Q: The Urantia Book speaks about your soul sleeping after physical death. What happens to your spirit? speaks about your soul sleeping after physical death. What happens to your spirit? Does The Urantia Book speak about past lives as Mr Cayce does?

A: Thank you for writing to us at Truthbook with your question. We are always happy to correspond with those who are interested in The Urantia Book.

Here’s a short quote regarding the soul:

(112:5.12) There is something real, something of human evolution, something additional to the Mystery Monitor, which survives death. This newly appearing entity is the soul, and it survives the death of both your physical body and your material mind. This entity is the conjoint child of the combined life and efforts of the human you in liaison with the divine you, the Adjuster. This child of human and divine parentage constitutes the surviving element of terrestrial origin; it is the morontia self, the immortal soul.

And whether the soul resurrects after three days, or whether it is a part of the experience of a sleeping survivor, this immortal part of us does go on into eternity. And it is the reuniting of the soul, personality and indwelling spirit that constitutes resurrection.

As to what happens to the indwelling spirit (the Thought Adjuster) following death, I might suggest that you have a look at Paper 112—Personality Survival

In section 4 of this paper, “Adjusters After Death, ” we read

(112:4.13) If the human individual survives without delay, the Adjuster, so I am instructed, registers at Divinington, proceeds to the Paradise presence of the Universal Father, returns immediately and is embraced by the Personalized Adjusters of the superuniverse and local universe of assignment, receives the recognition of the chief Personalized Monitor of Divinington, and then, at once, passes into the “realization of identity transition, ” being summoned therefrom on the third period and on the mansion world in the actual personality form made ready for the reception of the surviving soul of the earth mortal as that form has been projected by the guardian of destiny.

As to the second part of your question having to do with past lives and Edgar Cayce: The Urantia Book teaches that this life we are living here on earth is our first life, and the only life that we will experience on this planet. There is no need to return here, as our resurrected life includes deficiency ministry and a progressive experience of increasing spiritual perfection—conditions that are supposedly addressed by reincarnation. Despite the notion of past lives that is so prevalent in our modern society, it is not in the teachings of The Urantia Book, nor of Jesus, as in this passage:

(164:3.4) There was, throughout all these regions, a lingering belief in reincarnation. The older Jewish teachers, together with Plato, Philo, and many of the Essenes, tolerated the theory that men may reap in one incarnation what they have sown in a previous existence; thus in one life they were believed to be expiating the sins committed in preceding lives. The Master found it difficult to make men believe that their souls had not had previous existences.

I hope that this answer has been helpful to you today. I want to thank again for writing to us, and please feel free to write back again, with any questions that may come up. In the meantime, I hope that you are signed up for our free Quote of the Day service in which you’ll receive an inspirational quote from the teachings of The Urantia Book delivered to your inbox. Just click on this link and follow the instructions to subscribe.