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There were two philosophy professors at a university in the fourth heaven with quite different perspectives: Professor Posit and Dr. Dudo. They both lived in the highest plane of the sixth heaven where souls that had achieved moral perfection lived, but they both enjoyed teaching at a popular university in the fourth heaven. They did this work as a labor of love because they were dedicated to helping the souls who had achieved that level of spiritual development to advance to the plane of perfection where the had lived for thousands of earth years. Despite their achievement of moral perfection, the two professors always found points of disagreement. Their ongoing divergence of perspectives was a running joke among the other faculty and students at the university. The two professors actually found it pretty amusing themselves.

All of the professors at this university took turns giving talks on current research topics. When Professor Posit’s turn came, he made a case for the immortality of the soul. The students and the faculty applauded his lecture because it provided a solid foundation for understanding the nature of Ultimate Reality and the meaning and purpose of life.

What had given others a sense of peace and comfort gave Dr. Dudo a vague sense of unease. He felt that something important had been missed by his colleague, and he became obsessed with finding it.

When the time came for him to deliver his lecture, Dr. Dudo made his case against the immortality of the soul. He systematically dismantled every single one of Professor Posit’s arguments in favor of immortality using logical proofs. During his concluding remarks Dr. Dudo somberly stated, “Everything that has a beginning has an end. Only that which is without beginning is immortal. Everything else is subject to death.”

The audience asked no questions after Dr. Dudo’s talk which was quite unusual. They just shuffled silently out of the room in a gloomy mood. Dr. Dudo had shared a great and important truth, but he felt empty inside. He wanted to take everything back but knew that he must promote the truth despite the unpleasantness of his findings.

The only person to approach Dr. Dudo after the lecture was Professor Posit. He had a broad smile and tears in his eyes. With both hands, he shook the confused man’s hand excessively. “Thank you so much my dear, dear friend for revealing the errors in my thinking!”

Dr. Dudo was taken aback, “I’m sorry. I don’t understand. We now know for certain that we are not immortal by nature.”

“You’re right! We’re not!” gushed Professor Posit. “Before I had only hoped that we were immortal by nature. You showed me that hope is not enough. I assumed that we must be immortal because the alternative was too terrifying to contemplate. You have shown me that my hope was a lie. I realize that I must seek The One Without Beginning. With all my heart, I want to know and experience eternal life as an undeniable fact of my existence more than anything!”

Struggling to follow his colleague’s line of thinking, Dudo replied, “But there is no guarantee that you will find what you seek.”

Professor Posit hugged his discombobulated colleague tightly with a look of pure joy on his face. “No, there isn’t. But that’s no reason not to try!” 

Secrets of the Story

Many people believe that the human soul is immortal by nature. I have heard people use the phrase “immortal soul” many times in my life. Until someone can provide certain proof or knowledge that any human soul has always existed, the belief in the immortal nature of the soul is only a hope. The fact of the existence of the soul after the death of the physical body only proves that spiritual life continues beyond life on earth. This is not proof of the eternal life of the soul. 

The two professors in the story have lived many earth years in the highest plane of the sixth heaven where perfect souls reside, and yet they do not know that they are immortal. While this may be hard for people on earth to believe, there are many souls in exactly this condition – hoping or assuming that they are immortal without certain knowledge of the fact of their eternal existence. If this is really the case, how can there be any hope of achieving true immortality – the impossibility of spiritual death? The hope is found in the fact that the good of the highest plane of the sixth heaven can allow souls to ignore the best that is available to those who will not or cannot be satisfied with the good. There is no reason for those of us on earth who do not yet know perfect happiness to be satisfied with the good of perfection when the best that is beyond perfection is readily available for the asking.

While this story may appear to suggest that the question of the immortality of the soul is just an academic exercise, it is not. It is a matter of great importance because until one has achieved certain knowledge of immortality, the possibility of nonexistence lurks in the recesses of awareness. This existential uncertainty is associated with personal and social problems that arise out of dysfunctional responses to the perception of mortality as a condition of being. Part of the reason we have the challenges we have is because this existential anxiety goads us into doing things that are out of harmony with Life since we unconsciously fear death.

As children of The Source of Life, we are supposed to feel completely safe, but because we have cut ourselves off from the essential nature of The Source, we suffer from fears and anxieties associated with the possibility of non-being.

Some existentialist and stoic philosophers have proposed courage in the face of existential uncertainty. While this is a noble response worthy of admiration, it does not address the root cause of the disease of mortality. This story points toward the hope a real cure for spiritual mortality and not just a symptom management strategy.

Like Professor Posit, the realization that I could cease to exist was one of the factors that motivated me to seek immortality from “The One Without Beginning” My seeking has been rewarded with the progressive realization that I am acquiring the essential nature of The Source of Life which will ultimately lead to the certain knowledge of my immortality. I haven’t reached that stage of awareness yet, but I have found that when I ask in prayer for the essential nature of The Source of Life (AKA: Divine Love) I receive it.

Persistence in seeking this spiritual essence is required. It’s not a once and done kind of thing. So even if you don’t have the sense that you have received it yet, persist in your prayers for it and you will eventually have all of the evidence you need to know that you are receiving something that is changing your ultimate destination from moral perfection to a place of wonder and beauty of which even perfect souls cannot conceive.

So while I do not yet have absolute knowledge of my immortality, the responses to my prayers for God’s Essence of Divine Love give me no reason to believe that the responses to my prayers will not continue to lead me to my goal of complete union with God and the certain knowledge of eternal and abundant life with my Heavenly Parent.