A. The soul is to the body what the astronaut is to the spacesuit—it functions like a battery, giving the body life and animation. Take the astronaut out of the suit, and the suit’s basically useless. Take the soul out of the body, and the body basically collapses. (Which is what death is—separation of body and soul.)
B. A soul is Divine energy. It is existence beyond matter. It is that part of you that exists beyond matter, beyond your body and your five senses. It cannot be seen or experienced physically; the senses are simply the wrong devices to contain and measure the soul (just as you can’t see love or music or hold democracy in your hands). It is impossible to give a concrete definition of a soul, since a soul is not a tangible entity. It’s not matter—it’s energy, but neither is it physical energy. It’s G-dly energy, a little piece of G-d within you. One would actually have to shut down the senses to experience the soul—if you were blind, deaf, tongueless, noseless, and touch insensitive, you would still be alive inside yourself. But what part of you is still alive? That’s the soul.
Each soul is the expression of G-d’s intention and vision in creating that particular being.
C. Simon Jacobson, author of Towards of Meaningful Life, explains the soul like this: “A soul is our inner identity, our raison d’être. The soul of music is the composer’s vision that energizes and gives life to the notes played in a musical composition. The actual notes are like the body expressing the vision and feeling of the soul within them. Each soul is the expression of G-d’s intention and vision in creating that particular being. The soul is the very fabric of our being—as conceived by G-d’s vision in wanting us to exist. Each of us is a unique musical note in a grand cosmic composition. It is incumbent upon us to discover our soul—our higher calling—and play its unique music.” Wow.
It is strange but I don't think terribly difficult to explain... when you sleep you can go anywhere.... you can be in pain, you can be distressed... you can hang out with the sisters of Mercy, you can rule the world....yet never leave the bed and no one around you would know if you were air borne or dancing with bleezebub?... only difference is death is permanent and the final destination can be a continuous nightmare........ anyhow this is an analogy but closest I can come up with....
Text without context is pretext If your opponent is of choleric temperament, seek to irritate him
What is a 'soul'? A theoretical device to solve certain philosophical and theological problems, no more
You are born, live a while, and then die. That's it. Eternal cause and effect means that you will always leave your mark on the Universe, and still be in it in a sense even after your death, but I see no reason to believe in any sort of eternal soul - let alone an afterlife - other than wishful thinking.
but i thought buddhist belief that after you died you turn to other type of physical body/form like cats dogs depends on how good are you...but it has the same soul
but i thought buddhist belief that after you died you turn to other type of physical body/form like cats dogs depends on how good are you...but it has the same soul
No, Buddhists do not actually believe in reincarnation in that sense, despite the popular misconception. What carries on after death is not an individual soul as Christians and muslims perceive it.
The formal doctrine is called "dependent origination". The 'reborn' being is not the same as the one that died, it is the result of causal factors originating (as far as any causal factor can originate) in previous 'lives'. Every action we make and indeed thought we have has the effect of putting other processes in motion. These processes in turn become causes, with their own effects, and so on. At death these factors (whether a person is 'good', 'bad', etc) enter into the causal process ('karmic causality') which leads to another embodied sentient being born, the initial nature of that sentient depending upon actions of the now-deceased in one or more of their previous 'lives'.
It really isn't as complicated as it sounds, but my explanation was not the best, I fear. Simply, Buddhists believe not that a 'new' person is, or has the same soul, as the 'old' one, but that the 'old' persons actions caused the new person (or animal, or whatever). The better or more spiritually advanced (the better their karma) the deceased, the better start in a spiritual sense their successor gets - although that may not be obvious to them!
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