What Do We Know About the Soul?

Mankind in their unending quest to find the quintessential essence of life is often confused by their inability to understand the inner workings of the divine scriptures and how to relate the stories of past messengers to our vastly diverse, multi-cultural and predominantly toxic age. Like a rudderless ship, people are wandering blindly, dumbfounded by the seemingly mundane world of the five senses and fading material pursuits in a temporal abode. Many people seek to know their ancestry and genealogy in a desperate search for a sense of true identity, but such searches are fruitless, leaving people to feel a lack of true connection with who they truly are. In fact, people often just gain more labels to attach to themselves about religion and political orientation, forming complex personalities that take them further away from their true source of identity. 

Many civilisations, emboldened to believe they can truly discover the secrets of human consciousness and the nature of our reality, have turned to scientific investigation to discover more. The scientific elite, bankrolled by political elites, spend millions of dollars on particle accelerators to try and find the smallest molecule or the so-called “God particle”, hoping it will shed light on the secrets of the universe beyond and the soul force. Instead they end up just finding smaller and smaller subatomic particles, such as the quark, vibrating at higher frequencies. The Large Hadron Collider at CERN cost up to 75 billion USD to build, operate and maintain, yet science still hasn’t found the quintessential element of life. The pursuit seems reminiscent of the futile attempt of Nimrod to defy the supreme deity by building a tower up-to the heavens, only to end up being destroyed himself by the smallest of creatures, the gnat, in his peak of arrogance. 

But where can truth really be found? As Aba Al-Sadiq today has revealed, wise sages who wrote about the soul - such as Hermes, Pythagorus, Krishna, Buddha, Plato and Socrates - are actually unknown prophets sent to the earth. So alongside the Abrahamic prophets, let us investigate and try to complete the soul puzzle from their divine exegesis. Is there a universal truth that parallels the teachings of the soul across the faith divide, revealing that religious segregation is really an illusion and that there is and always has been a higher universal law, which is being brought into light concerning the soul?

Hermes and Thoth about the Soul

The first philosopher or master of divine wisdom was known as Hermes or Thoth, the same builder of the Giza Pyramids. Hence, his teachings via his book Corpus Hemeticum are a good starting place. From his deep understanding it is revealed how the souls are intertwined with cosmology and metaphysics. Hermes spoke of the soul being divine in origin, given a purpose by its “descent” into the material world, which correlates with the concept of the “atom world” in Shiite traditions. The return of the soul to its original source is facilitated by learning and an unravelling through experience in this worldly plane and practising aspects of the divine whereby the soul undertakes a metamorphosis. Hermes teaches us that we have at each moment in our lives to choose either evil or good conduct, leading us to evolve our previous karma in a positive or negative way. We should focus on making the soul our guide as it is superior to the flesh.

“The soul, being God-sent, is immortal and strong; all that is material is mortal and weak. But man is not just material; he is also soul. And it is not the body which is strong, but the soul.” (Hermes Trismegistus, Treatise: Poimandres, The Shepherd of Men, in the Corpus Hemeticum)

As Jesus himself echoed and said in accordance with Hermes' teachings, the flesh is weak but the soul is willing.

Hermes, in accordance with the teachings of Prophet Mohammed, has indeed revealed that the soul is immaterial and beyond man's vain attempts to observe it through science. He goes on to reveal how God is the source of everything and man's soul is derived from a divine source.

“Speak not of man is perishing, my son. Think what God is, and what the Kosmos is, and what is meant by a living creature that is immortal, and a living creature that is dissoluble. The Kosmos is made by God, and is contained in God; Man is made by the Kosmos, and is contained in the Kosmos, and it is God that is the author of all, and encompasses all, and knits all things together.” (Hermes Trismegistus, LibelIus VIII; Hermetica; Page 178-179)

Hermes also revealed that it is only by connecting with and embodying this divine aspect within ourselves that we can develop a greater understanding of truth and the divine essence at the source of everything.

“He who knows himself, knows the All.” (Hermes Trismegistus, Treatise 1, Corpus Hermeticum)

This character Hermes is the same Thoth who, in his Emerald Tablets, revealed that man originates from the stars and that the key to our ascension is to struggle against our lower selves and desires.

“Man is a star bound to a body,  until in the end,  he is freed through his strife. Only by struggle and toiling thy utmost shall the star within thee bloom out in new life. He who knows the commencement of all things, free is his star from the realm of night.” (Thoth the Atlantean, Emerald Tablet III)

“Know ye, O man, ye are only a spirit. The body is nothing.  The Soul is ALL. Let not your body be a fetter. Cast off the darkness and travel in Light. Cast off your body, O man, and be free,  truly a Light that is ONE with the Light.” (Thoth the Atlantean, Emerald Tablet IX)

Through the teachings of Thoth and Hermes, we recognize that man's ability to reflect divine attributes is due to this indefinable, ineffable, intangible divine spark or God particle of divine consciousness embedded in the heart of man. It is an atom or particle from the stars that is unable to be destroyed. By putting all our effort into aligning with this soul force, we can eliminate the seed of doubt and become true light-workers.

Hermes described that when we follow the unrestrained pursuit of lusts and gluttony, we cause harm to ourselves and others. It totally disconnects us from the divine source. This aspect, when in ascendancy, weighs down the soul of the person and blinds them to the truth about the nature of reality. Instead it pushes the ego to the forefront of the persona. 

“The soul, when in the body, is burdened by many evils; unreason, sorrow, confusion, and despair. Yet when she departs from the body, then she is freed from all these evils.” (Hermes Trismegistus, Treatise: Poimandres, The Shepherd of Men, in the Corpus Hemeticum)

Gnosis or Divine knowledge is like a blueprint for a path out of this labyrinth of suffering and cycle of reincarnation. How we go about this process was marked out by Hermes, emphasizing direct practical experience of spiritual truths gained through meditation and virtuous acts, leading us to harmonise ourselves with the universe.

The Soul in Ancient Greece

Whilst the wise sage, Prophet Pythagoras, who himself studied in Egypt with Chaldean priests of Mesopotamia, embraced the Hermetic laws, he discovered that the soul is immortal and is in a continual transmigration from one vessel to another. Pythagorus also remarked about the struggle to suppress the appetitive self and to invigorate the good self and how our previous moral conduct in former lives defined the vessel we could incarnate into in future lives. He explained how the human being is capable of communion with the divine, and requires a body as a vehicle on this path to elevate the soul. The body though must be controlled or reigned in by the soul in order for the divine within to be illuminated within the human being.

“Leaving thyself always to be guided and directed by the understanding that comes from above, and that ought to hold the reins.” (Pythagorus, Golden Verse 69)

Philolaus, a student of Pythagoras, expressed this eternal relationship between the soul and the cosmos, and how the body was a vessel for it in this testing ground of corporeal life. 

“The soul is introduced and associated with the body by Number, and by a harmony simultaneously immortal and incorporeal… the soul cherishes its body, because without it the soul cannot feel; but when death has separated the soul therefrom, the soul lives an incorporeal existence in the cosmos.” (Guthrie, p. 174)

There is also a tradition that demonstrates the transmigration of souls in connection with Pythagorus. According to this tradition, Hermes asked Pythagorus to select any gift except immortality. Pythagoras chose to preserve the memories of what happened to him, both while living and after death. His soul later passed into the body of Euphorbus, who was wounded by Menelaus. While he was Euphorbus, Pythagoras used to say that he had formerly been Aethalides, a son of Hermes. He mentioned a gift Hermes had granted him, the perpetual transmigration of his soul, passing into plants or animals as it pleased. Additionally, Pythagoras had also received the gift of recollecting all that his soul had experienced in Hades, as well as the sufferings endured by other souls.

After Euphorbus died, he said that his soul had passed into Hermotimus. To convince people of this, he revealed his shield in the temple of Apollo, which Menelaus had dedicated there as an offering. Pythagoras said that Menelaus, when he sailed from Troy, had offered up his worn-out shield to Apollo, and only the ivory face remained on it. Pythagoras further said that when Hermotimus died, he had become Pyrrhus, a fisherman of Delos, and that he still recollected everything, including how he had formerly been Aethalides, then Euphorbus, then Hermotimus, and then Pyrrhus. When Pyrrhus died, he became Pythagoras, and still retained memories of all the previous circumstances mentioned.

So turning to the Greek wisdom, we find many similarities and evidential truths connected to the Egyptians and Hermes. The Greeks revealed the ‘Psyche’ as the life force or breath of life, and recognised our existence in the material world as being nothing without our soul. They viewed the soul as the animating, intangible part of ourselves.  

Plato spoke about the tripartite aspect of a human being: the Logistikós (intelligence or reason), the Thumoeidés (passionate self which needs to be reined in and aligned with the divine source) and the Epithymētikón (appetitive self which only seeks pleasure and comfort). He expressed the Goal of the Wise as the rule of the Logistikós, and in order to reach it, one has to express beauty, justice and goodness. Hence to exemplify positive morals and to contemplate the aspects of selfless love, wisdom, and logical inquiry, while avoiding falling prey to temptations of the disparaging self.

“The soul is immortal and able to endure every evil and every good, and we’ll always hold to the upward path, practicing justice with reason in every way. That way we’ll be friends both to ourselves and to the gods while we remain here on earth and afterwards—like the victors in the games who go around collecting their prizes—we’ll receive our rewards. Hence, both in this life and on the thousand-year journey we’ve described, we’ll do well and be happy.” (Plato’s Republic X, 621c-d)

Plato's accounts of the afterlife and the journey of the soul give us more insight into his understanding of the soul. According to Plato’s writings, there was a soldier who died on the battlefield. He was called Er. His body was collected with the rest of the fallen ten days later, but unlike the other corpses, it had not decayed. On the twelfth day, he awoke and declared that he had seen the world beyond death. According to Er, men are judged for their lives. They just ascend to the heavens with an account of their deeds hung on their chests, while the unjust descend into the earth with the account of their actions hung across their backs. In each realm, people receive a tenfold recompense for their earthly conduct, with the just being rewarded and the unjust punished. After this, the souls return to a meadow, where they prepare to once more incarnate on earth. Er claims that this process is, for the most part, self-determined. Souls choose the daemon that will guide them and the pattern of the life they will live.

“Your daemon or guardian spirit will not be assigned to you by lot; you will choose him.…Virtue knows no master; each will possess it to a greater or less degree, depending on whether he values or disdains it. The responsibility lies with the one who makes the choice; the god has none.” (Plato’s Republic X, 617e)

So in essence we are the makers of our own hell or heaven by the thoughts and actions we partake in, and whether we follow selfless Godly virtues or otherwise.

“People thus choose the life they will inhabit based on their previous experiences and what they believe constitutes a good life. For example, the scoffer Thersites chooses the life of a monkey, Agamemnon, remembering his sufferings as a man, chooses the life of an eagle instead, and Odysseus who previously lived a notable life and suffered for it, instead chose “the life of a private individual who did his own work.” (Plato’s Republic, 620c-d)

Plato clarifies that Karma is a universal force that we cannot escape, and we are held accountable for every action or inaction. As it says in the Quran, we shall not be wronged a groove in a date stone.

In Plato's Republic: 

“We’ll believe that the soul is immortal and able to endure every evil and every good, always holding to the upward path, practicing justice with reason in every way. That way we’ll be friends both to ourselves and to the gods while we remain here on earth and afterwards–like victors in the games who go around collecting their prizes–we’ll receive our rewards. Hence, both in this life and on the thousand-year journey we’ve described, we’ll do well and be happy.” (Plato’s Republic X, 621c-d)

The Greek philosopher Prophet Aristotle clarified how the soul was the first cause of the material realm.

“The soul is, so to speak, the first principle of living things. We seek to contemplate and know its nature and substance.” (Aristotle, Book 2, On the Soul)

Aristotle spoke about how the soul is encased by matter, and the animating principle is the psyche. He reflected how the form is like an axe, with the body being metal and wood, but needing to have an active capacity to chop wood, an awareness and ability to do so. In this sense, the soul of living things becomes the quality (or qualities) that differentiate them from nonliving things.

“The soul is an actuality or formulable essence of something that possesses the potentiality of being besouled.” (Aristotle, Book 2, On the Soul)

Hence, the vessel can become animated by a soul by the will of God. Remarkably, in respect to the teachings of Hermes, we see how Aristotle himself posited the tripartite theory of the soul force as well in the same light, meaning the base animistic nutritive part, perception or rationale, and divine intellect.

“We ought not to obey those who tell us that a man should think a man’s thoughts, and a mortal the thoughts of a mortal. On the contrary, we should endeavour as far as possible to become immortal, and to do all that we can to live in accordance with what is highest in us.” (Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, X.7.1177 b 32)

Aristotle made it abundantly clear that the Eudaimonia or state of good living could only be achieved by working selflessly and unconditionally for the community. Therefore, living in accordance with a selfless moral code and subduing the base desires as much as feasible.

The Soul in Hinduism

If we turn now to the oriental prophets of God, we find the same pattern evolving through the Vedic texts and words of Rama, Vishnu and Krishna from Hindustan. The Atman or soul, is once again the essence or breath of life, a fragment of the one truth of the universal soul.  The universal soul or Atman condenses into an individual soul called Jiva, and its experience is enclosed in sheaths, like our physical body (Ropa), which our consciousness inhabits. This is the unconditioned aspect of truth, linked to the Absolute One, the Ain Soph, beyond words, longing to return to the source or God. It is expressed as a divine spark within us: 

“Atman, in Himself, is the ineffable Being, the one who is beyond time and eternity, without end of days. He does not die, neither reincarnates (the ego is what returns), but Atman is absolutely perfect.” (Samael Aun Weor, Glorian Publishing, Atman)

When we sleep, the soul projects out of the body and dreams beyond, another veil lifted towards the astral world of divine forms. Jiva descends into the body or vessel to recognise the impermanence of the illusory nature of this world, and to recognise our consciousness as not being the body, but instead an extension of Atman which in turn is an extension of the Paramataman (supreme self), unfolding levels like a Lotus flower does itself. 

“The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.” (Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet)

Here, a divine chain is revealed that links man from God, budding outwards from within to the soul, spirit and body. 

The lower self is ignorance, expressing itself as either superior or inferior, attributed to the false ego, often divisive. The soul is the being that transcends the ego and the personality. Wise sages like Rama saw it as ignorant for humans to associate with the animal propensities of the self and body. Krishna, like Plato, spoke at length about the charioteer representing the universal soul force, trying to help Arjuna (the rider) as an initiate to tame the wild senses of the ego. The reasonable self of Arjuna is wise to take heed and follow this divine force, rejecting his wild and undisciplined self. It is remarkable how this configures again with the tripartite soul system we spoke of already in the ancient Greek traditions.

Rama spoke of the importance of self-control in order to allow the soul to shine through the veils of our own ignorance, if we stray away from truth, we fall into ignorance, and the animalistic self takes over.

“Self-control is the warrior's true strength. Just as people are afraid of serpents they are afraid of people who utter lies. Truth controls this world and dharma is rooted in truth.” (Lord Shri Ram, Ramayana)

When we are enthused with spirit, we are able to accomplish seemingly impossible feats, as in such states we are enforced by the ethereal soul force.

“Enthusiasm is a powerful, noble one; there is no greater strength than enthusiasm. For the enthusiastic, nothing in the world is difficult.” (Lord Shri Ram, Ramayana)

The key aspect of liberating the soul force within us is to surrender our will to God and submit to the one sent by God as the Kristos or Krishna of our age, and let them be our guidance and support.

Krishna spoke at the height of Arjuna's tensions about facing his own flesh and blood in battle for truth and justice:

“Do not grieve, my friend, surrender to Me and I will liberate you from all sin and sorrow.” (Krishna, Bhagavad Gita 18.66)

The Lord here prescribes the simplest form of discipline to the world as the highest means of ultimate Liberation.

Therefore, we must like Arjuna take guidance from the divine avatar sent to us and use reason and seek to control the mind and senses to transcend and become one with Brahman, the complete consciousness. All is common and unified in the core aspect of the soul or Atman, whilst the temporary mundane world is made up of different selves with unique nationalities, tribes, races, colour and creeds, with people judged and judging others on their status and occupation. In actuality, this world is fictitious, base forms, and the essential pure consciousness at heart of all man, derives from Atman or universal soul.

This divine essence transcends the mundane worlds, is inexpressible, indescribable, peaceful and blissful. The Goal of the Wise is to unify all these parts of ourselves as one conscious whole, with the Atman or universal soul, so we can realise our true nature from God and for the soul to unify with Brahma. To manifest aspects of and reach perfection, bliss, and union with infinite. Only then can eternal bliss reign within the heart of man, form the eternal self, through this divine aspect of self-realisation.

As Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Prince of the believers declared:

“Know thyself and know thy Lord.”

This quest for union with the Absolute should be carried out against all odds, despite our own selves, as a great sacrifice of the self for the greater good of humanity and justice, courting all pains. All the lectures and knowledge won’t help you if you don't practise self-realisation, recognising that we contain the divine immortal spark that resides within.

The Soul and Lord Buddha

“'Each soul is potentially divine.' The goal is to manifest the divinity within, by controlling nature, external and internal.” (Swami Vivekananda, commentary on Yoga Sutra, 11.25)  

“[There is] a seed inside every human being. Some people are able to bring it out and to accentuate it. And some people are not able to do that. The entire matter goes back to the human being himself. There are those who are not able to do that, because they do not want that, or because they have not tried to do that.” (Book of Sayings of Ahmed al Hassan, the Yamani)

In Buddhism, the soul force animates a vessel or avatar. The soul wears different suits and takes them off at will to move into another vessel more suitable for the goal or mission at hand, whilst the body or matter returns whence it came, to the ground, ashes and dust.

The Eastern faiths teach us that in reality if we claim to be spiritual or religious yet are apart from the very fundamental point of Spirit, the divine spark that resonates within us, then we are only paying lip service to this divine principle. In this state of awareness, we are most likely behaving more like non-working scholars, focused only on the letter of the law and the crusts of religion, ritual practices of the faith. We must awaken in this mundane world first and foremost, to the fact our consciousness is not our body, but the soul force, or sublime aspect which migrates to the next body.

Lord Buddha in the Lotus Sutra warns us about the dangers of following our animalistic selves.

“I know that these living beings have never cultivated good roots. They are firmly attached to the five desires, and, out of stupidity and love, become afflicted. Because of all their desires, they fall into the three evil paths, they turn on the wheel in the six destinies, suffering utter misery.” (Lotus Sutra, Chapter 2)

The Soul in Jewish Sources

When we turn to Jewish Gnostic thought, the parallels are reaffirmed again in the Book of Radiance or Zohar, where the tripartite soul remerges. The Jewish gnostics teach that we must aspire to be God-like, to manifest divine aspects to humanity so that the potential seed within us can unravel, by mirroring the attributes of a divine messenger. This is how the disciples began to recognise the divine in Jesus and were able to manifest attributes to become more like him in actuality.

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” (John, Chapter 1, verses 3:2)

The Jewish mystics, as reported by Joshua Abelson (researcher on Jewish Mysticism), saw the soul as a trinity with the Neshāmāh, the rational element as the highest plane of existence; the Ruacḥ, the moral or rational element, is the seat of good and evil, ethical qualities. Finally there is the Nephesh, the gross side of spirit, the vital element which is en rapport with the body, instincts, and cravings of the physical life. The three divisions of the soul are emanations from the Sefirot (Divine source). 

The Neshāmāh, is the soul in its most elevated and sublimest sense, this emanates from Chokmah the Sefirah of Wisdom. The Ruacḥ, which denotes the soul in its ethical aspect, emanates from Tiphereth the Sefirah of Beauty. This spirit of endeavour, is the emotional self or personality, which recognises the distinction between good and evil. The Nephesh, which is the animal side of the soul, is an emanation from Yesod the Sefirah of Foundation, that element that most of all comes into contact with the material forces of earth. This is the engine of our physical life, a focus on the mundane aspect, the basic needs of the body, the physical desires and instincts.  

This trinity of forces, when in union, is harmonised and reflects that of the ancient Greek and Egyptians as discussed previously. Kabbala talks about the divine spark or breath, as in Genesis, where God's own breath animates human beings, the intellectual self.

“And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath [neshamah] of life; and man became a living soul [nephesh].” (Torah, Genesis 2:7)

So Nephesh is the appetitive self that breathes, the living force of the living thing, inherent life within us, the foundation of the vital body, on the tree of life. It is an urgency to be alive, appetite for living, raw like a seed. This is the connecting glue or Yesod in this mundane world, the Nepesh flows in your blood, it is the sexual energy, nervous system, impulsiveness to live, it only knows sensation serving a mechanical nature. Human beings share this aspect with all animals in nature, striving to get more rank, power, resources, more attention, and have no awareness of spirit or God.

It is clear that many people, whatever they earn or accumulate, are never truly satisfied. Unbridled desire is at the heart of this concern in the vacuum of the soul. In Jewish history, we reflect on Samson obsessively pursuing Delilah, Adam tempted by the tree, Cain’s jealousy leading to slaying Abel, these are the aspects of falling into temptation.

Even the plants and animals are animated as such; a spark of Godliness imbues them with energy and life force. The composer's inspiration gives life to the notes, expressing the vision and feeling of the soul within, which lives on even after his corporeal death.

The second aspect, Ruach, wind or spirit, is the thinking or emotional soul, our ethical perception, related to our human soul or Tiphereth, beauty and mercy of our innermost being or Buddha. So we must toil to overcome our desires through our actions; faith is known by our works. If you want a spiritual life then such principles will be your protector and assailant against your base desires.

“Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” (James 2:14) 

“All the while my Neshamah is in me, and the Ruach of Eloah (goddess) is in my face, my lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.” (Job 27)

So when we stay mindful and God-focused, we shall align the divine soul and self and body to work by the spirit of truth - we shall no longer use our energy to harm or to lie or commit deceit; our words become an expression of only the truth. A clear pattern emerges, the goal is to train and control the Nephesh. To convert the power of our blood and breath from something that causes suffering to redeeming the soul, to convert our wild animal nature into loyal wisdom to be a servant of the light and righteousness.

The Ruach resonates from the innermost part of us, the heart; intuition springs forth, subtle and quiet, or consciousness. By this aspect you sense whether to act or not, whether we allow the desire to take hold or follow the consciousness. It is really that simple and is a choice. 

We see the danger of those accustomed to evil eradicating the Ruach from themselves, by engaging in lying or stealing. They have severed the connection to the divine. The key is to have a strong sense of right and to partake in it even when no one is watching, to foster this divine connection. Thus, a stronger awareness rises each time.

“Who knoweth the Ruach of the sons of man that is going up on high, and the Ruach of the beast that is going down below to the earth?” (Ecclesiastes 3:21)

Aba Al-Sadiq in his divine sermons has warned us many times that the self or nafs is like a wild bull which needs to be tamed and brought under control. Hence, if we want to emulate the prophets and messengers, we need to draw out these traits within ourselves, otherwise we wallow in the mud like swine.

The Neshama, breath or wind of life, discriminates the real from the unreal. It is aware of divinity, the consciousness that sees God. The lamp that projects the light shines on our subconscious, and we get spiritual insight from such divinity. 

The Neshamah is aware of divinity, and everything below, it is aware of an observer inside of us. We are therefore accountable for our actions, and owners of our karma so everything we think has a bearing on our inner being. It is recorded as part of our record of life, we do not exist in a bubble, everything has an effect upon the world around us and our connection to divinity.

We therefore bring forth what is inside of ourselves as Jesus said about the evil scholars of his time:

“O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the kardias the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good storage of the kardias brings forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil storage bringeth forth evil things.” (Matthew 12)

The kardias can mean “mind, heart, stomach, centre or inner part.”

By listening to your conscience these parts get connected together, the Neshamah to the Ruach and Nepehesh, the light becomes clear and visible to your soul. So the responsibility lies upon each of us individually and as part of the collective. God gives us the power to develop our good deeds by this will, we have free will to illuminate or extinguish the light.

"The נשמת (neshamah) of Adam is a lamp of Jehovah, searching all the inward parts of the belly.” (Proverbs 20:27)

“Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. His light is like a niche in which there is a lamp, the lamp is in a crystal, the crystal is like a shining star, lit from ˹the oil of˺ a blessed olive tree, ˹located˺ neither to the east nor the west, whose oil would almost glow, even without being touched by fire. Light upon light! Allah guides whomever He wills to His light. And Allah sets forth parables for humanity. For Allah has ˹perfect˺ knowledge of all things.” (Surah Nur 24:35).

