"Body, mind, and that other thing"

[Lonewulf]

So, yeah. As part of my U.S. Govt. class, we had the option to go watch a few speakers talk about the nature of homelessness in America, and ways to attempt to prevent it. Many things were brought up; proposed acts to the U.S. Government to try to aid people through funding affordable housing, providing education for homeless children, helping families to be able to build themselves up to the point where they can afford to help themselves though helping them get a job, etc.

There was a speaker, who was head of a local homeless shelter, called Mission 911 (http://www.cchelpsite.bizland.com/). They provide for the homeless that come in to ask for help, and are religiously-oriented (being that this is Corpus frikkin' Christi, everything is religiously oriented...)

Anyways, the overall mission, speakers, and goals seem to be great. But I was pretty much just explaining this to give you the background on part of the speech the head of Mission 911 stated as he made his speech.

He stated that there were three things that needed to be healed: The body, the mind, and the soul. He stated, "Here in Corpus, we have the body and the mind... but we lack the soul."

I'd question him about the mind part. Corpus Christi does not have an incredibly intelligent group of people, on average. But that's besides the point.

As he went about explaining the soul part, he wasn't quite definitive of the term. But when he brought it up, at first it seemed like a sermon; but then it seemed as if he was defining the "soul" to be a social aspect; a way of dealing with life, hooking up with a group of people, and being able to support one another. It didn't seem to have to do with that bit about the "immutable part of the human body, called the soul" thing.

Which made me curious. "Soul" seems to have several definitions; there's the one that never changes, the part about the immutable part of the body that moves on after death (possibly), and then there's the one that always seems to change from speaker to speaker. Has anyone else ever had this experience?

[fuelair]

Yes - it is the ongoing attempt to explain anything that doesn't actually exist - but you know what it would look like if it did - except what you think it would look like is not the same as what he thinks it looks like and neither match quite what they think it's looking like. It's a conundrum or a condiminium.

[Beerina]

Normally "soul" is synonymous with the conscious being, as far as I know. If it's not, I really don't give a rat's ass if my "soul" is saved, nor if it goes to Hell. A non-conscious zombie is not suffering in lava regardless of how much it screams.

I'm interested in the physics of this "soul" plane of existence -- how does it instantiate the conscious subjective perceptual experience? Does this speaker have any brochures?

:)

[Ichneumonwasp]

Pretty good music, too, in a sort of heavy bass-line kind of way.

[dglas]

I suspect soul may be one of those unnecessary ideas, used to mystify a perfectly ordinary, understandable, human state or function. It has no explanatory function, really.

We don't need souls to talk about self. We don't need spirituality to talk about emotional well-being or connection to other human beings. We don't need God for morality. These are just words used to try to steal our humanity away from us and define ourselves in terms that others can control and pretend to be authorities on.

Smoke and mirrors and power-hungry masters of ceremonies desperately clutching at straws... The real show is actually much more interesting.

[lightcreatedlife@hom]

I suspect soul may be one of those unnecessary ideas, used to mystify a perfectly ordinary, understandable, human state or function. It has no explanatory function, really.
If the soul is defined around a basic program for life, its mental/emotional nature, it has to do with more than just humans.

[dglas]

If the soul is defined around a basic program for life, its mental/emotional nature, it has to do with more than just humans.

My point is not whether humans are the sole (sorry, had to) examples of mental/emotional states. My point was more the force of language in term of determining a concept of self.

Now as for the "basic program for life," I'll have to reserve judgement until the phrase has a referent and a description of how it can have a mental/emotional nature...

[cyborg]

If the soul is defined around a basic program for life, its mental/emotional nature, it has to do with more than just humans.

Life requires neither emotion nor mental ability.

Keep digging.

[lightcreatedlife@hom]

Life requires neither emotion nor mental ability.

How can that be, haven't you read the thread about whether or not emotions are essential to understanding reality? How would we function without them?

[Tanstaafl]

You don't have to understand life, or reality, to live.

I think we're all proof of that. Some more than others.

[cyborg]

How can that be, haven't you read the thread about whether or not emotions are essential to understanding reality? How would we function without them?

What has 'life' got to do with us?

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

Soul Train.

~~ Paul

[Iamme]

Originally Posted by lightcreatedlife@hom
If the soul is defined around a basic program for life, its mental/emotional nature, it has to do with more than just humans.

cyborg:
Life requires neither emotion nor mental ability.

Keep digging.

But that is what the soul has. Yes life can exist without these. But that form of life has no soul...no spirit.

Haven't you ever heard sonmeone called a spirited person? That does not mean the person posesses a ghost within him. Humans have soul...spirit, based on an inner zeal that makes one person different from another. Can we make that claim about oysters or other living...yet soul-less creatures?

[Hokulele]

Here is what I don't like about all the talk of a "soul". If I accept that concept of a soul as being real, it just leads to too many unanswered questions. When I ask these questions of someone who believes in a soul, I get a blank look as an answer. Maybe some of you can do better:

1) How long does a soul last after death? Forever?

2) If a soul can last forever after death, how long does it exist before birth?

3) If a soul is newly created for the new person, where does it come from? The mother? Nowhere?

4) When does a soul become associated with a person? At fertilization, implantation, 6 weeks, birth, some other time? What happens in a miscarriage?

5) Are male souls different from female souls? Why or why not?

This is just a very small subset of question I have regarding souls. Please note, if any of you attempt to answer these, I will expect some kind of evidence or at least logic supporting the answer.

[cyborg]

But that is what the soul has.

No.

Yes life can exist without these. But that form of life has no soul...no spirit.

Meaningless and irrelevant.

Haven't you ever heard sonmeone called a spirited person?

Cultural idioms are irrelevant.

That does not mean the person posesses a ghost within him.

There is no ghost in the machine - that is correct.

Humans have soul...spirit, based on an inner zeal that makes one person different from another.

Meaningless rhetoric.

Can we make that claim about oysters or other living...yet soul-less creatures?

Ill-defined question based on a premise of the ill-formed concepts of vague abstractions.