What is your soul?

What do you consider your soul?

Re: What is your soul?

good question, calls to mind all sorts of stuff…but for me my soul is that I, that is just beyond my understanding, I am not my soul, yet my soul is I.  maybe…
technicaly speaking, it is the vehicle my spirit uses to manifest into the more concrete levels of existence and carries the seeds of my potential from Spirit, and the paths I could experience by planting these seeds into  a Personality…
My soul is the great Integrator and Harmonizer of this wild ride called life.
love
mye-

Re: What is your soul?

Hmmmmmm. It'shard to put into words, isn't it? I know the soul well from Shamanic practice and soulwhipering (www.soulwhispering.net) but to actually define it is difficult.  I think ensoulment most likely occurs upon the first breath and it is the Divine Self, Divine Breath, Divine Blueprint, the enlivening, part of God (in whatever faith tradition, by whatever name called) that infuses, animates and is the master cylinder, if you will– of the human and its life.  It  communicates in the “language of the soul” and holds the codes/keys for one's life and life mission.  The human God-Self.

Re: What is your soul?

I researched this once after hearing a sermon about the triune makeup of people.  If you look at the Trinity, you will find that God is made up of 1. The Father, 2. The Son & 3. The Holy Spirit.  And since God created us, he also created us with three distinct parts (for lack of a better word):
1.  Body: That physical part of us that you can see & touch.
2.  Spirit:  That part of us that is alive, apart from the body, that contains the breath of life &
3.  Soul.
I have heard the soul expressed as the “mind”, “will” & “emotions”.  It is the part of us that actually feels emotions & make the decision to do or not to do.  The intellict is also part of the soul.
That is the most concrete answer I have ever heard, and I believe it is pretty close to accurate.  
Also - concerning death, the body obviously ceases to contain life, but the soul & spirit are eternal, living in one of two places for all eternity based upon our faith in Christ during our lifetime.

Re: What is your soul?

Unspeakble, forever unmanifest but continually bearing this manifest….Beyond me…..the cosmic Self…..the place where my Nature and Universal Nature merge as one…..the looking glass of the Gods….the place from where I flow….transcendent of me, yet one….beyond thought and conception….the unborn in me that is forever birthing me. 

Re: What is your soul?

What is Soul, is called/known as “I”. The “I” is made up of 5 things known as “five aggregates” (Pancakkhanda), they are, rupa (form), vedana (feeling), Sanna (perception), sankhara (condition) and  vinnana (consciousness). At the end of life/death, these five aggregates get breaking up and there is no such called “I”. It is similar to a cart that is made up of many parts and when breaking up those into many then it is no more called as “cart”. Therefore, there is no permanent entity in “I” or “I” has no permanent entity. So, when “I” has no permanent entity, what is the use of claiming/considering myself as “I”. Owing to the concept of “I” the following terms come to be, “my” “mine” due to which we are constantly facing problems. Therefore, if myself doesn't exist forever, why should i claim to be me/I am. If i can not be owner of myself why should i be owner of things that too don't exist permanently.     

Re: What is your soul?

Peacehunter thank you for calling me here. It is wonderful to read the different interpretations and sense of soul from different beings, religions and paths. I deeply embrace what each person has written here and so love seeing the integrity with which each has delved deeply and brought forth what they sense within at this stage of their journey.

The word 'soul' for me has brought about interesting exploration. Buddhism does not see a soul in the way many other paths do and Peacehunter has described this perspective. Having said that, so many use the word soul, inferring the essence of something, 'that piece of music has soul', 'this is soul food', 'he is such a beautiful soul', and so on. The word soul instantly brings to mind the subtle, energetic reality which in this material orientated world is so often outside of the awareness.

love

Re: What is your soul?

