At what point would a soul leave a body if one was to fall into a coma?

Question

I realise that the term 'soul' is the most overused and probably most misunderstood construct in the world of spirituality...

If you believe in such a thing, what do you think would happen to a person who got smashed to pieces, was brain dead and in a coma probably forever...the mind and body are effectively dead- would the soul stay with the body?

Answer 1

I know I'm going to get hate mail for this but ...

Your question presupposes there is soul/body, spirit/material, or mind/body dichotomy, which are all based on the same falacy. I don't know who originated this, but Plato is responsible in part for perpetuating it. He believed that every entity in the material world was an imperfect representation of a perfect entity that existed on another plane (I don't know if he thought of it as another plane but in essence it is what he thought). I believe he called it the Theory of Forms. Anyway, some superbeing attempted to form chaos into order (create the world) but matter was not cooperative and nothing ever came out exactly right. So the ideal, which existed in this super beings consciousness, is not attainable on this earth. Note that in order to attain the ideal, you must necessarily die. It's a lovely gift to mankind.

A man's soul is his consciousness - his mind. His consciousness cannot exist without his body, and his body cannot exist without consciousness. For the case of someone who is brain-dead, note that while this person's physical body may be alive in the sense that his cells are being sustained, but this is only possible via consciousness - the consciousness of those doctors, nurses and those people who invented the machines that sustain them. Since many people do not believe this is a proper way for man to exist, they have living wills, etc., ...

I most emphatically believe I have a soul and/or spirit, however, it's not my goal to set it free it from my body.

Answer 2

I like your question, because answering it, in my opinion, provides additional support for the idea that the soul does not exist. You know that the question presupposes the existence of a soul. When one proposes such ideas as the soul, others must ask very difficult questions about the nature of a soul, which you have just done. I find it interesting that so many people have answered this question with a tone of certainty or knowledge about what happens to the soul in this state. No one can possibly know, therefore any ruminations on this topic are pure speculation. This is an unknowable fact because it requires insight into a "non-physical realm" that by its very definition, is not perceivable by physical beings. Thus, I do not believe, but I do not know, that souls exist. If the soul exists, one must define how the soul, the body, and the mind are connected. Great philosophers in the "philosophy of mind" have attempted to resolve this problem without definitive success. My opinion is that the ambiguity on this connection supports the notion that the physical body and the mind exist, but not the soul. When Plato and Descartes developed the theory of dualism between "soul" and body, they did not have the vast amount of knowledge on the brain that we do today. If they did, I do not believe such intelligent men could possibly hold onto the idea of dualism between soul and body. We know that the mind requires a physical substrate -- the brain -- in order to exist. Just like a computer program requires a hard drive and a processor in order to function. If one were to posit that some "non-physical" substance, such as a soul, resides in the human body, it seems absurd to try and explain how it would be related in any way to the "mind" or the brain. Thus, when you ask this question about the state of the soul in a coma, I find that you further support the idea that souls do not exist. The confusion and ambiguity created by this question drives a nail in the coffin of the idea of the soul.

On a personal note, my grandmother has Alzheimer's. She does not remember me or any of my family members. She is violent and aggressive. I think she has scarcely any ability to think or make any true "choices." Whoever she is or was, is there no more. Yet her body drones on! If one greatly changes the meaning of the soul, not to a "non-physical entity," but a definition of "what makes you - you," I believe in my grandma it is gone or transformed into something entirely. All that remains of her are my and other's memories of who she was. In that sense, her "soul" lives on.

IF, however, I granted that the "non-physical" Cartesian soul exists, I would say that it stays in the body in "purgatory" as though asleep until the moment of death defined by actual cessation of all bodily functions - not just the brain. Of course, I don't believe the soul exists, though.

Answer 3

The spirit soul leaves the body under the direction of higher authorities, agents of the Supreme Lord. Sometimes the body and brain may be beyond recovery but the person, the spirit soul, remains in the body for some time. This is the time that the person's next situation is being decided. When the situation has been prepared, the soul then leaves the body and goes to the new mother's womb. The subtle body composed of mind, intelligence and false ego carry the spirit soul to the new body. This is the reason that there are child prodigies and idiot savants and so forth. These people have experiences and knowledge they are manifesting from previous lives that have accompanied them to their new body by the mind and intelligence.

Answer 4

I believe the soul leaves the body at the point of death. Defining the point of death may be a problem in the case of a comatose person but in this case you have given us the facts that the person is brain dead (that's dead to me) and the mind and body are 'effectively' dead. Given our current knowledge of such things I'd accept that such a person was indeed dead although maintained on life support.

Even if the person concerned was my nearest and dearest I'd wish them the dignity of having their death recognized (properly certified as the machines were turned off).

However, you introduced an element of doubt as to the permanency of the situation by saying, 'probably forever'. If it is possible that the person may recover (let's assume a second medical opinion disputed the brain dead diagnosis) we cannot be so certain about turning off the life support. But that is another dilemma. Whether we can accurately recognize it or not death occurs at a certain moment and it is then that the soul leaves the body.

Answer 5

The soul is a life-force. So the soul would leave the body after the cerebral cortex stops transmitting synaptic nerve neurons. Brain death occurs at this point.

In answering your question, the soul transmigrates at the point of brain death, not unconciousness.

The mind ceases to function once the frontal lobe becomes irrepairably damaged. Like with severe dementia. So a person in the last days of Alzheimers' Disease can still have their soul intact, but have no 'mind'.

Answer 6

Consider that all living masses /bodies have three major components ,ie-physical form / body ( Material ) , intelligence / instinct ( Mental) & Life force /conscouness (Soul ).The difference between living & non-living is only the presence or absence of Soul in the body .
Though he is in coma, as long as he is clinically alive, Soul is still in his body .

Answer 7

My soul is not confined to my body. Whether I am in a coma, or not; I am always here ~and~ there.
If I was in a coma, I would just be traveling around without that body that was stuck in that bed.

Answer 8

hmmm... I have wondered this as well...

Well, if a person were in a coma and on life support and would not live off life support, then I believe that their soul has left their body.

But, this is just my opinion to a very very good question.

Answer 9

Me, I actually have two souls. I do too. And both of mine stay with the body until it's dead.

Yes, mine too. And because of that I couldn't understand why they wanted to make that lady stay in her vegetative state when she could be in Heaven like her husband said she wanted, a year or so ago.

I couldn't understand either, but maybe her parents didn't know that the soul has to hang around. Maybe they thought they could have their cake and eat it too, so to speak, have her with them and she can be in heaven too; and that would theoretically be possible if she had two souls like I do. Like I do too.
Yet, it wouldn't be theoretically possible, because no matter how many souls a person has they all must stay with the body til it's dead. You got a point there.
Final answer: Yes, souls stay with live body. Right.

Answer 10

The soul is imaginary, so there is nothing real to leave the body that is real. Consciousness would be inactive, butit wouldn't leave the body. A perpetual coma is like sleeping the rest of one's life. No one can say for certain what it is like.