I am asking because the soul can have a lot of meaning. Its hope, its the human spirit, its what makes you who you are deep down. I have met some athiest that believe in a "soul" and some who don't. So I was just curious if anyone here did or didn't?
2007-05-11 02:10:45 · 20 answers · asked by ~Heathen Princess~ 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I know you don't believe anything happens to your "soul" after you die. Athiest don't believe in the after life. I was just wondering if you believed you had a soul while you were here is all. :)
2007-05-11 02:15:43 · update #1
I am not saying any of the above are my defintion of a soul. I am saying in general there are a lot of defintions.
2007-05-11 02:25:10 · update #2
Some do.
Not all
2007-05-11 02:12:40 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
No, I don't believe in a "soul". We do have a conscious, the sense of right and wrong. We all know what is right and what is wrong, those of us who believe in self improvement stress the right and avoid the wrong.
It doesn't take a preacher to tell us the difference. It's all in the Gilden Rule.
It has been proven a thousand times that non-believers, on the average, are at the top of the intelligence ladder, the top of the earning ladder, the moral ladder, and are the leaders in every walk of life.
The poorer the country, the more religious the people. The poorer the person, the more religious he is. The less intelligent, the more religious. Of course, that doesn't mean every single person - - - but take averages.
2007-05-11 02:31:20 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Plato (428 - 347 BC) was the first to suggest that conscious awareness was somehow separate from our physical bodies. Jesus Christ promised immortal life to believers, but did not elaborate on how this could be possible. Then in the late 4th century, Augustine of Hippo explained that a bit of God's own immortal awareness was "loaned" to each living human being for the duration of their life, and was returned to God upon the death of the individual. Augustine's interpretation explained both conscious awareness and immortality. For this, and for the invention of "original sin" Saint Augustine was canonized. Although, St. Augustine wrote in Latin and the English word "soul" is of Germanic origin, the concepts expressed are identical.
As an atheist, I certainly know I do possess conscious awareness. I also know that my own living brain is the origin of what I like to call the theatre of the mind's eye. Conscious self-awareness is an emergent property of the incredible complexity of the trillions of interactive neurons. Although humans may never fully understand all the minute details of how our own brains work, there is absolutely no doubt among neurophysiologists that self-awareness originates in our living brains. When the chemistry of life ceases, so do the processes that lead to consciousness.
Bottom line: if "soul" is defined as an immortal bit of God's own awareness, then all atheists would deny its existence. On the other hand, if "soul" is taken to mean conscious self-awareness and is understood to be mortal, then most atheists would agree that they possess such a soul.
2007-05-11 03:08:20 · answer #3 · answered by Diogenes 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I do have self assurance in something, yet i think of i could describe that difficulty extra as an power than as a soul. Atheists can not have self assurance in a a techniques better being and likewise be non secular. seem on the Buddhists...
2017-01-09 15:40:32 · answer #4 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Interesting question. Some of us do and some don't. I think most believe that when you die, you die. That's about it. Does the "soul" leave your body after death? Who can say. Maybe it dies along with your physical body. "Soul" it's self doesn't necessarily mean something that lives on after you die.
2007-05-11 02:19:26 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I'm not an atheist, but I don't believe that some spook on the sky exists because men say so, either. I believe that there is a soul, it has to do with the inner self and your psychic power. I believe in reincarnation, and many of my atheist friends believe it, although they cant prove it.
2007-05-11 02:16:35 · answer #6 · answered by son_of_enki 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Lets hope they do because the definition of a soul is a human being . You can be a living soul or a dead soul but if you are human you are a soul .
2007-05-11 02:30:59 · answer #7 · answered by rhonda h 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It's all just a bunch of biochemical and bioelectrical activity that tricks us into believing we exist.
No, we don't believe in souls. Just sparks that eventually run out of tinder.
Does your campfire go to heaven when you put it out?
But, if YOU believe I have a soul, I'll sell it to you if you can make me the greatest guitar player in the world. I'll meet you at the Crossroads.
2007-05-11 02:14:38 · answer #8 · answered by Nick V 4 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I think the soul is an illusion brought on by our self-awareness and advanced mental modeling capabilities, both of which are a consequence of the evolutionary path we took. Not to mention a childish fear of death.
2007-05-11 02:24:00 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Most of us don't.
Hope is hope. Calling it "soul" also just confuses matters.
I'm a cognitive scientist, so I'm very interested in what makes us who we are deep down inside. That means I'm opposed to nonanswers like "it's your soul": saying that really amounts to saying "I'm not really curious about that kind of thing, so I'm going to go with a shallow one-word essentialist answer and not make any effort at understanding".
2007-05-11 02:17:01 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
I don't believe in God, but I do think we have a soul. it feels like we do, so why not.. another might feel the existence of God and therefore believe in him/her, and some would say I am no atheist, because I "believe" i have a soul.... :)
2007-05-11 02:17:07 · answer #11 · answered by freebird31wizard 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