What is the soul?

Answer 1

The soul (Psyche) is the Mind.

It is part of the "Tripartite Attributes of Human Wholeness", being:

1.) Spirit (Pneuma)

2). Soul (Mind)

3.) Body (Soma)

The two lesser attributes, Soul and the Body, perish and die, but the Spirit is immortal and lives for Eternity.

Moderns erroneously reconcile the Spirit and the Soul to be a singular and synonymous attribute. This is inaccurate; they are separate attributes.

Answer 2

Plato considered the soul as the essence of a person, being, that which decides how we behave. He considered this essence as an incorporeal, eternal occupant of our being. As bodies die the soul is continually reborn in subsequent bodies. The Platonic soul comprises three parts:

the logos (mind, nous, superego, or reason)
the thymos (emotion, ego, or spiritedness)
the pathos (appetitive, id, or carnal)
Each of these has a function in a balanced and peaceful soul.

The logos equates to the mind (superego). It corresponds to the charioteer, directing the balanced horses of appetite and spirit. It allows for logic to prevail, and for the optimisation of balance.

The thymos comprises our emotional motive (ego), that which drives us to acts of bravery and glory. If left unchecked, it leads to hubris -- the most fatal of all flaws in the Greek view.

The pathos equates to the appetite (id) that drives humankind to seek out its basic bodily needs. When the passion controls us, it drives us to hedonism in all forms. In the Ancient Greek view, this is the basal and most feral state.

The soul is accidentally intertwined with the body. The soul is immortal (Source: Phaedo)



Aristotle defined the soul as the core essence of a being, but argued against its having a separate existence. For instance, if a knife had a soul, the act of cutting would be that soul, because 'cutting' is the essence of what it is to be a knife. Unlike Plato and the religious traditions, Aristotle did not consider the soul as some kind of separate, ghostly occupant of the body (just as we cannot separate the activity of cutting from the knife). As the soul, in Aristotle's view, is an activity of the body, it cannot be immortal (when a knife is destroyed, the cutting stops). More precisely, the soul is the "first activity" of a living body. This is a state, or a potential for actual, or 'second', activity. "The axe has an edge for cutting" was, for Aristotle, analogous to "humans have bodies for rational activity," and the potential for rational activity thus constituted the essence of a human soul. Aristotle used his concept of the soul in many of his works; the De Anima (On the Soul) provides a good place to start to gain more understanding of his views.

There is on-going debate about Aristotle's views regarding the immortality of the human soul; however, Aristotle makes it clear towards the end of his De Anima that he does believe that the intellect, which he considers to be a part of the soul, is eternal and separable from the body.

Aristotle also believed that there were four sections of the soul. The four sections are calculative part, the scientific part on the rational side used for making decisions and the desiderative part and the vegetative part on the irrational side responsible for identifying our needs.

These are the greek philosophical perspective on the soul.

My perspective: The soul is an spiritual entity which is connected to the body through the Spiritophysical cord. It is the content within the body. The soul can live without a body.

Answer 3

The soul is religious invention to separate the humans from the rest of the animals. The superiority theory.
I really don't believe in this concept. We are part of the Circle of Life(energy) in the micro and the macro Universe. If the soul exist is the same for all the things, living and non living(as we know).

Answer 4

The soul, in my opinion, is completely your mind. Composed of genetics and sociological influences, it creates the soul, as it's main fuel is the mind. And, if a person ends up being brain damaged then they lose their mind, therefore not having a soul.

But again, the soul could be spiritual, but it hasn't been verified. So, really, there isn't a specific definition of a soul.

Answer 5

Soul is difficult to define as it can not be visualized. God is also not visualized; but bombardment of religions on human's brain leave an impression of God. This incomplete impression leads to the misery of world. Soul is not much talked about by religions. Soul is not as potential WMD (you consult G.Bush or CIA or Pentagon for an expansion, Saddam Hussain is still searching for it) as God is.

