Do you believe we all have souls?

[Alaric]

If we didn't have multiple meanings for terms, our language would be WAAAY broader than it is now. However, perhaps it would make you happier if Taoists referred to the soul as an "essence", since their definition of the word is not exactly the same as that of a Christian?

As long as we all know what you're talking about, that is the important thing. It doesn't help the discussion on the existence of unicorns if you say 'I believe in unicorns, but I think of them more like elephants with two trunks'. Blank stares all round!

Like I've said, if there are multiple interpretations, then there is some kind of common feature that they all share. I would say that the soul at the very least has to be personal, whether or not memories are attached to it.

 

[Master Vigil]

Ah, so your comparing anger to rapid "negative?" change in things. And are showing that all things with this rapid change include a sort of anger. I get it, makes some sense.

 

[Runt]

But Mr_Spinkles.... your Spinkility Theory of the connection between rapid motion and anger does not take into account the "quiet before the storm" that is the anger right BEFORE it is about to break forth into the destructive behavior (the destructive behavior being the "tantrum", I guess you could say, in which the anger is actually fueled into rapid motion). Thus, we must differentiate between anger manifested in rapid motion ("Spinkility") and something else... anger manifested in stillness.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

Runt-- you're right, there is a big difference between Potential Spinkility and Kinetic Spinkility. However, they are all connected by Spinkility.

And Master Vigil, please tell me you don't believe in that nonesense...I just want to hear you say it...

:lol:

 

[Master Vigil]

What nonsense? My reply? Is not the connection between all "anger?" I'm confused now.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

Just tell me you don't believe in Spinkility. Even if you do, just say you don't--for me, Vig?

 

[(Q)]

Does Kinetic Spinkility increase with Spinkosity?

 

[Mr Spinkles]

"Spinkosity"?! Now you're just making things up...

 

[Master Vigil]

But I am not even sure what it is first. I'm not fit to make a good decision about it yet.

 

[Mr Spinkles]

Wrong, Master Vigil! Because if you don't know what it is...it can be whatever you want. That way, no one can question your beleif and it can never be disproved.

Also, when new scientific findings come around, you can adapt your definition to fit the times! It's a fool-proof beleif!

 

[anders]

What a wonderful proof of how easy it is to start a religion! All you need now would be a couple of prophets and a good publicity department, and you would be in business.

 

[Master Vigil]

But, just because I do not know about it doesn't change what it is. I can form my own opinion about it, but that doesn't make it a sound or even a valid opinion. That is why I never say anything unless I know what I am talking about.

Sure the religion would work, but without a sound foundation, it would not last.

 

[(Q)]

Mr Spinkles

This may help you to get started:

http://www.fadetoblack.com/cultkit/

http://www.siue.edu/~patchis/cult.htm

 

[Spirit Channeller]

What is it that makes me me? I would say that it's the way my brain is wired from birth, the connections made from my experiences I get from my senses, and the memories I have of those experiences. I am not the same person I was 10 years ago, although the connection remains through my memory. If I get part of my brain removed, my personality could be radically altered - even making me feel differently. I could lose my memory, and thereby react very differently to people and situations.

Does any of that go with you when you die? What would a soul consist of? Not memory. Not experiences. Both are dependent on the brain. Not even the initial configuration of my brain cells, since that could be affected in vitro. How then are 'you' be reborn or can 'you' go to heaven when everything that makes you 'you' is dependent on physical matter? And there can't be some other core unique thing about 'you' that gets transferred that would mean anything, because our self-awareness depends on memories and experiences. I think we can get so close to disproving the existence of a soul that any workable notions of what a soul is would be so watered-down as to be meaningless.