The real light of God is the Imam or awakened guide messenger of our generation, the true hero archetype, sent by the one true God, aka Jesus or Krishna, whose light or consciousness almost glows from itself. Our primary goal is to find that man or spirit, sync with that light stream and radiate from his light to become a firefly in the dusky night to illuminate the path for others to find and follow as well.

“When a man falls asleep, his nechama leaves him and, ascending on high, gives account of his deeds and acts and words; therefore is it written, 'Keep the doors of thy mouth even from her who sleepeth near thee' (Mich. VII. 5), alluding to the soul of man.” Rabbi Jehuda: “Every deed, act or word a man speaks or does, the higher self or 'neshama' has to give an account of it.” (Zohar I., 119b. col. 475; Qabbalah, 412.)

The heaviness of this thought is that we shall be held accountable for our deeds, so we should be wise to reach God with a clean slate of deeds and no bitterness or resentment toward others.

“There are three: one to clothe in that garment the Rua'h spirit, which is in the garden (of Eden) on earth: one which is more precious than all, in which the Neshamah is clothed in that Bundle of Life, between the angels of the Kings . . . : and one outside garment, which exists and does not exist, is seen and not seen. In that garment, the Nephesh is clothed, and she goes and flies in it, to and fro in the world.” (Zohar I., 119b. col. 475; Qabbalah, 412)

This reflective wisdom reveals the soul philosophy of the previous saints; the divine triangle forms within us. The ascent in man is achieved through the Ruach's ethical aspect aligning with the soul. Whilst the animal self Nephesh needs to be subdued, all three need to be in balance for the mission to be successful.

The one who has attained to this stage of spiritual development in the higher and divine life will find an everlasting portion in the world to come. When unified and blended in one, the perfected being proceeds on its eternal ascent towards the Holy One, for from the divine the spirit comes forth, and unto the divine will it return at length. This is then what the psalmist meant, 'My soul longeth after thee in the night,' that is, desires to ascend to its source and will suffer nothing to divert it from its course.

Again this reminds us of the story of the two wolves that Aba Al-Sadiq discussed, where there are wolves fighting inside the human being. One of them is full of rage, jealousy, inordinate desires and lusts, and bitterness and the other wolf is full of love, mercy, forgiveness, patience and hope, and the one that wins is the one you feed the most.

Likewise, the sage advice of Imam Jafar Al-Sadiq is to focus the rational self on the soldiers of light to overpower the soldiers of ignorance: by expressing acts of courage we dissolve cowardice, by being patient we overcome hastiness. By facing and overcoming painful adversities we learn to gain hope over despair. In each case we grow the spirited self to be in unison with the universal soul.

The soul is encased in the body as part of a test, and our challenge is to actualise and realise its true potential. Hence the need to find a divine avatar who has already reached this divine matrimony, aka Enoch or Thoth or Aba Al-Sadiq today, to guide us how best to overcome these challenges and practise this soul alchemy. Once we realise the true world of forms is immaterial, the Goal of the wise soul is to accumulate good deeds, or credits, not material things that fade away. The progress is achieved by training ourselves and our ethics, Ruach or conscience, to in turn tame the animal self. Hence, Ahmed Al-Hassan the Yamani taught in this divine seventh covenant the perfecting of morals and manners, so the soul becomes strong and radiant and glows forth.  

We are what we repeatedly do, so excellence is a habit, said Aristotle who himself was an unknown prophet of God. Prophet Mohammed himself was a great exemplar of this mantra and became known as the most honest and trustworthy in his community. He embraced the Jihad Nafs and won the great battle to such an extent that his own nafs was in complete submission to him. He did the opposite of his own nafs. If he felt hungry he would fast, tired, he would stay awake and when his reputation was savagely attacked, he would endure and even help even his own detractors and enemies overcome their own faults by shining his light forth. Mohammed was the ultimate Knight who slayed the dark lords of himself and led people to a new awareness of peace and light.  

