Theories on the Soul

There are hundreds of beliefs and theories on the soul. Religion and philosophy have both played a tremendous role in limiting our perception of the soul. Is the soul a part of us? Where does it exist, and what happens to the soul when we die? Here are some different theories on the soul I've gathered, and also my opinion.

Origin of the Soul

In main stream religion and in some parts of philosophy the soul is considered the "immortal" part of a person. The soul is also thought of as our thoughts, and sometimes our personality. Some people consider the soul to be synonymous with the spirit, and also the inner self.

Theologians believe the soul to be immortal, as it lives on after the material body has passed. It's also believed that God is the creator of the soul, or souls. Some cultures believe that inanimate objects also obtain a soul; this belief is known as Animism.

Plato and his teacher Socrates believed that the soul is the "essence of a person." They taught that when the body died the soul was reborn continually into subsequent bodies.

Aristotle followed in Plato's footsteps and defined the soul as the "core essence of a being." But Aristotle argued over the soul as having a separate existence. Although Aristotle did make it clear in the end of his De Anima that he believed the intellect (which he considered a part of the soul) was eternal and separate from the body.

Following Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas related the soul as "the first principal, or act of the body." In his epistemological Aquinas stated the soul was capable of "knowing all material things, and since in order to know a material thing there must be no material thing within it." Aquinas stated that the soul was "definitely not corporeal. Therefore, the soul had an operation separate from the body and could subsist without the body."

Evolution of the Soul

St. Augustine described the soul as "a special substance, endowed with reason, adapted to rule the body." According to Augustine the path to salvation (of the soul) lies through "personal self abnegation in life of God and of neighbor. To save one's soul meant abandoning all morbid preoccupation with self."

In the Old Testament the original word of soul was nephesh. In the Greek New Testament the soul is referred to as psuche. Both of these words are interchangeable; as one is used to translate the other. Such a wide range of translations (in many texts) do much to color these various translations of words such as: soul, and also the word sin.

My perception is that the soul is the immortal part of man: the God part. The soul is a part of our "higher self" which resides on another dimension awaiting our return. We're connected to this higher self, but only through the subconscious, which is our lower self.

The soul is where all of our "past life" information is stored from one lifetime to the next. This is the part of the brain which we're unable to access on this third dimensional existence.

The Journey of the Soul

When we pass from this dimension, we are reunited with our higher self and gain access to this information. This is when we along with our higher self (and also the soul) pass judgment to evaluate the spiritual enlightenment for the ascension of the soul.

The soul is a spiritual energy source which never dies, it only displaces. The purpose of the soul is to gain all of the spiritual information it can on its journey. The Bible teaches us to be Christ like, and this is the purpose of the soul. But the problem with being Christ like takes most of us many lifetimes. This is where the act of reincarnation comes into play.

If you've ever seen a ghost then you've seen a lost soul, one that's lost its way. Whether this soul is afraid of going to the light, or just got lost in the transition from one life to the next is difficult to tell. Now, what you've learned and experienced in this life will determine where your soul goes next.

Each existence is like climbing the long staircase of life. If you miss a step along the way, you might have to repeat the whole process all over again. Skipping steps along the way inevitably just brings you back to the beginning. So watch your spiritual steps along the way; one step at a time.

We can only accept and believe in this life what we're meant to believe or accept. So don't beat yourself up over issues which you can't accept. Believe what your heart and soul tells you, and throw out the rest. For those who believe in a soul, treat it the same way you'd treat a precious newborn baby, because sometimes it's just as fragile.

Source of information: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul