Many cultures agree on "The One" or "Force" aka "Creative Intelligence" (Universal)... the thing those identified with being "mortal" is the ego's sense of a false identity based on concepts (experiences and judgements, fears, etc.) This false self that is fragile and temporary will even embrace the belief of a Soul in order to maintain the illusion that it even exists... lol Those of the Non-Duality schools don't entertain the concept of soul in general as they see us as energy puppets with our entire life programmed by the infinite correlation cosmic scheme of things... i entertained that for awhile but it is a bit lacking for any semblance of an actual eternal collection of energy (ID) of a Self... so i dropped it and went back to the Soul concept... Sure there is Non-Duality as the Ultimate but within the physical world which includes thoughts (things) concepts there needs to be a sense of duality at least until such time as the entity is ready to drop the dependency on the "10,000 things" as Buddha called it i believe... An entity (Soul if you will) or jiva (Hindu) at some point (possibly after thousands of lifetimes) becomes "world weary" sees the folly of it all and decides to get off the wheel (of karma) and awaken to the Non-Duality Reality... In that state God is seen in every form as part of the body of The One... there is no sense of separation at the core... we are all that same colorless sap that permeates the roots, trunk, bark branches, leaves and flowers of a tree, each with different shapes colors and textures... Yep we are all saps... lmao
Soul is consciousness. It can not live outside your body...... not yet. not until we figure out a way to download our consciousness into a chip. then yes. a soul would exist. a digital mind is a better word. soul is a primative word for what we imagine. soul is the wheel we imagine and the digital mind is the rubber tire we manufacture out of it.
Hmm, could very well be, yes. Our minds are very powerful and complex mechanisms, so much that we could easily convince or rather manipulate ourselves to believe that the mere voice inside our head is a "soul". And of course if this is so, it's our ego, the self-importance we give ourselves that forces us to believe that we will live on in some way or another because we think too highly of ourselves.
Interesting opinion, similar to others, as I said before, could very well be so. Thanks for your input. PS: You know that hypothesis that the left side of the brain is used for rational/logical thinking and the right side for creativity is bullshit right? It has been disproven for a while now.
Not only is there no evidence for the existence of a "soul," but there is much evidence that the differences between humans and other animals is much less than religion teaches. All mammals have similar brains, similar emotions, enzymes, etc, as dog owners realize. Not surprising when you consider that apes and humans share about 98% of the same dna. If humans have souls, then it would be surprising if animals didn't also have souls.
It's funny... on the one hand we see those who are convinced that "when you're dead you cease to exist" as if that was it whatever it seemed to be... then you have those who have an inner knowing that they have always been, long before their bodies were formed and they will always be after the body drops... Then some believe it's all energy, consciousness or awareness just mixing it up and changing patterns... nice there is something for everyone...
Yes we *do* share 98% or so of DNA with apes, but let’s not forget that simians are the smartest animals excluiding humans. Comparing ourselves to *all* mammals is a bit of a stretch, seeing how we are much more intelligent then they are. They do not have the capacity to rationalize, yes if you compare our internal structure we’re similar, but we’re talking about the most complex organ here; the brain. Simians may be very intelligent creatures too but they didn’t discover mathematics, construct languages, form civilizations. It’s insulting to give the human race less credit. I have thought many times (on psychedelics mostly) that we are just talking apes, but instead of contemplating on what we have yet to discover, we should remember what humans have achieved to this date and compared to every living thing on this planet, yes we are superior mentally for having achieved what we achieved. Our brains are more complex and work differently, nevermind DNA, (they’ve got nothing to do with each other) our neo cortex is the largest amongst all other mammals.
Also as you said "if humans have souls, animals also must have souls too", yes I suppose so, but because they cannot rationalize/think outside the box they would not be able to grasp the concept that they have a soul aswell. The fact that humans have so much diversity between themselves (because we have the ability to rationalize) makes the concept of a soul more prominent in them, as appose to other living things, being that there is such thing.
My thoughts are if i am a soul closer to the core essence then animals and possibly plants and rocks have similar (a soul of sorts)... Too many actually believe the phrase "i think therefore i am" when imo it should be "I AM therefore i think"... more precisely, "therefore i can observe my thoughts and thinking process"...
Given that souls exist, how on Earth could a rock have a soul? It's just a collection of atoms, not cells. It's not a living thing.
Good question but how do we exist being 99.9999999999999% empty space? There are no solid forms, only a collection of energy bouncing around with huge amounts of space in between... Need a link, let me know.
