LIFE MATTERS: The Journey of the Soul Between Eternity and Time

By Dencio S. Acop

We all began as a “big” soul. Because each one of us came from the Creator. We were all part of His Being, which is in all that is all. When we were born into the world, we entered from “Eternity” into “Time”. Eternity is the realm outside the physical reality inhabited by the non-material we usually call the spiritual world. Time denotes our material existence on the physical Earth due to our bodies. It captures our physical presence on this Earth from the time our bodies come alive until our souls depart from them. And this finite dimension goes for every creature on Earth, but more so for human beings who have the biggest souls on Earth. Knowing this, are we surprised that we are creatures who are made in the image and likeness of our Creator? 

The Earth is but the “Natural” dimension of the “Supernatural” Realm of the Universal Creation by the Creator. Thus, when the human body, in the form of a tiny fetus, is introduced into the World, it already manifests the initial stages of the human’s likeness to the image of his Creator. It is born of flesh and blood. But it is not yet born of the Spirit of the Redeemed until it is baptized. When a human soul receives formal baptism into the Mystical Body of Christ on Earth, then that soul begins to manifest its supernatural nature which came from Eternity through its Time on Earth. This is the gift that the Incarnate Son of God gives to every soul that enters into Time – the spirit of adoption – that although the soul journeys on a pilgrimage on Earth, far away from its true home in Eternity, it can still find its way back so long as it stays on the path of the Redeemed. 

Now, what happens to this soul while it lives its life on Earth? The answer is both simple and complex. It is simple because so long as the soul remains a big soul, from its inheritance, until bodily death, there is still enough of it that’s left that can enter back into Heaven. But if the soul decreases through its pilgrimage on Earth, there may not be enough left to go back Home. What is it that decreases the soul while on its earthly journey? The short answer is Sin. Every time a person commits sin, his soul diminishes a little at a time. It’s even worse for a creature, who, although created in the image and likeness of its Creator, doesn’t have a clue that it is much more who its Creator is. And much worse for one who mistakes its Creator to that of another Created though higher than it is; a Fallen Angel, for instance. 

And the answer is also complex because Earthly sins are portrayed to be good by Fallen Angels who inhabit “Limbo” – that space of nowhere deserved by Divine Creatures who rejected Eternity in favor of a “value” not found in universal order – self-worship. Neither in Supernatural Eternity nor Natural Earth, “Limbo” depicts the Preternatural bowel of the universe where immortal beings are held as there is no place for them in the universal order of the Creator. For instance, how can there be a fit for creatures which have chosen anything but that which aligns with the Creator? If the Creator is Love by nature, how can God-Haters and Self-Lovers be in the Creator’s world? 

But even the Creator hasn’t given up on His Fallen Angels. To woo them back, especially Lucifer, who once was His greatest general, the Creator created Earth – a protected planet in the Universe where non-angels can become angels, if they so choose, and fallen angels can get pardon, if they also should choose, made possible for the two realms by the Incarnate Son.            

The complexity also owes to humans, too distracted by their own petty affairs, to lose significance of the mightier spiritual war that has gone on for millennia, thinking that their ethnocentricity is all there is. C.S. Lewis captures it so well in “The Great Divorce” when he wrote anecdotes about souls of the dead on their way to either Heaven or Hell after they’ve left their earthly bodies. The more significant story about man’s life on Earth is his pilgrimage journey which sees his soul either increase or decrease depending upon his either supernatural or preternatural conduct. Habitual, sinful conduct, especially of mortal sins, is hardly in keeping with the will of God, gradually diminishing the soul. Having gotten their way for most of their earthly lives, hordes of souls just cannot see beyond what they’ve gotten themselves used to. 

Without even Christ to carry them by their refusal, hordes of souls on Earth just fade away until none of the soul is left, but just the Tempter’s. Thus, Hell may not be so much the fiery furnace or the icy freeze depicted by Michelangelo or Dante as it is the diminishing soul that is simply gone. Even NDE’s do not reveal much about the souls in Hell. But only those of the Victorious in Heaven and the ones on their way there being purged of their blemishes. Where are the dark human souls then? We came from Eternity, but we became mortals when we entered Time. As mortals, we can die, forever. Even with souls, we can die forever. Because dark souls are diminishing souls which will eventually be gone if not redeemed. Duped by immortal devils. 

Thus, after you’ve read this, contemplate deeply where you are. The state of our souls ultimately defines each of us. And determines where we make it to the next life. Or death.