Do human beings have an identity that is distinct from their biological brain?

linux.poet · Jan 10, 2026

Christians generally believe that they do, namely the soul and spirit. But what do you believe?

I believe that there is another self that observes the errors of my fallen brain and rebukes said brain for making them, groaning when I have to go back to the silverware drawer on the other side of the room because I forgot my fork again. (At this rate I am going to have an entirely different kitchen when I design my house, or just a cart that I can put all of my food bottles and utensils on so I do not have to endlessly crisscross the kitchen floor every time I eat. It is so annoying.) It’s not just my traumatized brain that lives in my skull, it’s another self also lives inside that gets mad at the traumatized brain for being traumatized. “You should not be traumatized! You should remember the fork!”

I suppose if you thought we were more interwoven with our bodies you would think that there is an undamaged part of my brain that observes the damaged part of my brain that cannot remember forks. However, the more I heal from trauma and the more I understand it the more I view my soul and spirit as being drivers with my body and brain as a vehicle they are piloting and moving around. What do you think?

NBB · Jan 11, 2026

Yes we have a soul, people are spiritual beings meaning soul/spirit
The bible talks about the heart, "he said in his heart" etc, people also mention it frequently even unbelievers, people know, but are not conscious about it.

Larniavc · Jan 11, 2026

I don’t see any evidence of a soul so I can’t say one exists. I think our experience of consciousness is amazing but see no evidence that it is independent from our brain.

Robban · Jan 11, 2026

linux.poet said:
Christians generally believe that they do, namely the soul and spirit. But what do you believe?

I believe that there is another self that observes the errors of my fallen brain and rebukes said brain for making them, groaning when I have to go back to the silverware drawer on the other side of the room because I forgot my fork again. (At this rate I am going to have an entirely different kitchen when I design my house, or just a cart that I can put all of my food bottles and utensils on so I do not have to endlessly crisscross the kitchen floor every time I eat. It is so annoying.) It’s not just my traumatized brain that lives in my skull, it’s another self also lives inside that gets mad at the traumatized brain for being traumatized. “You should not be traumatized! You should remember the fork!”

I suppose if you thought we were more interwoven with our bodies you would think that there is an undamaged part of my brain that observes the damaged part of my brain that cannot remember forks. However, the more I heal from trauma and the more I understand it the more I view my soul and spirit as being drivers with my body and brain as a vehicle they are piloting and moving around. What do you think?

I see it more like the body is a vehicle and the soul is what vitalizes it,

There is no need for evidence, the soul is the "I", if there is no soul then neither is there an I and I do not exist, God forbid.

Robban · Jan 11, 2026

Robban said:
I see it more like the body is a vehicle and the soul is what vitalizes it,

There is no need for evidence, the soul is the "I", if there is no soul then neither is there an I and I do not exist, God forbid.

Maybe should note, the brain is in the head, the head is seperated from the body by a narrow channel,

though not hindering bloodflow to and through it, it allows only a trickle downward to the part where the Godly part of our soul resides.

Maria Billingsley · Jan 11, 2026

Larniavc said:
I don’t see any evidence of a soul so I can’t say one exists. I think our experience of consciousness is amazing but see no evidence that it is independent from our brain.

This is a non- Christian view. She did say Christian.

Robban · Jan 11, 2026

Maria Billingsley said:
This is a non- Christian view. She did say Christian.

She wrote Generally, and then asked what do you think, and it is so that Christians generally seldom mention soul.

Maria Billingsley · Jan 11, 2026

linux.poet said:
Christians generally believe that they do, namely the soul and spirit. But what do you believe?

I believe that there is another self that observes the errors of my fallen brain and rebukes said brain for making them, groaning when I have to go back to the silverware drawer on the other side of the room because I forgot my fork again. (At this rate I am going to have an entirely different kitchen when I design my house, or just a cart that I can put all of my food bottles and utensils on so I do not have to endlessly crisscross the kitchen floor every time I eat. It is so annoying.) It’s not just my traumatized brain that lives in my skull, it’s another self also lives inside that gets mad at the traumatized brain for being traumatized. “You should not be traumatized! You should remember the fork!”

I suppose if you thought we were more interwoven with our bodies you would think that there is an undamaged part of my brain that observes the damaged part of my brain that cannot remember forks. However, the more I heal from trauma and the more I understand it the more I view my soul and spirit as being drivers with my body and brain as a vehicle they are piloting and moving around. What do you think?

