Is There Really a Human Soul?

I think that humans and animals have souls. I don't really know what a Soul is, but I do think that it is something we all have. I think that it's what makes us who we are, gives us our spark of personality, and perhaps even a small spark of the Divine. Life is precious, but it is Fleeting, we could all be gone tomorrow and then what? I believe that there is an Afterlife, specifically, I believe that there is a Heaven. I won't pretend to know or sweat the Details. Maybe there's a Hell, maybe there are different levels, or purgatories or whatever. Maybe I'm wrong. But I can't seriously buy that this Earth is random, and when we die that's the end of it. Science is great and has it's place, but it doesn't have all the Answers. There has to be more than what we see and fathom. I have seen some really Beautiful people in my life, and I don't mean physical beauty either. I've seen people do some really Amazing things for other people, go out of their way to help others. I have a buddy who ... Read more

Meh. Who cares? Humans are the most vile and perverted animals ever to exist, and if they do have a special, magical and immortal consciousness, then the universe sucks beyond measure. The only mercy granted us as it stands by whatever design caused the outbreak that is our race, is that we die. If the soul exists, then is a retarded person's soul still retarded when they die? If not, then why would any other malady cross the boundary of the flesh? I say that if a retarded person has a normal soul in heaven, then an 'evil' person has a normal soul in heaven. I could be wrong, heaven could very well be full of retarded souls.

Try telling him there ain't.

I think that there is more to this experience than we can actually see or quantifiably observe. In my view, the human soul forms the basis of personality and other psychological dynamics. It can be good or bad, depending on the traits that you decide to cultivate within yourself.

Of course there is. I don't know that I would call it a 'human' soul, but there are souls, not everyone may have one (see Karl Rove, just kidding; mostly, everyone has a soul). I have felt my soul move on it's own separate from my body on multiple occasions. I don't share this review out of opinion or speculation, but out of the fact, like I said, that I have felt my soul-body move by itself multiple times. In waking moments, in dreams, in half-awake moments. I don't expect others to believe me just based on my words, I wouldn't to be quite honest with you. It's one of those things that people say, you can't expect anyone who hasn't experienced it to take it seriously.

According to Pravda: "Even more sensational was the year 2001. At the beginning of the year British scientists Sam Parnia and Peter Fenwick suggested that consciousness might continue living after the brain has stopped functioning. The research involved 63 patients that experienced clinical death. 56 people do not remember anything of the period when they were clinically dead. However, seven patients had clear memories of what they felt at that period. Four of them said they were overwhelmed with joy and peace and the time was running faster. Then they saw a bright light and saw mythical creatures that looked like angels or saints. They claimed they had been to another world for some time and then came back. It is worth mentioning that none of the patients was religious. Tree of them confessed that did not attend church at all. Thus, these stories cannot be explained by religious fanaticism. British scientists refuted the traditional idea that the brain stopped functioning because of ... Read more

Not sure how I can possibly find an answer to this. I will either be dead and have nothing to think of an answer, or I'll be dead and not be able to tell a living soul. Either way I won't find out when I'm alive.

From my experience, if you mean the noble, g'wine to heaven sort, the answer is: not in most people. If you mean a basic goodness, I'd say generally yes. And then there's shanty-Micks like me with an eye on the main chance and calluses on our heart to show for it.

Science can't quantify it, so it can't prove or disprove it. Faith believes in it, but each person thinks differently. I might be able to answer this for myself, but not for everyone else. Merely asking the question is a small part of what makes it a possibility. :)

Is there really a feeling? Is there really an emotion? Is there really a thought? Is there really a memory? Is there really happiness? Is there really sorrow? Is there really fear? Is there really love? If there is, then there is a human soul, eternal and indestructible.

I really think that's kind of a dumb question to ask, and for sure, to those who don't believe, when they pass on, they will see for themselves. The soul lives on forever.

We'll all find out eventually.

As a metaphor, yes. In reality, no. The soul is the collective name for our consciousness, ego, and the uniqueness which devides us from others. The argument about whether we have a soul can sometimes get complex. It'd be like proposing, that Saturday is green. We don't have measures and structures in discourse, to refute or affirm the statement.

