January 13th, 1916
Received by James Padgett
Washington D.C.
I am here, Luke.
I want to tell you tonight of the mystery of the birth of the soul in the human being.
All souls which enter into mortal bodies are, previous to such advent, real, living existences, and made in the likeness of the Great Soul, though not having the qualities and potentialities of that Soul, and also, not having the form of individualized personality that they have after they become parts of the composition, or form, of the mortal and spiritual bodies of human beings.
The soul, in its existence prior to becoming an indweller in the mortal body, has a consciousness of its existence and of its relationship to God and to other parts of the Great Soul, and more especially of the duplex character of its being; and by this I mean the sexual* differences in the two parts of the soul, which, in the way that they are united, constitutes the one complete soul.
When the time comes for this soul to become an indweller in the mortal frame, the two parts that I speak of separate, and only one of the parts enters at the same time into a mortal and never into the same mortal; and while this separation is necessary for the individualization of each part of this one complete soul, yet the two parts never lose that interrelationship, or the binding qualities that existed before their separation, and which continue to exist thereafter, and in the great future, after the work of individualization shall be completed, will come together again and reunite in a complete one.
This separation may exist a longer or shorter time, depending upon the similar development of those similar qualities that is absolutely necessary in order that this coming together in the original one, as it were, may take place.
While, as I have said, this soul before its separation has a consciousness of its existence, and when its duplex character leaves it, or rather leaves the two separated parts, and thereafter, until its re-entrance into the spirit world, does not again return to these parts. But in order to regain this consciousness, it is not necessary that both of these parts at the same time shall come again into the spirit life, for if one part becomes a spirit, free from the physical body, and the other part remains in the mortal body, that part that comes into the spirit world may receive the awakening to this consciousness, depending upon certain conditions and developments .
It often happens that both these parts will return to the spirit world, and yet, for a long time, live as spirits without having a restoration of this consciousness, because of various reasons that may exist. The conditions of the development of the two parts may be so vastly different that the realization of this consciousness may be wholly impossible; and very often it is the case that when these two individualized parts are informed that they are the soulmates of each other, they will not believe that information, and live on in utter indifference to the fact.
But ultimately, the consciousness of their relationship will come to them, because their development, no matter whether intellectual or spiritual, will tend towards the awakening of this consciousness, which is always present with them, although dormant.
Now, as to what this soul is in its constituent parts or shape or form prior to its separation for the purpose of becoming an inhabitant of the mortal body, we spirits are not informed and do not know. We are often present at the conception, and also the birth of a child, and realize that a soul has become enveloped in the flesh, but we cannot see that soul as it enters into that home of mortal environment, because as to us it is invisible and has no form; but after its lodgment in the human body we can perceive it and realize its existence, for then it assumes a form, and that form varies in different incarnations, or in the incarnations in different humans.
We have never seen the Soul of God, although we know that there is this Great Oversoul, and hence we cannot see the soul of any image of the Great Soul until it becomes, as I say, individualized.
I know that men have often wondered and asked the question as to the preexistence of the soul that has been incarnated, and what qualities and attributes it had during its preexistence, and as to these particulars I wish to say, that we spirits, although we are inhabitants of God's Celestial Heavens, have little information, though we know that the soul, and I mean the complete soul in oneness, has an existence prior to its becoming individualized. You may ask how we know this. Well, it will be hard to explain this to you, so that you may comprehend, but this I can say, that we spirits of the higher soul development can, by our soul perceptions, understand the existence of these souls as images of the Great Soul, and the qualities of these images are such, that while we cannot sensibly, as you would say, see these souls or their dualities, yet we are conscious of their existence. To use an illustration, that is not altogether appropriate, you understand that the wind blows, yet you cannot see it.
And we further understand, and such is the result of our observations, that when the soul, and keep in mind that I mean the two parts when I say soul, once becomes incarnated and assumes an individualized form, it never thereafter loses that individuality, and hence, never again returns to its condition of preexistence, and can never again become reincarnated in the existence of any human being.
There is no such thing as reincarnation, and all the theories and speculations of men upon that question, which conclude that a soul once incarnated can again become incarnated, are wrong, for the incarnation of a soul is only one step in its destined progress from an invisible formless existence to a glorious angel or to a perfected spirit.
A soul in this progress never retraces its steps - it is always progress, though sometimes stagnation takes place - but continues as an individualized spirit until it reaches its goal in fulfillment of the Father's plan for the perfecting of His universe.
This is a subject that is difficult of treatment for several reasons, among which is the fact that we spirits, no matter how high our attainments, do not have the information in order to give a full and complete description of the soul and its qualities prior to its incarnation, and you mortals are not capable of comprehending the full truth as we may try to convey it to you.
I have made this effort to give you some faint idea of the soul, as you are in good condition tonight to receive my ideas, but I realize how inadequate my attempt has proved to be. But from it, you can understand that the soul has an existence prior to its finding its home in the physical body, that it is duplex and has a consciousness of the relationship of its two parts, that after it has received the experience of the mortal life and received an individuality, it returns to the spirit world, and that at some time that consciousness will come to it again, and the two parts will become one, unless in the development of these separate parts have arisen barriers that may prevent their reuniting. And further, that this soul will never again retrace the steps of its progression and become reincarnated.
I will now close, and with my love and blessings say good night.
Your brother in Christ, Luke