Understanding What The "Soul" Is

11/30/2007 12:01:16 PM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
suzydoll Cheneyville, LA age: 62	What Is A SOUL? The question of the reality of the soul and its distinction from the body is among the most important problems of philosophy, for with it is bound up the doctrine of a future life. Various theories as to the nature of the soul have claimed to be reconcilable with the tenet of immortality, but it is a sure instinct that leads us to suspect every attack on the substantiality or spirituality of the soul as an assault on the belief in existence after death. The soul may be defined as the ultimate internal principle by which we think, feel, and will, and by which our bodies are animated. The term "mind" usually denotes this principle as the subject of our conscious states, while "soul" denotes the source of our vegetative activities as well. That our vital activities proceed from a principle capable of subsisting in itself, is the thesis of the substantiality of the soul: that this principle is not itself composite, extended, corporeal, or essentially and intrinsically dependent on the body, is the doctrine of spirituality. If there be a life after death, clearly the agent or subject of our vital activities must be capable of an existence separate from the body. The belief in an animating principle in some sense distinct from the body is an almost inevitable inference from the observed facts of life. Even uncivilized peoples arrive at the concept of the soul almost without reflection, certainly without any severe mental effort. The mysteries of birth and death, the lapse of conscious life during sleep and in swooning, even the commonest operations of imagination and memory, which abstract a man from his bodily presence even while awake-all such facts invincibly suggest the existence of something besides the visible organism, internal to it, but to a large extent independent of it, and leading a life of its own. In the rude psychology of the primitive nations, the soul is often represented as actually migrating to and fro during dreams and trances, and after death haunting the neighbourhood of its body. Nearly always it is figured as something extremely volatile, a perfume or a breath. Often, as among the Fijians, it is represented as a miniature replica of the body, so small as to be invisible. The Samoans have a name for the soul which means "that which comes and goes". Many peoples, such as the Dyaks and Sumatrans, bind various parts of the body with cords during sickness to prevent the escape of thesoul. In short, all the evidence goes to show that Dualism, however uncritical and inconsistent, is the instinctive creed of "primitive man" THE SOUL IN CHRISTIAN THOUGHT............ Continued This is only a "partial piece" on this subject as DH limits the amount of words that can be posted. If you are interested and would like to read it in its entirety please e-mail me and I will give you the address to my personal web page where you can read it in it's entirety. I apologize for the length. Alot of reading I know. God Bless each of us as we continue to grow and experience God to the fullest on our Spiritual Joourney. Suzy
11/30/2007 1:23:32 PM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
rich101 Lillington, NC age: 51 online now!	My stab as to my understanding; I MAY BE RONG. A spirit is free flying so to speak, Your Soul is your spirit bound up in the flesh. When you pass on your soul is released, and your spirit lives on.
11/30/2007 2:51:43 PM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
skunkbreath Saint James, MO age: 88	"In the Old Testament, man is referred to as a "soul" (Hebrew nephesh) more than 130 times. The term is also applied to sea creatures (Genesis 1:20-21), birds (verse 30) and land animals, including cattle and "creeping" creatures such as reptiles and insects (verse 24). -The truth is, the term soul refers to any living creature (whether man or beast), not to some separate, living essence temporarily inhabiting the body.'" The term, soul , has been used to refer to spirit, which is part of the soul. We are souls consisting of body, mind and spirit. Souls die, releasing spirit/mind mutiplexed together. Or so some stories go... Suzy, did you research and write this?
11/30/2007 3:23:58 PM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
kingdavid2012 Fitchburg, MA age: 45	I don't understand this because of this Scripture seem's to say that the soul can live and doesn' have to die. Yashua said "what is a man to gain from all of the wealth of the world but only to looose his own soul?" Does this say that the soul live's on in the rightous man. Or is the loose of the soul because of sin mean's the soul's death? Like the saying "you sold your soul to the devil". Does this mean your soul becomes evil and has to be put to death By God as His rightous judgment of the state the soul is in at that time of judgment?
