life after death is fucking absurd, and so was that wikipedia page. if a soul is supposed to be an intangible thing, how can it have mass??? i don't believe in souls so there is no problem for me, but macdougall has a problem.
the ancient Greeks and most of mankind for the past thousands of years have wrote many many teachings and philosophies pertaining to the soul. if you cant understand something it doesn't mean it isn't true, with narrow mindedness comes ignorance
i personally think that there are non-physical dimensions, like thought or sub consciousness. this could be where a "soul" could go. Spiritual dimensions. Because we definitely have a spirit or something like it, there is more than just matter and atoms inside of us.
Firstly, the ancient Greeks may have written much philosophy about a "soul" but the ancient Greeks also existed during a time in which the scientific method and analytic philosophy were not around. In the contemporary era, science and analytic philosophy are useful tools for gaining understanding about reality. Secondly, I am not narrow minded or ignorant. Maybe its impossible to understand the concept of a "soul" because our language cannot relate the type of thing a "soul" is to our experiences. Even if souls really do exist, it is meaningless to speak of them. peaches, the burden of proof is on you. so far, you have not given any sufficient grounds for anybody to believe you. So please, peaches, describe the characteristics of a soul. lets think a little here.
Thoughts originate from physical matter: neurons. There's nothing that shows that thoughts may become independent from physical matter. There's no evidence that any spiritual dimensions exist.
Ancient societies may have produced many philosophical ideas but the fact is they are no closer to understanding the conscious than you or i, or any else. Once again you must remember they are just hypotheses. Would you even think of the soul without their teachings or did you find it by yourself? Please do not just assume that people in here do not understand the idea you guys are preaching. It is a very good idea yes, but it is too focused on the aspect of "me." You assume that the "me" that everyone contains is special, which once again there is no proof/evidence or anything to point out that the "I" is special.
i was using the greeks as an example to convey a period of time, nothing more i never meant to allude that you were either narrow minded or ignorant only that one leads to the other. i agree completely in that our language creates boundaries in trying to explain something so metaphysical. it is meaningless to speak of anything if you think like that. i am in no way going to prove anything as only you can do that for yourself (with reasoning), and please do not take what i write as if i think i know more shit than anyone else, there might be flaws as is with anything. this is MY reasoning to something i have much more to learn about. i am at work and will make this brief. the 'characteristics' that make up a soul or your own soul is everything you've ever experienced through each sense combined with what you are able to take from those experiences or learn, how you make decisions based on what you 'know' but what is 'knowing' anyways? knowing something consists of the current substance being filtered through past learnings creating a rationale within the certain person, but its not like you have to go through every single past learning or experience to figure the best way to cut an onion. it becomes automatic just as wiping your ass is but how? we are literally subconsciously linking the present to the past when we do this, memories have yet to be proven to be physical so we'll postulate that they arent. so what exactly are we linking to???? it must be something right? and what decides which memory to compare the current objective to? we do, subconsciously. not the brain which is facilitating these actions but the soul which is determining them. for example science is used to define 'how', close in comparison to the brain which is 'how' we are able to do these things. religion/spirituality defines 'why' comparing it to the soul. the brain is but an instrument. now we start touching the subject of your consciousness. we all obviously have different states or stages of consciousness that we live with everyday such as the man seeking to fulfill his instinctive desire with a fuck compared to a man seeking to fulfill his intellectual desire with knowledge. who is progressing? we can look towards the seven planes of consciousness to what we are really ultimatly progressing towards. heres some visual that might provoke a bit of thought. why do we desire so much? and in fulfilling each desire what are we acheiving? are we merely satisfying a chemical induced reaction within ourselves that is natural for the continuation of our species? ok maybe so but what about the other desires? desire for knowledge, where does this come from? its natural to want to progress, make better and with more knowledge you can put more things together to be able to make them better, everything is on a quest to end suffering to make things easier to live. but we're also at the same time trying to explain everything along the way because mankind desires for things to make sense. humans have such developed reasoning capabilities which are a result of the evolving or unfolding of the mind. and all these hypotheses hold no truth? science is mostly theories yet we base much of our reasoning upon it. if you were to analyze each hypotheses and string them together im sure it would reveal either nothing or an understanding. but that of course depends on ones level of understanding, or evolving or unfolding of the mind. not too long ago i was in no way spiritual at all and had come to the common conclusion that we're here lets find some bitches to fuck. i had a most intense experience and awakening and at first didnt link it to anything i was just like WHAT THE FUUUCK and me being me and human had to figure what i had experienced out and so my journey began. so i didnt think i found my 'soul' for that is but a word with many definitions but i sure as fuck found something. i dont think i mentioned anything being special, how can something we all have be special? what constitutes special? something that is rare or something that is dear to someone? nothing is special really, thats only an illusion we each make to ourselves to give some importance to ourselves.
I find people who ask the question, "What happens when we die?" are often people who think about death. And people who often think about death, are often people who are in distress.