The origin of the soul

Man is created in the image of the Merciful [God], that is, with divine attributes. Therefore, while physical characteristics will perish, divine qualities will endure. The soul is a divine emanation while the body is an earthly composition. Upon you be the divine attributes.

No, the human spirit has emanated, just as speech emanates from the speaker, and become manifested in the body of man.

Verily, I say unto thee that the gifts of thy Lord are encircling thee in a similar way as the spirit encircles the body at the beginning of the amalgamation of the elements and natures in the womb; the power of the spirit begins then to appear in the body gradually and successively according to the preparation and capacity to receive that everlasting abundance.

It is evident that the human soul is the breaths of the All-Merciful, and the spirit of life is the divine inspirations of the All-Loving God.

The soul or mental intelligence awakes in the mother's womb. Spirit enters when the conscience is quickened and the soul awakes to eternal Realities.

"Were the souls created as individuals before they entered the physical bodies of this world?" Abdu'l-Baha: "They existed before coming to this world, but NOT as we know personality upon this planet."

Q. In what condition is the soul before entering the body?

A. In a state of potentiality, possessing no consciousness as we understand it.

Q. Is each new born soul newly created?

A. Yes: every soul has a beginning, but, once created is immortal.

Praised be Thou, O Lord my God! Every time I am reminded of Thee and muse on Thy virtues, I am seized with such ecstasies and am so enravished by Thee that I find myself unable to make mention of Thy name and to extol Thee. I am carried back to such heights that I recognize my self to be the same as the remembrance of Thee in Thy realm, and the essence of Thy praise among Thy servants. As long as that self endureth, so long will Thy praise continue to be shed abroad among Thy creatures and Thy remembrance glorified by Thy people.

Every man endued with insight among Thy servants is persuaded that my self liveth eternally and can never perish, inasmuch as remembrance of Thee is eternal and will endure so long as Thine own Self endureth, and Thy praise is everlasting and will last as long as Thine own sovereignty will last. By its means Thou art glorified by such of Thy chosen ones as call upon Thee and by the sincere among Thy servants. Nay, the praise wherewith any one, in the entire creation, praiseth Thee proceedeth from this exalted self and returneth unto it, even as the sun which, while it shineth, sheddeth its splendor upon whatsoever may be exposed to its rays. From this sun is generated, and unto it must return, the light which is shed over all things.

Exalted, immeasurably exalted art Thou above any attempt to measure the greatness of Thy Cause, above any comparison that one may seek to make, above the efforts of the human tongue to utter its import! From everlasting Thou hast existed, alone with no one else beside Thee, and wilt, to everlasting, continue to remain the same, in the sublimity of Thine essence and the inaccessible heights of Thy glory.

And when Thou didst purpose to make Thyself known unto men, Thou didst successively reveal the Manifestations of Thy Cause, and ordained each to be a sign of Thy Revelation among Thy people, and the Day-Spring of Thine invisible Self amidst Thy creatures, until the time when, as decreed by Thee, all Thy previous Revelations culminated in Him Whom Thou hast appointed as the Lord of all who are in the heaven of revelation and the kingdom of creation, Him Whom Thou hast established as the Sovereign Lord of all who are in the heavens and all who are on the earth. He it was Whom Thou hast determined to be the Herald of Thy Most Great Revelation and the Announcer of Thy Most Ancient Splendor. In this Thou hadst no other purpose except to try them who have manifested Thy most excellent titles unto all who are in heaven and on earth. He it was Whom Thou hast commanded to establish His covenant with all created things.

And when Thy promise came to pass and the set time was fulfilled, He Who is the Possessor of all Names and Attributes was made manifest unto men. Thereupon all that were in the heavens and all that were on the earth were terror-stricken save those whom Thou didst keep under Thy protection and preserve within the shelter of Thy power and gracious providence. There befell Him, at the hands of such of Thy creatures as have transgressed against Thee, that which the tongue of no one of Thy servants can recount.

Look down, then, upon Him, O my God, with the eye of Thy tender mercy, and send down upon Him and upon those that love Him all the good Thou didst ordain in the heaven of Thy will and the Tablet of Thy decree. Aid them, then, with Thy succor, for Thou art, verily, the Almighty, the Most Exalted, the All-Glorious, the All-Compelling.

B.: What is the form or condition of the human spirit before it becomes connected with the identity at the time of birth on this plane?

Sixth: The soul in the temple of man resembles the radiance of the sun reflected in a mirror.

Thus it is proven that man is man through his spirit, not his body. This spirit is an effusion of divine bounties, a ray from the Sun of Reality. But if this human spirit is confirmed by the breaths of the Holy Spirit, then it becomes the true spirit, and the breaths of the Holy Spirit are the divine teachings. Then it attains eternal life, acquires heavenly illumination, and enlightens the human world with divine virtues.

Look with the eye of thy heart: thy reality is the Lordship of thy Lord for thee through thee - thou art He and He is thou, except that thou art thou and He is He. He has a station of unity, His identity is pure essence - no mention, no indication, no expression of this station except through inability, and this is the perfection of unity through negation of attributes and Lordship, which when there is no object of Lordship has no mention, no encompassing, no manifestation.

According to the Baha'i Teachings the human soul starts with the formation of the human embryo, and continues to develop and pass through endless stages of existence after its separation from the body. Its progress is thus infinite.

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The soul or spirit of the individual comes into being with the conception of his physical body.

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...the Teachings state that the soul appears at conception.

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Concerning your question concerning the passage from the 'Seven Valleys' which refers to pre-existence, this does not suppose in any case the existence of the individual soul before conception. The word has not been translated in an absolutely adequate manner and what it signifies is that the soul of man is the depository of the ancient and divine mystery of God.

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