Does everyone have a soul?

[RodISHI]

RodISHI, you have a very giving, caring, loving soul.

I just wanted to tell you that, by reading your posts on here the past few months, it shines through the screen on my computer.


You have made me think about a lot of things, and try to be a better person. It doesn't always work, but at least I'm trying. Some days are better than others!

Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that, but I'm sure you hear that a lot! You're that kind of person!

That is very sweet EZ. Thank you. I try not to come out to play on days I don't feel like being nice. Yet I do slip from time to time. We all do.

 

[Sky Dancer]

I do not know of anyone that does not have a soul or love someone in some form or another.

True love is that part that cares for another without looking at the part of a person that the world sees or to look beyond what the eyes of flesh sees. It is the part in each that cares for another living being. Even the most hard ass cases have loved another life form at one time or another.

Hmm. Just reflecting on your definition of 'true love'. What you call 'true love' I'd call 'pure essence nature--or buddha'.

It's what every sentient being has underneath all the adventitious confusion.

Using the phrase used by Jesus for the "adventitious confusion" as it is "of this world" or "the flesh".

I did not mean that the phrase 'adventitious confusion' means of this world or of the flesh.

The states of anger, neurotic attachment, jealousy, pride and ignorance may be collectively termed states of 'adventitious confusion'.

The primary state of 'adventitious confusion' is ignorance of our true nature. Ignorance of the essential purity of being--being lost in dualistic mind--separation--self and other.

All sentient beings have this essential purity although most of us will not realize it. Only human bengs have the potential of awakening.

 

[KittenKoder]

 

[LiveUninhibited]

There's barely more evidence for souls than for god or anything else generally understood as supernatural, which is a set of phenomena that transcend natural laws and probably do not exist in any form. A natural form of soul is possible - after all we don't fully understand the brain or consciousness, but I wouldn't go beyond speculation without actual evidence. It seems like we die and then we cease to exist, but that would be hard to demonstrate as a certainty.

Colorado ... wouldn't be myself if I didn't play devil's advocate here, however science itself has admitted to having no definitive answer to this. The biochemical properties of the brain include a lot of electrochemical responses as well. Science as determined that energy is never created or destroyed, it merely changes form and moves through physical particles. This being true, when a person dies the energy goes somewhere, and our brains hold a lot of it (not sure what the exact amount is but it's very measurable) and when we die the energy just seems to "vanish". Some have theorized that this is the scientific "spirit" which explains the existence of ghosts and such. There are many metaphysical studies which support this idea (after you filter through all the outrageous ones) and have demonstrated the high possibility that there is life after. So it is valid for even a die hard atheist to agree that there is a soul or spirit, atheists are just against the idea that there is a magical creator, not that life is binary.

I would also like to see a source, preferably from a neurological journal.

Much of energy used in the body is stored in chemical bonds, e.g. in ATP -> ADP + P, so I don't know what "vanishing energy" could be referring to.

What I can say is that the brain is, compared to the rest of our bodies, a rather enigmatic organ. We can readily demonstrate that the heart is a pump and how it can work so well for so long, as opposed to what was formerly thought: that it was a center of heat, or emotion. How a blob of fat with electrical impulses can make consciousness, however, is still out of reach. But lets not stuff gaps in knowledge with what we would like to believe. The fact that we don't know yet is not evidence of the supernatural.

 

[KittenKoder]

There's barely more evidence for souls than for god or anything else generally understood as supernatural, which is a set of phenomena that transcend natural laws and probably do not exist in any form. A natural form of soul is possible - after all we don't fully understand the brain or consciousness, but I wouldn't go beyond speculation without actual evidence. It seems like we die and then we cease to exist, but that would be hard to demonstrate as a certainty.

Colorado ... wouldn't be myself if I didn't play devil's advocate here, however science itself has admitted to having no definitive answer to this. The biochemical properties of the brain include a lot of electrochemical responses as well. Science as determined that energy is never created or destroyed, it merely changes form and moves through physical particles. This being true, when a person dies the energy goes somewhere, and our brains hold a lot of it (not sure what the exact amount is but it's very measurable) and when we die the energy just seems to "vanish". Some have theorized that this is the scientific "spirit" which explains the existence of ghosts and such. There are many metaphysical studies which support this idea (after you filter through all the outrageous ones) and have demonstrated the high possibility that there is life after. So it is valid for even a die hard atheist to agree that there is a soul or spirit, atheists are just against the idea that there is a magical creator, not that life is binary.

