Numerous different religious texts and books by gnostics exist today, each employing different terms to describe the various spiritual concepts therein. However, sometimes the terminology used and the concepts they describe are so abstract that they become hard to picture and understand. And unfortunately, more often than not, the understanding that the author tries to portray becomes masked by the jargon he uses to try and describe it. Thus making the topic of spirituality some kind of a "science" that necessitates study before one can understand it. At the outset, this really need not be the case. This subject, in my humble opinion, has been somewhat over-complicated and over-mystified. And so, the purpose behind this article is to bring a clear understanding behind the workings of the soul (and other spiritual concepts) to as large an audience as possible by using as ordinary a language as possible. My intention is not to introduce new terminology to describe the same thing, but it is to avoid the usage of any unnecessary "mystical" jargon so that as many people as possible can benefit from understanding their-selves (souls). As it says in the Tao Te Tsing:

"Knowing others is wisdom;
  Knowing the self is enlightment." Tao Te Tsing, Chapter 33

It is worth noting that i am not writing an exegesis of anyone else's texts, but their texts should corroborate my explanations herein. And hopefully, after reading this, you should find other texts of a spiritual nature easier to comprehend. With that said, let me start my article on the progression of the soul, with the intention of making things as clear as possible.
 

Categorising the Physical & the Spiritual

The Physical:  Firstly, let us understand our physicality as being the part of us that responds to a form of physical stimulus. And what i mean by this is that the physical comprises of the 5 senses that respond to taste, touch, sight, smell and sound. These senses are our interface with the physical world. If we lost all 5 of these senses we would be pretty much "dead" to the world around us. An example of this would be when we are asleep; all of our senses are temporarily "switched off" during this resting phase, and we disconnect from the physical world. As Prophet Muhammad said, "sleep is like a minor death".

The Spiritual:  Given that we now know that the physical body is that which interfaces with the world around us, where does the spiritual side of us come in? Well, if the physical is that which must be experienced by one of the 5 physical senses, then the spiritual side of us is that which cannot be experienced by any of the 5 physical senses. Let us bring the soul into the picture. The soul is that which is "unseen"; it cannot be seen by the physical eye nor can it be experienced by any of the 5 physical senses. The soul is the part of us that decides what the physical body does. The physical body is really just a vessel for the usage of the soul. It is the soul's way of "entering" into the physical realm/world. It is similar in concept to man needing a space suit to enter space. Without a suitable container man could not enter into space. So too, the soul cannot enter the physical realm without a physical container (as the norm). The physical body gives the soul a way of manifesting its wishes and desires into the physical realm. And it is for this reason that the physical world we live in today is also known as the "manifest world/realm" (dunya in Arabic). As what the soul desires and intends to do subsequently happens/manifests in the physical world.
 

Refining the understanding of the relationship between the body and the soul

Now that we have categorised the physical and the spiritual, we need to refine our understanding a little. In some respects it would be more accurate to understand the relationship between the physical body and the soul that inhabits it in the following manner. The physical realm is of a lower vibrational frequency, a lower energy level if you wish. And this realm houses the physical or the 'seen'. The spiritual realm is of a higher vibrational frequency, a higher energy level. And this houses the ethereal or the "unseen". To understand this notion, perhaps it would help to think about a block of ice that we can see, in comparison to water vapour that we cannot. As energy is "added" to the ice-block, the molecules vibrate more and it becomes water. This continues as more energy is added and the water becomes vapour. As the vibrational frequency increases and the energy reaches a higher level, it becomes "unseen".
     The physical realm, being the lowest "layer", is basically where we see the results of the "layers" above. It is where the desires/thoughts/intentions of the soul filters down into the physical realm. For example, there is a cake on the table. My soul desires my body to eat the cake, so a thought enters my mind as "hmmm... eat cake {slurp}". An intention then forms in my mind for me to pick it up and eat it. And then, after all that has happened, an action manifests in the physical world; i pick it up and put it in my mouth. So prior to me actually eating the cake, many things have already transpired in the realms above. So, in summary, the desire of my soul to eat the cake results in a manifestion of me eating the cake in the physical realm.
    Hopefully this somewhat highlights the workings between the soul and the physical body. And more importantly hopefully it has highlighted that the physical realm is a manifestation or a transpiration of the spiritual realm above.

