Soul

The soul is the spiritual principle that gives life to the body and, united with it, constitutes a human being.

The soul is spiritual and therefore cannot be perceived directly by the physical senses; rather, it is recognized through the activities it performs—for example, engaging in rational reflection.

The soul is immortal precisely because it is spiritual. Material entities can be crushed, decay, or be divided into parts. None of this, however, can affect a spiritual reality.

The human soul is spiritual because it carries out spiritual operations. For example, it is able to understand this website, grasping abstract relationships between ideas (without confusing ideas with sensory images).

Infants, those with severe psychiatric disorders, people who are asleep, or patients in a coma all possess a soul, for they are living human beings. In their condition, however, the spiritual capacities of the soul cannot be overtly manifested.

Throughout life, the human body gradually deteriorates until a point is reached when the soul can no longer sustain its vital functions. Death then occurs: the body becomes a corpse, and the soul departs to heaven or hell (or temporarily to purgatory).

Faith helps us grasp certain realities more readily, but the spirituality and immortality of the soul are not known solely through faith; human reason alone suffices to discern them. If man performs spiritual operations, it is because he possesses an immaterial principle that we call the soul; and an immaterial principle cannot perish, as noted above. By contrast, the realities of heaven, hell, and purgatory are known through divine revelation and Christian doctrine.

Both the body and the soul develop by acquiring new capacities. The body advances in physical abilities, while the soul develops its spiritual faculties and virtues. In both domains, progress is achieved through the repeated practice of good actions. In this way, isolated efforts solidify into habitual virtues, giving the person ease and proficiency in continuing along that noble path.

The soul advances far more swiftly when God intervenes with His supernatural gifts. This occurs according to His divine will, but we can accelerate the process by asking for it perseveringly in prayer and striving to please Him with generous self-giving. In addition, the soul receives an abundance of grace through the sacraments.

The soul declines in several ways:

• On the natural level, the soul is impoverished when its higher faculties are left uncultivated. Both intelligence and will require exercise and discipline to mature. In this regard, sloth and negligence cause profound harm.
• On the supernatural level, the greatest devastation to the soul is inflicted by sin. Union with God and the reception of divine grace and gifts are what most elevate and vivify the soul. Sin, therefore, is the most harmful of all evils, because every sin impairs that vital union with God.
• Both naturally and supernaturally, the soul degrades through the repetition of wrong actions, which transform it into a vicious soul increasingly inclined toward evil.