Soul: Does it Exist?

Discussion in 'Politics & Religion' started by mrwordsworth, Mar 15, 2009.

?

Does Soul Exist

  1. Yes

    14 vote(s)
    58.3%
  2. No

    10 vote(s)
    41.7%
  1. #1
    Do you believe that some kind of Soul or Spirit exist in us?
    All most all religions around the world believe in it.......

    What r ur views?
     
    mrwordsworth, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  2. forrar

    forrar Active Member

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    #2
    I heard that, when someone dies, his grave can shine in green, but it's only because of phosphorus. No, I don't believe.
     
    forrar, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  3. Sake7

    Sake7 Well-Known Member

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    #3
    I voted yes, but i don't know why :) Maybe because i hope our lives don't end when we die :p
     
    Sake7, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  4. ncz_nate

    ncz_nate Well-Known Member

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    #4
    This is the major flaw of atheists imo - all of this for what, nothing? Just flesh and bones? What a lame existence.
     
    ncz_nate, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  5. mrwordsworth

    mrwordsworth Active Member

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    #5
    Science does not believe in Soul either.......

    Does a tree has a soul? how about a bacteria?.....

    In major Indian religions soul is the only purpose of existence.....

    The purpose of life is defined as to merge the atma(soul) with patmatma(Cosmic Soul)

    God is not deifned as someone but rather everything that exist........;)

    It is said that the whole system is like that of matrix.......once our soul merges with cosmic soul we are liberated.......

    Until then we are bond to the cycle of rebirths........

    But science says everything is mind no soul is there.......

    If religion defines soul as consciousness then we must have been intelligent for always.....
    Every animal plant should have been a newton or Einstein

    IMO i go with science.......
     
    mrwordsworth, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  6. TheNoose

    TheNoose Peon

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    #6
    How is it a flaw? It's just nature. We live to pass on our genes for the survival of our species. That's it - might as well have fun doing it.
     
    TheNoose, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  7. ncz_nate

    ncz_nate Well-Known Member

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    #7
    How does science explain things like emotions? Do animals have emotions?
     
    ncz_nate, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  8. TheNoose

    TheNoose Peon

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    #8
    An introductory psychology course or cognitive science course will explain it for you.

    I think it's obvious animals have emotions. You can see fear, anger, sadness, etc in a dog.
     
    TheNoose, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  9. eric8476

    eric8476 Active Member

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    #9
    I would like to hear more from atheists about the existence of a soul or spirit.
     
    eric8476, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  10. TheNoose

    TheNoose Peon

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    #10
    I personally don't believe either exists. I have a friend who says she's atheist and she believes the spirit is an "energy" and that this energy drives everything in the universe. She also believes that humans have no biological/physical limits as we simply need to tap into more of the universal energy. I say she's crazy.

    Edit: I guess maybe she would be pantheistic?
     
    TheNoose, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  11. pilky01

    pilky01 Peon

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    #11
    Chemical reactions, and yes.

    Neither are real.
     
    pilky01, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  12. eric8476

    eric8476 Active Member

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    #12
    Atheists, hypothetical:

    If the presence of a soul or spirit exists, proven however (by religion, science, you name it), how would an atheist rationalize it?
     
    eric8476, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  13. jumpboy11jaop

    jumpboy11jaop Peon

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    #13
    the question is irrelevant- consciousness, personality, and the mind end when the brain cells die. There is nothing else.
     
    jumpboy11jaop, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  14. amanamission

    amanamission Notable Member

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    #14
    Science doesn't have any such consensus. Asked about the existence of a soul or God, many will express beliefs on this subject. What they will say is that these ideas are not "scientific". Science lacks the capacity to measure, test, or even define these terms, so their existence is not for science to determine.

    Philosophy, on the other hand, deals with the issue quite deftly. In a philosophical sense, it is difficult to say that a soul does not exist. You'd simply be assigning a different word to it. Of course, many do just that, as we see here.

    I say otherwise. Had the poll asked about "immortal" soul, I might have been unsure. But there is surely a "soul" to all living things. There is an essence. There is a distinct yet abstract "selfness" which causes the growth and reproduction of some matter, and not others.

    You may call it the "life force." You may even deny it exists. These are exercises in semantics. This force may be utterly physical and have an explanation in the interactions of science.

    If there is no "life force", how is that you are alive?
     
    amanamission, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  15. TheNoose

    TheNoose Peon

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    #15
    Well, nothing will EVER be proven by religion, so that's out of the question.

    I doubt science will ever prove a soul exists, so I'm not worried about it. If it is proven (proof does not mean reading it in a 1800 year old book), then I'll admit that I was wrong.
     
    TheNoose, Mar 15, 2009 IP
  16. ziya

    ziya Well-Known Member

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    #16
    Yes , soul exists.
     
    ziya, Mar 16, 2009 IP
  17. bfebrian

    bfebrian Peon

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    #17
    yes, soul does exist. soul that bound our body parts together and make it living. without a soul, we nothing more that a bunch of meat.

    i just bring my old car back to 'life' after several tune up and replaced some broken parts, oil etc.
    now, can we do the same thing with our body?

    zombie? boooo
     
    bfebrian, Mar 17, 2009 IP
  18. Rumata

    Rumata Well-Known Member

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    #18
    I think soul might exist but only because I don't believe that the universe (or rather the objective reality) is only made of stuff that humans can perceive or measure (like X-rays, gravity etc). I mean why would it?
     
    Rumata, Mar 17, 2009 IP
  19. ArticleSource

    ArticleSource Peon

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    #19
    yes it does
     
    ArticleSource, Mar 18, 2009 IP
  20. mrwordsworth

    mrwordsworth Active Member

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    #20
    Life is chemistry, and if you look, around chemistry happens everywhere and all the time. We only tag life as special because it is an anthropomorphic perception driven by a very human need to consider ourselves somewhat special.

    If seen from a purely objective perspective, all life is, is a series of chemical reactions, under certain conditions, much like any other series of chemical reactions under certain other conditions.

    Wrt regard to the universe being designed, is there an proof from an objective frame of reference that it was designed? All the parameters we use to judge design, still stem from within our own worldview. For example, in statements like, "the atomic numbers are in such perfect balance that they had to be designed"-

    Atom is a human concept
    numbers are a human concept
    perfection is a human concept
    balance is a human concept
    and design is a human concept.

    Just because we perceive harmony and balance, an external reality need not conform to this perception. The concept of vacuum fluctuations for example denotes imperfection, either in our understanding or the manner in which the underlying physics functions. The problem stems from the fact that the observer determines the property of the observed, which would indicate that he is not completely aware of the objective attributes of the observed.

    I could well state that colliding galaxies, exploding stars, failed stars, the eventual death of the universe, GRBs, quasars and radioactive isotopes, allotropes etc do not indicate either harmony or order, but chaos and destruction and I would be right.
     
    mrwordsworth, Mar 20, 2009 IP