Speakers, Mystics, Hindus, and Buddhist, what is a soul?

Question

Can you shine some light on this subject? Thanks.

BonnieBell: I think maybe in the Gita it is talking about what you might call God instead of the soul. How about it Hindus? ~ : )

Tony L: Yes they do.

hello!: Yes it makes sense, Thanks.

anakabe: That wild, not bad.

juststop: I know there is something or seems to be.

Vijay D: Sorry about misquote.

Meerkatz: Yes, I can understand that.

Aum.: Thanks, that was a very detailed explaination, I can see it like that also.

hope: Yes, much help, maybe I'm starting to get an understanding, Thanks.

Mumof4: Thanks, I've also heard the Earth has a soul. As an apple tree "apples" The Earth "peoples" ~ : )

Ross: Yes, it does help I have thought about those same things. The wedding ceramony seems to be deep with meaning.

Jon C: No not alone, well maybe, Ha,ha. That's the same view I've held. Before the beginning there is 1, the "light" shoots out and there are many, or seems to be. There is something here, maybe the 1 is like a diamond and many "lights" shoot out, different but the same. The Hindus are helping my understanding but I really don't know yet. But I must try to understand. Glad your here.

Jayasri devi dasi: Thanks, Are you saying the ego is the soul, misunderstood?

Sunman: OK, let me see, the "beam of light" enlightens the ego to the soul. The ego is "fallen" light [wisdom], or Angel. Is the beam of light the soul [Angel]? The beam of light [Angel] is a messenger from God to help find the way back, to be the way, the way that is "no way"? I think I'm starting to see the Coyote God. Ha, ha. ~ : )

Sunman: Seriously is this close to the way you see it?

Magnolia flora: I'm begining to think you may be right. ~ : )

philmeta11: Yes, this is the way I have understood it but I'm trying to see all possiblitys, Thanks.

eve: Yes, what you said is very good, simple, clean, and free from confusion. Thanks. ~ : )

Thanks everyone, I sure have alot to look at and rest in and see what happens. Thanks again. ~ : )

Answer 1

The soul is that inner world of which the outer world is a reflection. The earth is the physical landscape that you as flesh inhabit. The soul/psyche is the interior landscape that you as a spirit inhabit.
"As above, so below"
The soul is a much larger perspective than the ego's perspective. To many, the soul is a vast unknown wilderness. (abandon all hope?) "Can you shine some light on this subject?" Yes, the Light reveals the Soul.


-----the dynamics and interrelationships of what I'm describing is accurate. Don't let me confuse you with labels such as spirit and soul. I don't really know all the correct terminology for what I've seen.


“There are many matters here very difficult to express in words, for you are so afraid for your sense of identity that you resist the idea that the soul, for example, is an open spiritual system, a powerhouse of creativity that shoots out in all directions – and yet this is indeed the case.

“I tell you this, and at the same time remind you that your present personality is never lost. Now another word for the soul is entity. You see it is not a simple matter of giving you a definition of a soul or entity, for even to have a glimpse in logical terms you would have to understand it in spiritual, psychic, and electromagnetic terms, and understand the basic nature of consciousness and action as well. But you can intuitively discover the nature of the soul or entity, and in many ways intuitive knowledge is superior to any other kind.

“One prerequisite for such an intuitive understanding of the soul is the desire to achieve it. If the desire is strong enough, then you will be automatically led to experiences that will result in vivid, unmistakable subjective knowledge. There are methods that will enable you to do this, and I will give you some toward the end of this book.” ~ Seth Speaks, session 527.

Answer 2

The soul is us. We are the soul. Not this body or mind. We the soul are part and parcel of the Supreme Soul also known as Krishna, Allah, Jehovah, Vishnu, etc. It is one tenthousanth of a part of the tip of a hair in size and is situated within the heart and permeates the whole body. The soul can not be killed, burned nor can it be measured by any device it is eternal. The souls (us) has all the qualities of God but not in the same quantity. We the soul are the marginal energy of God, which means we can sometimes be illusioned, but God can not. It is simultaneously one with and different from God. We never become God but we become Godly. The purpose of the soul is to serve. Everyone is serving in this world though they may not think so. We must serve either God or His energy. If we don't serve Him then we Serve Maya. ((illusion)Which is a temporary situation.) Bhagavad Gita As it is By Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada- tell all about the soul. Thanks

Answer 3

Every body who is born a human being feels the existence of the soul as the real " I ". So where is the question of some body else explaining to you?

But you also say quoting (actually misquoting) Gita that the soul is the God. That is untrue.

