Conservation of souls?

Sorry for jumping in without referencing previous posts here.

If you believe in a creator of that sort, then the universe may be a cradle for souls, created from the first words: "Lig Solas!

God was Irish, right? Anyway, souls are islands of negative entropy in a nest of stars. As long as there are otters, bears and badgers, tiggies and tigers, there will be souls.

Obviously.
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James R said:
Musika:


Are you saying that any and every living entity is a candidate for a soul?
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I am saying that when we call something "alive ", we are simply recognizing the external characteristics of the presence of the soul.

Does every bacterium have a soul? Or does the soul only come in at a certain level of complexity?
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There may be some argument for saying they don't, but I would say yes on the basis of an educated guess. At the very least, the manifestation of life/souls occurs on a microscopic level.

Are there any living things without souls?
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No.
That statement wouldn't make any more sense than a square circle.

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.
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So that means you have at least read the introductory paragraph on the "soul" wiki page, I take it? Or, well, at least most of that paragraph?

It sounds like you're saying there are more than enough souls to account for human population increase.
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Yes

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?
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I'm not sure why you would think that. Given the slim numerical probability of human birth and the unique opportunities the human form of life offers, it certainly does appear to be a privilege.

A lot of souls must surely have spent the whole 4.5 billions years as bacteria or jellyfish or whatever. Would that be accurate?
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Some resources suggest that even if you want to count not the number of births but the number of universal devastations a living entity has undergone in the material world, you will still be left with a ridiculously high number.

I don't understand.
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Most of what we attribute to in the way of material advancement of civilization is merely a distraction at best or a refined embelishment of animal propensities at worst.
 
Musika said:
I am saying that when we call something "alive ", we are simply recognizing the external characteristics of the presence of the soul.
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Or you are simply calling "soul" the characteristics of being alive.
Do you believe there is something called the "heat" that is a non-material substance, a mysterious thing, in the same manner as the soul? After all, one could just as well say that when we call something "hot" we are simply recognising the external characteristics of the presence of the heat. Absent the heat, a cup of tea will be cold, just as you think a body absent the soul will be dead.
 
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You mean absent, I think. If you take what I said a few posts ago, the body is the womb for the growth of the soul, not necessarily its only vessel.

This sounds strange coming from me, even for me..
 
spidergoat said:
How do you know?
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they dont, but corpratised religion will take your money, your land and your children as sex slaves in the mean time.
thanks.
send all money now to save your soul... p.s if you could send us your kids too that would be great.

the skyientific fact is "god says so" which is why hitler was soo great and powerful.
minekomphyshoes childrens inturnment camps in the usa are still alive and well.
mostly filled with mexican children because no one will miss them because they are not documented anywhere.

or was it called Republican Pizza camp for kids ?
 
Soul - my 2 cents worth

Soul is a made up CONCEPT - I'll let the clever ones in the thread work out which group of people made it up

After death and the body is rotting in the ground many people questioned "how / what from the body has gone to heaven?"

Taaa Dah - the soul is born

I have never seen any reference to a physical aspect to the soul, and even in the most ancient medical text I have read, never seen any anatomical aspect of a soul described, nor any drawings

Grey's Anatomy does not list the soul as a part of the body

The closest to being the best candidate for the position of a soul is concessness

Concessness does tick all the boxes and characteristics of the soul

Problem is none of the characteristics survive death as CHARACTERISTICS are a PROCESS, modern con-man uses words like spirit or life force as a label for the process

Giving the PROCESSES of life a name, soul, would then allow for the concept of some sort of existence after death

The body dies, the soul looks around, packs up all your memories, hopes, dreams, loves and looses - in essence the essence of you - and heads off to heaven / hell

Thought bubble - who gives directions to the soul?

As the soul leaves the body is there some? presence beckoning?

Is there any appeal system if the soul feels like something is not fair?

:)
 
Michael 345 said:
Giving the PROCESSES of life a name, soul, would then allow for the concept of some sort of existence after death
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yes... "payment after death"
which is what the corporate religions wanted and all the evangelical ones ask for in advance.

not very capitalist though is it.
bit of a hypocrisy that only exists if the leadership is fascist.

irony !
 
RainbowSingularity said:
yes... "payment after death"
which is what the corporate religions wanted and all the evangelical ones ask for in advance.

not very capitalist though is it.
bit of a hypocrisy that only exists if the leadership is fascist.

irony !
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I'm thinking reward after death

Yes the evangelical want payment first so they can have the Jetstream Gulf as their reward here

You dumb donaters will have to wait until your dead says the preacher who wants jet number 3

:)
 
Michael 345 said:
Soul - my 2 cents worth

Soul is a made up CONCEPT - I'll let the clever ones in the thread work out which group of people made it up

After death and the body is rotting in the ground many people questioned "how / what from the body has gone to heaven?"

Taaa Dah - the soul is born

I have never seen any reference to a physical aspect to the soul, and even in the most ancient medical text I have read, never seen any anatomical aspect of a soul described, nor any drawings

Grey's Anatomy does not list the soul as a part of the body

The closest to being the best candidate for the position of a soul is concessness

Concessness does tick all the boxes and characteristics of the soul

Problem is none of the characteristics survive death as CHARACTERISTICS are a PROCESS, modern con-man uses words like spirit or life force as a label for the process

Giving the PROCESSES of life a name, soul, would then allow for the concept of some sort of existence after death

The body dies, the soul looks around, packs up all your memories, hopes, dreams, loves and looses - in essence the essence of you - and heads off to heaven / hell

Thought bubble - who gives directions to the soul?

As the soul leaves the body is there some? presence beckoning?

Is there any appeal system if the soul feels like something is not fair?

:)
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My 2 trillion dollars worth :

I do not yet see an aggressive argument in this thread so I do not know why you must claim something you do not know.
You do not know the soul is only a made up concept tho I cannot figure how anyone could know until after they die.
IF it is made up, we do not know who made it up tho it is near certain it was before judaism, christianity or islam.
Most of your post is simply Begging The Question.
Either there are souls or there are not & neither you nor I know. I hate to have theists think this gives them ammunition but it is only logical.
IF any god(s) exists, that does not necessarily mean there are souls & IF there are souls, that does not necessarily mean any god(s) exists.
There are so many possibilities that the odds are anyone who claims to know about souls or afterlife is wrong.
James seems to be asking what may be IF there are souls & while I hope he welcomes nontheists as well as theists to contribute, it does no good in this thread to claim they do not exist.
Of course IF there is no afterlife, I will never know yet IF there is, I will not be the least bit surprised.
Since I do not know, I do not believe either way which is the logical position.
You can say you must take a strong position against theists yet claiming something you cannot know is just as illogical for you as it is for them.

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Many of the Posts in this Thread imply the existence of a soul for which I know of no evidence. The soul seems to be a myth.

Note that our memories & thought processes are due to our functioning brain. When it ceases to function, the soul (even if it exists) seems to be of little importance.

The concept of a soul belongs to an era when our heart was believed to be more than a pump.
 
Dinosaur said:
Many of the Posts in this Thread imply the existence of a soul for which I know of no evidence. The soul seems to be a myth.

Note that our memories & thought processes are due to our functioning brain. When it ceases to function, the soul (even if it exists) seems to be of little importance.

The concept of a soul belongs to an era when our heart was believed to be more than a pump.
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The whole point of this thread is to ask if there are souls then what. I do not mean to speak for James but I do not think we can discuss that without, in this thread, implying they exist.
There are other threads for debating whether they exist.

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How can you put a moot into half a planck? It sounds distressingly political... :D
 
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