Now that we have a better understanding of the physical and the soul, let us try and understand how each one "progresses" (or changes).
 

Change in the Physical Body verses Change in the Soul

Firstly, let us be sure that maturing of the physical body does NOT denote a maturing of the soul. Let me elaborate... when we first enter this physical world, via birth, both physical body and soul are "immature". Degenerating diseases aside, with the passing of "time", the physical undergoes change; it "matures", it goes through a growth stage, puberty, perhaps a growth spurt, hormonal changes etc. until it peaks before it begins its downhill phase towards expiration (death). This is pretty obvious as it can be seen. And i mean that in the litteral sense. The progression (and degression) of the physical body is well understood, researched and documented as it is something that can be seen with our own eyes and can be studied under a microscope.

However, what about the soul? Does the passing of "time" do the same thing to the soul as it does to the physical? Does the soul automatically progress through stages with "ageing" until it reaches enlightenment? Well, the short answer to this is "No".
     "Time" plays no part in the progression of the soul. Time is just a measurement that uses planetary movement as a frame of reference for our daily activities. And it has no direct affect on our souls. It is only our physical bodies that experience the light of the sun or the darkness of night. So even though the state of the physical body changes with the passing of time the soul can easily remain unchanged.

So, if the soul does not progress on its own then the progression or change must be a concious one. But how do we conciously make this change? And how do we recognise how far we have progressed? Let's start by investigating the easier of the two; how to recognise if a soul has progressed.
 

Recognising an Immature Soul

If we just remind ourselves that the physical actions are a result or manifestation of our spiritual side. Then we only need to look at the way children behave to see a manifestation of an undisciplined soul. At an early physical age, the soul has not yet learnt any self-restraint; restraint of the soul's emotions or desires so the soul is very animalistic. And because there is no self-restraint the whims of the soul are all just "poured out" (manifest) into the physical realm.
    So by looking at a child's behaviour/actions we can see just how animalistic the soul is at the outset. And by comparing our own behaviour against that of a child's it becomes quite obvious which souls have progressed and which ones are still in the animalistic state that they were in when they first entered this physical world. Now that we understand a little more about the soul we can discuss how we can conciously change and purify the soul.
 

Progression of the Soul

A soul's progression can be broken down into stages to make it easier to understand how the soul develops and what the benefits are. If one is on the Path of Perfection, one can also use this as a yard stick to measure one's own progression.

Analysing the Stages of the Soul's Progression

Stage 1 - Self-Control, Self-Restraint

The first stage in a soul's developement deals with it learning self-control/self-restraint.

At the beginning stages i.e. birth up till the point that the soul learns some self-control, the soul is very much like an animal. It only concerns itself with that which it needs/wants, be it food, sleep, warmth etc. It is completely selfish in that it does not care about the tiredness or welfare of its parents. So long as it is happy, then it is ok. We can excuse and expect this sort of behaviour in new born babies i.e. souls new to the physical realm. However, this sort of selfish behaviour will remain until the parents instill some form of discipline by admonishing the soul within the child. Thus admonition forces the new soul to learn some form of self-control.

Admonishing the Soul

The soul needs to learn self-control either through being admonished by someone else OR being admonished by its self.

