Please Explain a Soul

[Daughter of His]

We are three parts;
body-physical
soul -mind, will, emotions
spirit - spirit man

 

[Soul2Soul]

Actually I was talking about your spirit; not the Holy Spirit. Do you believe it is possible for you to gain control of your spirit?

Ken

As far as I am aware - I believe that is not possible.

 

[Ken-1122]

As far as I am aware - I believe that is not possible.

What is the function or purpose of the soul?

Ken

 

[Glico]

I have an interesting question I would like to ask everyone: Do you think Christians have two spirits (regular spirit given by God at birth, and another spirit, The Holy Spirit, given also by God, when we believe in him?).

Or do you think The Holy Spirit combines with our regular spirit, into one spirit?

 

[Soul2Soul]

What is the function or purpose of the soul?

Ken

My understanding is that either would be essentially for the soul to know God.

 

[EnemyOfReason]

The soul or nafs/نَفْس is the intellectual component of a conscious being while the spirit or ruh/روح is the existence of the being. The soul requires a mode for its existence.

 

[Ken-1122]

My understanding is that either would be essentially for the soul to know God.

Is the soul the same as the brain? If not then why is it necessary for people to use their brains to get to know God?

Ken

 

[Soul2Soul]

Is the soul the same as the brain? If not then why is it necessary for people to use their brains to get to know God?

Ken

Well - my thoughts are that the soul is the entirety of the person .... some believe that a "God Spot" exists in the brain so perhaps intuition, emotions and to a lesser extent imagination as well as the other functions of the brain could play a part in getting to know God? The Bible mentions that "God has set eternity in the heart of man" Ecclesiastes 3:11 .... I appreciate that you might have different views on that scripture .. but can I ask what you think it could/should mean to a believer or maybe even a non believer?

 

[Ken-1122]

Well - my thoughts are that the soul is the entirety of the person .... some believe that a "God Spot" exists in the brain so perhaps intuition, emotions and to a lesser extent imagination as well as the other functions of the brain could play a part in getting to know God? The Bible mentions that "God has set eternity in the heart of man" Ecclesiastes 3:11 .... I appreciate that you might have different views on that scripture .. but can I ask what you think it could/should mean to a believer or maybe even a non believer?

If the Soul is the same as a person, doesn't that make the term usless? I mean why make up a new word when we already have a word for that?

Ken

 

[Soul2Soul]

If the Soul is the same as a person, doesn't that make the term usless? I mean why make up a new word when we already have a word for that?

Ken

Interestingly, whilst flicking through a newspaper last week I came across a large headline across two pages which read: "Vanished: Airplane with 239 souls on board" - perhaps the term soul is not useless rather it is used less?

 

[Redemptions]

"You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." CS Lewis

Your soul your complete self, your thoughts, feelings, and beliefts, but without the burdensome self-limiting shell called a body. People who have near death experiences report that when they are away from their body that things seem to feel real for the first time. And that compared to reality on Earth, being apart from your body seems more real, less fuzzy, and less dream-like. And that is precisely because it is your reality.

As far as the senses go, your senses are a subjective experience. It is an experience inside of your mind. Your mind remains intact and is more complete without the limiting hardware of the body.

 

[Chany]

"You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." CS Lewis

Your soul your complete self, your thoughts, feelings, and beliefts, but without the burdensome self-limiting shell called a body. People who have near death experiences report that when they are away from their body that things seem to feel real for the first time. And that compared to reality on Earth, being apart from your body seems more real, less fuzzy, and less dream-like. And that is precisely because it is your reality.

As far as the senses go, your senses are a subjective experience. It is an experience inside of your mind. Your mind remains intact and is more complete without the limiting hardware of the body.

So, when I suffer brain injury and my thoughts change?

Also, why would our souls br limited to a shell?

 

[Redemptions]

So, when I suffer brain injury and my thoughts change?

Also, why would our souls br limited to a shell?

Your brain is the apparatus that the soul works through. Like a television set receiving a signal from a satellite. If the TV is damaged, the picture and the transmission will suffer, although the signal itself is just fine.

Speculating on the 2nd question (while interesting) could only prove fruitless as we would then be attempting to speculate on the motives of a creator who is infinitely more intelligent than us. Akin to asking a fruitlfly to explain the feats of human engineering.

 

[poolerboy0077]

Your brain is the apparatus that the soul works through.

Why would there need to be a brain in the first place if, according to religious beliefs, such a soul can operate absent a brain, such as when the body (and brain) dies yet the soul lifts into heaven?

Also, there needs to be evidence for such a claim, not just assertions that sound sensible under assumed premises.

 

[Lollerskates]

Countless times on here I've seen the term "soul" and "spirit" used almost interchangeably...and without any real explanation for what they mean. The clearest understanding I have, is that a soul is some part of you that exists apart from your physical self (as in, a supernatural part of a person).

Frankly, this sounds awful. Without eyes, ears, nerves, a tongue, a nose...and all the other rather nice physical bits of myself, I'd just be some thinking "essence" without any real sensory experience. Does this actually sound good to anyone? Would you want to exist as this? Am I way off here? If so...please correct my understanding...but before you do...consider please...

