If you sell the devil your soul, can you buy it back?

Question

THIS IS NOT A RELIGIOUS QUESTION. It is metaphorical. If you are a religious crackpot and irritate me by answering, I am going to report you.

Answer 1

Wow, I can't help but to answer this question; I'll do it first from my own life experience/observation, and then on the level of a book I'm reading which is fascinating, it is exactly on the lines of your question, but that will come next; first, though:

It could help for you to elaborate, but I'll do the best w/what you gave: you said it's not religious, (I'm not religious either, so to me "soul" can be your inner, authentic self from the heart) first I'd say, why not just say if you sell your soul? But since you say if you sell the 'devil' your soul, I'm surmising that it's something of the following: by selling the devil your soul, it means doing or not doing something major--a choice or resulting series of choices that, by first impulse and from within one's own sense of right and wrong inside them, that their soul has an aversion or hesitation to do/not do the act, (by 'not do' i mean the things we may feel are wrong not because of what we DID but DIDN'T DO, as in abandoning one's child, etc) and for the person to do/not do it requires them talking themself into it, justifying it with reasons/excuses first in order to finalize the sale...(following their mind instead of their gut or heart...)they may seek validation from others to do/not do it against their initial instinct....and here the justification is from others, not themselves...others may not be in touch with their 'soul' or conscience and do the same type of stuff, but still their soul went to the same depraved type of place...

This said, 'buying their soul back'----I would think it would mean changing one's ways from the choice/s they made, and becoming at last conscious of the depravity, cruelty, tyranny, hurtfulness of what they did, and feeling remorse for it, for the damage of what they did/didn't do....that is the redemption, or buying back of the soul...but the soul they bought back isn't the same as the one they sold...it is marked with the awareness of what they did, which, once this new consciousness is attained, if they suddenly had compassion, sensitivity and depth that they didn't have when they sold their soul---this exact consciousness may, with the return of their soul, they are also going to have lifelong sorrow, remorse, regret, shame or guilt because of the damage they caused....I guess how much of all of that will depend upon the extent of the damage they caused others, the innocent, the ones closest to them, etc. So no, they can't buy the same soul back--the innocent, virgin, carefree soul....impossible, because everyone's soul bears the imprint of all in their life...(Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' addresses that brilliantly...)....but they can get their "soul" (conscience and consciousness) back, and change their ways and redeem themselves by how they act in the future by considering the sale and buyback as a lesson...but as I said, weighted with perhaps a lifelong sorrow or regret that will hurt whenever they think about it...I guess what I mean is, you can 'buy your soul back" by changing and become better than who/what you were when you sold your soul, but you can never escape the punishment of your own conscience...so the 'soul' you buy back is yours, but not the same lily-white, so whether you call that a yes or a no, i'll leave to you...

By the way I see politics here in the U.S., I could use an example that illustrates all I said before by using Bush....let's say he sold his soul by selling out to the interests of big money and oil to start the Iraq war, but purport to be doing it for other reasons...can he buy his soul back? He can come to a realization someday that that was wrong, (conscience) and try to make up for it by philanthropic pursuits, swearing off the interests of corporate money, etc...but what about the blood on his hands? The misery, death and destruction? The paradox is that by getting this more sensitive conscience-ness, that awareness of remorse and guilt will be with him all his days and keep him awake at night. Saying one has been forgiven by jesus/god and wiped the slate clean, and really believing that, seems a spiritual amnesia at best....would he then never be kept awake at night? Maybe that is the real hell... Everyone makes mistakes, but some are whoppers....and to become indifferent to what he did afterwards in fact seems to be a form of the soul-disconnect that was necessary to 'do the crime' in the first place...thus one would question whether the soul was actually attained after the re-purchase!

And, sorry this is so long, but the book I'm reading now--apparently the theme is the same question you ask here-- is by a dead 19th century Russian author I'd never read before, called "Dead Souls" by Nikolai Gogol...I almost skipped reading the 30 page intro on the author, but I'm glad I didn't, because of the story of him writing this novel! The author was very similar to Poe, and had a lot in common w/him...the novel is about a depraved character, a scammer who hatches up a scheme to buy the "dead souls"--the deceased serfs owned by landowners. He literally will take the bodies as a result. The serfs are technically still alive, according to the gov't, until the next census is taken, and thus the landowners still have to pay taxes on them. So they would profit by selling the "dead souls" to the antihero....and the antihero could then take a mortgage out on the serfs he then bought, using them as collateral, since serfs were property like slaves, and according to the gov't, they were still alive...the back of the book says that "what follows is a series of grotesquely transactions w/the landowners, each more queer and repellent than the last..." I'm not that far into it, but he approached one woman with the proposition who was horrified at first, but he persuaded her by promising her more profit--that he'd buy many of her crops, etc...The irony is--who really are the dead souls? The dead peasants--or the living who are dealing in this scam? The intro says that this author INTENDED for this story to be one of redemption, ending in the redemption of the scamming antihero...Gogol finished the first part of the book, but struggled to attain the second part--the redemption. It says that one version he'd written, he burned--and burst into tears afterwards...as if he intended one thing--redemption--for the antihero before beginning, but once he got far enough into it, redemption wasn't possible, didn't ring true to the character he'd created...apparently, didn't think this guy could 'buy back' his soul, but I haven't gotten to the end yet! and with the failure (to him) of this novel, Gogol never wrote another novel, but went into a religious mania for his remaining days, only preaching instead of writing, and ending his life by starving himself to death...all that said, now it's back to that book!

Answer 2

It depends on the degree of seriousness of what u did.What did u do?I personnally think that even though sometimes it can be just too late, trying can prove us wrong.
Will it sound too meaningless to say that u shouldn't do it first place ?.So try to "buy your soul back".Try with everything u are and if u do believe in u the results may be satisfying:P.

Answer 3

He can have mine for free, not interested in it any more. I have no further use for an abstract interpretation of my character, the like of which is open to be assassinated by 'good christian folk'.

When it's been thoroughly utilized to smite the sanctimonious bum heads, I will happily find some other use for it should the Devil be in to recycling...

Answer 4

In the second installment of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies Davy Jones requires 100 souls to release one back to freedom.

Answer 5

most of the time when people "sell their soul to the devil" it means selling out to try and make it big in the commercial world, like being someone you are not to try and satisfy Pop culture.
the way to get your soul back is to be yourself rather than be who everybody else thinks you should be. how you go about that is up to you.

(by the way I hate the little phrase "be yourself"... it sounds quite lame but its the best way to say don't kill yourself trying to conform to everyone else's ideas but be your own boss)

Answer 6

In the business world, buyer's intention doesn't guarantee seller's consent.

And no one can sell items that does not belong to him. I wonder does man really the owner of his soul, or is he just a steward?

Answer 7

The Devil (Umm as in the Character)
only wants SOULS so i would think not,
Unless you could offer other souls for it.

Since a soul is essentialy 'Free Will' you cannot give away someone elses so....


Nope..

Answer 8

"If you are a religious crackpot and irritate me by answering, I am going to report you." report them for what -you asked the question - dipstick

Answer 9

well look here's the deal if you sell it to him the only way you can get it back is through Jesus but since thats not an option then no you can't buy it back.

Answer 10

just depends on how much he'll sell it back for. no i really don't think you can because once the devils got it there's no barganing with it

Answer 11

There isn't a devil, christians made him up. He is an adaptation from the pagan "Green Man" or god of the hunt, hence the horns......