in His holy books that whoever turn to Him, it is Him to deliver them to Himself. Yet, such salvation, (in other words, being saved of punishment) would only give temporary joy and happiness to the individual simply because of being under the protection of God until the spirit reaches where it belongs. In order to have happiness and joy throughout our life, we have to manage purifying our soul.