From Whence the Soul ...?

[StuartJ]

Do humans have a soul ...?

Is it a re-cycled soul ...?

Is it a pre-manufactured soul, sitting on a shelf in Heaven, waiting to flutter down and occupy the result of every successful human copulation ...?

[brunumb]

[Replying to post 37 by Guy Threepwood]

But that's just me, from a wider perspective, the vast majority of free thinking humanity has deduced intelligent agency from the dawn of civilization till today.
In stark contrast, atheism has only gained massive penetration by virtue of active oppression of any other belief system- e.g. USSR, North Korea, Communist China etc
and where freedom of thought is returning to these places, so too is skepticism of atheism.

Fear of the unknown and superstition in primitive humans led to believe in the supernatural. Gods who controlled nature. Those ideas were easy to pass on from generation to generation when there was no real knowledge and understanding of the world people inhabited.
Various religions maintained their foothold by suppression of opposing ideas and persecution of those daring to leave the fold. In this age of enlightenment and freedom of information and thought, people are waking up and shaking off the shackles imposed by religious hierarchies. Only in those areas of the world where education is minimal and superstition still rules do you find people buying into beliefs like Christianity. Those beliefs are not reached by rational evaluation of any evidence. It is pushed onto vulnerable minds and encouraged as faith, and we all know that faith is not a reliable pathway to truth. Atheism is the natural outcome of enlightenment and will ultimately predominate unless religions return to violence and oppression to maintain their position.

[William]

[Replying to post 39 by brunumb]

There is no device for dealing with the imaginary. As long as it is nothing more than an idea, there is no reason to accept that the soul is a real entity.

It is a metaphysical idea, and I treat it as such.

It is only because I am keenly interested in such ideas that I have formulated my own understanding of what a soul is - metaphysically speaking - and as I have offered in my own understanding, the soul is an aspect of the overall individuate consciousness which deals with storing data of experience related to that individual.

Questions of whether one should accept "the soul is a real entity" are irrelevant to me, and not what the OP was specifically asking. Indeed some of the OPQ's imply that 'the soul' is to be regarded as real, for the sake of answering the questions put forth.

[William]

[Replying to post 34 by Guy Threepwood]

Normally the response lacks even any attempts to give examples, and I do not see that changing any time soon.

I see what you mean!

It is good to see such a thing, yes.

But we all have 'evidence' for our beliefs, the interpretation of it is usually the issue, is it not?

It does not have to be. The evidence is relatively similar as far as I have seen. More often than not - and something we are all naturally guilty of doing - is to presume things without testing them out thoroughly for any holes therein, not overly apparent, but there nonetheless.
This is what causes the issues you refer to. Interpretations should be loosely held at best. Importantly subjective evidence should not be discarded out of hand nor placed as less important than objective evidence as related to metaphysical experiences one subjectively has.

[RedEye]

[Replying to post 18 by RedEye]

It's called communication, ie. passing on our thoughts to others and having them pass their thoughts on to us.

I believe this can happen 'spiritually' yes

Yes, what you believe. Some people believe that particular alignment of planets and stars can predict their future. It isn't really much help when someone states what they believe.

The point is that encoded thoughts still originated in physical brains. Note the dependency.

Our brains physically 'house' the thoughts- though within that they exist as electrical signals as opposed to physical 'matter' right? , and so from where they truly emanate.. is a good question.

Um, brains of course.

There is no outward physical sign that your thoughts are emanating from anywhere other than the physical device in front of me. I happen to know (believe!) they are arriving via invisible waves of energy- a 'supernatural' concept not so long ago, but already proven in principle by us mere mortals..

Then it isn't supernatural and never was, right?

You aren't answering the question. You can assert what you like about what souls provide to bodies (it's all errant nonsense) but you don't explain why souls need to attach to bodies at all. If they can exist without bodies then why stick to bodies?

I did, though maybe it needs elucidating a little...

Your thoughts on this can remain isolated in your head, but you attached them to physical devices, by means of invisible communication- why? as a means of breathing life into them, giving them a physical presence which can interact with others. And by this interaction you receive and incorporate the thoughts of others in turn, and grow.

This desire to manifest our thoughts beyond ourselves- is the whole reason this communication technology exists in the first place, and so, (I submit to you)- our souls, lives, the physical universe they reside in.

That last sentence is incomprehensible. I still have no answer to my question.

And how do they stick to one body? We're told that the material cannot interact with the immaterial in any way which is why science cannot detect a soul. That being the case, what keeps a soul in place? How does all this breathing life into a body happen exactly when souls are supposed to be immaterial?

Good question; and anyone just 200 years ago listening to you describe internet communication, or even just radio signals, might have similar questions, be similarly dubious about such 'immaterial' phenomena, and declare it inherently impossible or 'supernatural'- and who could blame them?

Firstly, they wouldn't have heard such a description since the technology didn't exist then. Secondly, it could indeed be explained and understood given sufficient time and education. After all, that is how we learn today. Thirdly, the analogy fails since what you are describing is man-made not a supposedly "natural" phenomenon. Now, you guys (theists) have had thousands of years to come up with something approaching an answer. Please don't tell us that time is a problem for you or that an explanation will be forthcoming sometime soon. We both know it never will.

You admit that it's a good question but you fail to answer the contradictions it raises. Please tell us. You claim that the soul interacts with the body. How can the immaterial interact with the material (contrary to common sense) and how have we never detected any such interaction? Any answer?

[dio9]

The soul is begotten when a human finds God , in spirit /body unity. Spirit is in everyone and everything, but a soul is born in the unity of spirit and body .