The soul is the vehicle of the spirit. It passes from the earthly life
along with physical death, its uses ended. Developed by earthly
experiences, it grows and has the power to detach itself and represent
the personality of the individual to which it belongs, but only while
on earth; it is not employed thus after the spirit leaves the body. It
is the "similacrum" of the body, and is often mistaken for the immortal
part, the enfranchised spirit. But the spirit is generally unawakened
and can only grow with the pabulum of spiritual influence, in harmony
with spiritual law. It is this that complicates this life and retards
the at-one-ment of the greatest of all trinities; body, soul and
spirit, the natural three in one. The soul element is the bequest of
the parents--especially of the mother--to their progeny. If the
conditions are at all in harmony with divine law, the mother pours out
all her soul's influence upon the forming body of her child in the
divinest love ever manifested on earth. Its birth and manifestation
are of the immortal spirit, and create in her offspring some
consciousness of, some desire for immortality. Of all earthly
phenomena this of motherhood is the most marvelous, and naturally the
least understood, and the most slightingly regarded. Its universality
reduces it to the commonplace.
* * * * * *
The conventionalities are not intended to keep people apart who really
"belong" together and who ought to meet, but to protect those who wish
to live good lives from the invasions of envious curiosity.