What’s your vision of a ‘soul’?

[Z-A]

Most people assume it's like a ghost inside of you, essentially you in a human body. But what's your vision of a soul in a more specific sense? I personally don't believe that we are separate from our body.

 

[ninfanatic]

The only thing that truly connects all beings and the guidance when the brain (and body, sometimes) want to take control.
The brain and body can adapt and change (for better or for worse), but the soul I truly believe is untouched since before conception.

 

[pthnrdnojvsc]

There is no soul . it's a completely made up concept.

does a cell have a soul? No it's a machine.

Humans evolved from a single cell

How humans originated :

4 billion years ago chemicals combined to form DNA inside a bacteria like cell.
2 billion years ago a slightly more complex cell The eukaryotic cell evolved.
The eukaryotic cells combined to form muliticellular animals called Eukaryotes too.

All Species Evolved From Single Cell, Study Finds

Creationism is "an absolutely horrible hypothesis," says the author of a new study of the statistical probability of a universal common ancestor.

www.nationalgeographic.com

 

[_AllCatsAreGrey_]

Most people assume it's like a ghost inside of you, essentially you in a human body. But what's your vision of a soul in a more specific sense? I personally don't believe that we are separate from our body.

I completely agree with you. I don't believe in a soul or an afterlife. In the past I was religious and believed in the soul and reincarnation in a literal sense. It seems to me that ideas like reincarnation or heaven/hell are a way to try to control the lives and behaviors of people.

I would say that I still appreciate spiritual notions, but in a poetic way to explain some aspects of the human experience. It can be meaningful to people, but it's dangerous in the way it is pushed onto people that don't.

I now feel there's nothing more to my life than what happens with this body and mind. I believe my consciousness will cease to exist after the body dies. (Thank goodness!)

 

[ToastInTheShell]

The closest thing humans have to a soul, for me at least, is consciousness/sentience, and we don't actually know where it comes from. Exactly HOW we think and feel is not actually known by scientists, which is the biggest reason we'll have no way of actually disproving AI sentience in the future. It's a reach but AI today may have souls in the same way we do (though I do doubt this).

I'm no scientist lol, but I like to think of the "soul" or consciousness as just electrical impulses in the brain, and maybe a few physical parts that control "experience". I personally don't think we are in any way separate from our bodies, especially our brains. If our bodies stop, our brains stop and our minds, or "souls", stop.

I hope that's what death is. Not really "blackness" or "void", but just not being. No experience.

 

[mark404]

I used to think that there was no soul, that human consciousness was just a part of the information processor that was the brain. But that didn't really make sense no matter how long I thought about it. I believe the brain is an information processor, similar to (but not exactly the same as) a computer. If the brain is an information processor, then it would be possible to describe the state of that information processor as a set of data, maybe a long string of binary data for example. This long string of binary would change all the time as the brain processes information and its state changes. But I can't imagine how a long string of binary would be conscious. It makes no sense.

So now I feel like there has to be some magical thing separate from the brain that "experiences" life and is conscious, although I'm not really sure. You could say that this is the soul. If we go with this assumption, then everything starts to make more sense. The brain is an information processor which processes information from the outside world and its internal state, and communicates that information to the soul. Things like visual processing, memory, language, and emotions may be part of the brain, while the soul only does the actual experiencing of all those things. Maybe the soul also contains a person's "will" and is able to communicate its desires to the brain.

But you could also say the universe can be described as a big set of data as well, since the state of all atoms and particles could be described as data somewhere. If that were true, then the existence of consciousness itself would make no sense, because that goes back to the problem of a piece of data being conscious. The only answer I can think of would be that the universe is magical and consciousness is a special part embedded into the laws of the universe. But I really don't know anyways.

 

[Traveller12724]

Most people assume it's like a ghost inside of you, essentially you in a human body. But what's your vision of a soul in a more specific sense? I personally don't believe that we are separate from our body.

When you take plant medicine like ayahuasca, you get taken to another realm in the journey or at least I was and it feels like you've literally transcended this life, the whole journey is experienced by the inner you and not necessarily your body because you are literally gone to another realm, and so maybe that inner you is what people have named "the soul".

 

[thealteredmind]

There is no soul . it's a completely made up concept.

does a cell have a soul? No it's a machine.

