Any form of belief that the human soul is intrinsically immortal depends on a presupposition that all human beings, simply by virtue of being human beings, are so essentially "One with God" that they can no more be separated from God than a ray of light can be separated from whatever light is. This belief assumes that we are made out of His own substance - that the same natural laws that grant Him immortality also grant it to us, for He and we are built out of the same stuff - stuff that never dies.

This position is generally considered to be diametrically opposed to the Western, Biblical position on life after death. The Western theological position, rather, is generally held to be that the human soul is NOT in and of itself immortal, but the soul can be given immortality as a gift from God, but only if God chooses to bestow that gift. The West generally views God and His creation as being entirely separate and distinct from one another. God is always and forever "Other". The West's position usually judges the East's "innate immortality" view, the "one with God" view, as being supremely arrogant, especially in the face of what we know about our human limitations and the immensity and grandeur of the universe.

But I still think that the "innate immortality" position is correct - I think that the human spirit (not the soul) is indeed "one with God", at least in the sense that it is of the same substance of God, and so, it is as fully immortal as He. But how to argue this?

If man and God share the same nature, then man is immortal, as God is. But how can we be sure of this? If man and God share the same nature, then man and God must also share other characteristics besides merely immortality. Another of God's characteristics is that of infinity - God is infinite, according to virtually every description of every tradition. If man and God share the same nature, then man should also possess infinite characteristics. The question, then, is this - does man betray any evidence of being infinite, of having any infinite characteristics or capacities at all?

The Western tradition would, of course, reply with a certain "no" - man is not infinite in any respect - man is as just as absolutely finite as God is absolutely infinite.

But I think this is wrong, and furthermore it seems to me an easily provable error :

Our will is infinite. In our ability to choose, to will, to intend, we are just as fully and completely infinite, unbound, and unlimited as is God Himself (or Herself. Or Him/Herself.).

The "irrepressible will of the human spirit" is one of the most beloved of all literary subjects, and has been explored and celebrated in countless books and films (for example, Rocky, the Shawshank Redemption, Papillon, and Rudy, to name but a few). The outer world can do whatever it wishes to us, it can deny our desires for decades, it can drain us of all strength and even of hope, it can even strip the flesh slowly from our limbs. But it cannot change our minds for us, or force us to do this against our will. Whenever we choose to decide, or choose to change our decision, it is still US who do the choosing, and no other). In our own minds, in that 3 pound universe inside our skulls, in our own decisions and intents, we are and always remain totally and utterly free agents.

In this, God has no advantage over us.

In this, we are His equals.

Seeing that our will is infinitely, absolutely free, we realize, often to our surprise, that we already possess at least some infinite and absolute characteristics. In fact, this is not news; we as a species have recognized and celebrated this possession, the "irrepressible will of the human spirit", for centuries, even millennia. Thus, knowing we already possess at least some Godlike and infinite abilities, it is not arrogant to suspect that we may also possess other of God's infinite characteristics, such as infinite life, AKA immortality.

- Peter