13. What is Salvation? - Part I

Chapter Six

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of [God] who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.

Romans 8:18–21

When I was a young man, I spent two years meeting with a talented psychologist, during which my life changed for the better. When I decided to study psychology academically, my main question was, What made my therapy so transformative? I wanted to know the mechanism that made such a difference.

Several years ago, when I was just beginning to study the inner workings of the soul, a mother asked me to pray for her daughter. The young girl had recently begun experiencing hallucinations and involuntary motor movements. She avoided affection, had become riddled with anxiety, and—as if that were not enough—was also suffering from the symptoms of the flu. I agreed to do what I could, though I was not very optimistic.

Beholding the girl before my heart, I could see that her soul was completely covered with shadows. Moved with pity, I prayed that God would breathe Light through me. As I did so, I saw each of the shadows become surrounded by Light and suddenly disappear. Her soul was then laid bare before me, and I could see the damage the darkness had done. I prayed again that God would breathe Love through me and wrap her wounded soul with the brilliant whiteness of God. I held her in Love for a long time, hoping this would be enough.

Her mother wrote me a few days later: “A couple of hours after seeing you, she was like her old self again, which I hadn’t seen [for four months]. Even the cold symptoms she had went away.” When I communicated with the girl’s mother again several months later, it was clear that the severe psychological symptoms were gone, and the girl was well once again.

I was dumbfounded. It seemed as though my prayers, which occurred on a purely spiritual level, had produced a profound physical and psychological effect on the girl. As I reflected on this remarkable outcome, my main question was: What made my prayers so transformative? Once again, I wanted to know the mechanism that made such a difference.

Physical and Spiritual

[Jesus] spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle and anointed the man’s eyes with the clay, saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Silo′am” (which means Sent). So [the blind man] went and washed and came back seeing.¹

Prior to the period of the Renaissance, men and women knew that the physical world was inextricably interwoven with the spiritual world. One’s works of faith were believed to have a significant impact on the physical world, as many stories of heroes and saints affirm. Approximately five hundred years ago, though, this foundational knowledge began to erode. People started searching for insights through the five physical senses alone and set aside the spiritual world as fundamentally separate and uninvolved.

If we accept the conclusion that the physical world is disconnected from the spiritual, we will also believe that physical reality can be accurately observed and comprehended without any acknowledgement of the spiritual at all. Through such a lens, we will view our vast universe as something like a very complex mechanical clock, operating independently of the spiritual forces that originally wound the gears. And if we follow these ideas to their logical conclusion, belief in a distant and separate spiritual world will eventually lead us to atheism, where we deny the very existence of the spiritual.

Over the past several centuries, many thoughtful men and women have concluded that if the physical world is able to function independently from the spiritual world, and if knowledge of the physical is not dependent upon knowledge of the spiritual, then the spiritual is nothing more than a psychological fabrication. They claim that the old ideas of spiritual forces or beings were simply superstitions of a primitive and unenlightened past.

I have seen firsthand, however, that the claim of a disconnected or absent spiritual world is false. The formation of the physical universe was preceded by the creation of Heaven, which God placed in a very real and influential spiritual presence: the Deep. Within the sphere of Heaven, God breathed the “breath of life,” forming Earth and its many inhabitants.² By observing the great work of Creation, I have seen with the eyes of my soul that physical substance is not mere matter: it is a unique revelation of God’s Word. Without the Word, that which we experience as physical would not exist.

The miracles of Jesus clearly reveal the fact that the physical and spiritual are fundamentally intertwined. Throughout his ministry, the physical world was immediately responsive to his spiritual presence. How was he able to turn water into wine,³ multiply loaves of bread,⁴ and cause a fig tree to instantly wither?⁵ How could he calm a raging storm⁶ and walk upon the surface of a lake?⁷ And how could he cause the blind to see,⁸ the lame to walk,⁹ and the dead to rise again?¹⁰ None of these actions corresponds to the so-called “laws” that govern our physical world. Yet, according to the Gospel writers, these are all historic events. If Jesus actually accomplished such miracles, then the only explanation for how they could have occurred is that Jesus had the ability to alter physical matter. As the incarnation of the Word, the physical world responded to him.

According to Jesus, we all have the same capability.