Soul in Christian liturgy is mind (psyche is the greek word used by early Xtian philosophers, perhaps). However, psyche is a part of the body activity, though not a part of anatomy. If there is no body, there is no thinking or mind or psyche. Hence if one identifies soul with mind then soul disappears with the body. If one believes that the soul keeps the company of the body in the grave/tomb till the bugle call, one has to pity it for the ghoulish company but more seriously what happens to the souls of the bodies cremated or eaten away by vultures or sharks?
The problem comes from the superstitous notion that only human's have souls or worse human is the most superior of the species.
If you contribute to the theory of God being most benovelent, animals born to that God get as much right as humans to that God's benovelence and Love. Hence the superiority of human and then the hypothesis that only humans have soul goes thru the window.
Even the Hebrews, as early as 2500 years earlier, knew that material body is made of 'Matter' = 'Rayi' and Ruach (cf. Dead Sea Scrolls). Ruach is (even now( translated as spirit, wind (can be gas too). It is PraaNa (do not translate this as life). When this Ruach (Elohim) conjoins the matter it becomes a body, with some instruments of perception like eyes, nose, etc, including a mind or Mana. At this stage body is a house, construction completed, with all fittings like doors, windows, AC, Ovens and such things all itted. However they do not start functioning or can be put to use to perceive anything until an entity (resident) enters the body. That resident is Atma or Soul. Soul is the Occupier, hence the enjoyer (not a correct word, Bhokta is the apt one). Atma is the owner of this house which is its empire. For proper administration it uses the already present but inactive instruments of Perception like eyes, ears, and so on. The feed from these agents does not go directly to the Soul as there is a language problem. Soul does not understand the language of materialistic vocabulary. It appoints another perceptional instrument Mana (mind) to boss over the anatomical instruments of eyes etc. How ever even Mind gets bogged down by body forces and reduces itself to another agent of percetion of material things ALONE. Hence the Soul is forced to appoint a mediator . Jesus calls this viceroy NOUS (Greek). I do not know which word he used in Aramaic. Bhagavad Gita and upanishads use Buddhi.
Thus Atma/soul, Nous/Buddhi and Mana become a triple whose hierarchy must be followed.?
Soul in its Original state perceives only the Parama Atma (the Perfect one of Jesus teachings) and ITS attributes. When Mana and other body instruments revolt, and subdue Atma, it moves away from its original or True Nature. Living of any being is the struggle of the soul in that body to reach (Regain) what it Lost due to the Revolt. THIS IS THE ALLEGORY INVOLVED IN PARADISE LOST.

I apologize for the very lengthy answer; Soul is such a subject or is it object?

Answer 6

The soul, according to many religious and philosophical traditions, is the self-aware essence unique to a particular living being. In these traditions the soul is thought to incorporate the inner essence of each living being, and to be the true basis for sapience. It is believed in many cultures and religions that the soul is the unification of one's sense of identity. Souls are usually considered to be immortal and to exist prior to incarnation.

Answer 7

Soul is the light of life.

In the West it is associated with the deepest emotions, but in the East it is mostly associated with consciousness.

Monks, Mystics and Yogis spend much of their lives becoming familiar with this immortal aspect of their own lives. The latter chapters of "Gospel Enigma" (a free resource) explains how one becomes familiar with ones own soul. Find it here.

Answer 8

In my opinion, the soul is just the psyche. It is was separates the individual from the collective, like a bridge between the one and the whole.

Answer 9

the soul is nothing more then the utmost self of a person....a soul for say dose not exists...your soul is who u are in the present time and place....in religious Menes your soul is the purist form of the human being....thus your angel or demon that resides within you while you yourself are what your soul is...

Answer 10

The soul is the individual's will to survive. Once we gain, ourselves, then we are free to give of ourselves freely to other's, but we must "Care for the Soul" Thomas Moore; before we can care for others.

Some exoteric-religions challenge us to not be selfish, give unto others and you will have peace. I believe they have it backward's; We have to gain our lives to lose it, if we lose it to give it; everyone suffers including the one who offered the sacrifice; and sometimes without the true-recognition some of these Mayrtr-acts deserve. Right?