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So, if you believe in one, what is it that you believe the "SOUL" is?

If you don't believe in one, what is it that you think it would be, or would like it to represent?

Is it your thoughts, emotions, personality, tendencies, experiences... What?

A specific answer would be helpful. So, rather than merely stating "emotions" describe what the primary emotions are, and how they impact/imprint upon the soul. Instead of saying "the soul is comprised of aetheric weasels" explain what the weasels are, what they do, what they eat, and how they mate.

Thanks,
Staff

I see the soul as our attempt to understand our subconscious thoughts and emotions. It is also a way of connecting our psyche to the afterlife if someone chooses to believes in one.

I see no reason for a soul to exist, however I do see a reason to try and put words to the feelings of consciousness that we experience from a day to day.

These concepts are hard to assign words to because, it is so hard to imagine a different type of consciousness. We may be able to imagine how we would feel with a few aspects removed like a robot version of our own selves, but to imagine a body without a concept of the mental self is too weird for me. For example, if a person is so inclined to believe they have a soul what would life be like without a soul? Or for the atheist, how would you imagine the view of your self without that internalized concept of 'the thinker'.

My soul is made of silly puddy...

In a lot of scientific pursuits, when we are looking to define something ubiquitous, we look for its rare absence. In molecular biology we study the function of a gene by removing and seeing what changes in its absence. So, if the soul is present, and is more or less the same in most people, how do we know what it is? Certain behaviors and tendencies can be described as "soulless", or by contrast "soulful", and perhaps by examining these we can suggest what the soul might be.

A soulless individual is one who seems emotionally unmoved when committing acts that create large or inappropriate drama for other people.

A soulful person, or a soulful song or action, seems to be those that evoke emotionality, sorrow, joy, or some inner response that was unexpected.

So, with these vague examples, I would suggest that what we refer to as the "soul" is nothing less than a person's connection to other people, and would entirely encompass the qualities of empathy, compassion, and sympathy. A person with less or no soul might be an investment banker that knowingly bankrupts a pension fund to make himself more money, and doesn't care that his actions directly caused the loss of pensions of thousands of people, and if confronted by one of these people and his family, feels inconvenienced and offended.

So, what is the soul? I would say that it is probably an understanding of a how well an individual emotionally communicates with his fellow man.

The soul, being an esoteric concept much like money, is thus defined in the same way. It is what we choose to have it be. It affects us, only as far as we choose to allow it to affect, and be a part of us. I would say that in large part it probably is closely tied to the same part of human consciousness that creates, and depends upon religious ideas in order to answer questions to which there is not a more ‘rational’ explanation.

That said, the soul seems to be the sum of who we are, in a purely esoteric/metaphysical sense. It is almost always a semi-tangible, highly emotional thing defined by the creature to which it is attached. Thus, if the creature is evil, the soul is given characteristics associated with the conception of evil, while if the creature is good the soul takes on characterizations of the concept of good. I want to say that the emotionality of the soul is probably a big part of it. The soul is possessed of attributes strongly related to emotions in almost every instance it is found to exist.

In the same vein lesser forms of life are often times attributed with having a soul in human cultures. It is a subject much debated in the religious community, and amongst those who shoes to believe in such an idea. The idea that the soul is an emotional construct to some degree means that imbuing lesser creatures with such a construct grants that they are emotional entities, and thus more closely related to humans than many people are comfortable with. This is one of the major points of contention in such arguments.

I think it is also worthy of noting that objects do not tend to carry a soul, only living things. If an object is imbued with a soul (usually in a work of fiction/fantasy) it is a disembodied energy held within the object much like a cup would hold a measure of water. However, some might argue that in some cultures, and under some systems of belief an object can be possessed of a spirit of sorts, which grows over time due to a large amount of emotion/feeling associated with said object. Haunted houses fall within this area of what is called the paranormal, but area of study is really intellectually grey, and for the most part wholly unsubstantiated academically.

I am putting this all down so that you have some idea where I am coming from when I try to define what the soul is from my perspective. It’s a background on where I am coming from when trying to deal with this subject.

I would say the soul is a semi-tangible, malleable, summation of all the energy (latent physical, mostly emotional, and some paranormal) within a living subject. It is defined by the beliefs of each individual, and limited in scope only by an individuals ability to willfully manipulate said substance. It is in short a kind of magic, but one defined to some degree by culture, and belief.

I think I’m going to stop here. I’m not sure if this a totally accurate opinion, but I risk losing any semblance of intellectual cohesion were I to continue. I hope this helps…..

You all may or may not be surprised that my definition of the soul has a theological leaning. I know that most of you are atheist, agnostic, or at least anti-religion but you opened the can, so

The soul consists of two parts: the spirit and the body. The spirit is immortal, a kind of life essence that is also the seat of our intelligence, or what might be called "sentience." The body is that through which the spirit can interact with the so-called "physical" world. This interaction has an effect on the spirit, changing it in certain ways. (So the answer to the nurture/nature debate is sort-of in between: some of what we are comes with the spirit, the rest is a product of the environment in which we have grown up and are living.)

The soul, then is the sum of what we are, both mentally/emotionally and physically.

Thank you everybody, I appreciate the replies. I'm trying to get some data to get perspective on a game system mechanic (deep, I know), this should help.