I agree for the most part. Complete and permanent separation not (when you're still living) That said, the Rishis, Saints, Yogis, Monks and anyone else who can peel back enough ego to manipulate matter in many different ways would argue... Jesus was apparently beyond ego and that was why he could perform miracles such as healing, raising the dead, transforming matter etcetera. The reality is, anyone could do any of these so called "miracles" if they wanted to. Of course you have to rise above the ego to achieve such manipulation. There are many documented miracles that science can't explain. A perfect example is the old lady that lifted the front of a pickup truck with one hand and pulled her son out with the other (truck had slid off the jack). That's not possible right? Even a very strong man couldn't pull that off. So how could it happen? I'll tell you. At that moment the lady wasn't thinking about anything else then saving her son. She wasn't thinking "oh, I can't lift a 2.5 ton truck." She didn't think about the "impossible," her ego didn't have sufficient time to tell her she can't lift a truck because she wasn't thinking. She was acting. She acted purley out of love which is the opposite of ego. BTW, after examination of the woman, there were no physical signs that she just did a one hand lift on a pickup. Not even marks on her hand were visible. Jimmy Hendrix said: I was standing next to a mountain; chopped it down with the edge of my hand. It's not a mountain Jimmy. It's atoms. And yes, if you really wanted to.... Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-L09 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Yes @Growpa "if we wanted to" but the ego identifying with the holes in our head focuses on fear attack and survival doesn't want to get out of the way and cease feeling it exists and not a mere dark shadow of the Self... We keep returning to matter (the body) even though matter doesn't matter in the cosmic scheme of things... all "things" are temporary therefore not real... That which doesn't change only that is real... The Witness to the changing drama that is real but is THAT the soul or Higher? THAT awareness could be watching the soul as well... If there is a soul to watch...
I just find the whole subject fascinating. As a young lady, Queen Elizabeth visited the aboriginal people in South Africa. A tribal chief told her ... "We are but visitors here. We are here to observe, learn, and love; then we go home." I always thought that made sense and it falls in line with everything I've researched about "why we are here." What do I know? Well, my ego knows only Illusion but my soul knows everything. It's just hard to remember/access the knowledge with the ego in the way. Except for the few highly enlightened folks out there, I think the above statement applies to most of us. In closing, I plan on starting a thread called "Ghosts, UFO's, Bigfoot" Where people can post any experiences they've had. My family and myself have had numerous paranormal experiences over the last 35 years and I want to share a few and hear what others have experienced. Those experiences led me down the path of spirituality/science, searching for answers (most of which I've found within) Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-L09 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
Another interesting theroy combining spirituality and science is the "Divine Matrix." A guy named Gregg Braden wrote a book about it that's absolutely fascinating Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-L09 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
i find it fascinating as well but the vast majority in the West believe that if you can't see, smell, touch, taste or hear it then it doesn't exist and isn't real... you can't convince them that anything that is temporary is illusion and only "awareness" or call it "consciousness" of those "things" is real and exists... Now if you could buy and sell it, trade it on Wall St. then they would be all over it... Actually the religions do market it and make big bucks playing on fear for the "believers"... sad, so sad...
I couldn't have said it better. "Seeing is believing" A very close minded way to exist but hey, to each his own. Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-L09 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
My view is no we dont have a soul. I think humans are no different to any other life form alive. From living cells every thing is made. I think the living cells that make up humans are same as every other living piece of flora and fauna. When we die its no different to a tree falling in the woods. Its the end for that group of cells. Squash a fly, kill a spider, catch a fish, put a sick animal down or a human dies its all the same a group of living cells just dies and decomposes. Simple. Sent from my SM-G950F using Grasscity Forum mobile app
And that's what makes life interesting. Life would be quite boring if everyone believed the same thing. That said, I pretty much believed the same as you until we (entire family) started having "visitors." I could never convince you. It's something you need to experience yourself. And if you ever do experience the paranormal, I guarantee you will also believe in more then what you have described. A great many unexplainable events happening everyday, every minute. Stuff that millions of humans have experienced since the beginning of humanity and the scientific community has no clue about. Are all these people full of shit? Lying to gain attention? Sure, some are. All of them? No way. Here's just a few things science can't explain but has "theory's." *Spontaneous combustion (on humans) *Ghosts/spirits/souls/demons *UFO'S/aliens/abductions (can you please lube that probe thing mister alien?) *Near death experiences *Bigfoot Those are just a few examples but there a great many more wierd things going on here that nobody can explain Sent from my HUAWEI MT7-L09 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
I think it is highly likely there are aliens or other life forms in space. If they are visiting you i hope its a positive experience for both parties. Sent from my SM-G950F using Grasscity Forum mobile app