If a soul has access to all the sensory experiences we have and enjoy in our physical bodies, just what is the point of having a physical body? Wouldn't we all be better off as souls?

Just for reference, I don't believe in the soul, or spirit, but I'm curious how those who do reconcile this.

The "soul" goes into fringe territory between Kabala, Hebrew, Christian, Pagan, New Age, et cetera. All "religions" know what the soul is, but vary in description.

From a Christian standpoint, I would say the soul is the literal essence of "you." It is easy to think of it as abstract, but imagine if abstractions were physical. This is sort of where the myth of "elementals" come from. A soul is the sum of "you - whether tangible or intangible.

A spirit is the activity and liveliness of "you." A body is a vessel for those things to happen on the physical realm.

 

[Redemptions]

Why would there need to be a brain in the first place if, according to religious beliefs, such a soul can operate absent a brain, such as when the body (and brain) dies yet the soul lifts into heaven?

Also, there needs to be evidence for such a claim, not just assertions that sound sensible under assumed premises.

Again, I cannot speculate upon the motives of the creator as to why we are made the way we are. Nobody would ever be able to answer such a question, nor should anybody be expected to.

The evidence for me flows from the evidence of Christianity, which I feel to be surprisingly strong. Or, as strong as such a thing could be. So my conclusion flows from the premise of this and from the experiences of people who have Near death experiences which are out of body and they have explained events which happened while they were medically dead but were resuscitated. In one case it is proven that a man claimed to have floated above his body, indeed above the hospital. When he was resuscitated he told everybody that there was a single left footed shoe on top of the hospital. And, sure enough, when they went to investigate, there was a shoe. That is one simple case. It's a long and complicated topic, of which entire books have been written.

At any rate, the thread asked me to explain the soul. What the evidence is for the soul is an entire different question for a separate thread.

 

[Ana the Ist]

"You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body." CS Lewis

Your soul your complete self, your thoughts, feelings, and beliefts, but without the burdensome self-limiting shell called a body. People who have near death experiences report that when they are away from their body that things seem to feel real for the first time. And that compared to reality on Earth, being apart from your body seems more real, less fuzzy, and less dream-like. And that is precisely because it is your reality.

As far as the senses go, your senses are a subjective experience. It is an experience inside of your mind. Your mind remains intact and is more complete without the limiting hardware of the body.

Well thank you for giving maybe the most complete answer to the OP. Most posters didn't even bother trying to tackle the notion of whether or not the soul has "senses". You clearly seem to think it does....which seems a bit odd. If we don't need eyes to see, ears to hear, etc, then why are some people blind? Why wouldn't their soul just take over the process of "seeing"?

 

[Redemptions]

Well thank you for giving maybe the most complete answer to the OP. Most posters didn't even bother trying to tackle the notion of whether or not the soul has "senses". You clearly seem to think it does....which seems a bit odd. If we don't need eyes to see, ears to hear, etc, then why are some people blind? Why wouldn't their soul just take over the process of "seeing"?

Hi Ana. It goes back to what I was saying about being momentarily limited by our "shell." When we are restricted to the physical universe I believe that we are bound by it's rules and regulations. IE-scientific laws, and the physiological/anatomical laws which govern the body. But when we are free from our shell, the same laws do not apply. But blind people are still "stuck in their shell", for lack of a better term.

Hope you're having a good day!

 

[Ana the Ist]

Hi Ana. It goes back to what I was saying about being momentarily limited by our "shell." When we are restricted to the physical universe I believe that we are bound by it's rules and regulations. IE-scientific laws, and the physiological/anatomical laws which govern the body. But when we are free from our shell, the same laws do not apply. But blind people are still "stuck in their shell", for lack of a better term.

Hope you're having a good day!

So literally, you feel that the soul is somehow "restricted by the body" and once the body dies, the soul is "free" and fully capable of experiencing the world. Got it.

So why have a body at all then? Clearly we're all better off just as souls...what's the point of having a body?

I'm having a great day, thank you lol.

 

[poolerboy0077]

The evidence for me flows from the evidence of Christianity, which I feel to be surprisingly strong. Or, as strong as such a thing could be.

Which is...?

So my conclusion flows from the premise of this and from the experiences of people who have Near death experiences which are out of body and they have explained events which happened while they were medically dead but were resuscitated.

Near-death experiences aren't about medical deaths. That's why the words "near death" are used. Moreover, experiences under a particular state don't demonstrate that what was experienced actually occurred. Near-death experiences have been induced in the lab. That someone "feels" as though they're floating outside their body doesn't prove anything, apart from just feeling that they were.

In one case it is proven that a man claimed to have floated above his body, indeed above the hospital. When he was resuscitated he told everybody that there was a single left footed shoe on top of the hospital. And, sure enough, when they went to investigate, there was a shoe. That is one simple case. It's a long and complicated topic, of which entire books have been written.

I've come across that story before. It's just a story. There's no evidence of this actually having occurred.

At any rate, the thread asked me to explain the soul. What the evidence is for the soul is an entire different question for a separate thread.

There's no point is describing something that we haven't even established actually exists.