The Soul as a Student – God’s Teaching on Growth and Learning

Introduction

This insight offers a new perspective on pain and joy. What we encounter along our way is not coincidence, but instruction. It is not punishment, but learning. It is not perdition, but an opportunity to find the way back home to God.

Life as a School

As in any school, the soul begins with the basics. The child comes into the world innocent, with an open mind and heart. In this stage the soul is in its first grades, where trust, joy, and purity are the curriculum. Jesus said: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Mark 10:14). This pure state shows us what learning is really about: to return to the openness of childhood, but with the wisdom of experience.

As we grow up, we face trials. These can be compared to schoolwork and exams. We are given assignments that test patience, love, forgiveness, and the ability to set aside the ego. Sometimes we succeed, other times we fail – but always with the possibility to try again. This is where God’s mercy is revealed: no student is expelled from the school, everyone gets multiple chances.

The Role of the Ego in Teaching

The ego is part of the curriculum. It is like a difficult teacher who constantly challenges us to react wrongly, but precisely through this gives us the opportunity to discover a better way. When the ego demands revenge, power, or pride, we are confronted with a contrast. By choosing differently, we learn what true love is.

Jesus said: “Love your enemies and bless those who curse you” (Matt 5:44). This is perhaps the hardest assignment in the soul’s school, but also the most formative. The ego will always resist, but when we manage to love where we once hated, we have passed an important level.

Reincarnation as Multiple School Years

Many times, the curriculum is not completed in one life. Then the soul has the opportunity to continue in a new school year, in a new body. Each incarnation provides the chance to keep learning, to build on what has been experienced, and to face new trials. God does not judge harshly but allows the student to continue until the day all learning has been received.

As Paul writes: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him” (Rom 8:28). Even lives that seem heavy and failed have their place in the great teaching plan. For even defeat becomes learning when seen in the light of eternity.

Prayer and Silence – Direct Teaching

Prayer and silence are the soul’s way of having private lessons with God. Not to have earthly problems removed as if the teacher does the homework for us, but to learn how we ourselves can solve the tasks. Jesus said: “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you” (Matt 7:7). This is not a promise of easy solutions, but of guidance. The one who prays, receives insight. The one who listens in silence, discovers the way forward.

Silence becomes like a classroom where only you and God are present. In that room there is no noise from the world, no disturbances from the ego, but pure contact with divine love. Here the soul can grow quickly, because the teacher can speak without interruption.

Forgiveness as a Core Subject

One of the main subjects in the soul’s school is forgiveness. Both to ask for forgiveness and to give forgiveness. Without this subject, we cannot pass. Jesus taught us to pray: “Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt 6:12). This shows that we should not only think of our own faults, but also those of others. To forgive is to pass the test that may cost the most, but brings the greatest growth.

When we refuse to forgive, we hold ourselves back in learning. But when we forgive, we become more like God, who always welcomes His children with open arms.

The Innocence of Children – A Reminder of the Source’s Purity

Children remind us of where we come from, and what the goal is. Even if the soul is old, the child carries in itself the purity from the Source. It is a reminder to us adults that all learning ultimately leads back to love. Therefore, harming a child is the greatest betrayal, for it is to harm pure innocence. Jesus was clear: “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matt 18:6).

The presence of children in the world is like a mirror: they show us that the kingdom of God is always closest to those who preserve the purity of the heart.

The Completion of Learning

The goal of all teaching is not to become a perfect student, but to become one with love. When the soul one day has finished its school years on earth, God stands there as the loving teacher who says: “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt 25:21). Then the soul has learned what the goal was from the very beginning: to love as God loves.

This is eternal life. Not a reward in the future, but a state of completion, where the soul rests in the love that has always been its source.

Conclusion

Seeing the soul as a student changes our view of life’s challenges. We see that everything we face is a lesson. That nothing is meaningless. That even defeat is curriculum. God is a teacher who never fails, and who always leads His students forward. The goal is clear: to grow into the fullness of love.

When we understand this, we can meet both joy and pain with gratitude. For we know that we are on our way home, that we are in training, and that we are deeply loved in the midst of all trials.