I found this article and think it is an amusing share. Personally I don't agree with it but I would certainly be interested in and welcome any comments.
By John Prytz
http://www.articlesbase.com/metaphysics-articles/no-soul-brothers-and-sisters-6848060.html
The concept of a soul tends to be of those ideas shared across each and every culture, every society, every religion, nearly every philosophy, and from each and every historical period since recorded history began right up through and including modern 21st Century times. As such, it is a concept that one has come to terms with as one could hardly call such a universal concept trivial.
However, it must be noted that cultures of any kind can be very, very wrong. For example, the ancient Egyptians thought that the heart was the be all and end all of what made you, you and thus was left inside their mummies. The heart was your soul. The brain (mind) on the other hand was a worthless structure regarding the afterlife and was pulled out of the deceased and discarded.
Then there are the old standbys, no longer credible, that the Sun went around the Earth, the centre of the cosmos; the Earth was flat; the Earth was created in 4004 BC; natural disasters weren't natural but supernatural; the atomic theory was nonsense; there were only four elements (air, earth, fire & water); racial and cultural superiority are obvious (if you were of that race or culture), and there are hundreds of other examples that proved really wrong that came from all possible walks of life.
Whether or not the concept of a soul proves to be another analogy to that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow remains to be ‘seen'.
Fundamental Characteristics
The generally accepted criteria part and parcel of the soul is: Only human beings have a soul. The soul is the essence of what makes you, you. The soul is alleged to be indestructible. The soul is separate and apart from the physical body (which has mass, takes up space and uses energy). The soul is immortal (starts at conception and goes on everlasting from that point) and according to some eternal (what would become your soul pre-existed your conception). There are many variations on the theme of the soul. Some say animals, even non-living things like mountains have a soul, but the above tends to be the norm. Some say you have more than one soul, a yin soul and a yang soul for example. The nice thing is that you can claim whatever you want to about the nature of your soul, or even the soul, and odds are nobody could contradict you with solid evidence.
Can of Worms: So what happens to all those immortal souls if the cosmos has a finite lifetime or lifespan?
The Nebulous (Non-Physical) Soul
If the soul is nebulous or incorporeal, that is it has no mass and uses up no energy and takes up no space.
Can of Worms: If the soul is your ticket to the afterlife, yet your soul is a non-substantial ‘substance', then you exist in the afterlife as a non-substantial ‘substance' (a contradiction in terms) which would mean you would be deaf and blind since you wouldn't have ears or eyes; not even a brain to receive or neural networks to carry sensory signals. Of course you couldn't touch, taste or smell either. If you didn't have a physical brain; no neural network, with no neural chemistry to support this non-existing infrastructure, could you honestly claim (not that you could of course) to be you? Where would your personality, memories, emotions, creative abilities, etc. be housed, all of which require a substantial substance. Even ghosts*, assuming such things, are corporeal since they can be seen and heard and thus must be comprised of matter and possess energy.
The Physical Soul
Some have suggested that the soul weighs about 21 grams but such claims have never been verified to the satisfaction of the wider based biological, medical, and theological communities. But if the soul has mass, then the soul is a physical thing.
Can of worms: If the soul is physical and has structure, modern medicine would know about it. Since modern medical textbooks don't mention and place and identify and label the soul as an anatomical structure, it isn't.
If the soul is biochemistry that's disbursed through X (presumably the brain) then it would be subject to being altered by other chemistries resulting from aging, injury, drug use, sleep or lack of sleep, and all of the other solid, liquid and gaseous substances you ingest and excrete. That actually makes a bit of sense since the essence of you naturally changes over time but can also be altered by you accidentally or deliberately.
Can of Worms: If the soul is just chemistry then the ‘soul' doesn't go anywhere when you die. But at least chemistry is immortal, or at least the basic fundamental building blocks (i.e. – electrons, quarks, etc.) that make up chemistry are.
Origins of the Soul
Presumably your father's sperm cell didn't house your soul (or even half of it) and neither did your mother's egg cell, so at conception you were soulless. Presumably therefore, if one accepts that conception is the beginnings of you and that you have a soul, presumably a soul was somehow naturally or supernaturally (usually the latter) a part of the conception process. Sperm and egg meet – no soul. One nanosecond later, the newly formed zygote now has a soul. Or, perhaps the acquisition of a soul in slightly further on down the track to allow for identical twins to have non-identical souls. Regardless of exactly when in that nine month gestation, before the baby pops out of the womb, it has acquired a soul.
