Conservation of souls?

James R

James R

Just this guy, you know?
Staff member
We are told by religious types that we each have a soul. Some believe, in addition, that our souls are recycled through multiple reincarnations.

I have a question.

Is the number of souls that are in existence fixed?

The human population of the world is steadily increasing, so that the Earth now has 7 billion people. But in the past there were far fewer people. So, my question is: where did all the extra souls come from? As the population continues to increase, are new souls being created all the time? Or is there a store of spare souls somewhere, ready to be put into new bodies?

Once again, I thank the theists in advance for your help on this question.
 
Well, having run out of souls could go a long way toward explaining the current state of the world.

Maybe there are only a few million souls, and the world is now mostly overrun with the soulless. :)
 
DaveC426913 said:
Well, having run out of souls could go a long way toward explaining the current state of the world.

Maybe there are only a few million souls, and the world is now mostly overrun with the soulless. :)
Click to expand...

There's a TV program soap opera in the making

The Young and the Soulless

:)
 
James R said:
We are told by religious types that we each have a soul. Some believe, in addition, that our souls are recycled through multiple reincarnations.

I have a question.

Is the number of souls that are in existence fixed?

The human population of the world is steadily increasing, so that the Earth now has 7 billion people. But in the past there were far fewer people. So, my question is: where did all the extra souls come from? As the population continues to increase, are new souls being created all the time? Or is there a store of spare souls somewhere, ready to be put into new bodies?

Once again, I thank the theists in advance for your help on this question.
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There are probably more living entities within a 50m radius of you than the entire earthly human population, so there are plenty of reincarnation options available.

A big difficulty in these sorts of questions is that we really don't appreciate the scale of our insignificance.

Is the pacific ocean unlimited?
No.

Ok, so how much bigger is it than this puddle that a frog can cross with 4 jumps? 5 times? 20? 200?
....

Just because we like to watch computer screens and poop in clean water, we are not afforded an eternal green card to the human species.
 
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James R said:
We are told by religious types that we each have a soul. Some believe, in addition, that our souls are recycled through multiple reincarnations.

I have a question.

Is the number of souls that are in existence fixed?

The human population of the world is steadily increasing, so that the Earth now has 7 billion people. But in the past there were far fewer people. So, my question is: where did all the extra souls come from? As the population continues to increase, are new souls being created all the time? Or is there a store of spare souls somewhere, ready to be put into new bodies?

Once again, I thank the theists in advance for your help on this question.
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IF Earth humans have souls, I would guess aliens on other planets have souls. We have no idea how many aliens there are or have been.

<>
 
James R said:
We are told by religious types that we each have a soul. Some believe, in addition, that our souls are recycled through multiple reincarnations.

I have a question.

Is the number of souls that are in existence fixed?

The human population of the world is steadily increasing, so that the Earth now has 7 billion people. But in the past there were far fewer people. So, my question is: where did all the extra souls come from? As the population continues to increase, are new souls being created all the time? Or is there a store of spare souls somewhere, ready to be put into new bodies?

Once again, I thank the theists in advance for your help on this question.
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and... if souls are put into bodys,
why is it that god would put a girl soul into a boy body and then make the girl homosexual ?
why cant the girl in the boy body be not gay ?

does god have all the souls divided up into 2 different rooms that are not allowed to get mixed up ?
 
StrangerInAStrangeLand:

StrangerInAStrangeLand said:
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IF Earth humans have souls, I would guess aliens on other planets have souls.
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The bible and the Qur'an don't mention aliens on other planets. But let's suppose there are some.

Does that mean that as the human population increases, the alien population must decrease, so there are still enough souls to go around?

Actually, that brings up another question about reincarnation. The usual assumption seems to be that souls are reincarnated right here on Earth. But are you telling me that I could be reincarnated as an alien creature on a different planet entirely? What do you other religious people have to say about that? What do your religious scriptures have to say about it?


Seattle:

Seattle said:
Souls are infinite. Next question.
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I don't understand. How does that answer my question? Can you explain, please?

Edited to add: Oh, wait. Are you saying that the total number of souls is infinite? Or that each individual soul is infinite (in some way)? If the number is infinite, then what are all the souls doing that are not embedded in any living thing?
 
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Musika:

Musika said:
There are probably more living entities within a 50m radius of you than the entire earthly human population, so there are plenty of reincarnation options available.
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Are you saying that any and every living entity is a candidate for a soul? Or do all of them actually have souls?

Does every bacterium have a soul? Or does the soul only come in at a certain level of complexity?

