The soul. What is it? why do people believe it exists? I will first give a discourse on what the soul is and means to people, starting with a few quotes from people;
"Notice that in defining "soul" it was necessary to use two words. Although soul itself is a single term, the soul is embodied spirit. Implicit in that statement is an idea that there is such a condition as spirit or life or consciousness that is not embodied -- spirit or life or consciousness not conditioned. We, however, being conditioned life, are unable at present to form any but the vaguest conceptions of what unconditioned life may be like. The greatest philosopher that the Western world has ever produced, Plato, tried to illustrate this in The Republic. He there likened the condition of the human being to a man in a cave with his back to the entrance of the cave, looking inwards against the blank wall at the end. Over his shoulder comes light from outside, and that light makes images of himself and his movements on the wall, and he takes those images to be reality. He takes what he can see to be all there is to see, and he cannot understand that he is anything other than the shadow or the silhouette cast on the wall."
Also from the same source;
"As souls, we too have had an existence which we did not have to struggle to maintain. We had an existence before there was time; we had an existence before there was space; we had an existence before there was any matter. We have such an existence right now; but unfortunately we do not know it because, though we are perceivers with the power to see, we dwell in darkness -- the darkness of life which is not aware that it is Life. Finally we may come to learn that it is not the maintenance of life which awakens spiritual energy, but the transcendence of the patterns of life we presently know. But the awareness of the possibility of transcendence -- that, too, lies within, a light which may be dimmed, but never extinguished."
And one more for good measure;
"Going one step further the soul is more than just the life of the person, It is our moral compass, the body is the vessel in which this true form of life can manifest itself. The real life is the soul; it resides temporarily in the body – the body is merely an abode for the soul.
The soul has this power because it is connected to the source of all life and all power – G-d. Since only G-d has true life, a life that knows no end, no death, no limits, a dimension of eternity and infinity, the soul which is an "extension" of G-d has a part of this dimension – it too possesses the ability to transcend gross material life."
So here are the basic principles of the soul as said by these people:
-It is immortal
-It existed before the human race, and will exist after
-It is the basis of humanity, our moral compass.
-It is our life drive and that which creates emotions, that which comes from a higher source, perhaps as part of it.
So let me begin my debunking of these claims, starting with "the souls as moral compass" assertion. Lets me begin by asking you now; what is good and what is bad? No doubt i will receive an answer that involves human deeds and actions. Good and bad are simply interpreted by humans, and good and bad are both simply human concepts. Whatever is good enhances peace within human culture and allows us to thrive, the opposite is bad. This works well with our desire to pass on our genes, because if our world were that perilious mankind could not continue breeding, so our genetic want to breed determines a share of what is bad. We could also say that our personal fear of death also determines what is bad. We outlaw murder, and violance so that we may continue to thrive and breed in peace. So the personal want to survive in order to pass on ones genes becomes another decider of what "bad" means to us. So we thrive for the opposite; a peaceful and friendly world that will allow for the human race to breed and thrive and do whatever in the meantime. This however is just a basis for our morality, when a country sets up its laws and makes murder and rape and violance illegal, these will be interpreted as not just illegal in a humans mind, but also "bad". Also whatever leads to these things such as bullying and petty theft, name calling and racism, all these things are bad because they can lead to greater badness which can lead to even greater badness in the future etc.
Ill agree one thing; our life is conditioned. It is conditioned to make the best of what our country, culture or abilities allow in order to reach that goal...the goal of breeding, of passing on ones genes. Other cultures condition people in other ways, but the genes dont care. We are a creative species and we find ways to condition ourselves in arctic tundra's or deserts. we continue to reproduce.
We have also evolved in a manner to rely upon each other. We are co-dependent mammals who need each other to survive, and whatever hinders our ability to help each other and thrive is bad. But for the most part we have evolved to be social with each other and altruistic just like ants or wolves or sheep or monkeys or some fish, it is in our best interest to help each other, it ensures our survival and keeps the promise of reproduction alive.
We can conclude the "moral compass" argument like so; The moral compass has evolved along with civilization, along with laws that ensure the protection and cohabitation of the human species in order to maintain reproduction. It is also in our very nature to be helpful to one another in order to survive here on earth and to, again, reach the stage at which we can pass on our genes. And as this "moral compass" points in varying directions from culture to culture (apostasy in iran is still punishable by death), we can say that this soul is not a single driving force, and is not seperate from humans as it is our very physical and sexual nature that determines our moral development or sometimes deviancy.
Lets take another argument. The one stating that our soul is from and a part of a god. Now if this were true, all souls would be the same as they share a source from the allmighty and perfect god and all would equally as defended against evil and sin (as god is all good and perfect, sin cannot enter its nature). But can this assertion be true? i think not. If this were true we would not such a variety of different ethics and morals (or lack of them) around the globe. In one country, being married to three women gets you stoned, in another it is OK, there is not a constant throughout the entire human race that should tell us we share something from the same source that gave us our soul or indeed that one exists. And if our soul is part of a God and our soul creates our emotions and is seperate from our physical self, why does a lack of sleep make someone in a bad mood? if our emotions are product of a soul which is untouchable by physical means then it could not be effected by a lack of sleep. The same goes for pain; how could it effect our mental well-being? especially if when we die our soul will fly away to paradise should it not want pain or even a will to death to hasten the coming of paradise? such questions are almost surreal and dont merit much talking about as the answer is obvious; the soul is not our moral compass and is not part of a god and is not the source of emotion. It seems physical life is completely non-sensical; why should the soul want a temporary shell that is put under all the pressures of life when it could stay carefree and void of the downsides of human experiance? The only explanation for the origin of our species is darwinian evolution, which by no attempt on its own behalf gets rid of things like the soul and the need for divine creation. Can a soul exist even though we evolved? nope. It is impossible for an eternal entity like the soul to develop from a very mortal and temporary animal. Anyway, what purpose would a soul have for us anyway? it would not advance our ability to preserve the species or a higher ability to pass on our genes and it would not help us to survive or adapt more efficiently to new surroundings as the soul is only concerned with the afterlife.
Ockhams razor allows us to cut out such ideas like the soul from our belief systems as it has no real weight or importance within human affairs and our life cycle. The idea of a soul is non-sensical, grossly primitive in terms of human thinking and superfluous to our evolution. And needless to say, there is not a shred of evidence or any hint that points towards this concept. I conclude by saying this; the soul is not even superficial.
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