Is it spirit or is it soul?

QUESTION: Masters, I want to understand more about our spirit and soul. What is the difference between them? If our spirit evolves, in what way does this affect our soul? What does our spirit evolve into? If, as you say, our soul is unchanged, then does it mature like wine or cheese? (This would make more sense to me.)   ~Dave, UK

ANSWER: This is primarily a matter of semantics. The various nuances of the English language, and the common interpretations placed upon certain words by different groups, are very confusing. For all practical purposes the spirit and the soul are one and the same. Whenever one experiences something, the other shares in the benefits.

If you want to get down to specifics, soul is the term that has come to be associated with the essence of each being, the energy of Source that defines an individualized piece of Source. Spirit is a term that has become associated with the human consciousness of the soul. The soul is the unconscious state, or the repository of all the experience that has occurred outside the range of this incarnation’s consciousness.

You can think of the soul as the internal organs of the human and the spirit as the skin that is visible to all. Whatever happens to the skin affects the health of the inside and vice versa. The soul is generally not visible to other humans unless they are very enlightened. The spirit of a person may be seen and felt by a majority of the population.

So what happens to these definitions when the soul leaves the body? If the person goes Home the consciousness is one and the same—soul and spirit. If the person has difficulty getting Home, the spirit remains cut off from knowledge of the soul and wanders around trying to contact people and other spirits to determine what has happened to it. At Home, awareness unites them.