I would also like to see a source, preferably from a neurological journal.

Much of energy used in the body is stored in chemical bonds, e.g. in ATP -> ADP + P, so I don't know what "vanishing energy" could be referring to.

What I can say is that the brain is, compared to the rest of our bodies, a rather enigmatic organ. We can readily demonstrate that the heart is a pump and how it can work so well for so long, as opposed to what was formerly thought: that it was a center of heat, or emotion. How a blob of fat with electrical impulses can make consciousness, however, is still out of reach. But lets not stuff gaps in knowledge with what we would like to believe. The fact that we don't know yet is not evidence of the supernatural.

As I stated in response to the other request, I read a little on the subject in hard copy books and finding links to these types of sources is hard (too many crackpot ones). I only mentioned it as "devil's advocate" to offer that science doesn't say for certain one way or the other and that some scientists have explored the possibility in the past. However, technology in this area is too limited, there is no way to detect any theorized metaphysics or measure the energies in any way, so they can be nothing but theories.

 

[alan1]

Does everyone have a soul?



If so how would you describe what a soul is?

I don't.

 

[editec]

None of us cannot say with scietific certainty if anyone has a soul, but if any life does, then I suspect all life does.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Does everyone have a soul?



If so how would you describe what a soul is?

All Humans have a soul. It is the essence of you.

 

[dilloduck]

Does everyone have a soul?



If so how would you describe what a soul is?

All Humans have a soul. It is the essence of you.

Do you think it ever changes ( ages, matures or learns ? )

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Does everyone have a soul?



If so how would you describe what a soul is?

All Humans have a soul. It is the essence of you.

Do you think it ever changes ( ages, matures or learns ? )

It is part of you, as you change so changes your soul. When you die it goes to sleep awaiting for Judgement day and the promise made by God and Jesus. Those destined for Heaven will stay as non corpreal and ascend. The rest that are not judged and destroyed will receive a body to live in that will suffer no disease or sickness and be nearly immortal. They will reside on a Paradise Earth. Ruled by Jesus.

 

[dilloduck]

All Humans have a soul. It is the essence of you.

Do you think it ever changes ( ages, matures or learns ? )

It is part of you, as you change so changes your soul. When you die it goes to sleep awaiting for Judgement day and the promise made by God and Jesus. Those destined for Heaven will stay as non corpreal and ascend. The rest that are not judged and destroyed will receive a body to live in that will suffer no disease or sickness and be nearly immortal. They will reside on a Paradise Earth. Ruled by Jesus.

Why does it reside in our bodies ?

 

[Sky Dancer]

Do you think it ever changes ( ages, matures or learns ? )

It is part of you, as you change so changes your soul. When you die it goes to sleep awaiting for Judgement day and the promise made by God and Jesus. Those destined for Heaven will stay as non corpreal and ascend. The rest that are not judged and destroyed will receive a body to live in that will suffer no disease or sickness and be nearly immortal. They will reside on a Paradise Earth. Ruled by Jesus.

Why does it reside in our bodies ?

That's a really good question. (Oops, I thought you were asking where does the 'soul' reside in the body). I doubt anyone who believes in a soul can tell us definitively where it resides in the body.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Does everyone have a soul?



If so how would you describe what a soul is?

All Humans have a soul. It is the essence of you.

You make it sound as if the 'soul' is the personality--your 'youness' as RGS. . Is that what you think? That who you are on this earth, at this time, is worth preserving eternally?

What do you mean by the soul being the 'essence of you'?

 

[Sky Dancer]

None of us cannot say with scietific certainty if anyone has a soul, but if any life does, then I suspect all life does.

Do plants have a soul? By your definition, anything alive has a soul. Is 'soul' sentience? Knowing oneself to be. If so, then even insects and animals have sentience. Which corresponds to Buddhist teachings that all life, all beings, have sentience.

What separates a Buddha from a sentient being is another topic.

Belief in a soul is a form of eternalism. The truth is said to exist beyond the two extremes of eternalism and nihilsim.

 

[strollingbones]

i have not read the prior posts.

yes, we have souls. animals have souls..we get this souls from a collective or the "mother" soul...when one dies...the soul rejoins the others...you can learn from each other and take the suffering of other souls...our souls have nothing to do with our bodies...bodies are merely weak vehicles...i think we modify our bodies to suit our souls...but that is all our bodies are....vessels...

are their religions or cultures that have no concept of soul?

now i will read everyone elses post....(as long as they are not in color )

 

[strollingbones]

but do not the anointed realize it sgt? i have often heard it said...those destiny for heaven know it and it is reconized by others...i have never understood that concept...but i do think the peace it gives others who are not disfellowshipped.....another thing...i am gonna straight out ask your ass.....you are a witness ...disfellowshipped i would guess but still devout....are you? you make very clear references to the witnesses beliefs yet you concern yourself with the secular....so explain yourself there?

