What's the difference between Soul and Spirit?

Question

hobo, I'm not asking about religion. I'm not talking about Spirit as in the "Holy Spirit" or God, or something that is worshiped.
Spirit that I am talking about is one's individual Spirit. And how does that differ from Soul.

Answer 1

God or spirit is the original or background consciousness that all individuated consciousness's comes from. There is only one spirit but it has many aspects or souls.

The soul is a collection of thoughts feelings and memories of an individuated segment or aspect of spirit, yet it has never truly been separate from the origin spirit or God.

The can be thought of like a leaf on a tree. Each leaf sees it's self as being a leaf yet it is undeniably also part and parcel of the tree.

Love and blessings
Don

Answer 2

I don't believe in either soul or spitrit, but spirit is defined as "the force or principle of life that animates the body of living things" or temperament or disposition, or "the fundamental, emotional and activating principle of a person; will", or an emotional state. The word "spirits"(as in strong alcoholic drinks) derives directly from this word, as it appeared to people that these drinks energised the life force of the people who ingested them, or even that the drinks allowed spirits to enter into the drinkers.
Intoxication is a nice example of what is wrong with the idea of a soul or spirit being based in the body; our personalities are temporarily affected by intoxication, and addiction to alcohol and drugs can permanently alter a person's personality. The only way to reason around this as far as I can see is to argue that the soul/spririt is not seated in the body, or that it becomes trapped in the body by the physical damage the intoxicants cause, so that it cannot be properly expressed. You would then however need to show what physical processes held back the soul/spirit, in which case you would need to posit where in the body (in which I include the head of course) the soul/spirit is placed, or where it connects with the body. Unless of course you see the soul/spirit as being supernaturally analogous with the theory that the mind is an emergent property of a highly developed brain. But then you would have to explain how the brain created the soul/spirit. Most people who believe in spirits/souls believe though that we were born with them, so they could not be a product of the brain unless the infant brain created them in the womb.
There is no proof whatever for the existence of a soul or a spirit. We do not need these concepts to explain the existence of humanity. To say that something definitely exists because you believe it to be true is something we all do from time to time, but it devalues the concept of truth, because we are not arriving a it through reason.

Answer 3

The best way I can speak this distinction for you is:

Soul - a stationary, indestructable part of the being of a person. The kernal of information here is that the soul stays fixed inside a person, and if you buy into the mind (or soul) body split, cannot directly effect the material world because of its seperation from it. ie. pure idea, pure mind, seperate from the real.

Spirit - the direction of the mental, the soul, whatever, out of the body into the material world; the effect of the soul in the real; the movement of idea, or mind, or soul in the world (think the 'spirit' of democracy, which you can see when - theoretically - millions in America go to the polls to vote).

This sounds so cheesy I almost cant believe I'm saying it:

soul is the cause and spirit is the effect.

[however, it is important to awknowledge at lease some connection between the two ideas. A good example: classical indian philosophers talked of pattica-samupada, or "inderdependant arising," a concept that spoke the way by which brahmin (or soul) interacted with karma (the situation of being in the real) to give rise to the myriad possibilities which arise in life, like the unique turnings of a kaleidescope, always novel, always "spirited," interdependant among many factors.]

Answer 4

Actually, there IS a difference between "soul" and "spirit", as these represent very different energy forms, and serve divergent purposes. A "soul" is the energies which support and maintain our corporeal form, and, as such, and via the forces that impact our senses, these same energies are what create and shape our individual mortal identities, perspectives, habits, personalities, and our conscience, as well as consciousness. When we die, these energies are released, and dissipate, freeing all from the burden of the mortal coil. If one is to believe in ghosts, these are the soul, not spirit energies, that cannot relinquish their identities. The "Fay" or "fairy" people were said to be "spirits without souls". What is being said here is that the Fay were sentient energy without a corporeal form.
The "spirit" is the "clean" and innocent energy that, depending on which religion you advocate, goes on to God, is recycled, etc. Spirits are true and pure, without fault or blame, and are un-defiled by the forces of the corporeal experience.This is how an innocent baby and a wicked criminal are both given equal chance at life and release. It is the spirit energies which compose God, are the force that make the conception of life possible, and which is the force every scientist must eventually encounter and reconcile with, but which ever defies a satisfactory explanation.
For answers to this question by persons of greater knowledge than myself, please refer to the "Apocrypha", a book of the stories which were removed from the original Christian bible. Also, find the Encyclopedia Brittanica series called, "Great Ideas of Western Civilization". You'll want to look in the pair of Syntopicons that belong to this series, and look up "soul" and "spirit". Gotta go to school now. Hope I've been of some help. (smile).