"Therefore give admonition in case the admonition profits (the hearer).
The admonition will be received by those who fear (God):
But it will be avoided by those most unfortunate ones," Qur'an 87:9-11

It is easier to make changes to a child and admonish it at an earlier stage, prior to its behaviour taking root. At this stage the soul is easier to shape by an external party (usually parents). However, after puberty (as a general rule of thumb) the responsibility of the soul's progression leaves the parents and rests with the individual. As one gets older and one's behaviour takes root, it becomes harder for external parties to change/uproot a soul's behaviour. So, at this point, it is up to the individual soul to change its self by finding its own faults. As the years go by and no change occurs, behaviours become ingrained in the soul. The soul at this stage generally does not want to change. And even if it wants to change, the time and effort required to change is usually more than most care to put in. Hence the saying, "he's become stubborn in his old age".
     When the responsibility of change lies with the individual, humility plays an important role in its progression. Without humility, the egotistical soul (ego for short) will refuse to accept the advice or admonishment of others. Without humility the ego will refuse to find fault in its self and will therefore never change. The soul will remain very animalistic. Or in its spiritual reality, it will remain in the form of an animal.

It is also perhaps worth mentioning here that having the humility to accept admonition from others or from one's self is only half of the story. Uprooting the bad behaviour becomes harder the longer it has been allowed to root itself. This then becomes a struggle, a battle against what has become an ingrained nature. And this is why it is known as the "jihaad al-akhbar", "the great struggle" ('jihaad' being Arabic for 'struggle'), as it takes "strength of character" or spiritual "strength" to enforce and maintain the change until it becomes the new, purified nature. It is, by far, easier to fight an external battle than it is to fight the internal one. If you think about it, how hard is it to pick up a gun and shoot someone? but to admit one's faults AND change one's self... now that is the real struggle. As it says in the Tao Te Tsing (Chp 33), "Mastering the self needs strength."

So it would seem that for the soul to change or progress, one needs humility to accept or find fault in one's self AND one also needs spiritual strength to effect this change.
     Seeing as it is spiritual strength that allows the soul to control its self in order to change its ways, we should look briefly at how we can increase this spiritual strength.
 

Fasting, the Spiritual Gym
Spiritual strength, required to acquire self-control/restraint, can be gained by fasting.

"O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you, that you may (learn) self-restraint," Qur'an 2:183

By the soul denying the physical what it wants, one can start to "separate" the spiritual from the physical i.e. the desires (and subsequent intentions and actions) of the soul are no longer dictated by the desires of the physical. The phrase, "if you (the soul) do not control your desires (triggered by the physical), then they (desires) will control you (the soul)" springs to mind. As we are told above, and as we can see in numerous different religions, the act of fasting has been carried out for thousands of years as it has been prescibed by God to give us the tool to control our selves. And not let the physical dictate the actions that manifest from the soul. So once we have increased our spiritual strength and started to gain control over the self, what are the benefits?

The Benefits of Self-Control
Well, gaining control of the animalistic soul allows one to act as opposed to re-act. It gives one a chance to think before acting. So that it does not have to react to every external stimulus that triggers the desire or emotion of the soul. And by being given this chance to think before acting, it gives one the opportunity (that was absent before) to act in the right way i.e. God's Way.
    For example, a man receives some verbal abuse in the pub. His natural response, or should i say his uncontrolled animalistic response, is to throw some abuse back or maybe even escalate it into a physical confrontation. If the soul never learns self-control and this emotion is not reigned in, he will always react in the same way. This animalistic response then becomes his "2nd nature" or, more accurately, remains as his true nature. This response will happen without a "2nd thought". If he learns self-control, then he can handle the situation in a different manner. He does not have to react in an animalistic way. So long as he remains in control of his self, he now has the option to not follow his animal instincts and "rise" [above them].
    So a major benefit of self-control is that one now has the opportunity to change, to progress; to change one's spiritual nature to become more human-like and less animal-like.

It is worthy of note that another benefit of self-control is that it is a prerequisite to decoupling the soul from the physical body. Thus allowing the freeing of the soul from the shackles of the physical realm. This will be discussed in more detail later on in this article.

Also, it is only after this stage of self-control has been attained that the soul can have the opportunity to progress to the next stage; self-sacrifice.