The concept of Buddhism for me is not reality. We live in this world for a reason to have, to appreciate, to teach and to learn, to live a thriving life. I feel that while spirituality in it's different venues all have many positive things that people can learn. Primarily it's what our own soul is called to that must be honored. The reason for the “I” is because we are individuals and we are created as such. The concept of having to go through life and be stripped away from our own “self” and meld into oneness is not what we are created to do in my opinion. It is in being ourselves that we have much to offer the world and finding those things which does call to your spirit and allows for your “Highest Self to come Forth”. I question where does “Buddhism” leave room for a personality? BUT at the same time I do believe we can work together for the greater good, no matter what our personal beliefs are and yes part of that is being aware and kinder to each other, accepting without being “like”, doing the right thing.
Spirit? Spirit is our connection on earth to our “Higher Power.” I think that the old religions and beliefs were great for their time to be there for the various different societies and what they experienced on their part of the planet back then. In my observation because we have grown in intellect and in science so too we must look at what happened then is not now. There are miracles happening in this today.
When we were first born our temperament and personality was already established, what called to our hearts we already knew, in our innocence we held knowledge and joy. In our innocence we held wonder and love. There was nothing we could not do.  Our spirits were connected all the time in the present moment. There was only joy and a knowing. There was no religion, only connection. I remember this most of all. I also remember having a definite personality back then and it was ok. Things were simple and beautiful. “I want that, I dont want that” We even knew what we did or did not want.
To this very day I hardly wear shoes:) I still talk to the wild animals:)
Our experiences shaped who we are today and what matters to us. Still I can say what I have loved, I have always loved and that is because of my “Source” who has nurtured me. I can not say what is right for another person or what feels right to them. What I can say is what I have learned in my personal experience with my “Higher Power”.
Material world? yes we do live in a society filled with excess. But what I want is for a good reason, a positive purpose and I know this with all of my being.

Liza:)

Re: What is your soul?

Thank you, Liza, for presenting such a nice impressive idea and of course we need personality in order to live in this world (rather i would say material world). Here, I would like to pay attention the question you have put forth, where does “Buddhism” leave room for a personality? Buddhism rejecting “soul” means that it does not leave room for personality. Buddhism specially talks about the individual personality, rather then personality through integrity. Why? Because personality through integrity comes because of individual personality. That's why, Buddhism emphasizes self cultivation mostly by which one does not lack understanding for himself and has the ability to direct people to the right path. So, it can be noted here that Buddhism talks about both individual personality as well as personality through integrity.
What Buddhism meant by “No Soul”, is that “Buddhism sees human beings as verbs rather than nouns, as process rather than static entities.”

With Metta

Re: What is your soul?

Re: What is your soul?

Back after the precious 9.09 prayer meditation time. My path is Buddhism and also I  cherish the fact that there are many paths and that for each being there is a perfect path 'tailor made' for them. All paths merge on the highway, how wondrous! I feel our group One light Many Windows in Gaia beautifully illustrates this.

Re: What is your soul?

Thank you for taking the time to explain this to me. I respect your beliefs. I became concerned because I feel in spirituality it is important to be grounded and when I heard Peacehunter say something about losing the “I”…….well I just thought that it is really important to be ourselves and not lose our-self or our identity.
There are very positive teachings in Buddhism. I do not recollect if Quan Yin is a deity in Buddhism, but I know her beauty calls to my heart.

Thank you for your understanding.

One Light Many Windows:)
Much Love to you all
Liza

Re: What is your soul?

I've thought about this quite a bit, and I feel it can be easily explained with simple science. Energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. What some may call the soul or spirit seems to me just our energetic body. A formless mirror of infinity reflected upon itself perhaps, but who knows? My guess is just as good as any other :)

Re: What is your soul?

My soul is a piece of my consciousness that exists in the fourth dimension, exploring the wonder that is the many parts of the third dimension.

Some people believe that the fourth dimension is time. I disagree. I think it is complete perspective and inclusion of everything over the third dimension. 

Just as we have complete creative control over the second dimension, via writing, music, movies, and art. The expression comes from the total whole of who we are, an expression of the things we know and are, playing out to provide entertainment and enjoy the act of creating.

So to have I been created, just as I might create a character in a book. The character does not know what it's creator is ultimately, just as I do not. As we create in the second dimension, choosing guides and themes, such as art styles, music tempos or story genre, there is also an element of pure creativity, we perceive as randomness, the art's own free will. Just as it is so for me in the third dimension.

My soul is the purposefully forgetful consciousness of my fourth dimensional self, sent here to explore, seemingly for the first time, every piece and part of the whole that I am, in relativity. In truth there is no separation from what you ultimately know, just as you can't write anything you don't know, or draw anything you can't envision or have the talent to make, the creation, just a small piece of the over all. An expression.

My soul is God's art.

Re: What is your soul?

It is our contact with God and each other. It allows me to explore and learn.  

Re: What is your soul?

My soul is the calalyst of my being which conveys the life force (spirit) to my body through which I express myself to the physical world.

Re: What is your soul?

The soul, for me is that which I know in my heart as apposed to my head, the animating etherial part of me that is divine, and leaves the body on NDE's and death, and returns to oneness, in all life it is one divine energy. In agreement with Liza about the bare feet, and also talking to animals, communicating with them, and with insects too, bumblebees buzz me dragonflies alight to commune.