The Brain and Soul Connection: Is There Physical Evidence that the Human Soul Exists?

In a previous article, "The Brain: Where do our Emotions Come From?" I made a small reference to an area in the brain called the God spot. This is an area of the brain where religious beliefs are thought to originate from. In people where the God spot is active, and the person believes in God, but also in an eternal soul. Conversely, people having an inactive God spot, may not believe in God and may also dismiss the notion that the human being has a soul that lives beyond death.

What is the soul?

It is believed that the soul is a life energy that resides within us. The soul is defined as an entity that is spiritual that is separate from the physical body. See the exact Miriam Webster definition of the soul here. One does not have to be religious to believe in the human soul; in fact, many people who don't believe in God do believe in the presence of an eternal soul that is part of the universe.

There is no scientific proof that the human soul exists, because it is non-material (if it exists at all). Many believe that the soul is the essence of what makes us who we are. In other words, the collective traits of our consciousness, our conscience, and our ability to express and feel our emotions, our intelligence are all manifestations of the spiritual part of us that is called the soul. Many people believe the soul and spirit of a person are two different non-material beings, but for the purpose of this article, I will let the words soul and spirit translate into the same eternal part of us.

What is the brain made of?

Most of us live our day to day lives without ever thinking about what our brain is made of. The brain has a multitude of parts that communicate with each other. In essence, the brain is a vast computer made of specialized neurons. These neurons are composed of proteins, lipids and carbohydrates arranged in a certain way to formulate the computer that we call the brain. This biological computer is so diverse that it can regulate our body temperature, our heart rate, and our breathing. Beyond the vital functions of the brain, it also allows us to learn, think, reason and love.

On their own, these lipids, proteins and carbohydrates are just the building blocks of the brain and the body. It would stand to reason, if there were no soul that this biological computer that is our brain, would be no more conscious than the laptop or desktop computer you are using to read this article.

It could be argued that the human brain interfaces with the human soul (the essence of the human self) to give us life, to allow us to think, feel and express our thoughts and emotions. Conversely, some would argue that the brain is nothing more than a culmination of its parts and its many integrated systems allow us to grow and evolve into the people we are.

Conclusion

Does the soul exist? Until the scientific community can isolate and identify the soul, there will be no absolute proof that it exists. We all have our own thoughts and beliefs about how the brain physical brain and body works. We also have our own ideas about how our mind (non-material manifestations of our thoughts, feelings and emotions), spirit, soul works.

Author's note: You, the reader, are welcome to leave your arguments to validate or debunk the presence of an eternal soul.

Resources:

The brain and soul

What the brain is made of