Being more than your body and abilities = having a soul

Post Reply New Topic

I have discussed this before with some members on this board. One told me we should accept there only is the physical world and anything internal only matters if it is expressed externally in the real world.

I feel like I am "more" than my physical body and my abilities in life. I feel like I have what you might call a "soul", something that eventually means the most to me. So this notion on my internal world having no importance other than what it eventually expresses externally bothered me a whole lot.

I have finally understood what I exactly mean by having a "soul".

What I mean by having a soul is in fact having "free will to act", i.e. being independent of what other people want you to do, never being forced to act a certain way (unfairly, that is making people unequal).

Anyone else thought about having this "soul", i.e. being more than your physical body and your abilities?

(Thread moved from Autism discussion to PPR)

It depends on what you mean by the soul. While I believe that there is a life force within humans (that doesn't necessarily have to be local) that makes us more than machines, but I don't believe in a material soul. In any case, the only major religious group that says much about souls is hinduism.

i do not know if i have a soul. i see everything through my physical eyes, and i process everything i think with my material neurons, so it seems obvious that when they are both dead, then i will not see or think. i will not be any more.

however, i think that there is a "seat" of consciousness that i am in from where i "see" fundamentally what my eyes show and my mind thinks.
maybe that is my soul.

i will either know or not know after i die if my life was more than just the "stuff" of the physical universe.

if i am still aware after i die then it will be a scintillating revelation that during my physical life i was blind to.
if i am extinguished when i die i will never know and it will be like eternal and uninterrupted sleep, so there is really no difference. both outcomes result in eternal peace.

I know I have a soul, because I often spend so much time obsessing over it. My thoughts and emotions are often focused on spiritual matters, and how my choices affect such things.

I am not sure I believe in a soul. I believe that there is an essential self that is a part of you that is separate from the self that is constructed by society and your cultural surroundings however I believe that that could be explained in terms of a materialistic explanation. There is the theory that consciousness is not inherent to the brain but that you are just a receiver of consciousness and varying states of awareness. Many people that have out of body experiences say they feel afterwards that they feel as if there is something greater than themselves.

Yes, I believe with some exception that people have souls.
So do dogs.

I agree that the will is the root of the soul.

i've lived with one and for a time 'almost' 'completely' without one..

so yah..i have a soul...

it's easier to understand if ya loose it...

But to fullY gain IT

IS BLISS

BUDDHAHOOD..
CHRIST

OR WHATEVER YA WANNA CALLIT...

AND IT IS WITHOUT FORM..AND LIMITLESS....

AND A REAL THING ONE CAN PERCEIVE AND WILL WITH ONE

YES NIRVANA..BLISS..IT

SIMPLY IS
IS

IT
BUT SO HARD TO EXPLAIN IN WORDS..METAPHOR..OR ANY EXPRESSION OF HUMAN COMMUNICATION..

A LIGHT
MIGHT DESCRIBE IT BEST..EXPERIENCED WITH THE PERSON THAT HAS IT.....STRONGLY..AND

A SPECTRUM OF THAT FOR ALL....

WHO EXIST
AS ONE WITH ONE

AND YES OF COURSE all ANIMALS HAVE IT TOO...

PERHAPS MUCH STRONGER THAN human animals living with collective intelligence..complex language..complex culture..that can all deliver a smoke screen of illusion..to cloud a soul....

No. Just a heap of flesh, sinew and bones here. When I pass, as all living entities surely shall, I will know that I have left naught as a legacy, not even a slight echo. I am content with that fact. My mortal remains will subside into the earth and no traces will remain of my existence.

I believe the sub conscious is our true identity and that consciousness is a stroboscopic attempt for the subconscious to interact with physical reality.
Just musing

There is no evidence for a soul, and to pretend otherwise is a form of self-delusion.