Does Your Soul Have a Penis? Or a Religion? Or an Ethnicity? OR A …
May 22, 2017
I certainly didn’t intend to exclude 48.7% of the world’s population from the first question - my sincere apology to any Soul residing in a female body who felt excluded. It’s just my current view of the world is from the lens of being in a human male body.
And besides, putting more than one genitalia in the title may have been a few too many body parts for most of you, right? So let’s just assume for a minute a “fill in the blank” genital association to the question, “Does your Soul have a (genital of your choice)?”
There sure is a fair amount of angst regarding our genitals and gender here on Earth. Or at least a deep divide regarding how people with a certain set of genitals are supposed to live and love (not to mention what bathroom to use). It does make sense - it all seems so important while we exist in the Human Realm. After all, we relate to our physical attributes and features so much easier than this mysterious thing called a Soul.
Let's face it, a fair amount of people in the world are not even convinced a Soul exists within the 7 billion people walking the face of the Earth today. Or at least we seem to minimize/ignore this topic for a majority of our lives - until we gather to grieve, honor, and remember a loved one's Soul departed to the next existence.
At times, it seems like progress in human development, empathy, and the rules of the land moves forward with tremendous momentum. And at other times, the progress appears to fit the catchphrase “two steps forward, one step back.” Struggles for fair and loving treatment of all humans - regardless of their gender, skin color, religion, ethnicity, soul mate gender, and gender identity - continue to be more easily viewed in the rear-view mirror, and perhaps not so well while the struggles are in progress.
The powers and energy devoted to squelching the movement towards a more fair and just Earthly experience for the human aspect of our existence will most likely never cease. Even as these negative energies become minority vs. majority voices, they often become more powerful and boisterous in their attempts to turn back the clock. Hogwarts Castle being taken over by Death Eaters & Slytherins isn’t necessarily just a J.K. Rowling fiction masterpiece. But fortunately, “Love Wins.” Spiritual Law always trumps Human Law.
Despite progress throughout much of the civilized world, baffling displays of intolerance continue to be debated. Leaders of Uganda have repeatedly introduced "kill the gays” bills, with “compromises” deemed to appear more reasonable allowing for life in prison vs. the death penalty for "offenders". Russia has passed different forms of anti-gay laws, and people involved in forming peaceful opposition are often beaten in public, and temporarily silenced behind bars.
And even recently in the United States of America, multiple governors have wrestled with legislation discriminating against the LGBTQ community. The eventual veto or passage of the law perhaps influenced by the potential loss of a prime-time sporting event being hosted by the state, and various other negative business consequences.
So where does all of this divide come from? Wouldn't it make more sense if we all just viewed these issues from the Soul's perspective? Wouldn't it make more sense if we all could view this as if we were looking in the rear- view mirror leaving this Earthly existence? I suppose therein lies the issue.
What the Heck is a Soul ?
OK, get out your pencil and paper. Your essay question is to describe what your Soul is all about. Go ahead, just start writing - anything that comes to mind...
... how is it going so far? If you have written a fair amount, and aren't even considering what I am going to say next, GOOD FOR YOU! You are probably in the minority.
For the majority of us, it is most likely hard to imagine "me" without thinking of how we look. Hard to imagine "me" without thinking of what we do for a living. Hard to imagine “me” without some connection to the material possessions we have accumulated. Hard to imagine "me" without thinking of the father, mother, spouse, and friend roles we have in this Earthly existence. Hard to imagine "me" without thinking of our thoughts, our emotions, our view of life, our opinions.
But there is this non-physical existence called a Soul (sorry atheists, I am being closed-minded to your opinions right now). How can you describe something that is God-like within us? No matter your Earthly religion, most subscribe to the notion of something magical, mystical, and non-human existing for all of us…even if you can’t write an essay about it today.
From Christian mythology, this existence could be the Holy Spirit - the Divine part of us perhaps making some sense of the "God made us in Her/His own image" Biblical passages. And the part of us that connects most strongly to our Creator.
Even if we have some connection to the Soul, I would imagine most of us still can't fathom what it will be like to be separated from our human existence. It is one thing to have a strong spiritual existence on Earth - it is another to actually experience spiritual existence away from our Earthly bodies.
I suppose we would all benefit from the perspective of a recently departed Soul. A book authored by such a Soul would undoubtedly be a best seller - a majority of Souls on earth would LOVE to have a glimpse into the next life. And I am not talking about the "near-death" experience books that all seem to have a wonderful common theme of "heading into the light". I want this book to be from a Soul who departed and fully transitioned away "permanently" from this Earthly experience.
I would imagine such a book would give us much perspective on how we spend an abundance of time and emphasis on our physical attributes, features, and Earthly accomplishments. And way too much time being fearful of someone who doesn’t practice an Earthly religion the way we do, or isn’t physically attracted to other humans the way we are. And way too little time connecting to the part of us all that lives forever.
But having such a book to reference would most likely just make it too easy for many of us. This connection to our Soul while we live the human experience is something to be worked out for ourselves, and perhaps we wouldn't fully embrace another Soul's story anyway.
Can you picture your Soul?
Does a Soul have any physical characteristics? Most of us would probably say no, or at least say that on Earth, the Soul is non-visible. Who knows, maybe in the next life all of our Souls gain some physical features. Maybe in Heaven, we can see everyone we knew on Earth, and we will pass by one of our neighbors and say "Hey Fred, good to see you today, wonderful weather we are having, huh? You sure are looking good".
Ok, I am not convinced you are buying into that, but I am not ruling anything out for the Afterlife. After all, don't a fair amount of us think we will get to "see" God when we die? Won't we need our eyes to do that? And I think most Christians think we will at least get to "see" Jesus - he will be the Caucasian with the glow coming from his face, and long, flowing blonde hair, right?
