Much has been conjectured about what happens when we die. Some believe everything ends and we go back into the earth. There are many other beliefs besides this.

When I was going through my worst depression, which I no longer have, I wished that I could just cease altogether from existing. I couldn’t imagine continuing to live like this eternally. But now I’m feeling peace and joy and love and it increases a little day by day. Growth is infinite in Baha’i teachings.

In the next world, we will continue to grow nearer and nearer to God through out eternity. If we stopped growing and attained God’s station, we would be equal to God. Below I’m including a number of Baha’u’llah’s statements on the soul and what happens to it after death. If some don’t know, Baha’u’llah is the prophet founder of the Baha’i Faith, which started in ancient Persia in 1844. Here are a pair of statements from Baha’u’llah:

• “Know thou of a truth that the soul, after its separation from the body, will continue to progress until it attaineth the presence of God, in a state and condition which neither the revolution of ages and centuries, nor the changes and chances of this world, can alter. It will manifest the signs of God and His attributes… Blessed is the soul which, at the hour of its separation from the body, is sanctified from the vain imaginings of the peoples of the world. Such a soul liveth and moveth in accordance with the Will of its Creator, and entereth the all-highest Paradise. Know thou that the soul of man is exalted above, and is independent of all infirmities of body or mind. That a sick person showeth signs of weakness is due to the hindrances that interpose themselves between his soul and his body, for the soul itself remaineth unaffected by any bodily ailments.”

• “ The soul of man should be likened unto this sun, and all things on earth should be regarded as his body. So long as no external impediment interveneth between them, the body will, in its entirety, continue to reflect the light of the soul, and to be sustained by its power. When it leaveth the body, however, it will evince such ascendancy, and reveal such influence as no force on earth can equal. Every pure, every refined and sanctified soul will be endowed with tremendous power, and shall rejoice with exceeding gladness.”

Having bipolar depression, I was greatly relieved to learn that the soul is not affected by illnesses of mind or body. I was diagnosed with bipolar depression in early 1992, when I was married and living near Seattle. The long rainy season was very difficult for me to endure, but knowing this to be true, that the soul is not affected by any mental illness, this knowledge enabled me to endure this illness better.

And knowing that the soul is not in the body helps me to endure the trials and tribulations we all go through and all illnesses too: To go through them calmly and peacefully without complaining much. Knowing all this about the soul has made me much happier and joyful.

Most of the prophets of God have talked about the eternal nature of the soul and the joy and even ecstasy it will evince when it leaves this world, but many of those writings were never defined much or talked about much until the coming of Baha’u’llah. Now people are able to handle and understand much better these teachings.

Tim Wilson lives in Harpswell.