For truly, I say to you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “move hence to yonder place,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.¹¹

Many Christians interpret that passage as figurative, which seems to be a reasonable conclusion. However, if we consider the miracles of Jesus to be historic events, then is it unbelievable that a man can move a physical mountain or uproot a tree and throw into the sea?¹² I believe that Jesus said the above in order to offer his followers insight into the malleable nature of the physical world and its profound responsiveness to those who possess God within them.

Body and Soul

My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to him who finds them, and healing to all his flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance; for from it flow the springs of life.¹³

In our world, the human soul contains that only doorway that connects the spiritual with the physical. Our soul’s first point of contact with the physical world is within our flesh and blood. Using my own body as a laboratory,¹⁴ I discovered that the soul, with its three distinct aspects, is physically located within the heart and lungs.

According to my investigations, the luminous mist has its seat in the lungs. I saw that the moment I consciously chose a particular thought, something that appeared to be an electrical or energetic impulse fired in my lungs. The impulse instantly traveled throughout the rest of my body, presumably moving along my nervous system.

The nervous system weaves together all parts of the body with intricate threads. Once nerve impulses are generated and sent along these threads, they arrive almost instantly at various destinations throughout the body in order to stimulate the intended effect. For instance, the sight of an approaching friend can simultaneously generate a feeling of warmth, memories of past interactions, and a smile on the face. All this occurs within a second or less because of the rapid movement of impulses throughout the nervous system. By utilizing the nervous system, the soul is able to impact every physical and psychological action without delay.

Reflecting on how the freedom created through sustained focus and conscious effort is birthed in our physical lungs, I found new significance in my own breath. Breathing is an instinctual act that occurs constantly without our awareness. And yet, through focus and effort, it is possible to regulate the rate, rhythm, and depth of our breathing. That which is automatic can be intentionally guided if one chooses to do so. This is exactly what the first aspect of the soul offers us: if we are willing, we are free to guide everything we do.

The other two aspects of the soul take root in the left side of the heart. In my investigations, the moment I laid aside selfish preoccupation and reached out toward another with love, I saw the same impulses appear in my heart’s left ventricle. These impulses would instantly course through what I assumed to be my nervous system before arriving at different locations in my body. Thus, I concluded that the soul’s decision to repent and love originates in the left ventricle and is then communicated by the nervous system to the rest of the body, where it is translated into physical and psychological action.

While examining these soul-body interactions more closely, I discovered that the impulses generated by my soul appeared to circle my heart before moving elsewhere in the body. As the activation occurred in and around my heart, I suddenly saw the seeds of God’s Word appear within the right side of my heart. They quickly migrated through my lungs and the left side of my heart before moving rapidly throughout the rest of my body. While watching this wondrous phenomenon, I understood that the fruit of the Tree of Life was located within the right ventricle of the heart. Riding along the river of blood, the Word exited the right ventricle, flowed through the three aspects of my soul (in the lungs and left ventricle), and then made its way out to every part of my flesh.

The basic physiology of circulation is as follows. Blood moves in a cyclical pattern within our bodies.¹⁵ After entering the right atrium of the heart, the blood halts momentarily before spiraling into the right ventricle, forming a vortex as it goes into the right ventricle. Next, the blood travels from the heart into the lungs (more specifically, into the pulmonary capillaries). Leaving the lungs, the blood enters the left atrium of the heart, where, once again, it pauses momentarily before being drawn into the left ventricle. The movement of the blood into the left ventricle results in another spiraling vortex. Finally, the blood exits the heart and flows to all parts of the body before returning to the right atrium to repeat the cycle.

From a physiological perspective, one role of blood is to carry nourishment throughout the body. Upon leaving the left side of heart, the blood accomplishes this purpose by moving through miles and miles of arteries, capillaries, and veins before returning again to the right side of heart. Many scientists believe that blood makes a complete circuit in less than a minute. During this rapid dash, the blood delivers its valuables to every cell in the human body.

From a spiritual perspective, the role of blood is to weave God into our bodies and souls. God’s seeds enter the blood from the resplendent pearl in the right ventricle. After leaving the right ventricle, the blood moves through the lungs and left ventricle, where some of these seeds are released during the spiraling movement of the blood. Life is released into the lungs, which is the seat of the luminous mist; Light and Love are released into the left ventricle, which is the seat of the golden and glistening white lights. After the blood exits the heart, the remaining seeds of God’s Word flow with it into the rest of the body. Just as our blood brings physical nourishment to our cells, so too does our blood carry the seeds from the sacred fruit to every single cell.