Stage 2 - Self-Sacrifice - the Key to Self-Anhilation (fana') and Complete Submission

Now that stage 1 is understood and that we have decoupled the physical from the spiritual, the next stage of self-sacrifice becomes somewhat more spiritual. It is more geared towards the decisions of the soul as an independent entity. In this i mean independent of the dictates of the physical body. Stage 2 deals with a concept known by some mystics as self-anhilation or fana' in Arabic.

De-mystifying Mysticism
Now, just because the understanding is a little more spiritual in nature, it is by no means beyond the grasp of the average person on the street. It is in no way a "science" that must be studied before it can be embarked upon as some would purport. It is not something where one has to be special in nature, nor is it isolated to the learned or the scholar. Not at all. In fact many do it without realising it. Moreover, everyone should embark upon this journey if they wish to completely submit to God and achieve "complete" submission ("Islam" in Arabic).
     Let me start by summarising what self-anhilation is. Self-anhilation would be more accurately described as ego-anhilation or complete removal of the ego, as we are obviously not seeking to commit suicide. And how does this happen? Well, in order to align one's will to the Will of God, one has to sacrifice one's egotistical desires in order to do what is right. This sacrifice is known as self-sacrifice.
  Self-anhilation is the final result and self-sacrifice is the mechanism by which to achieve this result.
     One has to fight the egotistical "'i' want to do this" or "'i' want to do that", and instead choose to do what is right in the "eyes" of God. This struggle/battle with the ego must happen before one can fully submit to God. Because otherwise, one will have submitted to the whims of the egotistical soul (ego). And therefore, one cannot have fully aligned one's will to that of God's. As Jesus said, "man cannot be a slave to 2 masters". So you are either a slave to your own ego OR you are a slave to God.

Let us take an example to help demonstrate this concept of self-sacrifice. God has ordained that we should feed the poor, by giving 2.5% of our harvest for their sustenance. This is known as paying zakat (this is different to zakat al-fitra, which is payed annually after the month of Ramadan). This is part of the divine plan to sustain all creation, where the rich look after the poor. However, the desire of the egotistical soul will be to ignore this and hoard the money for its self. It would rather the poor starve than give up what God has ordained for the poor; what is in reality their right.
    If one cannot sacrifice the desire of the egotistical soul for this money, then how can one submit to the Will of God? How can one purify one's self and begin to break down the ego? In order to sacrifice one's ego, in this example, one would have to go against the desires of the ego and pay the poor rate. The concious decision to be self-sacrificing destroys some of the ego thus purifying the soul. And ofcourse, at the same time, one is aligning one's will to the Will of God i.e. submitting to God. And it is these concious decisions that we make that change the state of our souls. Because as was explained earlier, time has no affect on the state of our souls and changes must be concious.

Hopefully, it has become clear that both submitting to God and self-anhilation necessitates self-sacrifice. And infact, true (complete) submission and fana' are one and the same! However, it should be said that, although the concept is straight forward enough, the actual internal struggle to perform self-sacrifice is not so easy. The internal struggle is not called the great struggle (jihaad al-akhbar) for no reason. And it takes a lot more than just fulfilling the obligatory minimum...

This reminds me of an Islamic hadith (tradition) that goes along the lines of:

The Imam (a divine guide, not your average mosque Imam) stood watching those circumambulating the kaaba ("house of God") with one of his companions. The Imam did not look happy so the companion asked him what was wrong. The Imam replied, "you would not be happy if you could see what i can see". The companion asked, "but what do you see?". The Imam passed 2 fingers over the companion's eyes and asked God to open his companion's spiritual eyes. Moments later the companion saw what the Imam was seeing. Previously where he had seen many people circumambulating the kaaba, now were just animals circling the kaaba. He could only see 1 or 2 humans walking around the kaaba out of the hundreds that were present.

The companion was allowed to briefly see the unseen; to see the real state of the people's souls and see beyond the physical realm. What the companion saw was that the large majority of muslims still remained in their animal states, and had not progressed much (if at all) since first entering the physical realm.
     In fact, what the companion saw is what we will see when our physical body dies in the physical realm, and our own spiritual eyes are opened. We will see our true selves. We will see if we have managed to shape ourselves into humans or whether we are still animals.