Answer 5

Greetings:

There is no way to honestly answer this question without referring to religion.

Specifically, in the theological teachings of the Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-day Saints (the "Mormon" church), there IS a clear distinction in the definition of "soul" and "spirit", something which is probably unique to that church, as I've never encountered it anywhere else.

The spirit is the eternal part of the human being.

We lived as spirits before we came to this world, and we will live as spirits, temporarily, when we die.

The soul is the combination of spirit and mortal body.

We became a living soul when we were born into mortality.

When we die, our spirit will separate from our mortal body, and continue to exist.

When we are resurrected, as everyone, good or evil, will be, the spirit is reunited with the physical body, and we become immortal beings.

At this point, I reckon I should explain further that the Latter-day Saint concept of "salvation" also differs considerably from that of other Christian groups.

Salvation refers only to resurrection, i.e., the reuniting of body and spirit.

Salvation does NOT refer to one's eternal reward.

As stated previously, everyone, no matter how good or how evil, will be resurrected.

However, we do not all go to the same destination in the eternities, nor do we progress through the eternities at the same rate.

Our reward and our progression are determined by what we do while we are mortals, and thus the separation between good and evil, with its varying degrees.

There is no such thing as death bed repententance.

The same spirit that is in your physical body at the moment of death is the same spirit that will travel beyond the veil, into the world of spirits (which is merely another dimension of our same world).

If you were evil throughout your life, then that is how you will continue, even after death.

If you want to change your ways, you have to start NOW, not later on.

Again, when we are resurrected, if you did well, you will be resurrected with others who were similarly righteous.

On the other hand, if you preferred evil, you will be resurrected with others of your ilk, and that's who you'll be associating with.

So, there you have the clear distinction between "spirit" and "soul", as taught by the Latter-day Saints.

We often hear people say they're having a spiritual experience.

Actually, it's just the opposite.

We are spirits having a mortal experience.

Thank you.

Answer 6

I've always thought that spirit is "higher" than soul.

Soul is connected to our human existences. Soul is all about emotions, the learning process of this world, negative and positive. Soul IS us, travelling through lifetimes and collecting experience.

Spirit, on the other hand, is sort of an overseer who already knows everything. There are no emotions in spirit, only understanding. It observes but does not interfere unless asked. It can be accessed but the majority of people will live without ever coming into contact with it. Spirit is the potential, that into which we will evolve.

Answer 7

I see the Soul and Spirit as two different parts of a person's personality. Soul deals with values, and Spirit deals with how they are expressed. The Soul and the Spirit depend on each other for existence, but they are not the same.

Answer 8

We are all living souls. It's not something that's a part of us, it's who we are. Man incorrectly talks about being soulful, or having "soul," but neither of these are accurate. We are living souls. Spirit is something else. It is what motivates us. We can either have a positive spirit or a negative spirit. That is, we are either motivated by a loving spirit, or an evil one. There's no in between. We either follow Christ or we follow the prince of the power of the air.

Answer 9

Soul and Spirit.
Spirit is the part of the supreme reality, soul is the envelopment called ego (I am ness), the identity given by the mind body and intellect that causes the separation. This also causes the limitation of the soul in terms of the powers it can exercise.

Answer 10

It is same as wine and alcohol. We have soul because soul in us must ferment. At the end age in body of Christ extract of all soul is distilled in Passion to conjoin with God's spirit. For the reason Christ after death lives on as Holy Spirit. Only God is the pure spirit.