Can of Worms: Say one has a five month old fetus, who received his or her soul at conception (by whatever means, natural or supernatural), but who is spontaneously aborted (naturally) at five months. Now presumably Christian theologians will tell you that five month old fetus went to Heaven. Now I ask, what does an eternal five month old fetus do in Heaven? Of what possible use is Heaven to a five month old fetus? I mean the fetus has no command of any communications ability (i.e. – language). It cannot read or write. It has no conception of good and evil or of sin. It knows bugger-all about religion and theology and God. It could not recognize any of its relatives like its natural parents when they go to Heaven. Would you like to spend eternity as a five month old fetus? The same could be said about a five day old blastula or a five hour old baby.
Evolution of the Soul
The self-aware you that is you changes over time; over the duration of your lifetime. Therefore, your soul, assuming a soul of course, must change over time. Therefore, if you get a soul at conception – by whatever means going – it must be a book of blank pages that can be written and written over again and again as you naturally change until the definite version is completed – at the moment of your death when change is no longer possible.
Can of Worms: Again, if the soul is incorporeal, how can it change (i.e. – evolve)?
Disposition and Fate of the Soul
Okay, you've kicked the bucket. Now what?
Can of Worms: See conclusions directly below.
Transmigration of the Soul
The equation isn't one soul for one individual. Souls are too valuable to waste and so it's one soul for many bodies, each in turn. The soul travels from body to body. As one body dies, the soul migrates to a newly formed body. Some suggest this is an ever upwards process from lower life form to higher life form. Others suggest that the playing field is level or that if you haven't performed deeds up to expectations your soul can go downhill.
Can of Worms: That would mean that the contents of one's soul get wiped clean or deleted between the time it leaves the newly deceased body and the time it enters a new body. How that happens isn't clear whatsoever.
Conclusions
The soul, especially in connection with an afterlife, makes little actual sense at all. How can a something soul actually be nothing physical? If your soul is incorporeal then your so-called Heavenly afterlife is akin to being eternally asleep, comatose, in a vegetative state (i.e. – a ‘dead' afterlife, for all practical purposes).
If your something soul is something physical then it stays with the body when you die – there is no mind (i.e. – soul) body duality.
* Ghosts have nothing to do with the soul since after death the soul resides in either Heaven or Hell or Purgatory. Ghosts are terrestrial – obviously.
wow
i like the way the author fundamentally places the entire conext of the article within his own terms, calling it a contradiction in places, and yet refusing for taking credit on having made the contradictions in the first place….i will go through it piece by piece to demoinstrate what i mean :
The concept of a soul tends to be of those ideas shared across each and every culture, every society, every religion, nearly every philosophy, and from each and every historical period since recorded history began right up through and including modern 21st Century times. As such, it is a concept that one has come to terms with as one could hardly call such a universal concept trivial.
However, it must be noted that cultures of any kind can be very, very wrong. For example, the ancient Egyptians thought that the heart was the be all and end all of what made you, you and thus was left inside their mummies. The heart was your soul. The brain (mind) on the other hand was a worthless structure regarding the afterlife and was pulled out of the deceased and discarded.
In the first place he needs to prove that the heart was ignored during mummification, and in the second place he has to prove the context of the term in any given age…he does not do this apparently so as to sort of trap the reader into the context he WANTS them in…
Then there are the old standbys, no longer credible, that the Sun went around the Earth, the centre of the cosmos; the Earth was flat; the Earth was created in 4004 BC; natural disasters weren't natural but supernatural; the atomic theory was nonsense; there were only four elements (air, earth, fire & water); racial and cultural superiority are obvious (if you were of that race or culture), and there are hundreds of other examples that proved really wrong that came from all possible walks of life.
Whether or not the concept of a soul proves to be another analogy to that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow remains to be ‘seen'.
these "old standbys" are now summarily lumped into a single genre showing absolutely NO difference, so by using examples that DID prove to be wrong, others are thorn into the same context, which can be thoroughly misleading…in my mind this is painting with too broad a brush to have any basis in reality…
Fundamental Characteristics
The generally accepted criteria part and parcel of the soul is: Only human beings have a soul. The soul is the essence of what makes you, you. The soul is alleged to be indestructible. The soul is separate and apart from the physical body (which has mass, takes up space and uses energy). The soul is immortal (starts at conception and goes on everlasting from that point) and according to some eternal (what would become your soul pre-existed your conception). There are many variations on the theme of the soul. Some say animals, even non-living things like mountains have a soul, but the above tends to be the norm. Some say you have more than one soul, a yin soul and a yang soul for example. The nice thing is that you can claim whatever you want to about the nature of your soul, or even the soul, and odds are nobody could contradict you with solid evidence.
