Afterlife reflections from Pixar’s Soul

Having just published a book about heaven, a friend recommended I watch Soul, the latest release from Pixar now streaming on Disney+.

Soul tells the story of Joe Gardner (voiced by Jamie Foxx), a middle-school music teacher who between lessons still dreams of making it big as a jazz pianist.

On the day he finally secures a gig with a world-famous saxophonist, Joe is so happy he fails to see a missing manhole cover on his walk home and suffers a fatal fall. ‘There must be some mistake,’ wails Joe as his soul rises on an escalator towards The Great Beyond, an amorphous dazzling light which absorbs ascending souls with an electric buzz.