The Eternal Question: Is Our Soul Truly Immortal? →

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"Is Our Soul Eternal? Exploring Heaven and the Universe"

Introduction

Is our soul eternal? How can we know for sure? For centuries, parents have advised their children with a familiar promise: “Be good, son, if you want to go to heaven.” But what does it mean to be good? Is it about our actions, our thoughts, or something deeper?

Attitude vs. Action: The Promise of Heaven

The advice to "be good" often centers on maintaining a positive attitude—a smile in the face of adversity. But does simply being positive guarantee a place in heaven? Is goodness a matter of attitude, or does it require action, integrity, and compassion?

Parents may say, “Be good, son, and you will go to heaven,” but this raises profound questions. Does the value of what we learn or the help we offer to others matter? Does our willingness to help reflect our growth, or is it solely because others need assistance?

Kipling's Wisdom: The Promise of Manhood

Rudyard Kipling offered his son a different kind of promise in his poem “IF”:

“Yours is the Earth and everything in it,
And, what is more, you’ll be a Man, my son!”

Kipling's promise was about becoming a man—a concept of maturity, strength, and integrity. But unlike the promise of heaven, this was something that could be achieved through character and resilience. The father promising heaven offers something he cannot prove or deliver.

The Question of the Soul's Eternity

If the soul is eternal, what does that mean for us? Do our actions and experiences matter in an eternal context? Some religions teach that the soul returns after death and reunites with a resurrected body, while others suggest the soul may exist without the body, experiencing a spiritual existence.

Philosophers like Plato and Aristotle have long pondered the existence of the soul, each offering insights that continue to influence the debate. In the 20th century, philosopher Will Durant suggested that the soul is an integral part of human existence, though he was skeptical of its survival beyond death.

Durant's Doubt and the Essence of the Soul

Will Durant, a great admirer of life and knowledge, struggled with the concept of the soul's immortality. Despite his passion for exploring human history in his monumental work "The Story of Civilization," he leaned toward the idea that the soul dies with the body.

Yet, Durant’s reflections are compelling because they reveal a tension between his love of life and his doubt. He saw life as a river—a flow of experience from an unknown beginning to an abrupt end. But what if the river doesn’t end? What if it continues in another form?

The Dimensions of Existence

Modern science offers new perspectives. Mathematician Theodor Kaluza proposed a concept of multiple dimensions beyond the three spatial ones we experience. String theorists have since expanded this idea, suggesting that our reality may include ten or even eleven dimensions. Could our souls exist in these other dimensions, continuing beyond physical death?

Seeing life metaphorically as a river may be poetic, but it assumes a starting point and an end. What if life is part of a larger, continuous flow that we only partially understand?

My Perspective on Eternity

I believe the soul continues after death and is eternal. This conclusion is not just influenced by the thoughts of great thinkers like Durant or the possibilities of string theory but also by my religious beliefs.

To me, the soul is more than a byproduct of consciousness—it is the essence of who we are, a spark of awareness that continues to learn, grow, and experience beyond the limitations of the physical world. Whether viewed through the lens of philosophy, religion, or science, the soul remains one of the greatest mysteries of existence.

Final Thoughts

In a world that measures so much by what we can see and touch, the question of the soul challenges us to consider something beyond the physical. Whether we believe in an eternal soul or not, the journey to understand it pushes us to explore the depths of our own humanity.

"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience." — Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

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It is what is inside us that motivates us and keeps us going →

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by Brent M. Jones

Starting at about four, my mother would have me kneel at my bedside and say my prayers. The importance of that part of my life story has changed over the years, and I see it differently. I value this experience, and I am grateful for it.

The early assumption that God was listening and that taking problems to him would be helpful has been a comfort, even without confirmation of having been heard at times. This sentiment is summed up well in a quote by C. S. Lewis: “Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties.”

Others have shared how they were taught similar lessons at a very young age by saying a prayer many are familiar with: “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray thee, Lord, my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” I have thought about this often: If a person dies and his soul is taken, what is the soul, and what exactly is taken?

 If the soul is eternal and lives on when the body dies, it must be made of different materials. If that substance is spiritual, then where does it reside within our living bodies? Is it separate or part of our living flesh?

Some have referred to the soul as the seat or location of our character and emotions. It is sometimes explained as the spirit within a person and the person’s mental abilities, personality, feelings, memories, perception, thinking, and even skills. Wherever our soul goes, if our particular skills are needed, perhaps our work ethic learned in obtaining those skills is part of the package.

Whatever it is that will go with me, if I die before I wake, I want to understand as much about everything as possible and make sure my knowledge is worth taking along.

Louis Armstrong once said, “Musicians don’t retire; they stop when there’s no more music in them,” and “What we play is life.” What, then, is that music if you are not a musician? How did that music, or that passion, get to be inside us?

Armstrong is saying that music is a part of his work ethic and life and is needed to exist. This leaves the question of what our music might be and how we keep from losing it. I conclude that my “music - passion” and what makes me feel alive are family, reading, writing, and service, but these items have evolved g and changed as I look back over my life story.

Music can be a connection between our physical selves and our very souls. We feel the music. It reflects our hearts. Music with scriptures are hymns, and we worship through hymns. The feelings of our hearts are conveyed in prayer with music.

Our bodies and faces reflect the images of happiness and sadness. Music and singing open up those feelings. Sometimes we sing for what we long for, using music to help us get by without the necessary things.