Can of Worms: So what happens to all those immortal souls if the cosmos has a finite lifetime or lifespan?
Again with the broad brush of assumption, which apparently makes for a clear context in his own mind, but I beg to differ….and using the criteria of "that no one can prove anything about a Soul" isn't good enough, in fact it's purely lazy…a product of this instant gratification society i suppose, but the author seems to not bother to consider doing any actual work towards gsaining information on the subject he is writing about….i fail to see how anything suggests that Soul comes to be upon conception, and yet is Immortal, which has the definition of being without beggining or end….hello? if there is no beginning, then how does a Soul have one at conception….and what is so wrong or hard to believe in the idea that it pre-existed before physical birth? furthermore, how is it that immortal Souls are a problem for a finite universe? if the universe is finite and any Soul is infinite or immortal, then it seem fairly obvious that Soul existed outside of and beyond that which is finite, how can it be any other way???
The Nebulous (Non-Physical) Soul
If the soul is nebulous or incorporeal, that is it has no mass and uses up no energy and takes up no space.
Can of Worms: If the soul is your ticket to the afterlife, yet your soul is a non-substantial ‘substance', then you exist in the afterlife as a non-substantial ‘substance' (a contradiction in terms) which would mean you would be deaf and blind since you wouldn't have ears or eyes; not even a brain to receive or neural networks to carry sensory signals. Of course you couldn't touch, taste or smell either. If you didn't have a physical brain; no neural network, with no neural chemistry to support this non-existing infrastructure, could you honestly claim (not that you could of course) to be you? Where would your personality, memories, emotions, creative abilities, etc. be housed, all of which require a substantial substance. Even ghosts*, assuming such things, are corporeal since they can be seen and heard and thus must be comprised of matter and possess energy.
Here he is using the terms "non-substantial" and "substance" and is thus creating the contradiction himself by implying that it already existed, but it didnt, he chose the terms he used, therefore he created the contradiction…..a great number of things are easily observable as being very much "non-substantial" take emotion for example, we all feel them, and yet they are NOT physical, they do not take up space, they have no mass, and although they are often described by some as being energy or energetic, they simply are not, they are utterly non-physical, as is any mental state, or any mental activity, just like with emotions, all of these states exist non-physically, so what makes the idea of a Soul so hard tp believe in that context? and the talk of chemical this and that only goes a certain length…bio-chemical reactions simply cannot explain all of the things they are being linked to in this article….however the one thing that all of them DO have in common, is consciousness, yet another "non-physical" state….it un-doubtedly exists, but in the terms of bio-chemical reactions, they can't possibly exist, so, which is it??
The Physical Soul
Some have suggested that the soul weighs about 21 grams but such claims have never been verified to the satisfaction of the wider based biological, medical, and theological communities. But if the soul has mass, then the soul is a physical thing.
Can of worms: If the soul is physical and has structure, modern medicine would know about it. Since modern medical textbooks don't mention and place and identify and label the soul as an anatomical structure, it isn't.
this may be the only statement here that i fully agree with, imagine that, even I didn't think that would happen!
If the soul is biochemistry that's disbursed through X (presumably the brain) then it would be subject to being altered by other chemistries resulting from aging, injury, drug use, sleep or lack of sleep, and all of the other solid, liquid and gaseous substances you ingest and excrete. That actually makes a bit of sense since the essence of you naturally changes over time but can also be altered by you accidentally or deliberately.
Can of Worms: If the soul is just chemistry then the ‘soul' doesn't go anywhere when you die. But at least chemistry is immortal, or at least the basic fundamental building blocks (i.e. – electrons, quarks, etc.) that make up chemistry are.
in this context i must also agree with this statement, however, consciousness must also fall under these criteria, as each of us IS self-aware, and being that that ISN'T a thing that relies on bio-chemical exchanges and reactions, awareness MUST come from some other level, or plane, or state of being…
Origins of the Soul
Presumably your father's sperm cell didn't house your soul (or even half of it) and neither did your mother's egg cell, so at conception you were soulless. Presumably therefore, if one accepts that conception is the beginnings of you and that you have a soul, presumably a soul was somehow naturally or supernaturally (usually the latter) a part of the conception process. Sperm and egg meet – no soul. One nanosecond later, the newly formed zygote now has a soul. Or, perhaps the acquisition of a soul in slightly further on down the track to allow for identical twins to have non-identical souls. Regardless of exactly when in that nine month gestation, before the baby pops out of the womb, it has acquired a soul.
