Define "Soul"

[Jeff Corey]

Can the explanation be purely material?


That the actions of life has to be tied to the force most responsible for why it does what it does, and how. That the duel nature of life (and just about everything else) is tied to the duel nature of the force most responsible for why what it does what it does, and how.

The authors of book Longing For The Harmonies says that: "From Thales on down, the classical approach to change in the physical world has been to explain it as being merely the rearrangement of more fundamental entities, themselves unchangeable. Again and again, though, supposedly changeless elements of reality have turned out to be changeable after all. From the supposedly perfect and inalterable bodies "beyond the moon" to atoms, nuclei, and even protons and neutrons, changes and transformations have been found in one "immutable" object after another. It now seems that only much more abstract and intangible things, such as energy and electric charge, truly persist unchanged in time."

As I understand it, the energy comes from the flow between two potentials, (negative and positive) and the electric charge is tied to the EMF. And we know that an electric charge is electromagnetic. Doesn't that put light at the beginning, and the reason why things are the way they are? Doesn't it fit the description of the soul? The active and operating link to everything?

No.

 

[Distracted1]

I am an atheist.
I have a soul.
I must, because it can be moved, thrilled, chilled and otherwise manipulated by joy, sadness, and beauty.

I know people who are the soul of wit.

My step-son has the soul of a poet.

I think that it is a bit like synergy- wherein the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Maybe I simply suffer from a sub-par vocabulary that doese'nt provide me with a replacement word for soul that is quite right.

I have seen many arguments for the non-existence of soul on this thread-and cannot refute any of them, do not want to either as they seem sound.

I ask those presenting these arguments if they have ever had cause to refer to their own (or someone else's) soul. If they have-did they use the word "soul" or do they have an alternative word that conveys the meaning?

Can not an atheist be "moved to his very soul"?

 

[Furi]

I use the term "soul" as the acceptance of yourself, and is an inner image of the individual.

wanting your individuality and experiences to live on I would think is primary driving force behind religion creation.

To be souless is not to be without spirtituality or religion, but to be without self identity or freedom of individual thought, strangely this is how I imagine a lot of religious followers.

ETA - it also ceases to exist upon achieving dead

 

[Beerina]

Your soul is your consciousness. If it's not, what care I if my "soul" survives my death? A mysterious, unconscious grab-bag of tendencies? Just something to implant with a chip in a cyberpunk novel.

 

[lightcreatedlife@hom]

I am an atheist.
I have a soul.
I must, because it can be moved, thrilled, chilled and otherwise manipulated by joy, sadness, and beauty.

I know people who are the soul of wit.

My step-son has the soul of a poet.

I think that it is a bit like synergy- wherein the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Maybe I simply suffer from a sub-par vocabulary that doese'nt provide me with a replacement word for soul that is quite right.

I have seen many arguments for the non-existence of soul on this thread-and cannot refute any of them, do not want to either as they seem sound.

I ask those presenting these arguments if they have ever had cause to refer to their own (or someone else's) soul. If they have-did they use the word "soul" or do they have an alternative word that conveys the meaning?

Can not an atheist be "moved to his very soul"?

I can't understand the problem some have with the soul either. Except maybe that it gives ground to religion. Because I am sure that just about everyone have seen and felt the things that you have referred to. I think the soul is "that thing that we all have in common." But going beyond life, we have to have something in common with inorganic matter.

 

[TX50]

When I was little I thought a "soul" was some kind of nightshirt, because I
once heard someone talk about "washing [their] soul clean of the stains of
sin"

 

[Furi]

Remember, it's only a sin if you believe.

Damn that means I've never sinned,
... ... ....
In Your Face Mr Preachy McPreachy, I've sinned less then Yooouu I've sinned less then yoouu. nyah nyah ne nyah nyah

 

[lightcreatedlife@hom]

Your soul is your consciousness. If it's not, what care I if my "soul" survives my death? A mysterious, unconscious grab-bag of tendencies? Just something to implant with a chip in a cyberpunk novel.

Sadly, I no longer believe that it survives either. Though I would be wonderfully delighted to be wrong on that. Afterall, we don't know everything.
But even if it does not, science is well on its way towards making it possible for it to. And with the consciousness conveniently only contained in the head... then again...

 

[Tricky]

Sadly, I no longer believe that it survives either. Though I would be wonderfully delighted to be wrong on that. Afterall, we don't know everything.
But even if it does not, science is well on its way towards making it possible for it to. And with the consciousness conveniently only contained in the head... then again...

I can see why some might regard that as sad. The wish for a magical place where everything is fixed is very strong in us. Try replacing that sadness with the wonder of realizing that you are finally dealing with reality. It can be very heady.

As for a definition, I'd call soul the sum total of our thoughts and behavior. And no, it doesn't currently survive death, though some of our memes may if they are strong ones.

 

[lightcreatedlife@hom]

I can see why some might regard that as sad. The wish for a magical place where everything is fixed is very strong in us.

Heaven and hell don't have to come with the spirit surviving, though, being conscious without the restrictions of the body would make the universe a magical place.

Try replacing that sadness with the wonder of realizing that you are finally dealing with reality. It can be very heady.

It feels different, but I was happier when I thought I was a genius.
Would you agree with what that book said about energy and electric charges?

As for a definition, I'd call soul the sum total of our thoughts and behavior.

But our personal one is rooted in one that encompasses everything.

And no, it doesn't currently survive death, though some of our memes may if they are strong ones.

Memes? I have to look that up.