Do you believe that human beings have a SOUL? If so, why? If not, why not?

Question

Please don't be vague and new-agey about this! Tell me what you think but argue your case robustly!

Answer 1

I believe in what Socrates and his pupil Plato described as the "psyche," which many compare to the concept of a "spirit" or a "soul". But they were coming from a philosophical not a religious perspective.

They focused on the moral and ethical responsibility that each individual had in cultivating his/her psyche and developed intellectual exercises to enable one to do so.

Socrates also developed the concept of the "daemon," which is comparable to a conscience, a concept that was later erroneously (and perhaps intentionally villianously) redefined as a "demon."

Plato also divided the psyche into three parts, roughly corresponding to reason, emotion, and desire and developed the analogy of the human as a charioteer (the psyche) that must control a dark horse (the body: emotion and desire cultivated by the physical world) an a companion white horse (the mind: reason and the ideal world of the abstract), keeping them from going in different directions while driving them towards enlightenment (the Good).

Given that Socrates is considered to be the most revoultionary mind and one of the (if not THE) most important philsophers of the ancient world, I don't know why more people don't see that these concepts exist outside of religion . And that there are means by which one can become an ethical and moral individual without subscribing to some religion.

Maybe its because most of us don't study philosophy anymore?

Answer 2

What you are really asking is, "Is our short time on earth all there is, or do we have to suffer afterward without a body but with a soul?"

I've seen dead bodies. Something is definately missing. Consciousness, of course, but does that mean a soul? Where do people go when they are pronounced dead, but then come back? And what about animals? Souless? Plants? Rocks? The earth? The sun? All have souls? Are they alive, aware in some sense? Crap, getting too philosophical.

From one Trix to another, let's be brief. Yes I BELIEVE human beings have souls. Notice I do say BELIEVE. I can not prove my position. I do not necessarily believe that a soul even remembers anything it did when it was attatched to the body, just as we often do not remember our dreams, sometimes even seconds after we wake up.

Now this is the weird part. I'll try to be clear. Our soul is the connection between the mortal body and the creator. When the mortal body dies, the soul returns to the creator. The soul may lose all identity and the soul's experiences become part of the creator. Or in a different point of view, a video game metaphor, the body acts out part of the creator's will and when the "game is over", the creator's "player" or "soul" returns. The creator is playing the game, called the universe, and all the countless players are under his (her/it's/their) control, like a near infinite number of pac men on a near infinite playing field. In another metaphor, if we are all puppets, the human body is the puppet, the string is the soul and the puppeteer is the creator. Make sense? Seem unfair, like there is no free will? We are all doomed to act out the creator's mad will? That's right.

The faiths that teach liberation of the soul rather than obedience to the creator attempt to find ways to free the puppet from the puppeteer. This may be impossible and it implies that the individual's wills and desires are more "correct" than the creator's. The sheep will scream that is rebellious talk, the words of the Devil. Ask them why God allows the Devil to exist. Go ahead.

Getting back on track, we have souls, however, our afterlife may not be pure liberation and ultimate freedom since we are no longer confined to a body. No, we're sucked back into the universal mind, like a drop of water being added to the ocean.

If that is the case, it almost makes too difference whether we have a soul or not, since the outcome is the destruction of the self in both cases.

Answer 3

Nope, there is nowhere in the bible you find that man has a soul. Show me one and I will give you $1000 cash money. IF you go to Genesis 2:7, you will find the answer for your question from the bible. It says, "And he Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man BECAME a living soul." It does not say he was given a soul but that he became one. It too the dust of the ground, the body, and the breath of life to become a living soul. Numbers 19:11 bears this out also. The word body there literally means soul of man. So, no, man is not given a soul to have and protect but they are souls. If you need more, it says in another place that the soul that sins will die. Now doesn't that go against what the preachers and priests tell you that the soul is immortal? Now if we had an immortal soul, why should we be seeking it as it states we should do in Romans 2:7? Also it says in 1 Cor. 15:53 that we need to put on immortality. So if we have to put it on, doesn't that tell you that we do not have it already and if that is true, does it not make sense that other things they tell us are not really according to what God says? If we had a soul that went to Heaven as they say, for example, what purpose would it serve for Jesus to come to this Earth again as He promised in John 14:1-3? Many preach a second coming but then tout an immortal soul that goes to Heaven as soon as one dies. Now does that really make any sense whatever? Not to me. Read 1 Thess. 4:16-17 and you find we do not go one by one like a dripping faucet but all at one time when Jesus comes to get His people. Not all will go back with Him but only those that are truly His. For more info, check out site below.

