How should we talk about/conceive the human soul?

1. 61

   Sportsandfaithposted 12 years ago

   How should we talk about/conceive the human soul?
   
   Working on my master's thesis about Alzheimer's disease and have been trying to figure out what role the soul should have...

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2. 91

   MizBejabbersposted 12 years ago

   I hear people say "I have a soul." In fact one day I heard a preacher say "I am a body. I have a soul." In my opinion, our existance is just the opposite. I think that soul is our life essense and without it, we are an empty shell -- or dead. I have heard that people can exist without a soul, but that is only hearsay and has not been proven. My belief is that I am a soul and my soul exists on earth in this physical plane sheltered in a body. Someday my body will die, but my soul won't because it is part of god's essence. I believe that when the bible says that we are made in God's image, it is speaking of the soul, not the body. That's my basis for my answer to your question.
   
   I know a couple of people with Alzheimer's disease, and one of them was a bona fide psychic. I observed that as her disease advanced, her psychic ability diminished until finally it went away, and she followed the patterns of ordinary Alzheimer's patients that I read about. That could indicate that her soul's psychic ability was coming physically through her brain. And that connection is the big mystery that our doctors, scientists and psychics have not been able to solve. If you get the opportunity, maybe you can help in this research, if that isn't what you are already doing. Good luck, and I would love to see the results of your thesis.

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3. 61

   Robert Pummerposted 12 years ago

   I think it would be great to write a thesis on a subject matter that was fact based without soulful speculation.  This approach lends itself to controversy, not a practical solution.

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4. 72

   ptosisposted 12 years ago

   
   
   I took SSRI's medication for depression and I myself felt like a 'hollow gram", an empty bubble with no core because my basic personality was changed and if the God particle of the soul is timeless and unchanging - then I must be soulless.
   
   The mind-body problem regarding the soul is called dualism - http://hubpages.com/t/2e4b96
   
   Is your thesis about euthanasia based on brain function and if no brain function considered a zombie with no human rights?

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5. 63

   Jynzlyposted 12 years ago

   I look at the soul in this equation;
   
   
   To illustrate;
   
   Refrigerator=the physical body.
   
   The Electricity where the refrigerator should be connected = the soul.
   
   The soul is the energy or the force, or the power to keep the body functional; the body is the mechanism with definite function but is dependent with the soul. Without the soul, the body is just a corpse.

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6. 61

   Sportsandfaithposted 12 years ago

   Thanks for all your responses, really interesting! Robert, I agree with you that basing arguments on the soul often turn very controversial, so I certainly do not plan to make my arguments "solely" based on my understanding of the soul. I also do not want to endorse Cartesian dualism. Drawing a sharp distinction between soul and body easily leads to a devaluing of the body and material world, especially when the soul is seen as "trapped" in the body. However, some form of soul seems necessary for the dignity of those whose physical bodies are being ravaged by terminal diseases...
   
   Thus, right now I'm trying to figure out how to think about the soul and body as intrinsically related or even interdependent... thoughts?

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