 

[RetiredGySgt]

but do not the anointed realize it sgt? i have often heard it said...those destiny for heaven know it and it is reconized by others...i have never understood that concept...but i do think the peace it gives others who are not disfellowshipped.....another thing...i am gonna straight out ask your ass.....you are a witness ...disfellowshipped i would guess but still devout....are you? you make very clear references to the witnesses beliefs yet you concern yourself with the secular....so explain yourself there?

I am a Mormon. The Mormons also believe that there will be 3 rings of living about God, in the inner ring will be the most devout, the most good, as you move away from that you inhabit the other 2 rings. I happen to believe that there is but two, Heaven and Earth. Though the 3rd could be those that do not reside, on Earth, near a place that Jesus would visit much.

I have had teachings from the Witnesses yes. Another thing Mormons are taught is to pray for guidance and to live according to what you understand through prayer to be proper within the Church.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Ohh by the way, though the church skirts it, the Mormon church also believes what the Bible says, that no man save Jesus has ascended, that when you die you sleep until Judgement Day, no hell or Heaven for the dead.

Not a strong selling point in today's societies where everyone wants to feel good. So unless you press the issue No Missionary, Elder or Church Leader will openly teach this anymore.

 

[strollingbones]

uh oh i have been watching "big love" sorry for the assumption ...i work with a lot of witnesses and they say many of the same things...but have no interest in the secular..so how much of "big love" is real...i know the compounds exist but i also know that in this area...plural marriage is basically ignored....just considered an oddity but if it works for the people involved...no one cares...i do think it is a shame that the chruch had to give up the practice...now do you consider it a true calling?

 

[RodISHI]

Hmm. Just reflecting on your definition of 'true love'. What you call 'true love' I'd call 'pure essence nature--or buddha'.

It's what every sentient being has underneath all the adventitious confusion.

Using the phrase used by Jesus for the "adventitious confusion" as it is "of this world" or "the flesh".

I did not mean that the phrase 'adventitious confusion' means of this world or of the flesh.

The states of anger, neurotic attachment, jealousy, pride and ignorance may be collectively termed states of 'adventitious confusion'.

The primary state of 'adventitious confusion' is ignorance of our true nature. Ignorance of the essential purity of being--being lost in dualistic mind--separation--self and other.

All sentient beings have this essential purity although most of us will not realize it. Only human bengs have the potential of awakening.

I did not mean to infer that it was your definition Sky. It was more of an effort to find that "common ground" you referred to when I first started posting here.


Using the definition of adventitious confusion as in of the nature of an addition from without (like a cancer). By what you appear to be saying is it does not truly belong to the soul or "sentient being" as you refer to it, more that it is merely an attachment. The flesh contains the soul/living being and the flesh which is carnal (worldly or earthly; temporalis of the world).

For now that flesh is what living souls here on earth are contained in and when the attachments/"aventitious confusion" as you call it or the spirits and principalities as Jesus called it are allowed to the inhibit the being, the soul suffers in this world from the woes you have mentioned.

Definition of Adventitious
Adventitious: Coming from an external source or occurring in an unusual place or manner. Not inherent, inherited or innate but rather occurring accidentally or spontaneously.

When a doctor or nurse auscults (listens to) the chest or abdomen, adventitious sounds are those that are normally not heard coming from the chest or abdomen.

The word "adventitious" comes from the Latin "adventicius" meaning "foreign, strange, extraneous, coming from abroad or from outside." This, in turn, comes from the verb "advenire" meaning "to come to" or "to arrive." Other English words that stem from "advenire" include "adventure," "avenue," and the medical term "adventitia."

Animals or humans can be sentient beings as either can show emotion having a consciousness/awareness of feelings of love.

sen⋅tient   /ˈsɛnʃənt/ Pronunciation [sen-shuhnt]
–adjective 1. having the power of perception by the senses; conscious.
2. characterized by sensation and consciousness.

–noun 3. a person or thing that is sentient.
4. Archaic. the conscious mind.

It is possible the term aware and awake may get confused between our precepts here.