Do you Believe in “Soul”? -

[Sheriff of CWCville]

I’m pretty interested in what peoples thoughts on this are. I would also like to avoid talking about soul in the philosophical sense (ie defining a person’s essence and lived experience as “soul”) but rather whether or not there exists a soul in the scientific sense, as in a force or energy that can interact and respond to the “world” around it, and potentially be measured or examined if advancements are made.

I have almost always been in the camp that it is easier and more logical to explain life while operating under the assumption that soul isn’t literally real. It seems safer to assume that we are the components of our mind and body, and because we cant measure or even really quantify what “soul” is or how it functions that it should be assumed to not exist until otherwise proven objectively.

Not to get too far out from the topic, but I also don’t see why people believe soul is necessary for humanity or ethics. So long as I can assume that the things around me are alive and real, I would still like to treat them with respect and consideration. That’s all that can be made of what we’re experiencing anyway, might as well act as if your actions do have consequences to the world around you.

 

[R00T]

The most important thing about a woman is dusha and if you don't believe in it you're probably an incel.

 

[Gar For Archer]

It makes much more logical sense that consciousness is just an emergent property of a very complex system, rather than being some sort of metaphysical entity separate from the brain.

 

[soft kitty]

I view 'soul' as more of a construct of religious doctrine, and the health of your soul being contingent on your adherence to moral guidelines; as dictated by your religion. A useful term, but not an actual, literal thing.

 

[Trying Too Hard]

Even if the "soul" doesn't exist in a tangible sense, that is, even if the soul cannot be observed through scientific means, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. For me personally, I don't bother trying to rationalise arguments for whether there is or isn't a soul that exists within a "material plane" and can be detected by science, it's something which you either have faith in or you do not, much like the existence of an ultimate deity. I believe the soul exists, but not in such a way that we can ever interact with through science; existing in some state above material comprehension.
I know you said to not consider the question philosophically, but when talking about the metaphysical and spirituality there's really no way not to.

 

[Sicklick]

Sometimes ghosts come in the form of vortexes, which is when whirling mass of air, water, or fire, in which the surroundings are drawn to the center by a suction-like force. And while ghosts come in TONS of different forms, that is just a little known example right there.

Some anti-ghost people will jokingly say "so, whenever you die, do you basically just become a gust of smoke and that's the afterlife and that's it? Because if that's the afterlife, then the afterlife isn't much of an afterlife then, right?" Whoever says this has obviously got something wrong here. And also, when people talk about the osmosis effect and try to relate it with ghosts supposedly being "smoke," they are wrong, because osmosis only occurs in cells, and is usually talked about in the fields of cell biochemistry. It's basically when water molecules moves through a plasma membrane starting off in low concentrations (which are large in size) and when they get through the membrane they go into high concentrations (which are smaller in size). Osmosis does have industrial application and usage. Whoever equates osmosis with being smoke is obviously wrong.

Another thing I'm gonna talk about is basically defining what energy is. What energy is is basically matter. It cannot be created nor destroyed. It has to consist of kinetic, potential and rest energy in order to actually exist. While we do have the kinetic energy of the blood cells moving through our bodies, and we also have the chemical potential energy of our bodies created by a combination between the food that we eat and the oxygen we breathe, which stores the chemical potential energy in our bodies. However, the most important thing is rest energy, aka MASS (which is basically what we are made of).

An evidence that originated from the 1800s was the 21 gram study in which was done by Duncan MacDougall on six dying patients in an experiment to prove that ghosts (as an energy) do in fact have mass. And it was found to have been 21 grams of the deceased's soul.

So we need to stop thinking in extremes. Because when we do, we make misconceptions. For example, for people who do not believe in ghosts, their argument usually goes as follows, "how can something non-physical interact with something physical?" Some argue it must have a physical component, however this argument gives people who disbelieve in ghosts the upper hand, claiming that if you were to give the non-physical component a physical component, it would create the same problem and you would have to keep expanding that physical until you have no non-physical left. However saying this creates a slippery slope. People like to posit a lot of false information in this subject, such as ghosts being a "non-physical entity."