11/30/2007 4:43:57 PM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
lastradicaldude Lamar, CO age: 53	Suzy thank you for your substantive thoughts. Please don't apologize for it's lengthyness. In fact I would like to suggest that you post the remainder of it here in DHU in parts. I am looking forward to part two and though I and some others may look at your website, there are some here that might not go to that trouble. If you would please email me your web address. Again thanks, Lastrad
12/2/2007 9:56:18 AM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
goodoleboy13 Boise, ID age: 67	My view on the soul is a little differant. I believe in reincarnation. I believe that when the body dies that which is not of tnhhe body passes to a place of rest and learning. A place where the incarnation just past as well as other incarnations are reviewed and where one rests and learns until such time as one chooses to reenter the School of Life in the material realm. That portion of the non-material person which remembers past lives is the soul it is a husk that covers the spirit. The spirit of a human as well as all things is a shard of the creator spirit. In Geneis it states that God (The Creator) breathed into the nostriles of Adam and Adam became a walking spirit. In order to evolve spiritually in my thinking one must remember the lessons learned in past incarnations this memory is what the soul is. It is the source of intution, hunches,etc. In an advanced stage a person can tap into the soul and achive parapsyic abalities. This thinking suits me and I do not say that it is suitable for any other person. They like the many sources that Susie has quoted must think for themselves and come to an answer which is acceptable for them.
12/2/2007 10:28:50 AM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
skunkbreath Saint James, MO age: 88	good-, sounds as good as any theory!(npi).....but , i sure hope you are wrong!!...i can live with the theory of hellfire,,, but, reincarnation is really scary!!!....a triple bummer!!
12/2/2007 11:59:28 AM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
lastradicaldude Lamar, CO age: 53	Skunk, a return to the School of Life would be worse than going to hell. But if I were to speculate on how God might Create responsible humans, Goodoleboy's explanation is more logical than most. It is a fact that it doesn't appear that He seems to ever accomplish it in the short time of one life here on earth. So as troublesome for my ego as it might be, Here's to Goodoleboy's basic philosphy. Lastrad
12/2/2007 3:07:51 PM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
rich101 Lillington, NC age: 51 online now!	I my self; if to believe in reincarnation, think that I might just like to have a second, third forth, chance to get it right, and go to heaven rather than get it wrong and go straight to Hell with out passing go or collecting $200:00.(had to say it didn’t ya) Skunk tell me do you believe that animals of all have souls? There are folks that will argue that till their death. (not me to argue) Goodoleboy tell me if I am incorrect, is it part of the belief that when a person being reincarnated, if was bad in previous life; that soul may come back as an animal, or tree even?
12/2/2007 3:39:14 PM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
queenofhearts61 Seymour, IN age: 62	There is nothing that confounds me more about humans than all the 'this is the way' it is ideas. Just never ends. Without any proof more people think they know what it is all about.
12/10/2007 5:58:22 AM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
goodoleboy13 Boise, ID age: 67	Some believe that the soul comes back as an animal. I do not I do not believe in cross species as it is called.
