Do any of you believe in souls?
If you do, am I correct in assuming that by extension, you believe all people have a soul?
By further extension – the ratio is one soul per human body?
So now I have a different sort of question. Are there people in your life that you care about, have close friendships with or even love?
So, if these people mean something to you, you have an emotional investment in them – do these souls mean more than those souls you are not involved with?
Are all human souls created equal? Does each soul, by its very nature of attachment to a human body, have the same value as any other soul? Are all souls valued equally? Or is the value of a soul determined on an individual basis? Can the soul become tarnished through misdeeds and bad intentions? Can it be redeemed through goood deeds – or is none of that important at all because the value you place on a soul is dependent entirely on how you feel about that person?
Jcckeith 
one word – Bhagavadgita… (well that’s my answer, I don’t expect others to believe in it…)
From what I looked up, that is a scripture that is part of the Mahabarata? I will have to look more into it.
It’s a very small and beautiful part of the Mahabharata, but it is also the most famous section of it and it deals specifically with all of the questions that were in your post – among other things…
Thanks! I have heard of the Mahabharata and always wanted to read it so I will definitely look up the Bhagavadgita
my own personal beliefs…..yes I believe that every human (and animal) have souls, I believe that all people and souls are equal and that no one soul is any better than the other, I believe there is only 1 soul per body, i believe that the souls of the people you love/like/care about have no greater meaning or are valued any more than the soul of a stranger ( it is humans who place value on others , the soul does not) yes i believe a soul can be tarnished through the misdeeds and bad intentions of the person ( we all have a choice to do good or to do bad) and yes i believe the soul can be redeemed through good living kindness and compassion towards others and nature.
I believe it doesn’t matter how you feel about a person, any person , their souls are no less important than anyone elses. it is humans who place value on people,things souls, etc. I believe a soul does not have a sense of value nor is it materialistic. , but then, this is just my own beliefs.
I am hesitant to ask in light of your recent loss – for which you have my deepest condolensces – but do you feel the soul survives the physical death of the body or that it can only exists as long as the body exists?
I believe the soul survives long after the body dies, I believe the body is but a vehicle for the soul, to me the soul provides the body with “life” much like a battery powers a toy, only the soul doesn’t die like the battery, the body I believe dies when the soul has completed what ever task it came to do, even with diseases, the soul is aware that the body is flawed, and works with the body until the disease destroys the body, I believe a body that dies in an accident or by malice , the soul within will move to another body ( a newborn body) and begin it’s task again. I believe the soul has the choice to start over with a new body, or move onto a different plane of existence… Heaven? maybe, Hell? I doubt it, those are human terms, I believe it goes to something like a parallel universe, and there are unseen doors or rifts between this world and theirs which allows the soul to enter and leave either plane, I believe a soul can influence the living bodies of others (people), a mothers intuition for example, that uneasy feeling you experience when walking down a dark alley etc. well that’s what I believe , it may sound crazy but it makes sense to me.
I really like your answer. It is definitely different than what most people say about souls and what happens to a soul after death.
“Soul” is so intangible and amorphous that I don’t think about souls much. Come to think of it, I don’t use the word much either. When one person says that another is an “old soul” or that so-and-so is her “soulmate,” I translate “soul” into concepts that make sense to me. An “old soul” is one who seems wise beyond his or her years. “Soulmates” have a connection that goes beyond the emotional and rational.
People to whom I am connected are realer to me than people whose existence I can barely imagine. This has to do with me, not them. The notion that they have souls doesn’t make them realer to me. As far as I can tell, it doesn’t make them realer — or more worthy or concern — to those who believe in souls either. People who believe in souls seem quite willing to bomb other people with souls into oblivion. OTOH, people who believe in souls are often quite adept at convincing themselves that anyone they want to bomb into oblivion (or otherwise treat abominably) doesn’t have a soul.
I believe I understand your feelings on the word soul and yes, you are right, whether or not people know or believe others have souls similar to their own, they seem to be able to easily dismiss any feeling of kinship as humans and attempt to destroy one and other.
While thinking about this yesterday, I heard a familiar Dylan song on the radio. One line jumped out at me as it hadn’t before: “. . . gave her my heart but she wanted my soul / Don’t think twice, it’s all right.”
The Faust story has intrigued me since I first heard it, long time ago. The idea of selling one’s soul to the devil, selling one’s soul, period . . . That “soul” isn’t amorphous or intangible at all. It’s something one can sell or barter with. I believe in that soul, but I’m not really sure what it is.
I believe in souls for people and all other living things. I believe we are issued one brand new off the rack. How we treat it influences its worth.
So are you saying that each person is given a brand new, unstained, untarnished soul, unexperienced soul that is the same as the souls given to everyone else. And once we take possession of our soul – it is our thoughts, our actions, our intention, our responses to how others treat us and our reaction to how others in the world are treated that determines our soul’s ultimate worth?
Who knows for sure? I’m not saying I’m correct, but it makes sense to me.
Great question. I think there is a conscious or maybe soul that floats about the planet, then maybe universe, long after the physical body is gone. What happens from there remains a great question.
To me that sounds sad if a soul, once the body dies, lives on with its memories and with the ability to see the still living world without being able to be a part of it or interact with those they love
I think the conscious eventually attaches itself to another life form, but then again, none of this is concrete.
This is true, none of it is concrete but it really is interesting to hear everyone’s thoughts on the matter.
I think “the soul” is shorthand for your inner consciousness, awareness, and conscience. It’s the spark of life that distinguishes you from a stone or a corpse. Everything living has one, to a greater or lesser degree; even trees feel joy at the rain and sunshine. Some people with split personalities may have more than one. A soul is worth a life, which is infinite, and you can occassionally connect with another soul. It lives on when you die through your deeds and actions, which can never be withdrawn, so best to think first!
Nope. Not me.
Did you ever believe in souls or was this a lifetime belief?
Hello, This is a very important and difficult question you ask. But, to answer it, yes, I do believe in souls and that they survive our deaths. What happens then….I tend to believe in reincarnation.
For me the soul is an anomaly based on energy which can be conflicted by other energy beings. Which is why negative people can get to positive people when they are around one another. We can be affected by that and I guess when you think about it they say the heart is the key to our emotions and who we are. But what validates the soul factor is the reality of people who lets say needed a heart transplant but never changed because of it. Different heart but same person showing the soul determines who we are
I have always wondered if the soul is perhaps a form of energy that we simply lack the scientific capacity to measure right now