What do we long for? What do we have a passion for? Love and kindness are passions that can focus on us and drive our actions. We lose ourselves in those feelings; for some, opportunities for service to others reflect their hearts. When applicable passions fill our minds, we have a little place to worry about ourselves.

For us, what we play, rather than music, can be whatever we love. It can be anything we choose, but we need to feel passionate about it. If you’re lucky enough to love knowledge, learning, or service, then you are indeed blessed. That, like the music for Louis, never stops being an option.

When the Music Runs Out (what if your too young to retire?) →

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What happens when the music runs out? Do musicians retire when that happens?  Louis Armstrong said musicians don't retire; they only stop when no more music is left in them. Is it possible that we may reach the point when we have no more pieces left in us? Joan Baez will retire at the end of 2018. Will "her" ability to make music be gone? Of course not, but maybe the sound changes?

Music is a connection between our physical self and our very souls. We feel the music. It reflects our hearts and deepest feelings. 

Music with scriptures is hymns. We worship through hymns. The feelings of our heart are conveyed in verbal prayer, so perhaps prayer is a form of music? 

Our bodies and faces reflect images of happiness and sadness, and music opens those feelings. Singing makes us better. Sometimes we sing for what we long for. We use music to help us get by without things wanted.

When the music is gone, maybe we have left and gone somewhere with us, hopefully, to find the piece.

Is the Human Soul Eternal and is it transcendent of our material existence? →

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If the human soul is eternal and lives on when the body dies, it must be made of different materials. If that substance is spiritual, then where does it reside within our living bodies?  Is it separate or part of our living flesh? Some have referred to the soul as the seat or location of our character and emotions, but is that just a metaphorical inference?

Some religions believe the soul comes back after death and reunites with a resurrected body in some future time, but then some are unclear as to whether the soul exists without being reunited with the body.

Existence, as a unique entity, should carry within it the substance of the life and experiences learned in the body. If the soul exists without the body, thensome substance must makes the separate soul without the body.

       Plato, Aristotle, and many others have written about the existence of the soul. A recent well-known historian, Will Durant*, wrote about the history of man, looking deeply into the living lives of all things. He pondered and wrote about the existence of a soul and said he had little doubt it existed as a part of human existence, a view shared by many intellectuals. Some, like Durant, are influenced by a belief that the universe brings about life by taking matter and evolving it into living forms and even suggesting that that is the universe’s purpose.

      This view says that all matter has a spiritual essence.  Durant was fond of his unique soul but said he did not expect it to survive the complete death of his body.  Durant summed up this conclusion in his last book, Fallen Leaves, saying that he felt the end of the body would likewise be the death of the soul. That conclusion seems to be at odds with his passion for life and the view that it exists within all things. We wonder what Durant may have felt if he had an idea of other dimensions.

     Durant said he wanted to bring the “future into focus,” and his method was to focus on the raw experience of history. This approach is reflected in his extensive work writing the 11 volumes of "The Story of Civilization.”.

    Durant believed that life flowed from what he felt was a mysterious source that moved like a river from an unknown beginning to an abrupt end with the body’s death. The sudden end of the soul is often the intellectual conclusion that seems tied to determinism: the doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will.

Durant is a valuable focus for discussions about the soul because he was not a determinist and placed great value on individual experiences.   He refused to accept the end was all predetermined by the beginning,

    I think Durant was on the right track, but with incomplete conclusions on the nature of the soul, partly because he needed to live longer to see all the options. He defended free will, that the soul was a unique, valued individual experience, saw a universe whose purpose was to create and advance life, and loved the personal experience. He lacked options for what could happen after death to the soul.                

    We live in a world clearly defined by three spatial dimensions, including one size of time.  Durant and others in the past concluded the soul was framed with this knowledge, but he did not have information about the 4th, 5th, and other dimensions.  In 1919, mathematician Theodor Kaluza presented new ideas about the 4th dimension. This idea states that in shared space, a position is specified by three numbers, known as dimensions, that could be labeled x, y, and z. A place in spacetime is called an event and requires four numbers to be specified: the three-dimensional location in space plus the position in time.

Today, “string theorists” present more complicated thoughts, saying it's pretty easy to assume there are 10 or 11 dimensions and more. So maybe these other dimensions include or await our participation with our spiritual soul?  

Seeing life metaphorically, like a river of influences and forces, is a poetic approach that ties things together, but it ignores where the river starts and assumes that it ends.

I conclude that the soul continues after death and that its life is eternal. The implications of Durant’s thoughts and what has been learned about string theory strongly influence this conclusion, but my religious teachings make a great deal of difference for me.

I am active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I believe that di Jesus Christ died on the cross, rose on the third day, and appeared again to his disciples. I think the soul leaves the body at death and, at some point, is resurrected again, gaining a physical body.

One of the previous church Prophets and presidents, Gordon B. Hinckley, said, “Let me say that we appreciate the truth in all churches and the good which they do. So we tell the people you bring all the good you have, and then let us see if we can add to it.”

My beliefs and knowledge also suggest that truth exists in many churches and that the more knowledge we gain, the better off we will be. So much of what we become during this life resides in our spiritual essence. If inside, memory, skills learned, and even work ethic go with us through death, then understanding them is a worthy life goal.

*William James Durant was an American writer, historian, and philosopher. He became best known for his work The Story of Civilization, 11 volumes written in collaboration with his wife, Ariel Durant, and published between 1935 and 1975