What is the Definition of a Soul?

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PadawanBater

Guest
How do you define the soul?

Is there evidence to support the existence of a soul, or do you have to rely on faith to believe in it?

What are the implications of the fact that no two peoples definition of what the soul actually is are exactly the same, even though many of them claim to believe in exactly the same doctrines and dogmas?
 
morgentaler

morgentaler

Well-Known Member
It's another unsubstantiated idea used to explain a natural phenomenon in the same way that air pressure closing a door in a house is explained away by some people as ghosts or Jesus being playful

:P
 
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Philly_Buddah

New Member
You could think of it this way, the soul is the raw "you" while your physical body is merely a vessel to exist in the physical dimension. The soul is multidimensional, and much less limited than the physical body. In the soul you experience everything in its raw form, where as now its merely interpretations and electic impulses in your brain that show you everything around you. Not to mention that todays society keeps us even more limited so were stuck on an incredibly narrow path of existence in the physical realm. Say you lived in the game "pong" (2D) in a different time measurement that seemed to last for eternity, then you died in the game and all of a sudden you went back to being a person. You were controlling the game from your regular human self unknowingly, and were incredibly limited before going out and experiencing 4 dimensions and were amazed at 1st, but when you got back you realized it was just like the blink of an eye. Before you were born and after your physical body dies youll be a soul again.

All these super-skeptics ask for physical proof of the soul, but how are we supposed to show proof physical proof of something thats not physical? But at the same time, supposedly when you die in the physical realm and youre soul "leaves" your body it becomes something like 21 grams lighter. If you look for proof enough or something to make you truly believe then youll eventually find it. Ive done years of research on these topics, and personally experienced many of these supernatural things along with near death experiences, astral projection, etc. As far as Im concerned its definitely real, there is a soul. You dont have to take my word for it, do research for yourself and try to reconnect with this side youve been programmed to be disconnected from since the day of your birth.
 
Mr.KushMan

Mr.KushMan

Well-Known Member
The only evidence to support a soul are these: 1. You are asking a question, how else could this be done, other than some sort of natural phenomenon.
2. The work Massaru Emoto did with water crystals and intention!
3. Schroedingers uncertainty principle, which by all measures of certainty cannot be proven.

I guess the main problem is, is where did the universe come from? What is the medium in which we exist, why is there anything? So many faith based followers of the various religions don't realize that science is just best guess just as their beliefs were thousands of years ago. Whether there is an afterlife, who knows? I do know that some drug experiences have pointed toward that light, but just like how most humans will do feature scanning on their visual perception, they may do scanning like that on a mental level leaving them with the illusion that balls of light telepathically communicated to them that there is no death, they are just spirits. The only way to know for certain is by learning about quantum electro dynamics and the most recent advances is string theory or come up with your own scientific theory complete with a particle accelerator, three flavors of neutrino and the ever inescapable higgs boson.

All I know for certain is what I know for certain. The only guarantee you have in life is that there is something.

EDIT: I forgot to point out that any theory is as logical as the next, but solipsism is the ultimate rational. ;)
Peace
 
^Psychonaut^

^Psychonaut^

Active Member
I think I simply have faith that there is more going on and more to life than what we are current aware of, the raw animal view of the meaning of life simply doesnt seem right to me, means there is no real point to anything. I admit this can simply be my own defensive mechanism to keep the 'organism' alive.

I am curious if atheists take the raw animal view of life, evolution and nothing more than continuing the species with the world in its current state, there must be more meaning in their lives, which would essentially amount to being some kind of faith probably, to keep your own life moving?

Of course there is no evidence to prove the existence of the soul, its hard to imagine it being proven actually, but personally I would probably just attach my faith in there being more going on to something like string theory, extra dimensions of existence which in current scientific theory is not a ridiculous idea at all as I understand it. I am not well read on it though and am just generalising, like most people of faith do; but then some physicists are Christians.
 
BigTitLvr

BigTitLvr

Well-Known Member
To me, anything living and conscious of its life, IS a soul, NOT HAS a soul.

So when they said, "The Titanic went down- 1,200 souls lost!" They mean 1,200 living, breathing beings died. But I don't believe that some extra, meta-physical part of them lived on past their death.

People ARE souls, animals ARE souls. Plants are NOT souls.

In Genesis, God was said to have "breathed life into Adam, and he BECAME a living soul". I don't think that actually happened, but that description is actually consistent with my belief. Adam BECAME a living soul, he was NOT GIVEN one.
 
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Philly_Buddah

New Member
morgentaler said:
For those interested in the "21 grams" idea.

http://rationallyspeaking.blogspot.com/2007/03/does-soul-weigh-21-grams.html


You state that skeptics are asking for physical proof of something that isn't physical, and then you go on to state that it IS physical by assigning mass to it: 21 grams.