I am not really even convincing myself of the "seeing" thing in the Afterlife. I suppose I just can't imagine an existence without eyes. People who are blind here on Earth have such an advantage over the rest of us. In many ways, they have a preview of Heaven, or at least an advantage, as they know what it is like to lose (or never have) something all of us will lose when we depart this existence.
And the same goes for deaf people, right? Or do you think we will hear things in Heaven (or I suppose I should include Hell)? The angels singing the Hallelujah Chorus? Or the crackling of fire, with the Devil laughing hysterically regarding our Afterlife fate? For the record, I am not a “physical place” Heaven/Hell believer.
If you press me for an answer, I would lean towards our Soul having the ability to see and hear in a much different way than we do through our eyes and ears here on Earth. Perhaps we will gain another "sense" beyond the ones we have now, a new magical 6th sense to guide us for Eternity.
The Great Soul Factory in the Sky ?
So does a Soul start from scratch? Never existed before, and God is just spitting out new Souls from a "Soul factory", created to head to Earth for a "one and done" gig? And then life happens, death happens, and one of two (or more) Afterlife destinations are available to us?
I sure have a lot more questions than answers, and I am going to keep it that way. Why should I lock into answers without knowing if they are true? I see so many people doing this - and typically all that leads to is heated debate, fighting, hatred, wars, killing of human beings before their Soul journey has the potential to develop here on Earth.
I suppose some possible scenarios for the Soul would be something like this:
a) Souls entering the Human Realm have never existed before. A Soul is only created by God when human conception takes place.
b) Souls are a spiritual existence prior to human conception. God has all of these Souls in a "waiting room", and every Soul is preparing to be released to Earth for their "human life journey".
c) Souls have had human physical experiences in the past (yep, sorry non-believers of reincarnation, this is part of the multiple-choice answers). Souls come back to Earth attempting to take another shot at reaching Nirvana, wholeness, or whatever language you want to use for the highest attainment of spiritual development.
d) Multiple choice questions usually have a "d" right? Hmmm, I think I covered the basics in a - c, so let's just say this one could be "all of the above", "none of the above", or "some combination of all of the above".
The “Big Bang” – Soul meet Egg & Sperm
Do Souls physically exist in sperm or eggs? Or does God just wave a magic "Soul wand", and allows for Souls to enter the union of the sperm and eggs during conception? Let's face it, there certainly are tons of encounters of sperm and eggs not ending up in a human being walking the face of this Earth, right?
Imagine the "Human Population Crisis" if God waived Her/His "Soul wand" for every sperm that was unleashed within a woman's body! If Souls exist in sperm or eggs, the chances of Souls hitting the lottery and actually gaining Earthy life form are similar to me winning the Powerball jackpot before I depart. I can just imagine all of the Souls within sperm/eggs swimming around, screaming "pick me, pick me" when God is ready to release a Soul into the human existence.
Who decides where a Soul will end up in this Earthly existence? Or are Souls truly "generic", and God just spits out "Soul # 15897432A" to the next available positive sperm/egg encounter?
Or maybe we should all open our minds to answer "C" in the multiple choice question of Soul existence, and accept the Tibetan Book of the Dead offering up the best answer for how Souls enter, and reenter this Earthly reality in a long-term quest for Nirvana.
If Souls do come back for multiple lives, is there a waiting list? If you were a CPA in a former life, do you come back FIFO or LIFO? Or do Souls choose their next egg/sperm encounter based on what they need to learn this "go around"?
As much as I am fascinated with the concept of reincarnation and it's possibilities, it is bizarre to think we wouldn't consciously remember our past lives. Perhaps Tommy Lee Jones’ neuralyzer device from the movie “Men in Black” is what solves this mystery. If we did not reach Nirvana (or Heaven on Earth) this go around, two people in black suits may flash a bright light at our brain to wipe out our Earthly memories.
Yet I still remain puzzled by this concept. If there is reincarnation, are there ever cases of "new" Souls coming into the picture? And how does this all relate to evolution vs. creationism theories? There certainly had to be "new Souls" at some point in time, right? So maybe there is a combination of "new Souls" and "old Souls" entering the Earthly realm, because there are more people being born than departing.
And do Souls have gender, ethnic, and other traits before the great sperm/egg collision? Or are Souls restricted to what type of body they can enter? Is there a "male Soul" waiting line, and a corresponding "female Soul" line? Is there an African-American Soul line, a Jewish line, and a Shiite Muslim line?
I have heard some people suggest that certain Souls on Earth are just "evil" or "bad", and that is all there is to it - so is there a criminal or terrorist Soul waiting line? And is there a special "Royal Soul" waiting line to come into the bodies of Royal Sperm and Royal Eggs to ensure that everything about the Royal Conception will be glamorous, pretty/handsome, and Royal?
What about a U.S. Supreme Court Soul waiting line? This must be a very short line, as only 9 plus some in training can inhabit the Earth at any one time. And they typically live fairly long lives and have multiple decade terms - making decisions relating to the human aspect of our existence. But their decisions aren't always supreme as it relates to our Souls.
I am exhausted thinking of all the possibilities. If you happen to think some of my examples are far fetched, and there truly can't be Soul waiting lines for all these different variables, hopefully you will also be open to the idea that a Soul is neither male nor female when it enters the Human Realm. And all of the other “add-ons” (ethnicity, religion, Soul mate gender preference, etc.) aren’t eternal attachments, but rather short-term human existence companions …
Now if we could only get the Death Eaters and Slytherins to be open minded to this concept. Doesn't seem to be getting through to them, so, I Speak for the Soul ...
