Is the soul real?

[Current]

Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence."
That sounds like he is talking about a 'soul' to me.

How so? From what I can read it's about challenging prejudice with intelligence. How does that in any way require or imply a soul?

[Luna May]

Also, I don't know if Einstein was the single most intelligent human being to ever live, with all due respect to him and his awesomeness.

[The_Brigadier]

I believe in the soul. I believe in the after life.

However, I don't understand the difference between the "spirit" and the "soul".

[SamilinCorrathGahar]

<I have no idea if the soul exists or not, and if it does what the difference is between a spirit and a soul, in fact I bet there are a lot of people who don't know the difference.>

[BSerAkafanofblake]

Of course it,s real what was you know who supposed to split? A banna?
Btw the vote option that says something about the universe is what was supposed to happen ( and did not.) in the movie all of me.

[Sassy_Cat]

I kind of have a weird way of thinking of it. I'm an atheist, but I do believe in the soul. Yet I don't follow any spiritual pull or alignment. I'm weird that way.

[BabelFish42]

I kind of have a weird way of thinking of it. I'm an atheist, but I do believe in the soul. Yet I don't follow any spiritual pull or alignment. I'm weird that way.

How do you define "soul"? Just curious. And that question is open to anybody who happens to read this, btw, not just Sass.

And Sass, in your case, weird = awesome

[Tobias_Marco]

Luna May:
Why is that so? Does the term 'soul', when connotations are removed, imply anything other than 'life force'?
Or are you suggesting each individual possesses a predetermined personality which is kept somewhere unrelated to their biological makeup?

<Your 'life force' is a part of your soul, however there is more too it then just that. Think about your computer, there is the hardware and the software, your body has hardware as well, what it looks like is governed by your DNA. The software is governed by your soul, and is programed by what God put in you before you were born, what you expereance in this life and your own choices.>
<The Holy Bible tells us that The Lord God Almight gives each of us 'spiritual gifts' even those who aren't believers have these gifts to some extent. Your skill in math, music or understanding people is part of your spiritual gifts. Now how you use these gifts is up to you. If God gives you a hammer and says "I want you to build me a church." and you decide to use it to destroy, or to build something else then you aren't doing what God wanted.>

The_Brigadier:
However, I don't understand the difference between the "spirit" and the "soul".

<I know what you mean, the Bible seems to say that there is a diffrence, as there are some verses that refer to both, as if they are two diffrent things, however I do not understand the diffrence myself. Given that I've been going to church one or two days a week for the last 30 years, you shouldn't feel bad if you have this problem.>

[Sassy_Cat]

I kind of have a weird way of thinking of it. I'm an atheist, but I do believe in the soul. Yet I don't follow any spiritual pull or alignment. I'm weird that way.

How do you define "soul"? Just curious. And that question is open to anybody who happens to read this, btw, not just Sass.

And Sass, in your case, weird = awesome

Thank ya', my dear.

I think of it as the personality and memories of a person.

[Tobias_Marco]

<Then here is my question for you; What happens to your soul when you die?>
<For the sake of argument let's say that there are three friends, their names are Tobias_Marco, Sassy-Cat, and Bob.>
<Tobias_Marco believes that there is a god waiting for him when he dies.>
<Sassy_Cat believes that there is no god waiting for her when she dies.>
<Bob, couldn't care less if there is a god or a soul at all, and he thinks his friends are nuts for even asking the question.>
<Now we all know that Pascal's wager is not a good enough reason to believe in any kind of god, and we can tell what will happen to each of these three people when they die if a god is real and if he (or she) is not.>
<Now Tobias_Marco says that there is a god and if you try to trick God by going to church every week and saying the right words and doing all the right things, yet not really believing that god is real, well God is smart enough to figure that out, and because you don't pledge alegence to him he sees that you want nothing to do with God, so God will give you what you want and you will be sent to the one place where God is not at.>
<What do you think will happen when you die, and what do you think of the fairness of the picture I just painted in your mind?>