At least your posts are good for entertainment.
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I said "supposedly", I heard this and didnt say I necessarily believed it myself.

I'm giving my personal beliefs on this, from years of research along with experiences I've had myself. You're obviously just some person that has had none of these experiences yourself and stuck to bias/skeptic sources (you use rationallyspeaking of all sources) to disprove these things and peoples personal beliefs. You're the type of person that goes to conspiracy and christian forums just to "troll" them. When you've actually had experiences like I've had and have learned what I've learned you'll think different.
 
sarah22

sarah22

Well-Known Member
morgentaler said:
You use the term skeptic like it's a bad word.

You know what the opposite of a skeptic is? A sucker.
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you dont honestly believe that do you? hehe ah...i used to be skeptical...then i grew up.

the opposite of a skeptic is a "truth seeker"

just because i dont immediately dismiss something as silly, doesn't mean that im a sucker. it means that i understand that everything is a possibility until it's proved to be false.

as for the existence of the soul...well. i dont have to "believe" in having a soul. i KNOW i have a soul. the body is merely a vessel to get you to the next life. people are constantly thinking that they're body is *them* and its not. its just a physical object that allows our consciousness/spirit, whatever you want to call it, to live in a physical reality. thats it, thats all...so dont get too attached to your physical form...you wont have it for long :)

edit to add* if you have a hard time understanding that concept...then im afraid theres not much i can do to help you. the answers to these questions come after a journey that only you can take. its not my job to provide other people with their proof. its your job to find your own proof. i had to work damn hard to understand these things, and struggle with spirituality versus intellect and logic. i have now found a balance. im not about to make that lesson any easier on someone else because the road to the answers is just as important as the answers themselves. too many people want to scream "SHOW ME SOME PROOF!" well heres an idea...how about you go find it yourself instead of waiting around for someone else to do it for you?
 
morgentaler

morgentaler

Well-Known Member
You can say it's not your duty to provide proof, but if you make a claim for a "next life" without any supporting evidence, then it's just as foolish as the next person claiming they have a unicorn that shits rainbows in their living room.

Anyone can claim to have special access to knowledge of a supernatural realm. But even scientists die, and if you can speak to Aunt Gertrude about the big Jesus party, there are plenty of academics who should be able to do the same with those who came before them.

And yet.... there is not.

The only "proof" is 'Well *I* believe in it'.
Which is no proof at all.

You may deal in "truth". The wise person deal in facts.




sarah22 said:
as for the existence of the soul...well. i dont have to "believe" in having a soul. i KNOW i have a soul. the body is merely a vessel to get you to the next life. people are constantly thinking that they're body is *them* and its not. its just a physical object that allows our consciousness/spirit, whatever you want to call it, to live in a physical reality. thats it, thats all...so dont get too attached to your physical form...you wont have it for long :)

edit to add* if you have a hard time understanding that concept...then im afraid theres not much i can do to help you. the answers to these questions come after a journey that only you can take. its not my job to provide other people with their proof. its your job to find your own proof. i had to work damn hard to understand these things, and struggle with spirituality versus intellect and logic. i have now found a balance. im not about to make that lesson any easier on someone else because the road to the answers is just as important as the answers themselves. too many people want to scream "SHOW ME SOME PROOF!" well heres an idea...how about you go find it yourself instead of waiting around for someone else to do it for you?
Click to expand...
 
sarah22

sarah22

Well-Known Member
morgentaler said:
You can say it's not your duty to provide proof, but if you make a claim for a "next life" without any supporting evidence, then it's just as foolish as the next person claiming they have a unicorn that shits rainbows in their living room.

Anyone can claim to have special access to knowledge of a supernatural realm. But even scientists die, and if you can speak to Aunt Gertrude about the big Jesus party, there are plenty of academics who should be able to do the same with those who came before them.

And yet.... there is not.

The only "proof" is 'Well *I* believe in it'.
Which is no proof at all.

You may deal in "truth". The wise person deal in facts.
Click to expand...
wrong again. were are you hearing this stuff? or are you just pulling out of your ass? lol. a wise person has learned to incorporate both spirituality of some kind and intellect in their life and created a balance. what people dont realize, is that in order for a person to truly be successful in life (and i dont mean "life" like society. you can succeed in society without much spirituality OR intellect), its important to have balance. there are people who are extremely religious, and tend to abandon all intellect and logical thought...then there are those who stick only to intellect and logical thought and abandon spirituality. neither of these types of people are getting the big picture because they're too focused on one thing more than the other. i like to have the big, whole picture, so i found a balance. im not religious, i dont necessarily believe in "god" the way most people do, but i understand spirituality in the sense that we are all part of something bigger. that our individual lives are absolutely meaningless in the grand scheme of things in our universe. i also understand that my consciousness/spirit/soul...does not die with my body. it continues on and changes forms. i cant prove that to you, and you cant prove me wrong. its just the way it is. if we dont agree, then thats ok, we dont have to. we're all able to make our own choices...i chose a life of balance and trying to understand all the things in the universe. some people chose to not attempt to understand all the things in the universe, and focus only on physical reality. nothing wrong with that...its just different choices :)