Ghosts CAN NOT pass through solid objects, such as walls, etc. Because they are energy. I'm not so sure if you know much about this, however there is this principle called the "Pauli Exclusion Principle" that states that no energy (including fermions, which are also bound by this rule) may not be at the same place at the same time, or in other words, two of the same fermions may not have the same quantum number.

Now bosons (aka photons) are not bound by this rule. If ghosts were photons (which wouldn't make much sense to begin with), then it would be possible for them to pass through a solid object (see: refraction). However, it has been proven time and time again that ghosts are energy and not photons. The same kind of rule can be found with the Second Law of Thermodynamics.

 

[Sicklick]

Btw, I just copied that from Google. Personally, I think it would make more sense if ghosts were photons instead of just "energy". See the light has mass debate. That would probably explain the 21 grams study.

 

[Shadfan666xxx000]

Soul as a quantifiable asset is something I dont think we could ever decipher. Perhaps a soul could be partially quantified with IQ, or maybe some variable of a personality test but ultimately the wide variance and essentially distinct nature of any human being wouldn't permit the codification of a singular variable deemed as a soul.
For example, the NPC meme started as a result of studies which found that many people lack inner monologues which got them deemed as NPCs. However, there have been interviews with people professing a lacking inner monologue who were still accomplished and capable of explaining their thought process meaning either sentience, close approximation or perhaps an advanced mimicry which cant entirely be dismissed as thoughtless.

 

[TFT-A9]

What exactly is a soul? What does it do for the body it inhabits? Is it indistinguishable from any other part of a conscious being?

 

[Tim Buckley]

Not personally.

 

[soon]

your soul exists until you get buttfucked, buddy.

 

[TFT-A9]

your soul exists until you get buttfucked, buddy.

get back in your thread and start answering questions

-500 points to @soon

currently at -1500

 

[Eris!]

The brain is not a computer, which calculates and creates thoughts from its circuits.
The brain is an antenna, which picks up a signal and allows you to drive your body like an RC car.

 

[TFT-A9]

The brain is not a computer, which calculates and creates thoughts from its circuits.
The brain is an antenna, which picks up a signal and allows you to drive your body like an RC car.

vroom

 

[Pissmaster]

I figure there must be one. It seems strange that, as far as medical science has come, it's still completely impossible to craft anything even close to a Frankenstein's monster.

 

[Pee Cola]

I wasn't convinced there was such a thing as soul until I saw that episode of The Simpsons where Bart sold his soul to Milhouse.

 

[Eris!]

vroom

haha material existence go brrrrrrr

 

[believe all women]

Yes, I believe in the soul, although I don't necessarily believe that 100% of people have them. I would guess 60-70% of people have souls, and there are a few different levels of complexity between souls. I see the soul as something attached to the mind that reaches higher: Curiosity, virtues, spirituality, art. These things all lie beyond viewing all things in terms of "utility," or "survival value," or something similar to that. Some people feel deeply compelled to pursue these things, others have no interest.

I once went through an edgy atheist, materialist phase as a teenager, and looked for evidence to disprove this perspective. What I eventually found is that most materialist explanations of the world rely on assumptions, not facts. The nature of many things, including consciousness, is ultimately mysterious, and a strictly materialist viewpoint on these matters is not necessarily any more "rational" or "scientific" than a spiritual one.

 

[Quiet Guy]

The brain is not a computer, which calculates and creates thoughts from its circuits.
The brain is an antenna, which picks up a signal and allows you to drive your body like an RC car.

What's interesting about this is I believe have heard something similar in terms of the brain acting as a receiver. Is there any reason in particular you believe this? Have you had any sort of spiritual experience that would lead you to believe this? I do think that the brain does play a computational role to a certain extent, but I still believe the soul exists and interacts with it in some regard. I think souls exist in a space with higher than three dimensions, which would play a role in our currently being unable to detect them.

 

[Eris!]

What's interesting about this is I believe have heard something similar in terms of the brain acting as a receiver. Is there any reason in particular you believe this? Have you had any sort of spiritual experience that would lead you to believe this? I do think that the brain does play a computational role to a certain extent, but I still believe the soul exists and interacts with it in some regard. I think souls exist in a space with higher than three dimensions, which would play a role in our currently being unable to detect them.

idk i have source amnesia about all my beliefs. I went to school for theology and then did so much weed I forgot it all.