I have been raised a roman catholic, and now tend more towards existentialist and hindu ideals, and my ideas on the cosmos and life have considerably changed the past 3-4 years. One of the major areas that really gets me confused is the idea of a soul. I do believe that every human has some sort of non-physical entity, however the idea that every living thing contains a soul has allways puzzled.
I just wanted to understand some other people’s ideas on this issue.
It really depends on how you look at life, or existence. What do you see when you look outside of your house. What do you feel like when you are alone or isolated? If you really want my thought on the matter, I think there is some force of existence. I don’t think it is a soul or a qi though.
Try posting this under religion, you can get more replies there.
The ILP religion forum already has a very similar thread named What is a soul or a spirit?
Have you ever looked into the eyes of a dog? Really looked — if there isn’t a soul in a dog, then there sure isn’t one in humans. Same goes for any other animals I have dealt with.
I understand the term ‘soul’ in present context to be synonymous with terms such as:
‘self’
‘me’
‘I’
‘ego’
‘you’
‘mind’
‘intelligence’
… and the like.
That said, I’d offer anything which exhibits ‘intelligence’ in some form or another (yes, even plants and micro-organisms in some cases) would thereby qualify as having a ‘soul’.
Personally, I’m not a fan of the term - the language could do well without it; but that’s neither here nor there.
Hardly, eastern mysticism is seens as a meta-psychology. This is as good a place as any.
A
If the soul is a ressonant consciousness that can exist outside of matter, then I suppose that all sorts of animals have souls.
Especially note old extinct species, and most intelligent modern non-human species such as chimps, dolphins, porpuses, cuddle-fish, elephants; the list goes on.
Anthromorphic astral beings may actually be souls from different species which have integrated with eachother somehow.
“Insights” about passed lives and reincarnation may also be something other then a singe soul “reincarnating”, what is more likely is:
Lost souls of the dead want to find a new body, and the body is built especially to harbor souls, this certain souls are compatable with certian bodies, and a series of lost souls find their way into certain human bodies that are hospitable.
The idea of this sort of posession desturbs some, but which would you prefer?
1- Your wife has died, her soul is ‘escaping’ into space, where it will eventually “evaporate”.
2- Her soul enters your host body, and she still ‘exists’, at least partially.
The human digestive system has “healthy bacteria” in it, and this is an example of symbiosis. Symbiosis is a mutually favorable exchange of anything, whether inside or outside of the body, where as the parasite takes away but gives back nothing. This principal also applies to souls, astral beings, animate energies, etc.
Certain in-humanly, un-naturally evil people are most likely posessed by predatory & canibalistic “souls”/astral-beings, but even this is often a form of metaphysical symbiosis. I have seen very evil, terrible people who were un-naturally strong and healthy at the same time… It was strange to me, to see them thriving in situations that would weaken and kill normal people, but then I realized that these ones are not completely “human”.
Parasitism is a type of symbiosis. Not all symbiotic relationships are mutual.