I cannot resist responding to this.
I have the answer to much of this but as a Channeller for Spirit its hard to prove the things I say but yet I know them to be absolute truth.
The only way I know for any of this to be proven is for those who seek truth to find their own hidden Psychic abilities and communicate with Souls or Spirits beyond Earth as I have done for many Years.
When a human body dies the Spirit with all its intelligence leaves the body and the brain which just an empty casing and all the memories and intelligence from this lifetime goes to the After life and it can communicate back through humans here on earth and share ideas just as they did when they walked the Earth.
There are spirits I have been communicating with and channelling for for many years and some I knew when they Walked the Earth and some I didn't and they can transmit ideas through me and communicate with others and offer good advice just as they did when they walked the Earth.
Even now as I write they are right here encouraging me to respond to this and tell them what we are telling you so hopefully more and more people will begin to believe in the Reality of Life after death.
And one day when you and others get to the After Life your intelligence and your unfinished ideas will go with you and at that time you will want Earthlings to believe in your and not be afraid of you so you can continue with all the ideas you had when you walked the Earth.

 

[Hacker]

Yes I do, and there are many documented cases where people have actually left their body and floated around and actually seen their physical body, and each person described this out of body experience very similarly. I read about one women who was blind, and had died in the operating room and was flatlined....she recalled floating on the ceiling looking down at her dead body while the medical team were trying to bring her back to life and during that time, she was able to identify EVERY little thing in that room and was able to see for the first time. Then she went back into her body..at this point the doctors were stunned because they thought she was dead and she explained to them everthing she saw from the color of the docotr's pen and told them everything she heard them saying when THEY KNEW she was dead during that time.

 

[d.]

nope.

 

[michel]

I cannot resist responding to this.
I have the answer to much of this but as a Channeller for Spirit its hard to prove the things I say but yet I know them to be absolute truth.
The only way I know for any of this to be proven is for those who seek truth to find their own hidden Psychic abilities and communicate with Souls or Spirits beyond Earth as I have done for many Years.
When a human body dies the Spirit with all its intelligence leaves the body and the brain which just an empty casing and all the memories and intelligence from this lifetime goes to the After life and it can communicate back through humans here on earth and share ideas just as they did when they walked the Earth.
There are spirits I have been communicating with and channelling for for many years and some I knew when they Walked the Earth and some I didn't and they can transmit ideas through me and communicate with others and offer good advice just as they did when they walked the Earth.
Even now as I write they are right here encouraging me to respond to this and tell them what we are telling you so hopefully more and more people will begin to believe in the Reality of Life after death.
And one day when you and others get to the After Life your intelligence and your unfinished ideas will go with you and at that time you will want Earthlings to believe in your and not be afraid of you so you can continue with all the ideas you had when you walked the Earth.

While I agree with you entirely, I don't communicate with spirits. I did when I was in my twenties, but something at the back of my mind tells me it is a 'no-no'.

I do Reiki though (mixed with a dollop of faith healing) , and I believe I am channelling something that originates from God, whom I always thank when I feel "thehelp"; I always make sure to tell the person who I am (hopefully) helping that I am only a messenger.

 

[Willamena]

Do you believe we all have souls?

I believe that everything that exists has a spirit/soul, but we humans are especially skilled at utilizing it for purposes for which it was not intended.

 

[eudaimonia]

I guess that would depend on the specific definition of "soul" you are using. If the definition has the word eternal in it, then no.

Buddhism teaches dependent origination (also known as Dependent Co-Arising, or Interdependent Transformation): “When this exists, that comes to be; with the arising of this, that arises. When this does not exist, that does not come to be; with the cessation of this, that ceases.”

This is applied to all phenomena; nothing is exempt from or outside of this principle.

I'm not a Buddhist, but I agree with this.


eudaimonia,

Mark

 

[Random]

Do you believe we all have souls?

Yes. For me, though, it is not an ethereal/immaterial part, but rather the hypostatic union of mind and body, bound by and expressive of puressence (energy). It's existence can be known by in-tuition alone, but also by other methods if necessary (esoteric sciences, mysticism etc).

Not only are we Soul, but we also create moments of soul too in our arts and intimacies. Soul is how we are enabled to relate to the divine, both within and without each of us.