Likewise the rewards of the other world are the eternal life which is
clearly mentioned in all the Holy Books, the divine perfections, the
eternal bounties, and everlasting felicity. The rewards of the other world
are the perfections and the peace obtained in the spiritual worlds after
leaving this world; whilst the rewards of this life are the real luminous
perfections which are realized in this world, and which are the cause of
eternal life, for they are the very progress of existence. It is like the
man who passes from the embryonic world to the state of maturity, and
becomes the manifestation of these words: “Blessed be God, the best of
creators.” The rewards of the other world are peace, the spiritual graces,
the various spiritual gifts in the Kingdom of God, the gaining of the
desires of the heart and the soul, and the meeting of God in the world of
eternity. In the same way the punishments of the other world, that is to
say, the torments of the other world, consist in being deprived of the
special divine blessings and the absolute bounties, and falling into the
lowest degrees of existence. He who is deprived of these divine favors,
although he continues after death, is considered as dead by the people of
truth.
The logical proof of the immortality of the spirit is this, that no sign
can come from a non-existing thing; that is to say, it is impossible that
from absolute non-existence signs should appear, for the signs are the
consequence of an existence, and the consequence depends upon the
existence of the principle. So, from a non-existing sun no light can
radiate, from a non-existing sea no waves appear, from a non-existing
cloud no rain falls; a non-existing tree yields no fruit; a non-existing
man neither manifests nor produces anything. Therefore as long as signs of
existence appear, they are a proof that the possessor of the sign is
existent.
Consider that today the Kingdom of Christ exists: from a non-existing king
how could such a great kingdom be manifested? How, from a non-existing
sea, can the waves mount so high? From a non-existing garden, how can such
fragrant breezes be wafted? Reflect that no effect, no trace, no influence
remains of any being after its members are dispersed and its elements are
decomposed, whether it be a mineral, a vegetable, or an animal. There is
only the human reality and the spirit of man which, after the
disintegration of the members, dispersing of the particles, and the
destruction of the composition, persists, and continues to act and to have
power.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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