Do you have a soul?

 

Is there a part of each of us that is eternal, perhaps going through an endless cycle of births and deaths? Maybe we're just a small part of a much greater whole-analogous to a single cell in a complex organism- that we percieve only dimly.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

 

Originally posted by dirtnap I believe we all add to the energy of the universe however good, bad, large or small. We each contribute.

Is there a philiosophical meaning that I missed there or are you taking about E=mc^2 (matter being energy)? Cause if you are, then since we are part of the universe we must be subject to the law of conservation of energy throughout the universe. So a person cannot contribute to the energy of the universe since any energy we use was already here.

I like your big bang theory picture. I read a brilliant description of the begining of the universe theory once:

In the beginning there was nothing. Then it exploded.

Originally posted by Omar al Hashim [QUOTE=dirtnap] I like your big bang theory picture. I read a brilliant description of the begining of the universe theory once: In the beginning there was nothing. Then it exploded.

Originally posted by Omar al Hashim Originally posted by dirtnap I believe we all add to the energy of the universe however good, bad, large or small. We each contribute. Is there a philiosophical meaning that I missed there or are you taking about E=mc^2 (matter being energy)? Cause if you are, then since we are part of the universe we must be subject to the law of conservation of energy throughout the universe. So a person cannot contribute to the energy of the universe since any energy we use was already here.

Right.

But we affect locally its shape - it's organization. Of course it's an ephimerous effect but it may be "eternal" compared with the brevity of our lifes.

I like your big bang theory picture. I read a brilliant description of the begining of the universe theory once: In the beginning there was nothing. Then it exploded.

Not exactly. It is:

In the beginning it was everything concentrated in a very small region. Then it exploded.

It is not clear how Time "was" then, as Time is also part of that everything that got concentrated, etc.

It's all a byproduct of Gravity, I suspect: given X mass it comprises into a dot (super-atom) and then, there's a moment when heat (non-gravitational energy) beats gravity and... it does explode.

I'm a great enthusiast of the Big Crunch theory: it makes the Universe work as a heart , as a self contained all that explodes and shrinks once and again and all the time at the same time because time goes in the package.

Curious, isn't it?

But not much relation with the soul as such.

Originally posted by Omar al Hashim In the beginning there was nothing. Then it exploded.

No more meaningless than this:

In the beginning there was God, and he created everything for no reason.

Originally posted by DukeC Is there a part of each of us that is eternal, perhaps going through an endless cycle of births and deaths?

No.

Unless you're talking merely about the atoms which currently compose our bodies, including our brains. They tend not to break down, but simply get redistributed. The macro-forms they comprise, of course, change.

Originally posted by DukeC Maybe we're just a small part of a much greater whole-analogous to a single cell in a complex organism- that we percieve only dimly.

Depends entriely on your definition of whole, and/or your scale of analysis. I am a part of my family. The family is therefore 'greater' than me, although i wouldn't call it a living, breathing, organism. That totally depends on your definitions of 'family' and 'organism', however ; )  You can always find a way to supernatural-ize the true, using different definitions and vocabulary (since all words are creations!).

I do not believe in any permament 'me', if that's what you're getting at.

It does seem that we're usually ignorant of the profound interdependence of everything we observe, however. This is because we've evolved to function on an individual, social-animal level of analysis

Originally posted by DukeC Originally posted by Maju   Soul is psyche and psyche is mind. There's no diference between them.  I think of the soul as the framework which the psyche is built on. It's present before we're born, and remains after we die.

Greeks, and therefore the Bible in it's earlier known form, have no distinctive word for soul and mind. They are just the same thing. Anima, Latin for soul is the root of animal and animate: meaning therefore the essence of action or life but not anything that deals with the psyche as such. In that sense, a machine would have anima as well.

I think that what we normally understand for "soul" is a vague concept of "emotional psyche". I truly find dificult to understand the concept as it is used by people who believe in it. I think that, when I die, nobody will come to extract the CD with the memory and all my experiences, like those of the robot of Blade Runner will be lost forever... unless someone remembers a fraction of them... always from a diferent viewpoint...

Maybe not... but why? Somebody has any evidence or well structured logic behind psychological trascendence? I see none.

No soul, just a consciousness.

You got a good price for my inexistent soul, you "the 98% evil who even scares Satan"... 

How much?

i think we are all part of a greater soul through the universe. we live as a part of a greater complex. everyone has a soul because at the most fundamental level of creation, when to objects of matter were born, noone can explaine what it was that breathed life into one, and not for example a rock. at what point did we become consious thus becoming 'living things'.

but its all speculation, noone can really say they know. we can just hope we are because thats the most optemistic scenario.