What Does the Soul See Before Coming to This World?

Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzatto opens The Path of the Just with a powerful question: Why does the soul descend into this world at all? His answer sets the stage for everything that follows.

He writes that the foundation of spiritual growth—and of truly serving Hashem—is for a person to clarify their purpose in this world. What should they aim for? What should drive their choices towards every day of their life? Chazal teach that a human being was created for one central reason: to delight in Hashem and bask in the radiance of His presence. That is the truest, deepest pleasure the soul can ever know.

The place designed for this ultimate delight is the World to Come. But the way to reach it runs straight through this world. As our sages say, “This world is like a corridor leading to the World to Come.” And the commandments—Hashem’s mitzvot—are the tools given to us to reach that destination. The only place we can perform them is here, in the physical world.

So the soul is placed in this world first, armed with the means to earn the eternal goodness waiting for it. As Chazal put it, “Today to do them, and tomorrow to receive their reward.”

If a person reflects deeply, they’ll realize that true perfection is nothing but closeness to Hashem. As David HaMelech said: “As for me, the closeness of God is my good.” A person should therefore invest effort, strive, and push themselves to acquire that closeness—through actions that bind them to the Divine. And those actions are the mitzvot.

Souls That Are Eager—Sometimes Too Eager—to Descend

Before arriving in this world, every righteous soul stands before Hashem in its true form. Every soul is carved out in the heavens exactly as it will appear in this world. And the Torah knowledge a person achieves in their lifetime? They already knew it before descending. Souls do not plunge immediately into the physical world—they remain before Hashem, learning Torah according to their level, until the moment they are granted permission to descend.

But some souls grow impatient. They rebel and push to come into this world before their time. Such souls fall into the great abyss, joining the forces of impurity, forcing their descent before they are spiritually ready—simply to taste the desires of this world. These stubborn souls behaved the same way above as they do below; their flaws didn’t begin here.

If such a soul later heals itself and repents, it retrieves the holy portion it abandoned—the Torah knowledge and the spiritual garments it left behind in Gan Eden when following impure influences. Whatever is meant for a person was prepared for them long before their arrival in this world.

The truly righteous, however, descend in perfect readiness. Their mission and identity are prepared from the start. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, for example, was designated for his role from the moment the world was created—named and prepared by Hashem Himself, blessed above and below.

(Zohar, Acharei Mot 61, “Sweet as Honey” p. 68–71)

What the Soul Sees Before It Enters This World

When a soul leaves the Treasury of Souls to descend into the physical world, its first stop is the earthly Gan Eden. There, it beholds the radiant glory of the righteous standing in rows and witnesses the breathtaking reward that awaits them. Then the soul is brought to Gehinnom, where it hears the cries of the wicked—“Woe, woe!”—with no one to comfort them. It sees the immense punishment prepared for those who choose corruption.

At each place, the soul is shown exactly what reward or punishment results from every mitzvah or transgression. Nothing is abstract; nothing is theoretical.

Glimpsing the Chambers of Gan Eden and Gehinnom

Before a person is born, they are shown all of Gan Eden: the chambers, sanctuaries, and levels reserved for those who fulfill Torah and mitzvot. They see the homes and spiritual palaces waiting for them if they choose holiness. And, in contrast, they see the punishments in Gehinnom prepared to counterbalance every potential misdeed.

In other words, the soul sees the full map—both the heights it can reach and the depths it can fall into—long before it takes its first breath.

(Zohar, Behar, Ra’ayah Meheimna, “Sweet as Honey” p. 317)

Your soul entered this world fully aware of its mission and its potential—now all that remains is to live the beautiful journey it came here to fulfill.