Are there any living things without souls?

Sorry for all the questions, but I'm trying to get a handle on how the whole soul thing is supposed to work. I assume the religions would have sorted all of this out long ago, but I don't remember reading anything about these basic questions.

A big difficulty in these sorts of questions is that we really don't appreciate the scale of our insignificance.
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It sounds like you're saying there are more than enough souls to account for human population increase.

The religions (and people like Jan Ardena) also tell us that it's a privilege for a soul to become human. From what you're saying, there's most likely a vanishingly small chance of that for any given soul. Is that right?

A lot of souls must surely have spent the whole 4.5 billions years as bacteria or jellyfish or whatever. Would that be accurate?

Just because we like to watch computer screens and poop in clean water, we are not afforded an eternal green card to the human species.
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I don't understand.
 
I remember reading somewhere that once the soul is created it cannot be destroyed. I do not think if there is any restriction on total number of souls. But the obvious follow up question is who creates such immortal "whatever" and why.

Do we have an observational evidence of existence of soul? Seance!!
 
James R said:
StrangerInAStrangeLand:


The bible and the Qur'an don't mention aliens on other planets. But let's suppose there are some.

Does that mean that as the human population increases, the alien population must decrease, so there are still enough souls to go around?

Actually, that brings up another question about reincarnation. The usual assumption seems to be that souls are reincarnated right here on Earth. But are you telling me that I could be reincarnated as an alien creature on a different planet entirely? What do you other religious people have to say about that? What do your religious scriptures have to say about it?


Seattle:


I don't understand. How does that answer my question? Can you explain, please?

Edited to add: Oh, wait. Are you saying that the total number of souls is infinite? Or that each individual soul is infinite (in some way)? If the number is infinite, then what are all the souls doing that are not embedded in any living thing?
Click to expand...

The number is infinite. The souls that are not embedded in any living thing aren't doing anything.
 
James R said:
StrangerInAStrangeLand:


The bible and the Qur'an don't mention aliens on other planets. But let's suppose there are some.

Does that mean that as the human population increases, the alien population must decrease, so there are still enough souls to go around?

Actually, that brings up another question about reincarnation. The usual assumption seems to be that souls are reincarnated right here on Earth. But are you telling me that I could be reincarnated as an alien creature on a different planet entirely? What do you other religious people have to say about that? What do your religious scriptures have to say about it?


Seattle:


I don't understand. How does that answer my question? Can you explain, please?

Edited to add: Oh, wait. Are you saying that the total number of souls is infinite? Or that each individual soul is infinite (in some way)? If the number is infinite, then what are all the souls doing that are not embedded in any living thing?
Click to expand...
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As you know, scripture written by ignorant primitives does not mention many things we know exist. They were not even aware of 99.99999% of the universe we now know.

In all my reading on reincarnation, I have never seen anything indicating that souls from elsewhere are reincarnated on Earth nor anything indicating they are not.
If I believed in reincarnation, that would be the simplest most logical solution for me. I would have guessed George Carlin could have thought of it until I heard his take on reincarnation.
I will not try to guess whether souls decrease in 1 or more places as they seem to increase in other places.
I would not find it any more incredible to be reincarnated 60 light years from here or 250 million light years from here than to be reincarnated here.

<>
 
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There is a capacitation to things as memory would have it. Things fluctuate forever, or they were predestined in Heaven "always before," and will return to Heaven for ever after. But, inertia is lost.
 
Seattle said:
You thought souls existed within time?
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what but meager words might i but mutter amongst the clutter of noise that bares eyes upon a sollom world.

life times folded into a single emotion, almost lost amongst thoughts of passing fancy whilst
grasping upon the dearest point of muse to fascinate incongruent variations... clustering into impossible alternatives balanced against the great void. Murmering, moaning, crying , screaming into the nothingness seeking all but any thing may bare witness to the pleading mercy of the souls echoe amongst the flesh of human frailty

should you breath upon a moment to find your heart.
 
RainbowSingularity said:
what but meager words might i but mutter amongst the clutter of noise that bares eyes upon a sollom world.

life times folded into a single emotion, almost lost amongst thoughts of passing fancy whilst
grasping upon the dearest point of muse to fascinate incongruent variations... clustering into impossible alternatives balanced against the great void. Murmering, moaning, crying , screaming into the nothingness seeking all but any thing may bare witness to the pleading mercy of the souls echoe amongst the flesh of human frailty

should you breath upon a moment to find your heart.
Click to expand...
Exactly.
 
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