Since there are many things that we feel/experience (love, dreams, etc.) but can't explain fully or prove the existence of...could you possibly consider that the soul/spirit, that I feel as deeply and am as sure of as the previously mentioned, is just as real.
Hopefully all of you have experienced love, in the romantic sense, and can understand the following. Before you experienced romantic love, you could not understand or explain it...so could the same hold true for the spirit.
Love existed before you discovered it...but before that you could not understand it. Maybe you haven't looked within yourself to find this...which is the same place you found love.
To clarify...I am not a Christian and am not trying to "save" you.
I believe deeply that spirits/souls exist in all living creatures, and am just wondering how this can be ignored, missed, or lost on so many people.
Do yourself a favor and consider these points.
---Good Fortune---
---The Gnostic
2007-11-02 05:54:37 · 32 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Just as many of you will say, and have said, love is a biochemical, physiological, evolutionary etc. etc. without fully understanding it...can you not accept that the spirit/soul is a form of energy without full understanding that?
2007-11-02 06:01:38 · update #1
Many of you missed, or chose to ignore, the part where I stated that I am not a Christian.
I do not believe in Heaven or Hell...just the spirit...because I feel it as I feel love.
2007-11-02 07:18:43 · update #2
Actually, I'm totally with you. I think what we experience as a soul is identical to what we experience as love. And in the case of both, I don't see anything inconsistent with them being physiological, testable, documentable, etc.
2007-11-02 05:58:59 · answer #1 · answered by STFU Dude 6 · 6⤊ 1⤋
The problem with your question is we know what causes those feelings of "love" and the mechanism for dreams but have yet to find this elusive "soul" you mention.
Love is nothing more than a bio-chemical addiction to the happy chemicals your brain is producing. And dreams are the product of your subconscious working out and fixing things that happened to you during the day. There's nothing supernatural or even mystifying about either of those actions.
But there is no evidence for this "soul" thing you mention. And until somebody is able to prove it exists beyond a shadow of a doubt, I won't believe in it.
2007-11-02 06:10:16 · answer #2 · answered by JavaJoe 7 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Bonger... In order to have a fact (even scientifically speaking) You must have proof and evidence. There is no evidence nor proof that God does not exist. But there is more evidence that supports the idea of intelligent design. Maybe you're just angry at some bad old "Christians" that gave you a hard time awhile back. I'm not forcing my belief on you. I'm saying you cannot call something to be a fact when it is based on opinion. To say that an opinion is fact is outright stupid. So it does not say much for your character to make such claims. You can believe that if you want. But don't call something a fact if it's not a fact.
2007-11-02 06:04:09 · answer #3 · answered by Mommy2Be 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I think it's simply a matter of a chemical reaction in the brain.
Take a classic example of Phineas Gage. He worked with a railroad company, and was very bright, very well tempered and looked to have a very promising career with the company. Then there was an explosion, and a steel rod shot through his frontal lobe. He went on to live, much to the amazement of everyone, but the people close to him noticed a change in his behavior. He became easily irritated with people, and would often become angry. He would forget things, and couldn't process things as well as he once could. People didn't know it back then, but because the rod damaged his frontal lobe, where all these things are controlled, it altered him and his personality.
I feel to understand love you should understand that the chemical activity is a part of it. Stimulus - reaction. It may not be as romantic, but it's what happens.
2007-11-02 06:02:33 · answer #4 · answered by Southpaw 7 · 2⤊ 3⤋
It appears that all our thoughts, emotions, feelings are the results of biochemical processes in the brain. Damage to the brain and drugs which affect the brain alter peoples' personalities and change everything we would use to define who a person is, including their "soul". Neural impulses do not help prove the existence of the supernatural. I understand the connection you see between love and spiritual encounters; and they are similar in the sense that they occur only in our brain. Humans are unique animals since the separation between our mind and bodies is so greater than any other animal; but our mind is actually physical, and is contained in the cranium.
2007-11-02 06:04:49 · answer #5 · answered by khard 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Wait a minute - you go from human emotions to a soul? How does that work? Is the 'soul" merely a feeling? I am going to guess you would say no to that. If it is not just a feeling, there needs to be evidence that it exists outside the mind. And what is your evidence? You 'feel' a soul, like you feel love. Well that's just great. You offered NO EVIDENCE that the soul is more than a feeling. You fail.
2007-11-02 06:05:34 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Just because YOU can't explain, or prove the existence of, some things, and I admit I can't explain many, does not automatically mean it must be supernatural.
I just don't believe in god. That does not make me a theoretical physicist or cosmologist or biologist. I am happy to accept the finding of people who are.
Love is a necessary evolutionary development to aid in the survival of the human species. That is all.
2007-11-02 07:08:42 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
We have lots of words that don't mean real things, or they reference things in an imprecise way. Love an soul are two of them. There is only physics going on in the world, as far as the best of us can tell, and there is no reason to think something magic is happening. In fact, as we explore the biochemistry of feelings such as these, we are making progress in explaining them precisely.
2007-11-02 07:03:32 · answer #8 · answered by primary_chem 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Love exists, I have experienced it myself. But it does not control me and send me to hell if I don't jump through the proper hoops. A soul may exist, but then we are back into the physical of "your soul will be condemned forever" unless I jump through the proper hoops. Love does not require that. It only requires that i feel it. Spirit may exist, but we are then back into the realm of feelings and thoughts. You, collectively or personally, may "experience" god. It could be god or just indigestion. No one can say for sure. But to insist that your indiegestion is going to send me to hell because I have not jumped through the hoops that YOU decided that I should is a bit much.
2007-11-02 06:03:21 · answer #9 · answered by bocasbeachbum 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It is easy. You say that love, dreams, and other experiences cannot be explained. This is not true. If you cut away the hype, it is very easy to understand. Read up psychology.
There is a very good tool to help:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
Adding the concept of a sole adds nothing to the solution of the problem
2007-11-02 06:01:36 · answer #10 · answered by Freethinking Liberal 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