Atheists, what word do you use instead of soul/spirit?

Question

I'm just curious because I asked a question about spiritual development and people corrected me. So what do you call it if not your spirit or soul?

I mean the way I understand it is that the soul/spirit is physical, the little dude that drives the body, the decision maker. Where my brain is the organ, but this is the thing inside it. Does this make sense, or is it just too much an extension of a Catholic upbringing?

So far consciousness seems best, geist sounds fun too I must say.

Oh and I understand that for some the soul is imaginary, but I'm still looking for a word to describe consciousness. Because consciousness development sounds odd.

What other words are there for the self we perceive?

Answer 1

We typically don't have words for things that don't exist.

If you want to call it the physical part we would only call it the self. It is just a manifestation of our physical body

Answer 2

I just say 'me', 'myself', and 'I'.

I don't buy into the concept of a soul at all. There's just me physically. If I talk about someone else I use regular pronouns.

"spiritual development" for others would be "emotional" and "psychological" development for me.

There is no 'little dude' that drives the body unless you're talking about what's in your pants maybe. You are your brain and a wondrous thing it is. Who you are is the totality of your experiences and your thoughts and feelings about your experiences. There is nothing more.

Answer 3

I have some atheist tendencies, but I still use the soul thing. The soul is the energy that powers my actions and thoughts. Souls are everywhere, in everything. Souls are in the air you breathe, so basically for me souls are the universal energy that is in all things.

The Universe started out as a dim seed in the the black nothingness, and then it exploded into more. Yup.

Answer 4

Every man for himself but I don't go for soul/spirit. The little man inside your head, the decision maker, the observer, the driver behind the wheel, this is all illusion resulting from self-awareness, itself a result of the evolutionary path we took.

Answer 5

I like the German word "Geist." It has a more physical and intellectual connotation than spirit. I still use the term spirit but only in the sense that we speak of a "spirited" horse.

Answer 6

You can break it down to the Mind which has the Ego, the ID, and the Super Ego. All of that of course is a bunch of Freudian crap. You can also refer to it as the conscious self, the integrated personality or some other psych babble baloney.

Answer 7

Mind? Brain? Consciousness? There isn't anything else in there. So I really don't see the point of 'spiritual development' if there's no spirit.

Answer 8

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnIqV5.KEzI3mOPN9DDVD0Hsy6IX?qid=20070404100411AAAhqvZ

Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion born of the Jewish and Christian traditions. We keep our minds open to the religious questions people have struggled with in all times and places.

We believe that personal experience, conscience, and reason should be the final authorities in religion. In the end religious authority lies not in a book, person, or institution, but in ourselves. We put religious insights to the test of our hearts and minds.

We uphold the free search for truth. We will not be bound by a statement of belief. We do not ask anyone to subscribe to a creed. We say ours is a noncreedal religion. Ours is a free faith.

We believe that religious wisdom is ever changing. Human understanding of life and death, the world and its mysteries, is never final. Revelation is continuous. We celebrate unfolding truths known to teachers, prophets, and sages throughout the ages.

We affirm the worth of all women and men. We believe people should be encouraged to think for themselves. We know people differ in their opinions and lifestyles, and we believe these differences generally should be honored.

We seek to act as a moral force in the world, believing that ethical living is the supreme witness of religion. The here and now and the effects our actions will have on future generations deeply concern us. We know that our relationships with one another, with diverse peoples, races, and nations, should be governed by justice, equity, and compassion.

Answer 9

Brain? Intellect?

Answer 10

Thank you for spelling atheists correctly.

I don't have a problem with the words soul or spirit, but I think of them as completely metaphorical.