"Oh, Son of Adam! Death will reveal your character" Al-Hadith Al-Qudsi, Chpt 20:1

Hopefully muslims will realise, from this hadith, that by praying 5 times a day and fulfilling the obligatory minimum is not enough to become a true human being (Ihsaan al-Kamil in Arabic) or to achieve complete submission to God. Man needs to realise that the rituals taught by God through his numerous Prophets and Messengers are tools to help us to achieve complete submission/fana' (self-anhilition) and not just rituals for the sake of them being done.
    God has nothing to lose by us not doing them. Therefore we should be asking ourselves, "in which case, what have we to gain by performing them?" Hopefully, this is becoming clearer now.
 

Understanding Self-Sacrifice and Detachment
Above we saw the importance of self-sacrifice in order to completely submit to God and achieve fana' (removal of the ego). However, as always, i'd like to dig a little deeper so that the reader can understand the mechanics behind self-sacrifice. Because, understanding (in this day and age especially) is of paramount importance. And i cannot stress this enough. i could write a whole separate article about the importance of understanding with proofs from here and there, but suffice it to say, understanding allows for a purity of intention, it is the bridge across the valley of blind following and mimicking. i could go on... but i will refrain.

Anyway, please bear with me because, in order for me to explain the mechanics of self-sacrifice, i first need to explain some surrounding details. Let us start with why we are here... our goal if you will.

So, why are we here?
We know that the physical is a vessel for the soul and it manifests the souls wishes. But why does the soul need to be here in the physical realm? Well, this realm is the realm of change. Hopefully this is obvious by the nature of what must happen to the physical body in terms physical changes with the passing of time. Bascially, in the physical realm, the physical body must undergo change. This simply is the nature of the physical realm.
     So, getting back to "why is the soul present in the physical realm?" Well, the following answer is definitely as valid as the rest, if not more insightful... We already know that the soul that resides within the physical body is not subject to the passing of "time". We also know that the soul does not change on its own. Why? Well, this is because the spiritual realm of the soul, is a realm of relative permanance (eternity) and non-change {details are out of scope here}. So, if the physical realm did not exist, a realm where change IS possible, then how could the soul change? The point is, the soul (the resider of the physical body i.e. YOU OR ME) has now been given a chance to CHANGE; a chance to choose right over wrong, a chance to purify its self, to shape its self into a true human being and submit to God. Perhaps it's worth taking note of some of the following teachings:

"Truly he succeeds that purifies it [the soul],
   And he fails that corrupts it!"  Qur'an, 91:9-10

"But those will prosper who purify themselves,"  Qur'an, 87:14

"The yogis, abandoning attachment, act with body, mind, intellegence and even with the senses, only for the purpose of purification,"  Baghvad Gita, Chapter 5:11

We came into this physical realm to purify our-selves, not to just perform rituals. The rituals, such as fasting are tools to help us to achieve our goal here; to learn self-control to be able to self-sacrifice in order to submit to God. We may have arrived into the dunya as animalistic souls, but we should aim to leave as Perfect Human Beings (Ihsaan al-Kamil). We need to gain control of our animal selves and sacrifice our egos and completely submit to God. Anyone reading this who feels that he/she is ready to strive to becoming perfect human being should contact us for Path of Perfection lessons.

Back to the mechanics of self-sacrifice
Every material goal that the soul engages in (beyond necessity) shackles the soul to the material realm. It is like the soul attaches a rope around itself and then throws the anchor into the material realm, thus stopping it from returning to the higher spiritual realm and ultimately returning to God. Each of these worldly desires we have is an attachment that must be severed before we can return to God.
     Each of these goals or attachments we have act as a distraction from doing God's Will i.e. doing what is right. Like i mentioned earlier about paying the poor rate. Man's attachment to his worldly money is what will stop him from soaring into the heavens. Why? because he has not purified him-self, he has not made that self-sacrifice (of his desire) in order to do God's Will, so he remains attached to this world. But man's worldly-attachments are NUMEROUS. Man needs to learn to control these desires so that they do not lead him away from his true goal.

