Many of us moved from lesser to greater belief with three steps. First, we decided: “I may have a soul.”
Then, some make a second step: “I have a soul.” (Some decide, a la Pascal, “I will behave as if I have a soul.”)
That may lead a favored few to: “I must do everything I can to save my soul from eternal agony.” (Again, in the manner of Pascal’s Wager: “The smart bet is to behave as if I have a soul, the favorable judgment of which provides a reword worth the effort.”)
Happy is the soul that follows these, or any, steps to the Roman Catholic Church. She, it is clear to those who have taken the steps, can guarantee Salvation if Her rules are followed.
The Other Side may never admit the reality of final judgment, but may grudgingly admit it’s possible that we have a “spirit”. They think vaguely about its final destiny, but, believe in some vague way, “that it will become at one with the cosmos”, or some such silliness.
St. Paul told the Twelve Tribes, scattered by that time between India and Ireland, that there is both a spirit and a soul. Hebrews, 4:12 “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, . . . ”
We can picture the difference between the soul and the spirit by imagining a driver in a car. The car symbolizes the body, and the driver symbolizes the spirit that moves the body, coordinating feet, hands, and eyes.
The soul is that portion of the driver’s mind that worries about getting a ticket.
