If we compare our body to a compass, and our soul to its needle, is it the compass needle that will be saved, the direction in which it’s pointing, or both?
The polarity of a good inner being is such that God will work on it much as a magnet draws a small piece of iron to it. The strength and straightness of the pull increases with the purity of the iron. As far as the soul is concerned, we may consider the removal of impurities as the reduction of vanity. So, humility is a vital part of salvation, removing impediments to the pull from above.
The soul’s direction does not have to be a straight line. A Hindu-like approach to God may see the soul moving in a long, long spiral toward Him, much as the flow of stars within a giant nebulae, or flotsam in an earthly whirlpool. The more direct symbol of the Christian’s cross indicates that He prefers a more direct approach, which is why the cross symbolizes only three ways to move; up, down, or sideways.
Some seem not to move at all. If those who are not actually hostile toward God, and do not reject Him outright, living in a continual state of “Maybe. . .”. Are they the souls Purgatory provides with the necessary impetus in the right direction? Or, are the motionless among the “luke-warm water that I spit out of my mouth” in today’s Reading?
The realignment resulting in the establishing the desired polarity and movement in the minimally believing soul is spiritually analogous to the pain of breaking and resetting a badly healed bone, a pain that ends in joy.
Souls who have utterly renounced God and His Kingdom in the moments before death will neither be admitted to Heaven nor to Purgatory. They repel themselves from Him as living magnets that stubbornly direct their polarity in opposition, even to the maker of the magnet. Though The Loving Programmer could easily overpower them, He gives them the free will to let them decide where they want to go. The more they pull away, the more loaded with impurities they become, and the less likely they are to let themselves be attracted to Him.
When we consider what we know of Heaven and Hell, we see the difference between love and hate, good and evil, joy and suffering, truth and lies, humility and arrogance, purity and corruption, positive and negative. It’s amazing that anyone would choose the latter of each pairing across the board, but many do! Oddly, all the people on the state-run news programs spend their lives stating such personal preferences.
We were programmed within the huge Creation Program in such a way that we get to choose, and we have to choose, how and where we’ll live, here and forever.