"The one who knows the world and discards it has purified himself."  Al-Hadith Al-Qudsi, Chpt 24:9

"A person who has given up all desires for sense gratification, who lives free from desires, who has given up all sense of proprietorship and is devoid of false ego - he alone can attain real peace."  Baghavad Gita, Chpt 2:71

Man has many self-sacrifices (CHANGES) to make in order free him-self of the shackles of this world and to submit to God completely and achieve fana'.

We are like birds with the capability of soaring high into the heavens. Yet we choose to walk on the ground, anchored/lured by the bread on the floor or the worm in the grass.
     For those that are not successful with their detachments/purification of the self, they will find separation from the physical realm at the time of physical death quite "painful". If we imagine, how much "pain" we feel when we lose someone or something that we are very attached to now... Well, imagine, at the time of death, having to sever all our remaining attachments all at once! i feel sorry for the poor soul that remains animal-like at death as it will have made less self-sacrifices and thus have more attachments than most.
     But we have been warned in the Qur'an that we would be tested with our wealth, our families, our possessions.

"Say: If it be that your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your mates, or your kindred; the wealth that ye have gained; the commerce in which ye fear a decline: or the dwellings in which ye delight - are dearer to you than Allah, or His Messenger, or the striving in His cause;- then wait until Allah brings about His decision: and Allah guides not the rebellious." Qur'an 9:24

We are warned in the bible against hoarding material wealth:

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." New Testament, Mark 10:25

Yet, still man accumulates wealth through greed and attaches himself to people and objects within the material realm. We have been also forewarned in the Gita:

"... Detachment; freedom from entanglement with children, wife, home and the rest;
 ... all these I declare to be knowledge, and besides this whatever there may be is ignorance." Baghvad Gita, Chpt 13:9-12

So, in summary, this realm allows us to change, to actually choose to make sacrifices. The mechanism/act of self-sacrifice allows us to detach from the material goods and thus the material realm. The soul that manages to completely sacrifice all it's attachments in order to fulfil God's Will will have been successful in its purification. It will have achieved fana' or complete submission to God (the true Islam) and will indeed have been a blessed soul to have made it so far.

At that point one will have achieved what the Sufi sheik, Bawa Muhayideen, termed "to die before death" i.e. death of the ego before physical death. This is in the same vain as what Prophet Lao Tzu mentions in the Tao Tse Tsing (Chapter 33), "to die but not to perish is to be eternally present."
     They are just telling us that to achieve purification and successfully change in the realm of change; we would return to the realm of the Spirit, the realm of "eternity".
     We read the same thing about the righteous (those that follow God's laws) in the Old Testament being written into the "book of the living".

"Let them (those of iniquity) be blotted out of the book of the living,
     And not be written with the righteous." Old Testament, Psalms 69:28

"In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality." Old Testament, Proverbs 12:28

"The truly righteous man attains life, but he who pursues evil goes to his death." Old Testament, Proverbs 11:19

Stage 3 - Ambassadors of God

"A person in the divine conciousness, although engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating, moving about, sleeping and breathing, always knows within himself that he actually does nothing at all. Because while speaking, evacuating, receiving, or opening or closing his eyees, he always knows that only the material senses are engaged with their objects and that he is aloof from them."Baghvad Gita, Chpt 5:8-9

Now this stage is the stage where one has detached from the wordly things completely and one's will is inline with that of the Divine Will of God. Therefore effectively, the physical is just a vessel for God's Will to be done.