I believe that there is. And I also believe that doing certain activities, like watching a movie, listening to music or whatever turns your crank, can be good for your soul. There are lyrics to an Evanescence song that go : Without a soul, my spirit is sleeping somewhere cold. I believe that your soul needs to be satisfied, or you'll be emotionally and physically, not to mention spiritually drained.

well, yeah! Duh! Just cause you can't see it doesn't mean its not there!

No scientific evidence; a lot of wishful thinking; no way to know. Think of Pascal's Wager --you cannot REALLY know if it is all true, the concepts of soul and heaven and hell, but the consequences of being wrong are pretty terrible, so --why not pretend it is so? Yet I think it is a courageous and defensible position to answer NO.

One of the clasic questions of humanity. I started thinking about it one day when I was listening to NPR during a discussion about a movie called 21 Grams. The title is taken from the scientific observation that the human body loses 21 grams of weight when death occurs. That's about 5 nickles. What else could explain the sudden cause of weight right at that moment of death other than the soul leaving the body? But what about mental illness and drugs like Lithium and Thorazine? How much of our personality is really us and how much of it is chemical balances and inbalances, electrical misfirings and neural formations? Have many people seen the dramatic transformation a schizophrenic person undergoes when they are correctly medicated? Where is the soul when Depakote and Risperadil (two powerful psychiatric medications) are running everything? What about pregnant women? I was nearly insane when I was pregnant. What happened to my soul when the estrogen took over? Dr Antonio D'A... Read more

I believe that everything has a soul, not a holographic duplicate like in so many hollywood productions but an energy that is imprimted with your own major personal experiences and some of your more powerfully felt emotions. I also believe that energy does not die, well, it does eventually but not in a concept of time that the human mind could understand. Therefore if energy cannot die for unfathomable amounts of time, how can you? Your self is made of a physical body and a series of electrical impulses that are enegry. This energy is dispursed at the death of the physical body. Wheer it goes I can only specualte but I believe that it is recycled and used where it is needed. Balance is my ultimate belief so you can see how I could come to this conclution. All things contain this energy and impact it's future use with reminant personal imprints of all of it's previous experiences. I think I saw a post of something regarding how little we actually know about the human brain and with m... Read more

The closest thing that I can equate it to would be an out of body, or near death experience. Those phenomenon we continually hear about that speak of a separation between our biological and spiritial condition. One example that stood out to me was the soldier who was being beaten and dragged through the street of Mogadisu(sp?) who suddenly realized he was looking down at his physical form. Rather we call it a soul or another label isnt really important..only that there is a distinct separation which seems apparent.

Sure. About the loss of 21 grams at death: Do you realize that the air in you lungs has mass and therefore has weight, and when you die you breath out one last time. So if you were lying down on a scale, it would show a small loss of weight when you breath out for the last time.

Yes, even the lowest creature on the food chain has a soul. Yes! Yes!

Personally I don't think so. If we're defining soul as some type of everlasting spirit that inhabits our bodies and leaves for some afterlife after we die then I would present this arguement. Every living creatures mind is made up of a complex of circumstance natural ability and personality. If a child was raised for the purpose of being an nazi mass murderer (or whatever) then that childs soul wouldn't be naturally perverted he would simply be having his perceptions of the world changed. Good and Evil are not inherent in peoples minds but opinions based on perception. Our decisions may be affected by hormones, instinct etc but that is an aspect of our bodies not of our minds. There is nothing particularly distinctive about a brain with a high procesing capacity that never got an education or books to learn from. What makes who we are is a compilation of what our enviroment teaches us and how we react to them based on instinct, perception and later reasoning. So from that disorganized ... Read more

I highly doubt it. I mean, there IS something special about humans that is absent in other animals, but I don't think it's some mystical life energy that is independent of the body, and ascends to heaven after death. I also don't believe in reincarnation. I may be completely wrong in my assumptions, but I strongly suspect them to be true. I happen to think that Van Morrison has soul, but I don't think that is the kind of soul this forum is about.