Do you believe in the human soul?

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the following definition is offered for consideration, improvement, editing, modification---

Soul is a relatively permanent unit of consciousness that appears to possess integrity, remain intact, and evolve throughout cumulative experience and existence in various dimensional frequencies or realities.

Since the idea of the soul pervades most of human history it is worthwhile reading the Wikipedia article on the subject at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul#Philosophical_views

Almost every culture has a different concept based on a central idea. There seems to be a good deal of confusion involved, both physical and mental as source and it is unlikely anyone here will settle all the confusion. Personally I consider the concept basically and totally flawed but it is a great source of imaginative fiction.

When the computer becomes sophisticated enough to perceive and copy an entire human personality a more solid base of the idea may come about.

Do you mean Cyborgs (cyberorganisms, hybrids of the mechanical and the organic)?

That should make future history rather interesting - our memories will become immortal! The Cyberhumans will be persecuted at first as at best an aberration and at worst abomination; initially seeking understanding and friendship, embittered they will be able to draw on memories spanning generations to defeat and enslave the Remnants of the Flesh-time.

As far as I see the world, I am the brain, the lights behind the action, the puller of strings, as such I believe as long as my brain survives in a conscious state, so do I, I don't believe that we are some soul that dwells within. I believe that if my brain were to be put into a robotic body, I would still be me, which I sure do hope cause at the slightest chance here comes immortality
But above all, I believe that once I die, I rot, one life, one chance, but do I care? Nah, the sooner its over the less painless it all becomes, but until then I shall enjoy every moment of it

I personally think there's enough indirect proof of it for my own taste. Part of that was reinforced by some of the books I've read, kind of highlighting what I've already seen in human nature past a certain point where - thinking of it in terms that we are animals that should be living more by natural law than we do - a lot of things stop making sense when its looked at strictly through a Darwinian prism.

I also understand that a lot of people do need to harden themselves to this fact just to get through the day and not slip off into some rather serious depression, I've been there and I know what that's like. In the end I think my views needed more balance - I'll acknowledge the harder realities of life just as much as the degree of inner light and goodness that many people have.

care to explain that a bit more? are you saying that we don't live by the natural law? maybe you should read "The Naked Ape" by Desmond Morris. you'll see how much (if not all) of our behaviour is pure animal instinct, or an interpretation of it. no need to be in denial about this.



which things exactly?



so you're saying- we should believe in a made-up concept that we cannot prove, just to protect our fragile minds from inevitable depression...?

The Naked Ape was a great book. I like this one too:
http://www.amazon.com/Living-Our-Genes- ... 0385485840

I believe that humans are apes. We are closer to chimps in DNA than chimps are to gorillas or orangutans. Our brains have been through so many mutations to bring us to our current level of intelligence. Unfortunately, due to our evolving brain, there are many errors too.
However, I believe we have the power to self correct these errors through the will of the soul. We can rise above our animal nature by using our minds.

I do not believe in the soul. I am very sceptic towards everything supernatural or paranormal. Heaven, hell, gods, angels, afterlife, soul, ... you cannot rule it out 100% but I personally don't believe in it and rather construct my life around what I can see and grasp with certainty. I personally believe that if we die, the entire person dies. I don't believe there is anything such a soul that lives on, death really is the end in my believes.

I beleive in ghosts, so yes.

ghosts? after my grandmother died, i saw her a couple times but she didn't say anything. after my father died, he has communicated with me on several occasions and i've not yet seen him - however twice i had the sense that he was in a certain location. i'm extremely sensitive and have lots of psychic and spiritual experiences. even so, i'm not convinced humans have individual souls.

i'm inclined to believe that stars have souls. and that everything in our solar system has an essence that makes up our sun's soul.

sol
soul

same word, different spelling

Depends how you define 'soul'.
We are more than the sum of our parts, I believe. I feel there is an inner spiritual aspect to humans that may be defined as the soul.

I believe that after death we're simply what we are before we're born - nothing.

inclined by what evidence?

well anna, you know that is a trick question. our language isn't helpful, our attitudes and assumptions are obsolete and the topic at hand doesn't easily lend itself to logical analysis...yet. my conclusions are derived in part from pioneering physicists whose theories are controversial to say the least, and in part from personal experience. not having a formal education in quantum theory, i have to rely on second hand explanations tailormade for the layman. you can tear this apart but since the subject can't be logically explored, it must be extrapolated mostly from intuition and piecing together quantum clues. also, linear thinking is no help whatsoever.

i arrived at this conclusion by exploring and imagining the nature of linkages. as it seems that everything is connected up with everything else....and that quanta, the building blocks of the universe, may possess consciousness as well as intelligence...that quanta anywhere may be in communication with quanta anywhere else...that space-time is an illusion....that cause-effect is also an illusion...then it would follow that the [physical and temporal] boundaries which establish separation between things is an illusion. it would seem to follow that boundaries between so-called souls would also be an illusion.

our solar system ...the system of planets revolving around our star...is our home. we couldn't exist without the sun. everything we do, everything we are, all energy, all hopes, dreams, ambitions, our lives, and the possibility of the continuity of existence after physical death....all this because we revolve around and are sustained by the sun. does that make sense? i see no reason why the sun would ever cease to be our foundation, the center of existence in and beyond space-time... except at the point where the sun itself dies. at that point our sun would be recycled...maybe it reappears in another kind of dimension or parallel universe?

IF there is a soul that existed prior to birth and will exist after death...then it is enabled to do so by our sun, is linked up with everything else in our solar system, and has no independent separate being in contradistinction from our sun as well as everything else in our solar system.

Last edited by alba on 01 Dec 2008, 10:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

What's more important, isn't if you BELIEVE in a soul, it's if there's any evidence to support such a claim.