The difference between the soul and the spirit has a lot to do with “whose” soul and “what” spirit we are actually talking about. Most people refer to the soul and the spirit as being connected to specific people and each of us is often said to have a “soul” or a “spirit” which will live on after our physical body dies. This is usually enough to satisfy those of us with a passing interest in the subject and little more is ever required on the topic after that.  Of course, there are others who become more curious about spiritual topics during their life and they wish to get a better understanding of what these terms mean.
   
If we are talking about a particular person’s “soul” or their “spirit”, we can say that there is a difference between these two things.  Still, if we found ourselves at the gates of Heaven and the question was posed to us “Choose your soul or your spirit”, which would we choose?   In a case similar to this one, we can begin to make sense out of the difference between a person’s soul and their spirit.  The essential difference which gives meaning to these terms can also help us to understand ourselves more readily.
    
Typically, the idea of a soul is something which is more closely associated with a person’s physical body. This is the main essence of what sets these two terms apart. Although the spirit is also associated with the body, the association is not a “necessary” association as it is with the soul. The “soul” of the Buddha, for example, can be said to be associated with the physical man Siddhartha Gautama Buddha who was born in Nepal several centuries before Jesus and who was raised by his father and his mother’s sister. He lived and breathed and ate a lot of food and he was a great teacher for many decades. 
    
If the “soul” of the Buddha were not associated with that physical body that we know from history, then we would not be able to say it was the “Buddha’s soul” at all.  We would need to connect it to that physical body in order to be appropriately talking about his “soul”.  If we weren’t speaking of his body, then we might say it was someone else’s soul or we might say that it was the Buddha’s “spirit”.
    
Now we can see where the difference between “soul” and “spirit” starts to become apparent.  There are many things about the “Buddha” which really have nothing to do with the physical body of the man who lived in Nepal.  What is meant when we talk about these other attributes is that they are part of the Buddha’s “spirit” which lives on today even after all the qualities of his body and discussions about his physical history have ended.  If the discussion isn’t associated with a physical body, then we can’t really say that it is a “soul” discussion. Instead, we can say it is someone’s “spirit” we are discussing because we begin to discuss the term in ways that are no longer associated with the physical body. 
   
In typical discussions about the soul, people often talk about individual lives and the emotions which that person struggled with or is struggling with in their own spiritual quest for happiness.  The soul is said to live on after physical death but it may continue to struggle even after the physical body is gone. The spirit, however, does not usually find itself in the discussion of “emotional struggle” so much as it does in the discussion of “intentions” and “activations” and “influencing” of people and things.  The spirit can be discussed in terms which go beyond the body even more so than the soul. Although the spirit of a person is with them when they are physically alive and the soul is also there, it is the spirit which activates both of these and which goes beyond the soul in many instances.  Everything which has a soul also has a spirit, but everything that has a spirit does not always have a soul. This is the essential difference between these two terms.
  
In summary, we can now say what our answer would be at Heaven’s gate when we were asked to choose between our soul and our spirit?  First we might ask a little question of our own; “Who’s asking me this?” Then if we found that the person who was asking us was a trusted guide such as Jesus or Buddha or St. Peter, we could confidently choose the “spirit” because it is the spirit which gives life to the soul and which gives life to all things even after their physical form has changed. It is in the “spirit” of Heaven that this question would have been posed and giving up our “soul” in order to get into Heaven would surely be the best choice if such a question were ever asked. Goodbye to the soul and hello to the spirit as we move into a new phase of our spiritual growth! Amen.

How The Difference In Soul And God Can Motivate Us To Grow Spiritually

If there could be something most controversial as well most evident, it is GOD. And all of us are essentially soul or pure consciousness. Let us give a thought to the difference between these two forms of consciousness.

The Holy Trinity Of God, Son and Holy Ghost – Soul And God:

All major religions, mystics and spiritual movements maintain the truth of the Holy Trinity in one way or another. The difference is only in outward explanation.

When we analyze and feel deeply about ourselves, life and nature, we come to know that there are three basic ‘entities’ or principles – nature, soul, and God.

Nature has existence, souls have existence plus consciousness or awareness and God’s nature is ever new bliss along with the existence and consciousness. All the three qualities are present in God.

The existence of natural entities can be proved in many ways ranging from gross shapes to subatomic levels. When we see diverse forms of nature – the mountains, ground, rivers and sea – we know that they are present. Existence is self-evident in nature.

When we see the world of creatures – the plant and animal kingdom – we see that the principle of consciousness is gradually manifesting itself. Plants are very near to inanimate objects like stone but they are truly throbbing with awareness. The principle of individual consciousness or soul governs and sets the various processes of their life cycle.

The principle of consciousness is highly advanced in higher animals. They are able to perceive world through sense organs and they react to events and situations based on their reflexes and instincts.

When we come to ourselves – human beings – we see that many animals possess stronger power to perceive sensations of smell, vision, sounds and like. We are separated from them by developed mental faculties – thoughts, emotions and memory and imagination.

And the strongest feature of human beings is neither of these advanced mental faculties – it is the power of being aware to what is going on in our mind and heart. Yes, we are aware of our existence on earth like no other animal or plant could be. The principle of consciousness or awareness is highly manifest in men and women.

Now we come to Spirit or Universal Consciousness or Cosmic Consciousness or God or Divine Mother or Heavenly Father or Unified Field – whatever you like to name. He won’t feel bad at all! People have called Him ‘Great Vacuum’.

There are many qualities in God according to various scriptures and spiritual masters. Nothing is going to woo the soul – power, money, knowledge, sovereignty, and control over the world. None of these can attract the soul to God; rather some of them might create fear like we see in so many mythological stories.

The unique feature of God is His nature of Bliss, the ever new joy, the never stale joy. Yes God is all Joy and Bliss! That is why all souls are seeking.

Ask this question from yourself and people of all walks and ages. Why do people do anything? What is the ultimate reason for doing each and everything that we do? What is the motive behind all activities?

Yes, be a bit philosophical. The ultimate motive behind all our activities is seeking pleasure, getting joy from it. Check it.

We want to become pilot or model or scientist. Why? We want to make your dream come true. Why? We want be a successful parent and businessperson. Why? We want to serve and contribute for society. Why?

Simply it gives us joy. We are chasing for joy in our life.

If we decipher all the qualities of a good and successful person – money, business, work satisfaction, family, name and fame and all other things, we will find that there are many people in world who have all of them and are not satisfied even after possessing them.

Even with all the possessions and good things, we are empty, we are seeking something else, whatever gives us pleasure becomes stale and truly it could be anything. Everything and every person that gives us joy become stale!

The perpetual bliss, or ever new bliss is not a quality of soul. Yes, we have existence and are aware of it, we can experience pleasure and pain associated with our experiences. That is our nature. Bliss is the difference between soul and God.

The nature of God is Bliss. And souls who are aware of Him, who are making efforts to become aware of our union with Him will get it from their realized association with God.

The beginning of all religions and spiritual movement is directly traced to the efforts to evolve human consciousness and to realize its association with God.

We will like to share some of the sayings of Great Ones about soul and God, who have realized and helped others realize God. It is not felt necessary to give the references here.

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all things will be added unto Thee”

“So God created man in His Own Image, in the image of God created He Him; male and female He created them.”

“But as many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”

“When one realized one’s association with God, Everything becomes Bliss whether we are meditating or enjoying sense pleasures or sleeping or working. Bliss becomes our nature.”