Manly P. Hall — Lecture 009 (11/16/1958)

Is the Human Soul Created, Generated or Evolved?

Detailed Summary

🌟 1. The Central Question: What is the soul?

Hall begins by insisting that the question cannot be answered until we define “soul.” He distinguishes three levels of human nature:

Level	Description	Function
Spirit	The divine, unconditioned essence	Source of life and identity
Soul	The individualized, evolving vehicle of experience	Mediator between spirit and body
Body	The physical instrument	Field of action and learning

The lecture’s entire argument rests on this triadic structure.

🌱 2. Three Theories of the Soul

Hall outlines the three classical positions:

A. Created

The soul is made at a moment in time by a divine act.

B. Generated

The soul is produced by biological or psychological processes—an emergent property of matter or heredity.

C. Evolved

The soul is a gradually unfolding center of consciousness, developing through long cycles of experience.

Hall argues that each theory contains a partial truth but none is complete alone.

🔥 3. Why “Created” is insufficient

Hall critiques the idea of a soul created at birth:

• It implies a sudden beginning to something that exhibits continuity, memory, and moral causation.
• It makes the universe appear arbitrary, with souls created unequal in temperament, capacity, and opportunity.
• It contradicts the observable gradualism of nature.

Creation ex nihilo, he says, belongs to theology, not metaphysics.

🌿 4. Why “Generated” is inadequate

The idea that the soul is produced by the body fails because:

• Matter cannot generate self-awareness.
• Biological inheritance explains temperament, not identity.
• The body is a temporary instrument; consciousness persists beyond its limitations.

Hall emphasizes that the instrument cannot produce the musician.

🌄 5. Why “Evolved” is closest to truth

Hall favors the evolutionary model:

• Consciousness unfolds through experience, not manufacture.
• The soul is a continuity, not a momentary spark.
• Growth is the universal law: minerals → plants → animals → humans → sages.

But he clarifies that the soul does not “evolve from nothing.” It is the gradual revelation of a pre‑existent spiritual root.

🧩 6. The Soul as a Mediating Principle

Hall describes the soul as:

• A lens through which spirit focuses into matter
• A record of all experiences
• A vehicle that grows more refined with each incarnation
• A bridge between eternal essence and temporal personality

The soul is not the spirit itself, nor the body, but the intermediate field where experience is stored and transformed.

🔁 7. Reincarnation as the mechanism of soul evolution

Hall argues that reincarnation is the only system that:

• Explains inequalities of birth
• Accounts for innate talents and tendencies
• Provides a moral structure to destiny
• Allows the soul to grow through repeated opportunities

He frames reincarnation not as punishment but as education.

🧠 8. The Soul’s Growth Through Experience

The soul evolves through:

• Action (karma)
• Emotion (refinement of desire)
• Thought (clarification of understanding)
• Intuition (awakening of spiritual memory)

Each life adds layers of insight, skill, and moral maturity.

Hall compares the soul to a tree: The seed is eternal spirit; the trunk is the soul; the leaves and branches are personalities across incarnations.

🕊️ 9. The Soul’s Origin: Eternal, not temporal

Hall resolves the lecture’s title question:

• The soul is not created in time.
• It is not generated by matter.
• It is evolved as a manifestation of an eternal spiritual principle.

The soul is the unfolding of something that always existed in potential.

He uses the metaphor of a flower: The blossom is not “created” at the moment it opens; it is the natural expression of a long, hidden process.

🌌 10. The Destiny of the Soul

The soul’s purpose is:

• To become transparent to spirit
• To refine itself until it no longer distorts truth
• To achieve mastery over desire, fear, and ignorance
• To return consciously to its spiritual source

When the soul is fully evolved, it becomes a perfect instrument of the spirit—what traditions call enlightenment, liberation, or adeptship.

🧭 11. Ethical Implications

Hall ends with practical guidance:

• Every experience is part of the soul’s curriculum.
• Growth requires self-discipline, reflection, and service.
• The soul evolves fastest when the personality cooperates with universal law.
• The purpose of life is not pleasure or success but understanding.

He emphasizes that the soul’s evolution is inevitable—but conscious participation accelerates it.

In Essence

Hall’s answer is elegant:

The soul is eternal in essence, evolutionary in expression, and educational in purpose.

It is not created or generated; it is revealed through the long process of experience.