1
God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils (Gen. 2:7). God’s breath is our soul --- a spark of the Divine. The soul is the human being (you and I). Our soul is a formless life force.
2
Our soul lives in our body like a guest staying in a house. The body is the outer cover of the inner person (soul). But the body is neither you nor I. The body is only a vehicle. As our soul is connected with the mind, it gets controlled by the thoughts there in.
3
We have to control our mind with positive and creative ideas; and monitor our feelings -- opinions, beliefs with compassion towards self and others. If we allow our mind to control us -- our soul; then the movement of the body and our feelings of desires will be influenced with thoughts and nonsensical ideas thrown into our head by many people with whom we associate and there is every possibility of mind getting polluted. Then our soul, which was originally a picture of purity, peace, love and truth; gets stained with vices, such as lust, anger, greed and ego; just like the pure water in the clouds when it falls on the ground as rain, it mixes with mud and gathers impurities. Then, there is every possibility of us going astray like a car moving on the road without brakes. Therefore, we have to control our mind and not let the mind control us. Milton wrote: “The mind is its own place, and in itself, can create a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” So, it is left to us to make our life miserable or happy by controlling the thoughts in our mind. Though our body and mind and soul are Godly in spirit --- part of God; it is not God.
4
Our soul is a formless life force “ our energy. The book of life between birth and death contains pages of success and failure, triumph and tragedy, pleasure and pain, health and sickness and so on. Within these different shades of experiences, we have to find and hold the threads of hope, faith and courage, to survive the low chapters of our lives. It is not enough to have a fanciful outer life, with a large house, cute car and a fat bank balance. We must also need a rich inner life, and live with the knowledge that we are accountable to God. But for some people, in troubled times, their optimism dries up completely, leading to an existential crisis. “They feel that the world says go and the grave says come.”
5
God created humans to live on earth forever. When the soul assumes a physical body it is life and when it discards the physical body it is death which is nothing but passing away from this materialistic world to the spiritual world. But the first human couple rebelled against God and their first sin of disobedience brought death to all of us, their descendants. Human life-energy has two appearances: Physical and invisible. The indestructible energy within us is eternal; just as the air inside a pot continues to exist even when the pot is broken; the indestructible soul wants to go home, to the Divine Energy. But we must live a virtuous life to live with God in Heaven.
6
According to the Catholic belief, the soul of a person who dies can go to one of three places: First is Heaven, where a person who dies in a state of perfect grace, enters in at the narrow gate; which is the hard way, which leadeth unto life, and few there are that find it (Mt, 7: 13). Second is Hell, where those who die in a state of mortal sin are naturally condemned and go to hell. God created man without touching his free will. Those who stray from the straight and narrow gate and enter through the wide gate, broad road, go to hell (Mt, 7: 13; Lk. 13:24). The midway between Heaven and Hell is Purgatory, where people, free of mortal sin, but still in a state of lesser sin go there.
7
On November 2; on All Souls’ Day, the Church prays for the souls of the faithful who are still suffering in purgatory; who, it is understood, cannot immediately attain Heaven but can be helped by people on earth, to do their purification with prayer, alms, fasting, sacrifices and Requiem Masses so, that they may soon go to Heaven.
8
In the good old days, simple folks believed that the souls of the departed visit the earth on “All Souls’ Day”. So, they served food to the spirits outside their home --- they would spread a table with watermelon, tender coconuts and of course, a pint of coconut Feni at the crossroads (ximer of village, for the ‘Almas do outro mundo’(souls of the other world) who (they believed) comes to dine on this day. But nowadays, people do not believe in demons and devilish forces; these old beliefs, of ghosts, walking on the earth, making their presence felt in many ways in dark streets (that ghosts prefer); because villages are now electrified. Modernised people, possess a scientific temperament and do not believe in “Butt Bungalow” (Haunted House) for they are demolished and new ones are built in their places by contractors. But some encourage beliefs about ghosts to make money or wield power over people by claiming to drive away evil forces.
