If we have souls...... Why do chemicals change our behavior?

Question

Why cant the soul have full control??

side note: chemicals don't have to be illegal drugs or alcohol.

Answer 1

The fanciful notion of a "soul" was invented as a means of instilling fear and obedience into people.

What is really meant by the word is _consciousness_, our awareness of the world. (Not "conscience", but consciousness.) It is consciousness that separates us from animals, our ability to comprehend abstract ideas and topic like life and death, which most animals cannot grasp (for example, some primates understand death but others do not).

It is not just drugs that can alter behaviour; brain damage has been known to cause severe mood alterations and violence in some people who were never violent before. It is also known that some people who develop brain tumors perpetrate acts that they have never done, and lose the prediliction for when the tumor is treated.

http://www.autismwebsite.com/crimetimes/03a/w03ap5.htm

Making ludicrous claims about "souls" and behaviour requires the same ignorance that makes religion possible to begin with.


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Answer 2

Chemicals cant change the inner true you

Many people also believe that the soul is the "real you" - your Id in a perfect world. This line of thinking leads people to believe that, for example, when a baby dies it's "real" self will live on, not as a baby but as an adult mind. This makes sense, otherwise all babies that die and go to heaven would still be babies there, which wouldn't be much use, really - knowing practically nothing and not being able to communicate or interact with other souls except by screaming and crying. It seems that no matter what state of development you were in at the moment of death, be it a helpless infant, a severely mentally handicapped person, or an eighty-year old with advanced Alzheimer's Disease, up in heaven you magically acquire all the mental faculties and knowledge you would have had as person in the prime of mental health.

The soul, apparently, must be somehow separate from the brain.

Answer 3

now each and everything that I can think of has an equal and opposing force...so doesn't it make sense that with spirit and flesh being two different equal and opposing forces they can't get along? chemicals effect the flesh, not necessarily the soul...and actually the soul isn't the same thing as the spirit and I think what you are actually talking about is the spirit...the soul is the breath of life within us.

Answer 4

Because the soul does not control the body. The mind controls the body and if you distort the mind with chemicals then it can't function.

Answer 5

The soul is within, the chemicals change the brains function.

Answer 6

Hmmm. That's an interesting question. You might also ask why a person's body would ever get sick, since ostensibly the soul would just kill off the germs.

My belief? People choose these issues in their lives, unconsciously, because pain is an effective teacher.

Here is a question for you: who is the owner of the behavior? In other words, what are "you"? We talk about YOUR body, YOUR mind, etc. Who is the YOU that owns these things?

Answer 7

Chemicals change our brain, the idea of a soul emanates from the brain.

Answer 8

Acknowledging you have a soul implies you know right from wrong and at some time you'll need to make a choice to believe in God or not with the option you can change your mind anytime before death as we Christians believe.

Answer 9

Chemicals are real ; souls are religious!

Answer 10

The soul is your inner being, your true self. Chemicals do not change behaviors, they merely expose your true self.