this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
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If you do, then what exactly defines a soul in your view?

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[–] redballooon@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

It's a useful term in sentences like "This hurts my soul", but I don't need the metaphysical claims around it.

[–] megane_kun@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Agnostic here.

I do not think what people refer to as 'souls' has to have a physical existence nor a spiritual existence (whatever that means). What I think is that the word 'soul' refers to the sum total of a person's feelings, thoughts, and actions. That entity, even though it doesn't have any physical existence, could have effects that can be argued to be immortal.

[–] Celivalg@iusearchlinux.fyi 1 points 1 year ago

No, I wanted to explain why I don't believe in their existance, but I couldn't write something without comming off as an asshole, so sorry.

[–] PonyOfWar@pawb.social 1 points 1 year ago

There isn't any particular definition of "soul" that I believe in, but I think that there are many open questions about what consciousness is and how it works. Until we know more about that, I reserve my judgement on whether something that could be called a soul exists.

[–] BendyLemmy@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think 'soul' is not something which exists in itself - it is the idea of the essence of a thing, the thing which causes an individual life.

So theories go around that there are spiritual beings separate from the physical (debatable) and I personally think that it extends to all life, such that trees can have awareness which can also extend beyond their physical bodies.

As such, they obviously exist - but their exact definition and nature is quite hard to grasp. I don't think they can survive physical death.

[–] novibe@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

“Soul” is just consciousness. Which many people seem to equate to the brain here.

There is 0 scientific evidence that consciousness has anything to do with our brains. Much to the contrary actually.

Consciousness truly is one of the biggest mysteries of life. We all experience it, but the more you observe it, the less you can find it.

It may feel at first as it’s a phenomena of the brain, of the mind. But soon after you start paying really close attention to it, you realize that consciousness is behind the mind. It’s underneath it.

It observes the mind. It observes everything. And that’s what it is. Perceiving. Aware of everything.

Its the only indivisible and irreducible thing in the universe that we ever found. Consciousness just is. It is the awareness in you. It is the awareness in everything.

When we crack consciousness, all these talks of “souls”, “god”, “atheism”, will seem just silly tbh.

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[–] andallthat@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

all these "deleted by creator" posts in a thread about atheism sound a bit ominous. @Jongaros@lemmy.ml are you ok?

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[–] PeWu@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I don't think humans have souls. When we die, we do just that. I don't think we are so special to have something other species don't, so if we (humans) have them, then other species also can.

[–] Hexadecimalkink@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Curious, why did you group agnostics together with atheists?

[–] object_Object@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago
[–] Ixoid@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

No. If you can't find it in an autopsy, did it ever exist in the first place? Too many people confuse 'soul' for 'mind' (IMHO)

[–] kyub@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 year ago

No. Soul = personality, nothing magic.

[–] PeWu@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago

I don't think humans have souls. When we die, we do just that. I don't think we are so special to have something other species don't, so if we (humans) have them, then other species also can.

[–] PeWu@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago

I don't think humans have souls. When we die, we do just that. I don't think we are so special to have something other species don't, so if we (humans) have them, then other species also can.

[–] PeWu@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago

I don't think humans have souls. When we die, we do just that. I don't think we are so special to have something other species don't, so if we (humans) have them, then other species also can.

[–] ram@lemmy.ramram.ink 0 points 1 year ago (4 children)

It really depends on what you mean? It's a purposely, nearly obtusely, intangible concept. I'm not unwilling to talk about it if I get a proper definition, but my opinion would be a mere opinion formed from the facts I have on hand. I have some suppositions that are outside the realm of what science has been able to dig in to, but without actually factual backing, I also acknowledge that my ideas are conjecture that line up with how I perceive the world.

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