Exacting Judgement
God will utilise the purified individuals to exact judgement upon the evil doers:

"It is not you who slew them; it was Allah: when you threw (a handful of dust i.e. stones), it was not your act, but Allah's: in order that He might test the Believers by a gracious trial from Himself: for Allah is He Who heareth and knoweth (all things)." Qur'an 8:17

This in fact has not only happened in the past, but it will also happen in the future when the Mahdi (12th Divine Guide) and Jesus return to realign mankind with God's true teachings. All 313 individuals (the Mahdi, Jesus and their 311 companions) should have reached this purified state and they will act as one for God, exacting God's punishment upon mankind:

"Al-Qa'im (12th Divine guide) will rise with a new task, new principles and new judgments. He will be severe with the `Arabs. He will do nothing but killing. He will not forgive anyone and he will not care for any blame because he acts for the sake of Allah."

Thbat al-Hudat, vol. 3 p.540, Bihar al-Anwar, vol.. 52. p.354, Mu'jam Ahadith al-Imam al-Mahdi, vol. 3 p. 253 

These purified are the ones that are spoken of here:

"The companions of Al-Qa'im are reserved for him. Even if all the peoples will have gone, Allah will bring him his companions. It is they, about whom Allah has said, "Therefore if these people disbelieve in it We have already entrusted with it a people who are not disbelievers in it, [6:89]" and has said "Allah will bring a people, Hu shall love them and they shall love Hu, lowly before the believers, mighty against the unbelievers, they shall strive hard in Allah's way and shall not fear the censure of any censurer. [5:54]"
Tafsir al-Burhan, vol.1 p.478, al-Mahajja p.64, Bihar al-Anwar, vol.52 p.370, Yanabi'ul Mawadda p.422, Mu'jam Ahadith al-Imam al-Mahdi, vol.5 p.93, 100.

The prophesies spoken of above are, however, outside of the scope of this article. For those interested in reading about what will happen when the Mahdi returns with Jesus, please contact me for the "Revolution of the Mahdi" article. The point is, the purified are used also to exact judgement amongst mankind.

Beacons of Light
God will also use the purified to guide the seekers of Truth. God's Light of guidance shall shine through the purified into the manifest world, cutting through the ignorance of the masses; cutting through tradition, culture and falsehoods.

"Nay, We hurl the Truth against falsehood, and it knocks out its brain, and behold, falsehood doth perish! Ah! woe be to you for the (false) things ye ascribe (to Us)." Qur'an 21:18

It is worth remembering that the Truth shines through that individual. It is God's Truth and not the individuals. Therefore it is worth noting that, because of this, true knowledge or truth cannot be forcibly acquired. It is bestowed:

"True knowledge is not gained nor acquired through forceful learning and studying, true knowledge is the light that Allah (Ta'ala) places in the heart of those who He wants to lead to the right path." Imam Jafar as-Sadiq

Guardians over His creation
The purified "individual" would also become an ambassador of God on earth, his agent. Overseeing harmony amongst It's creation.

"Fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." Old Testament, Genesis 1:28

The souls that reach this stage, these are the souls that God wants to look after the earth. These are the souls that deserve to be given "dominion of all of His creatures" as the Old Testament says. Not the animalistic souls that have yet to learn self-restraint; those that use the earth and God's creation to fulfill their own egotistical desires; those that care nothing for the oppressed or the poor. These souls are worthy of nothing and are wasting their opportunity to change whilst in the realm of change.

Concluding

i am hoping the understanding that i have tried to give above will help people to see the bigger picture with regards to how the soul operates, why we are here, how to achieve our true goal and to realise that there is more to a ritual than what one sees on the surface. And hopefully, the understanding will spur the reader to analyse and contemplate upon the progression of his/her own soul. For the readers of this article who feel ready to try and become true humans, i strongly recomment Path of Perfection lessons.

Note: Details have been purposefully left out as to what sacrifices should be made in order to completely submit to God. As this would be based upon what God says is right and wrong, and this is the wrong place for this discussion. However, those who have read chapters 1 - 5 should have a good idea where i am steering this. But, still, i leave this search to the readers themselves. As Jesus said, "seek and you shall find".
    The following chapters (7 to 10) will detail some other "rituals" that have been taught to mankind in order to help him achieve complete submission to God.