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Do we have a soul?
36 Answers
What evidence is there for the existence of a soul in human beings?
[no stupid answers from user: 'Bluevern' please]
[no stupid answers from user: 'Bluevern' please]
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I don't get this refusal to "pin" things on "science alone". Well, I kind of do get it, but think it's a shame - as though the scientific explanation is somehow taking something away. It isn't, it really isn't. Science is wondrous, mind-blowing - the chemical/electrical/biological workings of the human being are astonishing. In no way does it detract from you as a person to explain the individual in these terms. You're still the unique, individual YOU.
I have no belief in the soul and I feel just as good about myself as any soul-believer.
I have no belief in the soul and I feel just as good about myself as any soul-believer.
Octavius, you state that as though it's some kind of universal certainty confirmed beyond all doubt by spending time with a dead person, but it isn't. I spent some time with my Dad literally just after he died and this didn't suddenly make me realise souls exist. It did ram home to me that, as human beings, we eventually stop working - especially as I watched him during the final stages of his illness, as everything gradually shut down.
If evidence means physical proof then the soul or cup that carries our emotional experiences can be damaged by trauma and even passed on to other lives such as in the programme earlier this month called,"The Boy Who Lived Before".
Science cannot teach us everything or prove it but in the future scientific people will come to ask more of the native tribal leaders and shaman for help in our preservation through trying to understand more holistic approaches to medicine and the true meaning behind our origins and our meaning of life.
Sometimes we only see what we want because our minds are closed to experiences outside our normal parameters of understanding.
Science cannot teach us everything or prove it but in the future scientific people will come to ask more of the native tribal leaders and shaman for help in our preservation through trying to understand more holistic approaches to medicine and the true meaning behind our origins and our meaning of life.
Sometimes we only see what we want because our minds are closed to experiences outside our normal parameters of understanding.
what luna-tic said cuts both ways. There is a skewed tendency for people to say that examining things scientifically is "closed minded" and an indication of "not being open" to other explanations. But this is equally true of many people who hold beliefs such as yours and will stick rigidly to them, without wanting to contemplate other explanations for the phenomena they say are due to the soul. This is what I was trying to get across in one of my earlier posts - that the science of the human being is wondrous but so many people dismiss this as they feel it's "reductive". It isn't.
luna-tic you glibly state the things you state as though they are absolutes and ruby says hear-hear but people with your beliefs never seem to see how closed-minded it sounds to others - it comes across just as rigidly dogmatic as the "scientific people" who are frequently accused of the exact same thing. Can't you see that?
You need to further explain for me the first para of your post as it didn't make sense.
luna-tic you glibly state the things you state as though they are absolutes and ruby says hear-hear but people with your beliefs never seem to see how closed-minded it sounds to others - it comes across just as rigidly dogmatic as the "scientific people" who are frequently accused of the exact same thing. Can't you see that?
You need to further explain for me the first para of your post as it didn't make sense.
I don't think science or religion can explain the existence of a soul or not. It seems to me to be something of a personal belief. I'm not too sure where I stand on it but I am open to suggestions.
On one level I would say that your soul is what you pass on to your children/grandchildren/close friends etc... that one thing they do that is so like you or that you do that is so like them. This for me is something that lives on.
On another level I have had some personal experiences which I have chosen to interpret as someone watching over me which I suppose could imply that the human soul lives on after the body has died.
On one level I would say that your soul is what you pass on to your children/grandchildren/close friends etc... that one thing they do that is so like you or that you do that is so like them. This for me is something that lives on.
On another level I have had some personal experiences which I have chosen to interpret as someone watching over me which I suppose could imply that the human soul lives on after the body has died.
There is definitely a you-ness - those elements of your self that are definitively you, and those around us, close to us such as children, other family members and close friends, respond to those elements. They recognise them, enjoy them, maybe even absorb and copy them.
If this needs a better name than 'you-ness' I'm happy to call it a soul but I don't mean it in the sense of an entity that exists independently and goes off somewhere else after you're dead.
If this needs a better name than 'you-ness' I'm happy to call it a soul but I don't mean it in the sense of an entity that exists independently and goes off somewhere else after you're dead.
I take your point Backdrifter, I'm not sure that soul is the best word for it either to be honest.
Everytime I think of the word soul I just get images of floaty white things.
I think perhaps that's the problem though. We all view the idea of a sould differently so where as I might think of it as an aspect of you that lives on in other people, some people might think it's an everlasting presence.
Perhaps a soul isn't what we're really discussing at all. Perhaps we're really talking about the human spirit and how that lives on. Like I said, I don't think it's floaty things or a presence or even that once we're dead and our body is rotted that's it... I just think what or who we were lives on in others.
Everytime I think of the word soul I just get images of floaty white things.
I think perhaps that's the problem though. We all view the idea of a sould differently so where as I might think of it as an aspect of you that lives on in other people, some people might think it's an everlasting presence.
Perhaps a soul isn't what we're really discussing at all. Perhaps we're really talking about the human spirit and how that lives on. Like I said, I don't think it's floaty things or a presence or even that once we're dead and our body is rotted that's it... I just think what or who we were lives on in others.
