What Is the Goal of Life on Earth?

The Soul as an Embryo in the “Womb” of the Universe

Human souls can be compared to embryos developing within the vast “womb” of the Universe. Earth becomes a place where souls learn and mature during a long period of spiritual formation.

During their journey through existence, they pass through experiences of light and darkness, gradually expanding their awareness. The soul evolves through many stages and incarnations before reaching the level of human consciousness.

Eventually each soul faces the decisive “exam” of its development — what many religious traditions call the Day of Judgment, when the destiny of the soul is determined.

Stages of the Soul’s Development

1. The Plant Level of Consciousness

At the earliest stage, the soul experiences the most basic form of awareness — the simple impulse to exist and survive.

This stage represents the initial awakening of consciousness.

2. The Animal Level of Consciousness — The Emergence of Empathy

In the animal phase, the soul begins to experience emotions for the first time: care, attachment, and empathy.

These feelings initially arise toward offspring and gradually expand into broader forms of emotional awareness.

Examples of early animal expressions of the soul include:

• hyenas
• jackals
• crocodiles
• mantises
• martens
• ferrets

More mature expressions of this level appear in animals capable of stronger social bonds and protective instincts, such as:

• lions
• wolves
• bears
• dolphins

These creatures can demonstrate forms of loyalty, cooperation, and even compassion.

Before entering the form of a predator, the soul first lives as a herbivorous animal and experiences what it means to be hunted, killed, and eaten. Later, when it is born as a predator, it already carries the knowledge of what it means to be prey. This earlier experience becomes the beginning of compassion: the soul gradually learns to recognize that the creature it hunts also feels fear, pain, and vulnerability. As the soul develops through more advanced forms of life, this understanding grows into mercy toward other living beings.

3. The Pre-Human Level of Consciousness — The Emergence of Free Will

At this stage, souls still act largely through instinct and social imitation. They follow established rules automatically, much like animals living within a structured group.

In the early stages, the soul is guided as if by the hand through joy, pain, instinct, and the consequences of its actions. Later, this guiding hand is gradually withdrawn, and the soul must begin to make independent decisions and form its own judgments. Its actions then begin to reflect not only instinct, but the emerging character of the soul itself.

The Moment of Choice

The Divine matrix of existence creates circumstances in which every soul must reveal its orientation — toward darkness or toward light.

During such periods, known as the end times, darkness becomes more visible. Immoral souls become more aggressive and irrational. Their actions become so openly destructive that they can awaken those who have remained asleep by provoking a moral response in them. Awakened souls gain greater clarity about what is happening. Their conscience sharpens, their understanding deepens, and they begin to recognize the need to resist injustice, unite with others, and take action.

The side of light is chosen through actions, not through passive hopes, memorized prayers, or expectations that problems will resolve themselves. In this sense, darkness itself becomes a catalyst for awakening.

The period of examination will not last forever. The Day of Judgment will ultimately reveal the level each soul has reached after passing through centuries of development and experience.

Spiritual Growth or Spiritual Decline Depends on Personal Choice

But there are also people who never develop independent thought, personal dignity, or a sense of honor. They remain behind a metaphorical wall of misunderstanding — much as animals remain behind a wall separating them from human awareness.

In such a world, manipulative forces can easily control institutions and political systems by promoting obedient individuals who pursue only personal gain and vanity.

These individuals are not necessarily evil; some may even be kind and affectionate in the way pet cats or dogs can be. Yet they remain at a level of consciousness that has not crossed the boundary between animal instinct and genuinely human awareness.

Every soul, however, has the opportunity to grow beyond this boundary.

How Collective Human Choices Shape Civilization

If most people accept submission and indifference, future generations may inherit war, suffering, and instability.

If most people remain indifferent even to the suffering of their own children, their collective choice will return like a boomerang by strengthening the very destructive systems that threaten them and future generations.

But if people unite out of love for their children and for humanity, the future of the world will change.

Humanity today faces such a test. Not only is every soul undergoing such an examination, but the world itself is being forced to choose between indifference and responsibility, between division and unity.

The destiny of our entire civilization therefore depends on the choices made by the majority.

Why Darkness Exists in the School of Earth

If earthly life contained only light and no darkness, the soul would have little reason to grow. Without pain, humiliation, betrayal, danger, or injustice, a soul could remain passive for ages, enjoying existence without developing mercy, dignity, courage, or responsibility.

For this reason, darkness exists within the Divine order. It is permitted within the earthly school as a force that exposes weakness, awakens conscience, and pushes sleeping souls toward choice. By rejecting darkness and overcoming its temptations, the soul becomes stronger in light and grows in consciousness.

This is why the human path is higher than an existence based only on obedience. Human beings are given freedom of choice: through knowing both darkness and light, each person must decide which direction to follow and what kind of soul to become. Light is not imposed upon the soul; it must be consciously chosen through personal decisions and actions.

Examples of Spiritual Lessons

Many spiritual lessons arise through difficult experiences.

• Betrayal can teach the value of loyalty.
• Encountering violence can awaken compassion.
• Darkness and light together create conditions for the development of consciousness.

Without experiencing pain, humiliation, or injustice, a soul may remain stagnant for centuries — living only for pleasure and never developing true dignity.

How Spiritual Lessons Work

A young soul may experience suffering caused by another person. Through that pain it begins to understand that causing harm to others is wrong. This realization becomes the beginning of compassion.

Another example may involve betrayal. A person who suffers betrayal may later recognize the importance of loyalty and strive not to cause the same pain to others.

Similarly, a soul that experiences death through violence may later understand the profound suffering caused by murder and refuse to commit such acts in future lives.

Everything that happens can therefore be understood as a stimulus for the growth of the soul.

Through many incarnations and experiences, the soul gradually learns that both light and darkness contribute to the same purpose — creating conditions for spiritual growth.

The Only Goal of Life on Earth

The Day of Judgment is not an accounting of good and bad deeds, religious affiliation, prayer, or formal belief. What ultimately matters is the level of the soul — the level of consciousness it has reached.

The destiny of each soul will be determined by the spiritual frequency it has developed. Doors will open only to the realms corresponding to that level of consciousness. This idea echoes the teaching of Jesus about the difficulty of passing through the “eye of a needle” (Mark 10:25; Matthew 19:24; Luke 18:25).

The level of the soul cannot be artificially raised or lowered. Each person acts naturally according to the level of consciousness their soul has reached. However, when a person consciously chooses a good deed, a spiritual effort, or an act of self-restraint, they are overcoming themselves. Through each such overcoming, the soul becomes stronger and brighter.

Therefore, the only purpose of life on Earth is to raise the level of the soul.