I have a dichotomous Christian world view so the soul and spirit are interchangeable. My understanding is that this part of our creation , soul/ spirit is what is needed to connect to our Creator. By His Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ of Nazareth " makes His Home in us" connecting to our spirit/soul. We then become One with Him.
The scripture most directly stating this is 1 Corinthians 6:17 which says, "But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." Additionally, 1 Corinthians 12:13 speaks to this unity, stating, "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit."
The scripture that describes His Spirit joining with our spirit is Romans 8:16 "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God."
That being said, our brain is flesh and is subject to all its forms of weakness including forgetfulness. Scripture, describes this weakness of the flesh as the inherent human condition prone to sin and opposed to the will of God, even in believers. Romans 7:18 states, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find," This weakness creates a conflict, as Galatians 5:17 says, "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish." Additionally, Jesus acknowledged this frailty when He told His disciples in Matthew 26:41, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
Blessings

peter2 · Jan 11, 2026

linux.poet said:
Christians generally believe that they do, namely the soul and spirit. But what do you believe?

I believe that there is another self that observes the errors of my fallen brain and rebukes said brain for making them, groaning when I have to go back to the silverware drawer on the other side of the room because I forgot my fork again. (At this rate I am going to have an entirely different kitchen when I design my house, or just a cart that I can put all of my food bottles and utensils on so I do not have to endlessly crisscross the kitchen floor every time I eat. It is so annoying.) It’s not just my traumatized brain that lives in my skull, it’s another self also lives inside that gets mad at the traumatized brain for being traumatized. “You should not be traumatized! You should remember the fork!”

I suppose if you thought we were more interwoven with our bodies you would think that there is an undamaged part of my brain that observes the damaged part of my brain that cannot remember forks. However, the more I heal from trauma and the more I understand it the more I view my soul and spirit as being drivers with my body and brain as a vehicle they are piloting and moving around. What do you think?

Maria Billingsley said:
That being said, our brain is flesh and is subject to all its forms of weakness including forgetfulness. Scripture, describes this weakness of the flesh as the inherent human condition prone to sin and opposed to the will of God, even in believers. Romans 7:18 states, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find," This weakness creates a conflict, as Galatians 5:17 says, "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish." Additionally, Jesus acknowledged this frailty when He told His disciples in Matthew 26:41, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Hello
Sorry if i quote both of you in the same message.
I propose to meditate 1 John 4 : 2-3 :

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess [a]that Jesus [b]Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Now, i've got no straight response, for i don't either know accurately what the flesh points to.
What i understand is there a distinction, this Maria gives reference of : Mt 26 : 41, between spirit and flesh.
However it looks to me likely the spirit should be ruling both aspects of what you are questionning, Linux.poet, that would indeed be, as some other already told, 2 parts of the (body/?/flesh)

Maria Billingsley · Jan 11, 2026

peter2 said:
However it looks to me likely the spirit should be ruling both aspects of what you are questionning, Linux.poet, that would indeed be, as some other already told, 2 parts of the (body/?/flesh)

Yes, both. It is not our spirit but His Holy Spirit who dwells in us , who is also our Helper, that directs us towards righteousness thus, equipping us to make better decisions that are in His Will. We can't do any of this without the flesh as all works are displayed through the flesh.

peter2 · Jan 11, 2026

Maria Billingsley said:
Yes, both. It is not our spirit but His Holy Spirit who dwells in us , who is also our Helper, that directs us towards righteousness thus, equipping us to make better decisions that are in His Will. We can't do any of this without the flesh as all works are displayed through the flesh.

Hi Maria
Yes, may be. But for me it all depends on what the flesh points to, which i don't know.
Indeed in the verse : Jn 6 63 :

63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

the flesh is told to profit nothing, while in the french catholic official version (aelf), it's told to not be able of anything, which is not strictly the same.
I don't know which gives the best translation nor if it's truly relevant since the 63 verse speaks of life, whereas you are speaking of works. Not the same either. May be you are right and 63 verse has nothing to do with your saying

linux.poet · Jan 13, 2026

Maria Billingsley said:
This is a non- Christian view. She did say Christian.

Larniavc said:
I don’t see any evidence of a soul so I can’t say one exists. I think our experience of consciousness is amazing but see no evidence that it is independent from our brain.

@Robban

This thread is open for non-believer opinions to be contributed. There is a lot of intellectual ground to cover between the Christian soul/spirit view and the evolutionist scientific view that claims our conscious mind purely arises from the brain. There may be other views in answer to my question that I haven’t considered.

