Do people really have souls?

Question

What do you guys think?

Answer 1

I have some on my shoes

Answer 2

what does the word 'soul' refer to ? Is it a general 'spiritual' dimension to life , or something like an individual body, only ,on a different plane?
Does it have characteristics, and if so which of these are lost at death with the body and brain ?
If it does not have characteristics, why do we talk of 'souls' rather than 'soul', we talk of air which reaches and nourishes everywhere, not airs located in different places ?
Is it re-born or reincarnated, or does it perish at physical death, or 'live' forever in another dimension?
Does it reside in the heart ,head ,hand or the whole body, or as an aura occupying the same space? If someone has a heart operation, amputation, lobotomy ,or is split in two ,and kept alive by some amazing new technique, does the 'soul' become two,stay with the heart, hand, or what ?
Is the 'soul' conciousness, awareness, thoughts and emotions, will, something that perceives all of these, but is not them, or all of these ? Are some of these things dependant on the brains functioning ?On the body ?
I don't want to influence your own investigation, but to me this existance originates in a more subtle force. The material world is formed from, and by it and all the distinctions of that world ,are created by relationships ,between things. There are also distinctions in the mental and psychic realms, but when those forms dissolve, as all forms do, the constituents come together in new forms endlessly, and that subtle force is always present, but never split into pieces.

Answer 3

You may not understand this: the soul is liberty.

There is a huge misunderstanding about “soul”. Peoples usually understand it as some sort of entity (spiritual vs corporal). In fact, if one study carefully the occasions in the history, literature etc. where it is questioned of soul it becomes clear that what peoples really refer to is liberty. That is, our capacity of acting in this world. For instance, loosing your soul is losing your liberty (try it, each time you use the name soul use instead liberty and you’ll see it always work).

This is a very ancient notion. Since it is not understood it creates myths. The possibility of acting on things. To change reality (in an irremediable way). The ancient were seeing this capacity almost as a sin (the original sin in the bible is an action…the creation of the world is an action). We judge peoples by (or for) their actions.

It may be indeed that our liberty is something as fundamental and primeval as our conscience. I believe it may have to do with the way the Universe work physically. It may have its origin in the undeterministic laws of quantum mechanics (sorry, obviously this part needs more explanations...I told you you may not understand it).

Answer 4

if the soul does exist, i think it is perfectly possible to have a pure soul without following any religion.

i wonder what is the difference between the soul/thespirit/the mind?

when av had psychotic episodes, i have heard voices outside my head, voices i did not recognise. are these spirits? is there a part of the brain that is dormant whereby we can tap into a possible spirit world? is reality the way things are, only moreso?

i wont say if i believe there is such a thing as a soul as i cannot prove nor disprove either way. what i will say is meditation is a beautiful way to calm the chatter in one's mind, irrespective of which religion, if any, you subscribe to. i am agnostic, and i can still achieve inner peace by the practice of meditation.

and yeah, otis reading had soul, his soul is good for my soul, whatever that is. ditto aretha franklin.

or is the soul just nothingness?

excellent question, often wondered this meself.

Answer 5

Actually, we actually don't "have souls" so much as we ARE souls. The material body is just a housing for the soul, so really souls have bodies, not the other way around, because without the soul, the body is empty and useless.

Answer 6

A person would weigh 21 grams less when he's dead. This is a proven fact. This leaves us with the proof that the soul weighs 21 grams. So yes, we definately have a soul. There's a film called 21 grams by Sean Penn, you could watch that as well.

Answer 7

200 years of spiritualism and we still have no concrete evidence of any kind of survival after death.

As far as I am aware that 21 grams thing was discovered by a scientist called Duncan Macdougall and is extremely controversial, it has NEVER been reproduced by any other scientist within laboratory conditions.

You could conceivably call the brains electrical field a soul as energy can not be destroyed - however this in no way suggests a survival of consciousness.

I hope I'm wrong.

Answer 8

Yes. I believe the body (be it human or animal) is just a vessel to carry the soul. The soul is the real 'person' inside - even if it is well hidden.

Answer 9

There is a theory that the moment you die, you loose a small amount of weight (i believe it is 13 grams), some people believe that this is the weight of a soul. I dont know if this helps. Despite whether this is fact or not, i believe deeply in souls.

Answer 10

Yes I believe we do. I often see death as I am a nurse. When a person dies, we, as nurses, leave the window of the room/cubicle open to allow the spirit/soul to leave the body. This way, the soul is not 'trapped in the room'

Answer 11

People have a spiritual dimension so to that extent they do have souls.
No one knows if the soul dies when your body dies but it seams that the spirit remains the same age as we grow older so perhaps it does continue in some form or other after we die.

I think that when the light goes out , the light goes out though.