This is a serious question for those who believe in a soul - I'm not trying to catch anybody out or prove a point. I'd really like to know what you think and if you agree with each other
When do you think a soul comes into being?
At conception? does it grow as you do? how does it get there? Do animals have souls and if so are they the same or limited in some way?
When do you think a soul comes into being?
At conception? does it grow as you do? how does it get there? Do animals have souls and if so are they the same or limited in some way?
I believe in a soul (of some kind) but I cannot explain exactly what �it� is because it is a personal interpretation and belief that I would rather keep to myself. In my post above I was not applying my beliefs to en ethereal white ghosty thing that floated off. In fact I don�t believe in ghosts. Just that once life leaves the body, so does the soul.
In reply to JTP, yes I would like to believe that the soul is formed at some point whilst a baby is in the womb, or maybe at the point a baby enters the world. And I also, quite strangely you may think, believe that all living things have some form of soul, even the tree at the bottom of my garden! Enough of my spirituality no, I have revealed far too much about myself these past few days.
And yes I believe and revel in the wonderments of science, scoff at my beliefs if you wish, I am not expecting anyone to agree with them.
In reply to JTP, yes I would like to believe that the soul is formed at some point whilst a baby is in the womb, or maybe at the point a baby enters the world. And I also, quite strangely you may think, believe that all living things have some form of soul, even the tree at the bottom of my garden! Enough of my spirituality no, I have revealed far too much about myself these past few days.
And yes I believe and revel in the wonderments of science, scoff at my beliefs if you wish, I am not expecting anyone to agree with them.
I don't think anyone would scoff at your beliefs Octavius especially with such a well thought out answer.
In answer to Jake's question I'm not sure I believe in the soul but I guess if you take the thought that your soul leaves the minute you die then I suppose equally the minute something is concieved it is created. But that really doesn't sound right to me at all.
Ah well, each to their own, certainly interesting seeing everyones point of view tho.
In answer to Jake's question I'm not sure I believe in the soul but I guess if you take the thought that your soul leaves the minute you die then I suppose equally the minute something is concieved it is created. But that really doesn't sound right to me at all.
Ah well, each to their own, certainly interesting seeing everyones point of view tho.
Backdrifter,regarding your 15:13 comments. I wholeheartedly agree with your statements pertaining to the involvement and evolvement of both scientific and spiritual, maybe shamanic exploration into the meaningful answers to life.
My own beliefs through some personal experience and learning from others with gifts of awareness outside the normal five senses have brought me to my way of being.
I have never regarded any practitioners of science as glib and respect their learn-ed ways. When I stated, "Sometimes we only see what we want because our minds are closed....." did not single-out people who regard science as the law:The "We", I spoke of could be anyone. I regard myself as extremely receptive to all fields of learning.
With respects to your question about the first paragraph of my first post and trying to tie in with the original question from fuzzibear.
There is no cut and dried way of extracting the soul from a human and placing it in a jar,simply because the soul or vessel(cup) that contains that energy doesn't work that way.
The soul or whatever anyone wants to call it is the entity that expresses itself life after life through a physical body,the emotions and the mind using the spirit as the driving force but utilising the life force of a child with the previous memory or memories banks erased.It can through personal experiences be damaged by trauma or even shock to the body by way of the "Chakra"(energy cocoon around and intertwined with the physical and emotional being). The soul or individual vehicle for life's expression through spirit can even be transferred accidentally to an already existing soul and the two combine causing much confusion if it consciously expresses itself as in the case of the T.V. programme earlier this month -"The Boy Who Lived Before".
I'm sure by writing this it has probably confused the whole proceedings but to explain further would take many posts and lots more time.
My own beliefs through some personal experience and learning from others with gifts of awareness outside the normal five senses have brought me to my way of being.
I have never regarded any practitioners of science as glib and respect their learn-ed ways. When I stated, "Sometimes we only see what we want because our minds are closed....." did not single-out people who regard science as the law:The "We", I spoke of could be anyone. I regard myself as extremely receptive to all fields of learning.
With respects to your question about the first paragraph of my first post and trying to tie in with the original question from fuzzibear.
There is no cut and dried way of extracting the soul from a human and placing it in a jar,simply because the soul or vessel(cup) that contains that energy doesn't work that way.
The soul or whatever anyone wants to call it is the entity that expresses itself life after life through a physical body,the emotions and the mind using the spirit as the driving force but utilising the life force of a child with the previous memory or memories banks erased.It can through personal experiences be damaged by trauma or even shock to the body by way of the "Chakra"(energy cocoon around and intertwined with the physical and emotional being). The soul or individual vehicle for life's expression through spirit can even be transferred accidentally to an already existing soul and the two combine causing much confusion if it consciously expresses itself as in the case of the T.V. programme earlier this month -"The Boy Who Lived Before".
I'm sure by writing this it has probably confused the whole proceedings but to explain further would take many posts and lots more time.
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