Why do people still believe in souls?

Question

Is it really only the fear of death? It seems that if death were simply the ceasing of existing, there would be nothing to fear. So why do people create things to fear?

Answer 1

People don't want death to be the end. No matter how much we do in life, we could always do more if we had more time. Unfortunately, life comes with a deadline, and people don't want to face that simple truth. So they placate themselves with the concept of the soul, something that lives on after death, even though there is no evidence of the soul actually being real. I guess some people prefer illusion to despair.

Answer 2

Why do people create the fear of death?.

People never created the fear of death it is a normal unconscious reaction to death.

Why do people still believe in souls? Is it because of the fear of death? There are two school of thoughts. Man does not have a soul but he created the idea. This is the secularist view. The other thought is that a being higher than man created a man's soul, which is a religious view.

For me the historical belief in a soul was not just to comfort the mind and heart of a living person upon death. The soul is another way to define man and his existence and his experiences in the universe. There is much that is unknown as other posters like Don H has experienced. So the idea of man having a soul is another way of reconciling the known facts of life with the undiscovered and unknown mysteries of life through theory, or belief, or faith.

Answer 3

Most people understand our existence backward. They believe we are a body and "have" a soul. Test this theory/truth. We are a soul and we "have" a body. Death no longer has much relavance except on a physical basis which is the lowest of our expressions. We are in essence a spiritual being whom can never be destroyed and never dies. Our bodies are simply the instrument used during this manifestation that we call our life.

Regarding your question" why do people create things to fear"? Things man does not understand, he either worships or fears. Only with proper understanding can we find a peaceful existence.

Answer 4

Your questions are not related to one another. People believe in souls because souls exist. You have one, and so does every human being on the planet. It doesn't cease to exist just because you choose not to believe the facts. Fear of death has more to do with how we fear the unknown. To simply cease existing is scarier than existing eternally somewhere after death. People don't necessarily create things to fear; there are unfounded fears and real fears.

Answer 5

My soul goes to God and my physical body will be cremated and spread around my chosen place. I never thought that I believe in the soul because I was afraid to die. Never/ever! You are asking several different questions that are similar/but with different twists to them.
I do not fear death. Death is the ceasing of existing(my physical body with no longer roam this earth)...through God's salvation and
grace my soul will go to Him. It doesn't mean that my mind will be in my soul....My soul will be used for whatever processes God chooses. I can't/don't believe that the 'soul' was created to fear. I have an idea that you need some more religious research to help you understand the difference. God is not a punishing God....He gives us guidelines to obey/follow. It is up to each individual as to how close or far away they choose to be from the 'WORD'. There is nothing to fear......

Answer 6

There's a scientific reason for the irrational belief in souls, invisible deities, and religion in general. Its that last remnant of our primitive reptillian past. The limbic system is where our innermost feelings reside, fear, hatred, love, and yes, religious beliefs. When people are near death ,starvation, high meditative states, and other highly emotional states, the limbic system has evolved to help man cope with the Universe. The "born again Christian' phenomena has a scientific basis...yes...the limbic systems.

Current research by neuroscientists have now pinpointed certain areas of the limbic system and can now artificially trigger the 'religious experience.'

The cerebral cortex, the thinking and logical part of our brain, is a more recent development, say within the last 100,000 years. The benefits of the so-called 'religious belief' system does have medical benefits, for it triggers certain dopamine receptors and other chemical reactions that help our immune system. So its not all bad, its just not Objective Reality.

Therefore, go ahead and believe in the distorted world view, it'll do you good, but the rest of us (albeit the minority of the earth's population) will rely on the cerebral cortex to view the world.

Answer 7

"It seems that if death were simply the ceasing of existing, there would be nothing to fear"

I applaud you for your rational line of thought and I agree completely, however, the human ego demands to live and to be at the center of the universe. It's a primitive thing.

We'll grow over it eventually, I hope. That would also mark the end of organised religion I think.

Answer 8

Confused by your question.....
For starters Lack of scientific evidence has yet to yield proof in either direction on this topic.
Also Belief in a soul does not imply fear. Many faiths or philosophy's believe in a spirit, soul, karma, even consciousness. All of these things are tied to the belief that we are more then the sum of our parts. That we are not simply a pile of carbon and random electrical impulses. This could be tied more to arrogance and vanity of humanity rather then fear. There are many other reasons for believing in what you are calling a "Soul" but fear is not one of them.

Answer 9

"It seems that if death were simply the ceasing of existing"--hmm, "seems"? "If"? Sounds like you don't have a solid proof on your end. Sorry, didn't sell me on that one. There is some really strange stuff in the physical universe. Something like ninety percent of the universe is made up of stuff we only vaguely conjecture over--dark matter. Then there are the dimensional musings, strings, and stuff. In the subatomic realm the nanotechnologists discover that some of the rock-sold rules of physics aren't so solid and sometimes aren't even rules. Nope, even the natural world tells me there is more than meets the eye and more than meets some uniform explanation, and we even then call it a theory. Sorry.

Answer 10

I think hell is another word for shoal, meaning an open grave. Religion is to keep people in line and it still has an impact today.
Now maybe there's a higher level of consciousness, accessible all the time, that you might reach once you're dead. Perhaps because you realise the illusion that is time.

I think we are a body as well as all the rest(the universe). I like the analogy to this story : A little doll made entirely of salt walked up to the ocean. -who are you, she asked...
-I'm the ocean, come inside me and you'll know who you are. As the doll entered, she started disintegrating, the salt that was her body dispersed into the sand on the ocean floor. Just as she was being entirely dissolved, she thought, with the last remaining part of her head : -I know who l am.........