The conventional narrative views the cell as a type of factory in which the DNA, housed within the nucleus, acts as a boss who holds the blueprint (that is, the genetic code) for how the cell is to function. The DNA communicates with the RNA, which then takes the message into the cytoplasm (the intercellular gel-like water surrounding the nucleus). There, the message is read by the “ribosomes,” which function as the production floor for the generation of proteins. Proteins are the workforce, executing their orders from the DNA to fulfill the purpose of that cell.

Although that perspective is widely accepted as true, several biologists now assert that the narrative of a mechanical cell ruled by the DNA is incorrect. A new model proposes that the work of the cell begins with the cytoplasm, which receives and holds “information” coming to the cell through both internal sources (such as the blood) and external sources (such as interactions with the outside world). The structure and quality of the cell’s water change as new information is received. Thus the cytoplasm becomes an imprinted memory of the information provided to it and thereby instructs the other parts of the cell to act in accordance.

In the new model of cell function, the DNA responds to the cytoplasm and not the other way around. The DNA shapes itself according to the information contained in the surrounding water. In a process called “epigenetics,” the DNA unfolds, expressing the genetic sequence that matches the structure and quality of the cytoplasm. This new explanation presents a radically different perspective on cell biology: incoming information shapes the cytoplasm, which then shapes the DNA, which then shapes the cell as a whole, which then shapes the tissues, organs, and entire physical body. The most critical factor, therefore, is not fixed DNA over which we have no control, but rather the information given to the cell, over which we have much control.

This “new biology” of the cell aligns with what I have observed spiritually. During my investigations, I saw the seeds of the Word enter the cells in my body, after which the cells underwent a transformation: they became illuminated with a radiance that matched the spiritual appearance of the seed itself. The radiance began on the outer edge and moved inward (presumably toward the nucleus); and then the center of my cell (presumably the DNA) released a burst of spiritual light. Afterward, my entire cell emitted a spiritual glow that it did not have prior to its interaction with the Word. My cell shone like God.

To summarize, I have concluded that the dance between faith and grace is both spiritual and physical. According to my observations, the soul is physically located in the lungs and left ventricle of the heart. When any of the three soul aspects are exercised, a series of impulses is generated and sent throughout the body, resulting in the work of faith being expressed as a thought, word, or deed. The impulses first go in and around the physical heart. In response to the physical activation of faith, grace occurs: the seeds of the Word suddenly appear within the right ventricle of the heart and attach themselves to the blood contained therein. Now enriched with the Word, the blood moves through the lungs and left ventricle, strengthening the soul for future works of faith, and then travels throughout the body. Each seed of the Word becomes deposited inside a particular cell, thus initiating a transformation of the cell from the outside in. In the end, not only does the act of faith empower the soul to be created anew in God, but the physical body is transformed as well through the incarnation of the Word.

Here, then, is the mechanism of a miracle: through faith, that which is spiritual becomes woven into that which is physical, and the Word of God abounds within our flesh.

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1. John 9:6–7

2. Genesis 2:7

3. John 2:9

4. John 6:11–14

5. Matthew 21:18–22

6. Luke 8:24–25

7. John 6:19–20

8. John 9:6–7

9. John 5:8–9

10. John 11:43–44

11. Matthew 17:20–21

12. Luke 17:6

13. Proverbs 4:20–23

14. I want to be abundantly clear that I used spiritual perception to analyze how the activities of my soul impacted my body. One of the consequences of using spiritual perception as my primary tool for investigation is that my observations lack the tangible and verifiable data one expects to find in the material sciences. For instance, I did not use blood samples, electron microscopes, or any type of laboratory equipment to confirm my observations. I do not believe this limitation invalidates my results. Rather, I offer my preliminary findings so more extensive testing can be conducted in the future.

15. I am indebted to the work of Thomas Cowan, MD, for my understanding of the physical functioning of the human heart, blood, and the cell. I encourage readers to review his written works, Human Heart, Cosmic Heart (2016) and Cancer and the New Biology of Water (2019) for a more thorough explanation of these topics.