Can of Worms: Say one has a five month old fetus, who received his or her soul at conception (by whatever means, natural or supernatural), but who is spontaneously aborted (naturally) at five months. Now presumably Christian theologians will tell you that five month old fetus went to Heaven. Now I ask, what does an eternal five month old fetus do in Heaven? Of what possible use is Heaven to a five month old fetus? I mean the fetus has no command of any communications ability (i.e. – language). It cannot read or write. It has no conception of good and evil or of sin. It knows bugger-all about religion and theology and God. It could not recognize any of its relatives like its natural parents when they go to Heaven. Would you like to spend eternity as a five month old fetus? The same could be said about a five day old blastula or a five hour old baby.
this whole section seems absolutely ridiculous to me….i don't see it as being so hard to believe that a Soul existed before conception, and by virtue of that, why would a 5 month old be LIMITED in its awareness simply because the biological entity died at that age? and what is the reason for having so much trouble seperating awareness from a time scale? that seems like an extremely limited point of view, but hey, what do I know??
Evolution of the Soul
The self-aware you that is you changes over time; over the duration of your lifetime. Therefore, your soul, assuming a soul of course, must change over time. Therefore, if you get a soul at conception – by whatever means going – it must be a book of blank pages that can be written and written over again and again as you naturally change until the definite version is completed – at the moment of your death when change is no longer possible.
Can of Worms: Again, if the soul is incorporeal, how can it change (i.e. – evolve)?
how does being incorporeal limit anything's function? that is one hell of an assumption….what makes anything incorporeal UN-able to change, as the author seems to believe it is? he is making a LOT of assumptions and using those to sort of cow the reader into an agreeable viewpoint where the author is making good points, but I however, must disagree with that!
Disposition and Fate of the Soul
Okay, you've kicked the bucket. Now what?
Can of Worms: See conclusions directly below.
Transmigration of the Soul
The equation isn't one soul for one individual. Souls are too valuable to waste and so it's one soul for many bodies, each in turn. The soul travels from body to body. As one body dies, the soul migrates to a newly formed body. Some suggest this is an ever upwards process from lower life form to higher life form. Others suggest that the playing field is level or that if you haven't performed deeds up to expectations your soul can go downhill.
again with the assumption, where is he getting the idea that Soul goes immediately into another "newly formed body"?
Can of Worms: That would mean that the contents of one's soul get wiped clean or deleted between the time it leaves the newly deceased body and the time it enters a new body. How that happens isn't clear whatsoever.
again i disagree with the "how this happens isn't clear whatsoever." it is exceedingly clear to me, and i don't even think i know everything, so why is this author having so much trouble with it? is it at all possible that the eternal Soul keeps all of Its experiences but is made to forget those at the time It is born into a physical body? it would seem that this is true for everyone, although some have the ability to look back further and see that this isn't necessarily the case.
Conclusions
The soul, especially in connection with an afterlife, makes little actual sense at all. How can a something soul actually be nothing physical? If your soul is incorporeal then your so-called Heavenly afterlife is akin to being eternally asleep, comatose, in a vegetative state (i.e. – a ‘dead' afterlife, for all practical purposes).
Spoken like a person that has no spiritual experience and believes none are actually possible…in my own opinion the Soul makes perfect sense, and being not only incorporeal, but also beyond matter, energy, time, and space, how could It NOT be aware? one is aware during life, so why would anyone assume that one has to be comatose or not conscious after the time of death? it makes no sense….a whole lot of assuming, and what is gotten from books might not actually be understood in the context it's meant in…..just my own opinion however…
If your something soul is something physical then it stays with the body when you die – there is no mind (i.e. – soul) body duality.
* Ghosts have nothing to do with the soul since after death the soul resides in either Heaven or Hell or Purgatory. Ghosts are terrestrial – obviously.
I disagree…in the first case, it says "there is no mind" I had thought he was speaking about Soul, so why is he speaking about mind? lol….and then he suddenly jumps into the Catholic viewpoint, that Soul resides in Heaven, Hell or Purgatory, and therefore ghosts are terrestrial? and yet they can't be seen or weighed, have no mass or energy….how is it obvious that they are physical entities?? oh YEAH! he adopted the Catholic viewpoint suddenly! easy there killer, just slow down a little bit!
– See more at: http://www.lightforcenetwork.com/asher-jade/no-soul-brothers-and-sisters#sthash.0YlT8Uke.dpuf
TY!
Thanks for your comments Shabda. I actually found this a little bit disturbing!