Answer 4

Yes I do accept, not only that we have a soul, but in fact we are the soul, not the body.
The ancient vedic literature of India disclose detailed information about the subject of the soul or the spiritual body, that is temporarily covered by a subtle or astral body consisting of mind, intelligence and false ego, then a gross manifestation, a material body consisting of earth, water, fire, air and ether (space is an element). The spiritual body is there within the material body, but is covered due to individual recognition or false ego, pertaining to identification with the material body and conditioning of the material mind, as our real self, e.g. I am English, I am American, I am Christian, I am Hindu, etc ,etc, the real ego recognises the truth that I am Spirit Soul, part and parcel of the Supreme Soul or God, the Supreme Soul is personal and has Spiritual form and so does the individual Soul, the difference is that the Supreme soul has no limitations of potency, but we do, however both are eternal and have an eternal relationship.
The Supreme Soul manifests an illusory energy, which is the material energy, out of causeless mercy to satisfy those individual souls who want to forget their real identity and exist separately, that kindness is extended to allow those individuals to develop a mentality to deny the existence of the Soul and the Spiritual world. In Sanskrit, the word to describe this illusory state of existence is Maya, which literally means "That which is not". The Bhagavad Gita as it is, which has been translated from Sanskrit into English by HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, explains in unlimited detail, the science of self (soul) realisation, for anyone who is a serious student desiring to understand these important subjects.

Answer 5

Your soul is who you are. Your physical body will die, but your soul is what makes you you. And there is nothing 'new-agey' about this. It's as old as time.
I was with my mother when she died - and I could feel a definite shift in the room when she drew her last breath. Something left that room, but the 'shell' of who she was just laid on the bed. It was empty.

Answer 6

of course human beings have a soul... its not like in the movies with the ghosts floating around haunting you... but the soul is the heart, man, where people really feel... its the heart and the only part of the body that truly matters.... i mean, if you couldn't feel emotion or show others that you love them, or tell God about what's goin on, how would life be? without the soul, what has been created is not a man, because God created humans with souls... and its just one of those questions that's hard to explain but somewhat easy to understand.. the soul is what keeps our bodies alive and we can react to everything that happens, it's all of our feelings and emotions and what we truly believe... maybe i answered your question, maybe i didn't, but i gave it my best shot... God bless you!! good luck!!

Answer 7

I'm one of the most down to earth people you will meet but with a very open mind, i have lost many close friends and even closer relatives after each loss something has happened that could only have come from them , I'm not mad though other people may disagree but there is something of us that Carry's on wether we call it a soul i don't know but i do know what happened to me.

Answer 8

We are Body, Spirit & Soul our Body is temporary, our Spirit is Life, our Soul is our personality, If our spirit was reclaimed by God with out the Soul, we would loose our individual personality's , Through Jesus we have a way to save the person we are, and still be recounceled to God. Most of us want to be who we are , and remember those we love. So it is important if expecting a eternal
Spirit Body with our own personality. We must have saving of the Soul . I hope this is Clear , in my humble way..

Answer 9

I think all humans have a soul, they just forget how to use it. If you look around today, most people only care about money and getting laid. People go out of their way to show that they aer better than each other. When it comes down to it, most people are living for themselves and they will do whatever it takes to get what they want.

Answer 10

I believe that anything "living" has a soul; look at plants, for example, you talk to them, water them, keep them in a positive environment, they flourish! I believe that once we "pass" our souls leave our bodies and are put into an area where they're "reprocessed" until ready to inhabit another living thing(come back as a dog, cat,for example); that's why so many people believe in past lives and the feeling that they've been "somewhere" before that they've never been to in their present life...all past life experience...