What is able to pass judgment upon itself?

The wonderful phenomenon of the review of the past life of the soul―that great panorama, which passes before the mental vision of the soul, as it sinks into the soul-slumber really occupies but an infinitesimal moment of time—a moment so brief that it can scarcely be spoken of as a point in time. 

Yet in this brief moment, the soul witnesses the panorama of the life it has passed on earth. 

Scene after scene―of infancy to old age―passes before it in review. 

The most insignificant incident is reproduced with as much fidelity to detail as is the greatest event. 

The subconscious planes of memory unfold their secrets to the last—nothing is reserved or withheld. 

Moreover, the soul by its awakened spiritual discernment is able to know the meaning, cause, and consequence of every event in its life. 

It is able to analyse and to pass judgment upon itself and its acts. 

Like an omniscient and impartial judge, it judges itself. 

The result of this process is that the acts of your past life are concentrated and impressed upon the records of the soul―there to become as seeds, which will produce better fruit in the future. 

These seeds serve to bear the fruits of future character in future lives—at least, so far as the acquired characteristics and desires will admit of.

In ordinary dreams, time is practically reduced to a small unit―

In the review of the past-life of the soul, the process of concentration is intensified―

The single point of time covers the period of the longest life.

The soul carries with it into its slumber-state a concentrated record of its entire life, including the seeds of its desires―ambitions―likes and dislikes―attractions and repulsions. 

These seed-ideas soon begin to sprout and bear blossom and fruit. 

Not only in future incarnations are these manifest, but also in the life of the soul on the Astral.

For kind Nature does not impose on the soul the task of living out and outliving all of its tendencies in future incarnations, but so arranges that many of these strong impulses will be manifested and wornout on the Astral, so that the soul may leave them behind when it is reborn into a new earth-life. 

And it is toward this fruition that the soul-slumber serves. 

During the soul-sleep, the soul is prepared for its entrance into Astral life and manifestation. 

The soul-slumber is just as necessary for the soul in this stage of its progress, as is the slumber of the unborn babe in the womb of its mother.

Life Beyond Death