The Soul/Spirit, what is it and how does it work?

Originally Posted by Pheasy

How is soul important?

I just know what I call my soul... I know I have one its is me, who I am, my body is not me I know that. I know my spirit (soul) has a relationship spiritually with God, so to me thats very important.

I'm not here to lecture folks or to be dogmatic I'm just saying what I think. And I really did not start this thread to determine if animals have one or not. I was seperatig it out from the seal thread so Spot could have a place to discuss it since its a subject that Ive considered in the past.

[Pheasy]

Originally Posted by Jester

I just know what I call my soul... I know I have one its is me, who I am, my body is not me I know that. I know my spirit (soul) has a relationship spiritually with God, so to me thats very important.

I'm not here to lecture folks or to be dogmatic I'm just saying what I think. And I really did not start this thread to determine if animals have one or not. I was seperatig it out from the seal thread so Spot could have a place to discuss it since its a subject that Ive considered in the past.

Is that not what it is all about .... just stay with real life and then it's okay

Originally Posted by Pheasy

Is that not what it is all about .... just stay with real life and then it's okay

I guess, but then when the real definiton comes round and we compare ourselves to it, we can see what it is, I know what the bible says it is, but my meaning is personalized!

[Pheasy]

Originally Posted by Jester

I guess, but then when the real definiton comes round and we compare ourselves to it, we can see what it is, I know what the bible says it is, but my meaning is personalized!

Hang on ... what ? What are you saying Jester ?

[Galbally]

The idea of spirit is a bit like the idea of conciousness, everyone knows what it means, but actually even trying to define precisely what it is, or could be, is actually impossible. The ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and others had no sense of spirit in the way that we do, and certainly not the same idea of immortality in a place called heaven, though they did believe in a spirit world and ghosts and all of that.

Christian philosophers from St Augustine, to Aquinas have all wrestled with this idea, without ever satisfactorily coming to any conclusion to it. In the modern era, its not something taken seriously by scientists or philosophers in their professional lives, though some still have strong views on the idea of having a soul and that being linking in with morality and all the rest of it.

To be honest I don't think that people's personalities survive death, thats not to say that there isn't something more to being alive than just being a lump of clay, or that death is just the end, I think there may be something more to it than that. But like all people alive, I don't know anything about it really, all I know is that I am alive right now, and I prefer it to the other options on the table, and in the end, I will find out one way or the other regardless of whatever action I take whether all this soul stuff is true or not. Therefore the operative thing is to worry about making this place and the people alive now and in the future the best it can be.

[Pheasy]

Originally Posted by rjwould

It seems as though Jester has made a small, but significant little Freudian slip.

He is, as we all are, more than one person. His soul (how he was raised, including his values) is one person which was formed by his parents and some others. One other person is what showed through there in his post-the person he chooses to be. Jester perhaps likes to suppress that second person because it conflicts with the first, and that, in his mind is betrayal to the former. He only needs to reconcile the two of them to be finished.

So like being human ? Like we make mistakes? Like maybe we have to accept during our existence we can change our mind? We live, we learn and maybe sometimes, what we learn, we questions, to maybe flexible ... yikes !!

This is tough, It hurts

[Pheasy]

Originally Posted by rjwould

It seems as though Jester has made a small, but significant little Freudian slip.

He is, as we all are, more than one person. His soul (how he was raised, including his values) is one person which was formed by his parents and some others. One other person is what showed through there in his post-the person he chooses to be. Jester perhaps likes to suppress that second person because it conflicts with the first, and that, in his mind is betrayal to the former. He only needs to reconcile the two of them to be finished.

So like being human ? Like we make mistakes? Like maybe we have to accept during our existence we can change our mind? We live, we learn and maybe sometimes, what we learn, we question, to maybe flexible ... yikes !!

This is tough, It hurts

[Pheasy]

Originally Posted by rjwould

I don't quite understand this post, Pheasy. Perhaps you can clarify or finish the thought.

What I mean is life is about learning. As long as we learn it's ok.

Originally Posted by Pheasy

We can't. But we have to know if it is good or bad. Is it guidance? Is it our personality? It's all about being a decent person - through guidance or gutt feeling. Does it matter?

And that was my point exactly. I have a soul and I have my spirit. It's a feeling that is so deep within me and that I could no more deny it then I do the breaths I take. How and why do I need to prove that tangibly to someone?

Originally Posted by rjwould

What do you mean by prove? There is technology available which shows what part of the brain is active during the occurrence of emotional experiences. In that sense, yes, science can show feeling happening and therefore prove it.

No, you've merely proved that a feeling occured. You haven't proved what was inherent in that feeling nor what that feeling means nor what drove the feeling in the first place.