Soul

===Baháʼí Faith===
The [[Baháʼí Faith]] affirms that "the soul is a sign of God, a heavenly gem whose reality the most learned of men hath failed to grasp, and whose mystery no mind, however acute, can ever hope to unravel".<ref>{{cite book |author=Bahá'u'lláh |author-link=Bahá'u'lláh |year=1976 |title=Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh |publisher=Baháʼí Publishing Trust |location=Wilmette, Illinois |isbn=978-0-87743-187-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/gleaningsfromwri0000baha_w8j0/page/158 158–63] |url=https://archive.org/details/gleaningsfromwri0000baha_w8j0/page/158 |access-date=2016-02-23 }}</ref> [[Bahá'u'lláh]] stated that the soul not only continues to live after the physical death of the human body but is, in fact, immortal.<ref>{{cite book |author=Bahá'u'lláh |author-link=Bahá'u'lláh |year=1976 |title=Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh |publisher=Baháʼí Publishing Trust |location=Wilmette, Illinois |isbn=978-0-87743-187-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/gleaningsfromwri0000baha_w8j0/page/155 155–58] |url=https://archive.org/details/gleaningsfromwri0000baha_w8j0/page/155 |access-date=2016-02-23 }}</ref> Heaven can be seen partly as the soul's state of nearness to God; and [[hell]] as a state of remoteness from God. Each state follows as a natural consequence of individual efforts, or the lack thereof, to develop spiritually.<ref name="rob1">{{cite book |author= Taherzadeh, Adib |author-link=Adib Taherzadeh |year= 1976 |title= The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 1 |publisher= George Ronald |location= Oxford |isbn= 978-0-85398-270-8 |url= http://www.peyman.info/cl/Baha%27i/Others/ROB/V1/Contents.html |access-date= 2016-02-23 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160303191017/http://www.peyman.info/cl/Baha'i/Others/ROB/V1/Contents.html |archive-date= 3 March 2016}}</ref> Bahá'u'lláh taught that individuals have no existence prior to their life here on earth and the soul's evolution is always towards God and away from the material world.<ref name="rob1"/>