Humans evolved from a single cell

How humans originated :

4 billion years ago chemicals combined to form DNA inside a bacteria like cell.
2 billion years ago a slightly more complex cell The eukaryotic cell evolved.
The eukaryotic cells combined to form muliticellular animals called Eukaryotes too.

All Species Evolved From Single Cell, Study Finds

Creationism is "an absolutely horrible hypothesis," says the author of a new study of the statistical probability of a universal common ancestor.

www.nationalgeographic.com

please don't move, we are trying to set your stake on fire...

-------

Most people assume it's like a ghost inside of you, essentially you in a human body. But what's your vision of a soul in a more specific sense? I personally don't believe that we are separate from our body.

eeeeeeh there's no soul.

 

[damienlerone03]

souls dont exist, the reason we are different then all other lifeforms we know of is because of our ability to have critical thinking skills. Humans dont really have anything for them compared to other animals other then our crazy large neuron to body mass ratio. We have a crazy amount of neurons, and even though other animals like elephants have more then us, they have a bigger body thus all thus neurons have to work hard to just keep the body functional and healthy and doesnt leave that much space for advanced human like critical thinking skills; however, we humans have SOOOO many neurons that not only do we have enough to have a functional body and basic thinking skills, we have enough to reach advanced critical thinking and a form of conscious where we can learn and question. sooooo yuh there is no soul, would've been cool tho lowkey.

 

[Z-A]

I completely agree with you. I don't believe in a soul or an afterlife. In the past I was religious and believed in the soul and reincarnation in a literal sense. It seems to me that ideas like reincarnation or heaven/hell are a way to try to control the lives and behaviors of people.

I would say that I still appreciate spiritual notions, but in a poetic way to explain some aspects of the human experience. It can be meaningful to people, but it's dangerous in the way it is pushed onto people that don't.

I now feel there's nothing more to my life than what happens with this body and mind. I believe my consciousness will cease to exist after the body dies. (Thank goodness!)

Death putting an end to everything that never made sense in my life is relieving me ;).

 

[Forever Sleep]

I used to love the idea of soul mates. Like, there would someone or, a few people that you would be destined to meet in life. It can feel like it sometimes. When you meet someone that you click with so well. It feels so special. Then, you start to think about how lucky you were to even meet. What the odds were against it and you wonder if it was supposed to happen. I'm not sure I really believe in that now. It's just a nice idea in a way.

It's a difficult thing to define though. Is a soul our personality? I'm not sure we think about a soul without assuming it to be an individual personality but without a body. Do newborn babies have a personality? Not really. Yet, we'd probably still like the idea that their soul went somewhere nice. But, that kind of assumes their personality/ character is pre-determined when, who we are surely depends on our life experiences, as well as our genes.

I'm not sure I believe in any of it now either. I think it's just a romantic idea that we cling to because we don't like the thought of losing our loved ones forever.

 

[Ihoujin]

My life experience is such that soul is basically your mind. Psyche = soul. Consciouseness is an external factor not dependent on your mind.

 

[lamargue]

consequence of a false epistemology

 

[EvisceratedJester]

I don't believe in there being a soul. Your being as a person comes down to your physical form. Once you die, that's it. The self isn't some transcendent entity, it's just a product of your neural activity. I don't think that the idea of a soul makes any sense.

 

[thedevilwithin]

everyone has their own opinions and notions of this topic. the one and only fact is that we do not know. no one alive can tell us what happens after death, religious people and atheist both. for me it comes down to what resonates with you, what do you as a being connect with. personally, i do feel a sense of connection to nature and the universe. not necessarily that i'm an important part of it, but a part. that the energy that makes me conscious and sentient will return to where it once came from.

 

[Darkover]

your just a machine made of atoms

 

[yellowjester]

It's a useful term to describe the inner workings of our brain, but I don't believe there's any metaphysical entity that sits behind our eyes and controls what we feel and think -- it makes no sense. It follows the same logical error as believing in God as a necessary first cause, without which the universe could not exist.

What we call the 'soul' is the highest and most precious creation of our bodies, but also the most fleeting and vulnerable; it shows no signs of permanence throughout our lives, so there's no reason whatsoever to believe that it could outlast our mortal coils.

 

[sserafim]