I started this thread by voicing my own opinion, but I did expect it to be challenged.

Robban · Jan 13, 2026

linux.poet said:
@Robban

This thread is open for non-believer opinions to be contributed. There is a lot of intellectual ground to cover between the Christian soul/spirit view and the evolutionist scientific view that claims our conscious mind purely arises from the brain. There may be other views in answer to my question that I haven’t considered.

I started this thread by voicing my own opinion, but I did expect it to be challenged.

Post #7, Edit, what I have written on this thread is not in Chinese, if you cannot understand it, then eat what you can and leave the rest.

Robban · Jan 13, 2026

Robban said:
Post #7 is not in Chinese, if you cannot understand it, then eat what you can and leave the rest.

You ended your OP with, "What do you think."

johansen · Jan 13, 2026

linux.poet said:
I believe that there is another self that observes the errors of my fallen brain and rebukes said brain for making them, groaning when I have to go back to the silverware drawer on the other side of the room because I forgot my fork again. (...)

I suppose if you thought we were more interwoven with our bodies you would think that there is an undamaged part of my brain that observes the damaged part of my brain that cannot remember forks. However, the more I heal from trauma and the more I understand it the more I view my soul and spirit as being drivers with my body and brain as a vehicle they are piloting and moving around. What do you think?

I think that you are on the dissociative spectrum and this is all part of yourself.

That said i do believe our consciousness is outside of time. So when a traumatized part of my wifes mind felt safe enough to wake up (before we married) she.. didnt know that she had graduated college...!

Yet, i discovered later that said part of her mind was actually in charge of the dissociative system all along all the way back to 2 years of age and had the power to manipulate the memories and thoughts and experiences of the other parts that it had created!

The mistake some non christians make is to believe that these more mature or more righteous parts of themselves, are a spiritually separate "higher self" that they should follow. This can be true sometimes, on short term basis, but ultimately only Jesus has the longer term wisdom we need to make right decisions.

My wife thinks im polyfragmented, im not so sure.

johansen · Jan 13, 2026

linux.poet said:
t’s not just my traumatized brain that lives in my skull, it’s another self also lives inside that gets mad at the traumatized brain for being traumatized. “You should not be traumatized! You should remember the fork!”

So everyone has a part of themselves that harasses them, its called your inner critic.

Its just that its not significantly separate from yourself as you describe.

A google search for "silencing your inner critic" leads to many books on the subject.

JacquelineDeane55 · Jan 24, 2026

This is kind of a deep, philosophical question.

I have always believed that people had souls, even though some people claim that there is no evidence for one. Like the user above me.

But I think the Bible is in support of people having souls. Didn't Jesus say to the thief on the cross: "Today you shall be with me in Paradise?" I think that that requires the existence of life after death, don't you? Some sort of afterlife where people exist as ghosts/spirits. Isn't God the Father a Spirit as well? Well, there you have your answer then.

johansen · Jan 24, 2026

JacquelineDeane55 said:
I have always believed that people had souls, even though some people claim that there is no evidence for one. Like the user above me.

I dont know why you think i said that, but i can assure you Our souls do not speak to us as if they are another person.

RileyG · Jan 26, 2026

I think the soul is the spark of life and it's eternal. It doesn't "forget" anything.

peter2 · Jan 26, 2026

linux.poet said:
I suppose if you thought we were more interwoven with our bodies you would think that there is an undamaged part of my brain that observes the damaged part of my brain that cannot remember forks. However, the more I heal from trauma and the more I understand it the more I view my soul and spirit as being drivers with my body and brain as a vehicle they are piloting and moving around. What do you think?

Perhaps it is simply that the brain is overinvested, to the detriment of sensory functions.
A 19th-century Swiss Christian doctor, Dr. Vittoz, developed a very interesting theory, and I believe his analysis.
Basically, he recommends taking the time to reconnect with your five senses through conscious rehabilitation exercises, where, instead of letting the brain get carried away with emotional or intellectual excesses.
In these exercises, it is the reconnection to the five senses that allows us to disconnect from the cerebral brain in real time.
This relieves it.
It is as if the nervous system needs to “breathe,” that is, to move back and forth between the central and peripheral nervous systems.
Perhaps a simple manual hobby can restore this link, if indeed that is the problem.

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Do human beings have an identity that is distinct from their biological brain?

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