i dont have to prove anything to anyone other than myself. if you want to know about the soul and spirituality and your own consciousness...pick up a couple books, do some google searches, and open your mind. its your job to find the answers you seek, not mine. and its not foolish for me to behave in this way. i personally think its a bit foolish to sit there asking for proof instead of actively going out and getting the proof yourself. why wait around for someone else to figure it out? do it yourself.

also im not saying that all these things are going to be real and valid in your reality. they are real and valid in my reality, but we all experience reality differently. its based on your own individual perceptions and your own individual consciousness. thats why personal experiences and ideas and theories are all anyone has.

i used to be incredibly skeptical and focused purely on science and fact. but i soon realized that i was missing something. i was missing a large number of pieces to my life's puzzle. the science was good, it made sense, but it couldnt explain everything. so i started to learn more about spirituality and found many of my puzzle pieces. and i've managed to fit them together in a way that makes sense to me, and makes me feel more whole and complete as a person.

edit to add* this statement here... "You may deal in "truth". The wise person deal in facts"

what if the facts are wrong? lol. you would believe a fact over the truth? modern science has only begun to scratch the surface on what we know as a species about ourselves, our planet, and our universe. theres A LOT of room for improvement and theres a pretty good chance that the science we know now is going to evolve and change over the years, just like we as humans do. so what happens when your "facts" are disproved? what will you do then? lol. you'll do what every other person on this planet does...you'll look for the TRUTH.
 
morgentaler

morgentaler

Well-Known Member
If you need something to fill the gaps in your knowledge that education is not yet able to fill, it doesn't make you spiritual - it makes you insecure.
 
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PadawanBater

Guest
sarah22 said:
wrong again. were are you hearing this stuff? or are you just pulling out of your ass? lol. a wise person has learned to incorporate both spirituality of some kind and intellect in their life and created a balance. what people dont realize, is that in order for a person to truly be successful in life (and i dont mean "life" like society. you can succeed in society without much spirituality OR intellect), its important to have balance. there are people who are extremely religious, and tend to abandon all intellect and logical thought...then there are those who stick only to intellect and logical thought and abandon spirituality. neither of these types of people are getting the big picture because they're too focused on one thing more than the other. i like to have the big, whole picture, so i found a balance. im not religious, i dont necessarily believe in "god" the way most people do, but i understand spirituality in the sense that we are all part of something bigger. that our individual lives are absolutely meaningless in the grand scheme of things in our universe. i also understand that my consciousness/spirit/soul...does not die with my body. it continues on and changes forms. i cant prove that to you, and you cant prove me wrong. its just the way it is. if we dont agree, then thats ok, we dont have to. we're all able to make our own choices...i chose a life of balance and trying to understand all the things in the universe. some people chose to not attempt to understand all the things in the universe, and focus only on physical reality. nothing wrong with that...its just different choices :)

i dont have to prove anything to anyone other than myself. if you want to know about the soul and spirituality and your own consciousness...pick up a couple books, do some google searches, and open your mind. its your job to find the answers you seek, not mine. and its not foolish for me to behave in this way. i personally think its a bit foolish to sit there asking for proof instead of actively going out and getting the proof yourself. why wait around for someone else to figure it out? do it yourself.

also im not saying that all these things are going to be real and valid in your reality. they are real and valid in my reality, but we all experience reality differently. its based on your own individual perceptions and your own individual consciousness. thats why personal experiences and ideas and theories are all anyone has.

i used to be incredibly skeptical and focused purely on science and fact. but i soon realized that i was missing something. i was missing a large number of pieces to my life's puzzle. the science was good, it made sense, but it couldnt explain everything. so i started to learn more about spirituality and found many of my puzzle pieces. and i've managed to fit them together in a way that makes sense to me, and makes me feel more whole and complete as a person.

edit to add* this statement here... "You may deal in "truth". The wise person deal in facts"

what if the facts are wrong? lol. you would believe a fact over the truth? modern science has only begun to scratch the surface on what we know as a species about ourselves, our planet, and our universe. theres A LOT of room for improvement and theres a pretty good chance that the science we know now is going to evolve and change over the years, just like we as humans do. so what happens when your "facts" are disproved? what will you do then? lol. you'll do what every other person on this planet does...you'll look for the TRUTH.
Click to expand...

What you call spirituality, I call enlightenment.

I've never had a more enlightening moment in my entire life than when I realized I was an atheist.
 
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