12/10/2007 10:59:37 AM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
4evr6y Morgan, VT age: 65	Suzydoll.... these are some of the definitions, that my spirit is confortable with in relation to your topic. Jesus' discorse on the soul at Ephesus taken from TUB p1478:3 paper 133:6.4 There was a progressive thinker connected with this local school of philosophy, and Jesus had several profitable sessions with him. In the course of these talks Jesus had repeatedly used the word "soul." This learned Greek finally asked him what he meant by "soul," and he replied: "The soul is the self-reflective, truth-discerning, and spirit-perceiving part of man which forever elevates the human being above the level of the animal world. Self-consciousness, in and of itself, is not the soul. Moral self-consciousness is true human self-realization and constitutes the foundation of the human soul, and the soul is that part of man which represents the potential survival value of human experience. Moral choice and spiritual attainment, the ability to know God and the urge to be like him, are the characteristics of the soul. The soul of man cannot exist apart from moral thinking and spiritual activity. A stagnant soul is a dying soul. But the soul of man is distinct from the divine spirit which dwells within the mind. The divine spirit arrives simultaneously with the first moral activity of the human mind, and that is the occasion of the birth of the soul. "The saving or losing of a soul has to do with whether or not the moral consciousness attains survival status through eternal alliance with its associated immortal spirit endowment. Salvation is the spiritualization of the self-realization of the moral consciousness, which thereby becomes possessed of survival value. All forms of soul conflict consist in the lack of harmony between the moral, or spiritual, self-consciousness and the purely intellectual self-consciousness. "The human soul, when matured, ennobled, and spiritualized, approaches the heavenly status in that it comes near to being an entity intervening between the material and the spiritual, the material self and the divine spirit. The evolving soul of a human being is difficult of description and more difficult of demonstration because it is not discoverable by the methods of either material investigation or spiritual proving. Material science cannot demonstrate the existence of a soul, neither can pure spirit-testing. Notwithstanding the failure of both material science and spiritual standards to discover the existence of the human soul, every morally conscious mortal knows of the existence of his soul as a real and actual personal experience." 4evr
12/10/2007 11:15:09 AM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
4evr6y Morgan, VT age: 65	Here is some more for those interested During the life in the flesh the evolving soul is enabled to reinforce the supermaterial decisions of the mortal mind. Neither can this subspiritual soul, without the collaboration of some spirit of Deity, such as the Adjuster, function above the morontia level. Neither does the soul make final decisions until death or translation divorces it from material association with the mortal mind except when and as this material mind delegates such authority freely and willingly to such a ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "God is our Father, the earth our mother, and the universe our birthplace. Without God the soul is a prisoner; to know God releases the soul. By meditation on God, by union with him, there comes deliverance from the illusions of evil and ultimate salvation from all material fetters. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Those who held the doctrine of three or four souls believed that the loss of one soul meant discomfort, two illness, three death. The sick were advised to stroll about in the open air with the hope of recapturing their strayed souls. The greatest of the medicine men were supposed to exchange the sick soul of a diseased person for a new one, the "new birth." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Almost every group had a different idea regarding the destiny of the ghost soul. The Greeks believed that weak men must have weak souls; so they invented Hades as a fit place for the reception of such anemic souls; these unrobust specimens were also supposed to have shorter shadows. The Chinese and Egyptians once believed that soul and body remained together. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Early in evolution sleep was regarded as proving that the ghost soul could be absent from the body, and it was believed that it could be called back by speaking or shouting the sleeper's name. Dreams were looked upon as the experiences of the soul during sleep while temporarily absent from the body. The ancients made a practice of awaking sleepers gradually so that the soul might have time to get back into the body. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The ghost soul could be heard and seen, but not touched. Gradually the dream life of the race so developed and expanded the activities of this evolving spirit world that death was finally regarded as "giving up the ghost." All primitive tribes, except those little above animals, have developed some concept of the soul. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The soul was generally thought of as being identified with the breath, but it was also located by various peoples in the head, hair, heart, liver, blood, and fat. The "crying out of Abel's blood from the ground" is expressive of the onetime belief in the presence of the ghost in the blood. The Semites taught that the soul resided in the bodily fat, and among many the eating of animal fat was taboo. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The children of Badanon developed a belief in two souls, the breath and the shadow. The early Nodite races regarded man as consisting of two persons, soul and body. The Greeks themselves believed in three souls; the vegetative resided in the stomach, the animal in the heart, the intellectual in the head. 4evr
12/27/2007 12:12:46 PM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
skunkbreath Saint James, MO age: 88	After much study, i have come to the disturbing conclusion that my soul is that part of me, upon death, climbs up on the roof and won't come down.
12/28/2007 7:35:39 AM	Understanding What The "Soul" Is
hemicuda Rockford, IL age: 47	The soul is not a "thing" but a set of qualities representative of the spirit. It is transitional entity, only needed to blend our spiritual and material (ego) selves. It is the mediator between spirit and matter.

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