Where is the soul? - - literally!?

Question

I am looking for credible attributions to the literall location of the soul in our human bodies.

Answer 1

Philosophers have argued about this for centuries.
One of the main points of the Cartesian dualism is that the soul(or mind) is unextended(while the body is extended) and not a part of the body.
Epiphenomenalism says that the mind is only an epiphenomon of the brain(appears to be on top of)
Logical Behaviorism meanwhile claims that the mind is unlocatable.
Most other schools claim that there is no soul to begin with *shrug*
There is one school that claims that the soul is inside of our brain(in a certain area under the hypothalamus) however that was many years ago(1800's i believe) so I doubt that is credible any longer.(and i forgot to write down the name of the author/philosopher who believed that)

Answer 2

There is no soul in a literal sense, but certainly one in a literary sense. The concept is a way to explain that a belief in eternal life has some validity, as there would have to be a part of the person that survives after death that also is capable of enjoying that eternal life as a reward for faithfulness or good deeds.

But the existence of any such ethereal substance has never been demonstrated as other than a product of hope and wishful thinking.

Answer 3

Aside from the occasional trysts with fate and the serendipitous encounters with fortune, I'd say that I have stayed pretty much on the same path as most humans. It seems that my destiny may be aligned with that of most mortals, who by the way, during my latest journey, I had learned much from. What I hope they have learned from me is the sanctity of Love, Understanding, Good Will and of course, the most difficult for those of flesh and blood - Forgiveness.

As it is with most of my stays here, I'm not in the position to criticize nor challenge although what I see at times provides me impetus to offer what I'd been given - Reason. Just as I had written not so long ago:

I have Reason, I have Rhyme

Pondering my thoughts,

Throughout the eons of time

Many times we are posed a question, so simple yet the most difficult to answer: Why am I here? Ah, because you belong. Simple enough an answer and it really needs no further explanation . . .

You know, I rely on you as much as you rely on me and the symbiotic nature of our relationship provides the universe with balance, although at times, it may not appear to be so . . .

Life to me, an open book

with each page, I learn something new

Yet, I await the final

the most revealing clue

Perhaps, when our fates are decided, would we learn the truth . . . eternity it beckons, so I had heard as I stood sentry-like against the winds of time . . .

Far in the distance, perhaps another void

a place where my existence

can never be destroyed

Ricky J. Fico

Answer 4

My theory, my experience.....theory - your soul is the real you. It is like the wind, you can feel it, you can't see it, but you know it is there. example it is like a stalk of corn. You plant the seed it transforms, a stalk grows and it becomes what it was intended to be. There must be the mortal to obtain immortality. The soul dwells within your existence while you are on the earth.

experience: You have heard of out of body experiences. I had one. It was like awesome.My being was zapped out of my body. I was somewhere between a sleep state and whatever. I was aware, and in existence, and had no physical form, but feeling and total mental capacity. I was mentally communicating with my son who at the time had been dead, four months. This was a few days before Christmas Eve. Somewhere out in the atmosphere our spirits (souls) enter twined. He said he wanted to show me something. He did, I could not remember what. He wanted me to just "hang with him" and I said I had to go back. I immediately snapped awake, sat straight up in bed, and had the biggest smile on my face and thought thank you. How great! Before Christmas Day I found a necklace that was his, that had been lost over a year. That's what he showed me. I know a lot of people will say okay, right......believe me there is no doubt in my mind of the experience. Your soul exists!

Answer 5

HI chinch,

Years of study of this particular subject has led me to believe that the soul is the interplay of energies of the body (which includes the mind) and the spirit. Of course, my beliefs may change tomorrow but for now it's what makes most sense to me. As the interplay of energies the soul functions as a doorway to the world of spirit. We can achieve soul contact which will provide us with some access to spiritual insights and possibly revelations. To be in continual contact with the soul is a state of obtained after much contemplation and looking within. Good luck on your quest.

Answer 6

The human soul can be attributed somewhat entrenched in one's heart. But the heart doesn't feel or think. So most likely technically, it's in the brain or mind. The eyes are considered to be the windows of one's soul. This spirit or soul is undaunted. It can never decay or die.

Answer 7

You say credible, but who's authority do you put your trust in?-)

Let's use logic for today:

Consider your entire body - let's suppose that it is made up of 100 trillion cells. (not entirely unreasonable - see http://ask.yahoo.com/20020625.html, but it doesn't matter)

If your soul is in your body, it must be somewhere, so - is your "soul" in any one of those cells? You may not be able to determine that, but let's go another way - if you lost any single one of those cells, would you lose any of your soul?

My guess is that you'd say no - if you cut your finger, your soul doesn't start to bleed out of you...

So the soul isn't in any one particular cell.

But if the soul is in someone else's body, you wouldn't refer to it as "your soul", so it _must_ be contained or connected to the thing that is your body.

So there you have it - your soul is both everywhere and nowhere within you!-)

Answer 8

And where are the souls of the 106 billion that have ever walked the earth? Heaven and hell must be bulging at the seams somewhere near Alpha Centauri or something?

Answer 9

My personal theroy is that the soul is a convesation that exists between the mind/brain and the cell and organs of the body.
MY rational is that the body is a symbiotic assemblage of cellular colonies that is collective called a person.

Answer 10

Regardless of the exact meaning most of what we would call our consciousness is in our spirit mind. Everything else is just our clothes,roots or grounding like a tree. I have also heard of a point of light somewhere around our heart or spine. Sorry. Just my opinion. I hope you find your lost soul.