In doing so he showed us a path by which we also have the chance to become a partner to God in creation, mitzvot, connecting to God, the spirit and soul within the mundane world. This is indeed the great test and achievement.

Reaching the epitome of this spiritual state, the dedicated and sincere adept is no longer in a test even if he remains in the mundane realm, as he is not anymore attached to or held in bondage by his desires and lusts, nor to the result of his actions. The metal of the soul has now undergone an alchemical shift with its impurities removed by a series of incarnations in which it has been tested, heated and moulded into a sublime and divine form to reach the great time of the Raja or Return, a time prophesied in eschatology in all divine religions when true justice would eradicate all tyranny in the world.

The Goal of the Wise in the End Times

From Aba Abdillah Al-Sadiq: “Verily the first to return to this world is Al-Hussein son of Ali and his companions. And Yazeed son of Muawiya. And indeed he will kill them eye for an eye.” Then Abu Abdillah recited: “Then we gave back to you a return victory over them. And we reinforced you with wealth and sons and made you more numerous in manpower” (Holy Quran 17:6). (Bihar Al-Anwar v53 p76)

This is the age we are living today when the majority have become blinded by their inordinate desires, apathetic to truth and justice, and lost connection with their spirited self and soul force. This is our time, as prophesied, when there would be wars, rumours of wars, famines and pestilence like never before. Though also the time when the best of the best; the 10,313, and 124,000 messengers and prophets, souls from all ages and points of the globe, gather around the Riser of Truth, Aba Al-Sadiq. He is the advocate and companion of the souls, the Thoth, Enoch, Mahdi, or Metatron of our age, the perfected soul who has already passed the great soul test, who has aligned himself with God's will alone, transcended the mundane, and obliterated the fear of death. 

He is the one mentioned by Imam Jafar Al-Sadiq who has the divine ability to reveal to the companions of the Riser of Truth which souls they belong to, a sure sign of his truthful claim and that this is the final soul covenant.

Imam Al-Sadiq said: “Verily, God chose between the souls in the shadows and then made them enter the bodies, and if our Qaim emerges he shall make the brother inherit from the brother whom God paired him with in the shadows, and he does not make him inherit from his physical brother, know him from that, and whoever knows him from that there shall not remain upon him a stronger proof.” (Al-Haft Al-Shareef, Al-Mufaddal ibn Omar Al-Jofi, as translated by Abdullah Hashem Aba Al-Sadiq, Door 66, p. 367)

Today, we see how these loyal and determined companion souls have already begun to gather around the Riser of Truth, Aba Al-Sadiq, as star constellations and clusters of believers. This is a mirror reflection from the atom or star world above, the original space for the testing of the souls; 12 close planets, and many other moons and stars, submitted to and orbiting the Imam of our time, Planet Mars, who is Aba Al-Sadiq. They are now shining forth their light in a cosmic symmetry to the stars above, the mundane world is merging with the atom world at the end of the Kali Yuga, age of darkness, and the establishment of a new golden age on earth, the Satya Yuga or Golden Age of Truth, is beginning.

The Goal of the Wise being outlined today by Aba Al-Sadiq is to reach the divine state of Adam and Eve, an Edenic state of purity, the primordial state within ourselves by giving victory to our souls or God consciousness. So it reminds us again that the emergence of the Mahdi or enlightened one is not a passive resistance but a revolutionary heartfelt stance to reject tyranny and work for a new divine complicit order as proposed in the Mahdi’s Manifesto today. The underlying key is to know that this alchemical shift works on a fractal level at first within each of us, and then amongst us as a community and then finally the wider world beyond, This is to establish an ideal state where the only distinction in the status of people is based on their devotion to God and submission to His cause; where our thoughts of former creed, colour, status, gender, dissolve into nothingness.

So it is upon everyone of us to subdue the inordinate desires to harvest our good characters for the practical betterment of humanity by offering our souls for the mission of God. This means utilising all our skills and to work to unite with our soul force, polish the diamond within and bring it forth for the betterment of humanity. Know that you are stardust and let the sparks reverberate and shine forth for the sake of God and his messenger today, Aba Al-Sadiq, the Father of Truth and Riser of Truth.