The soul is limited to the body where it is placed while God. is omnipresent. He is all knowing while the soul is ignorant. Soul is no match to the vastness of the God. So thinking oneself as God is the biggest folly that one could make.

But it is live and divine and as eternal as the God Himself. But that does not make it equal to God.

Answer 4

A Buddhist perspective if I may be so permitted...

To most Faiths, the Soul is some kind of being which survives death, it is formed by something called Spirit, has gender, memory, feelings and all other human characteristics. It survives after death and goes to Heaven to be judged.

To Buddhists there is no such Being within us. There is an energy (for want of a better term) which makes us alive known as the Unconscious Life Stream in Pali...Bhavanga Sota. It is energy, yet it is also beyond this term. It has no gender, no awareness, no self awareness yet it is affected by other energies such as Karmic Energy...in Pali..Karma Vega. It has pieces of memory as part of its matrix and is what makes us alive, without it we are just meat on bones.

To Buddhists it is our purpose to rid this Bhavanga Sota of ignorance, in the sense of to be ignorant of others. This is done by practising the development of strategies which preclude the causes of unhappiness in both ourselves and others, releasing selfishness and the causes thereof, thereby releasing the ultimate effects of these other energies on the Bhavanga Sota therefore releasing it from the effects of Karmic Energy and thereby ultimately releasing it from the necessity of Rebirth.

To Buddhists there is no Soul...only Karma and the Unconscious Life Stream...

Peace from a Buddhist....

Answer 5

I can only spout what I have learned here and there...tinted some with my own conclusions. In reality, I think that we ALL are guessing, but this is fun! Right? :)

I have come to the conclusion that the "soul" is you. It is that which remains untouched by the conditioning passed on by our parents, society, etc.

That which is called "I" "Me" is what we have come to believe we are, but we are still the life that was born...simple untouched, but 'hypnotized' to believe otherwise.

The only way to freedom is to spend more time with that simplicity...the life that cannot be touched by the programming. That life is the original or the soul.

We are in the habit of spending time with the conditioned and no time with the natural. Life can be lived from a more natural place. We can be in the audience watching instead of the drama on stage!

Answer 6

Soul is never connected with any religion, or any other manipulated school of philosophy.

The question is what element that enters the body when a child begins its life and activity, and what goes out when a man dies?

Some called that invincible power as `soul` (or in any other names)

All these religions established their own ideas regarding this unknown subject and fighting themselves that only their theory is right.

I think the God (if he is sensible to humour like me) is laughing at us for our ignorance.

Answer 7

A soul is a source of energy. It is bright and pure. it is devoid of any emotions and is not affected by time. It is the "hands" which moulds the body and gives it a life of its own.
the soul denotes righteousness and forgiveness. It is divine, eternal and immortal. The soul is elusive and is the reality. Nothing can grasp it and nothing can avoid it. It flows through different realms of time and through different bodies.
the only way...a soul can be touched or felt is the way through enlightenment, supreme enlightenment.
The soul is the light which provides an aura to the body of a mere mortal.
:)

Answer 8

It is what makes our bodies alive.This thing we walk around in is just a device to translate what the world is like by seeing-hearing-tasting-touching and smelling.The mind then interprets it and voila! we are human.If you pay close attention each sense directly affects each emotion.I personally think smell is one of the strongest memory inducers.The "electricity" in our bodies I feel is our spirit-that is why when we die-our bodies shut off like turning off a switch because our souls have left and gone back to our true home. There is such thing as electricity right? We are unable to see it but we know it exists-it is the same for our soul-but for some reason we just cannot accept that it exists for certain-we have faith it does-well of course it does - how else would we be able to feel ?

Answer 9

Soul is generally believed to be the individual spirit that survives death and reincarnates and such. If it's believed that the Truth is Oneness and therefore multiplicity is an illusion, then the individual human is an illusion formed by that One.

A multiplicity of souls, then, would likewise be an illusion. I see no soul and no need for it. It seems to be a concept formed by the individual to help it understand eternal Existence in Oneness.

Phil

Answer 10

this is a very difficult Q and i doubt if i can do a good job at defining it...but from what i feel,it's something like this:

according to Buddhism,when you have worldly desires and all other strong emotions such as anger and hatred....attachment to things..this makes up "positive and negative energies"(please don't take it literally)...the more you possess these ,the more difficult it it to attain enlightenment..

i'm really sorry,i have no idea how to explain it..and i doubt if this makes sense..but this is the best i can do :) hope this helps