Soul

[da]

What's the word "soul" mean to you? What associations does it bring up? Is the word fraught with baggage... smelling partly of brimstone? Does it have deep connection for you? Is it ineffable and abstract? Is it like a Platonic ideal of a thing, not to be pinned down? Is it boring? Is it a handy fiction?

I'd love to have a conversation about that, to the extent we can in an online journal. Anonymous comments are fine. My hope is to have common referents to continue in another post.

I invite you to make your first comment here, that is to say without reading the previous comments before-hand. Of course feel free to read other comments too, and discuss with others, but after your first comment. :) Thanks!

[Edit to add:

I can say: the breadth of peoples' responses is pretty darn cool.

So, I suggested a dialogue. What now?

It would be one thing if we were in the same room, and could look at each other and be clear that we're going to treat this with the respect it deserved. In that situation, I would say we could just ask each other open, honest questions; questions that don't try to convince the other of our own understanding; but help the other person to articulate their truth for us. And take it from there.

We could try something like that. I'd participate. Why don't we try that?

It might go without saying, but I'll say it anyway: you're welcome to not reply to someone's question, or to reply telling them you won't reply (and that's final; challenges are not OK).

]

Comments

Re: Unsurprisingly technical and lengthy

[ng-nighthawk.livejournal.com]

Now that I read the other comments, I see a lot of comments about the soul being fundamentally good. Just for the record, I think the soul as a part of the person is as fundamentally good as a person is--which is to say, by nature good but capable of choosing evil at any point.

Mencius points out that anyone walking by a child who is about to fall in a well will catch that child by instinct--this is the fundamental goodness in our character. It would take conscious decision or training to ignore the child and let him fall, and to not feel bad about doing that would require serious damage to our nature. But we are completely capable of perverting ourselves that way--either as a personal choice or as a result of medical problems or damage done to our psyches by others. And that perversion pervades our entire being--the spiritual and physical are holistically connected with regard to the consequences of those choices. A deep connection to the absolute Divine Good is established through the soul but it is present to our entire being. Good and evil are principles that are present in all parts of our existence--spiritual, intellectual, and material.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I think I need to sit with this and ask you some questions... But for the moment:

I'm replying to everybody with the following: I added a bit to the post, with thoughts about how this might be a conversation with open, honest questions; and also that nobody feels attacked for their beliefs. So please check the post before commenting; I might need to add to it again as we go on. And you're welcome to comment with open, honest questions.

Re: Unsurprisingly technical and lengthy

[sqrt-joy.livejournal.com]

If the soul is the spiritual part of a person, can choose evil at any point, what is spiritually evil?

(Your posts have lots to think about in them, thank you.)

Re: Unsurprisingly technical and lengthy

[ng-nighthawk.livejournal.com]

I don't mean to distinguish between spiritual evil and physical evil... not really. If someone does an evil act, the consequences of that act fall on the soul just as they fall on the rest of a person. The consequences are primarily (but not exclusively) an increase in self-loathing and losing connection with other people. Of course, it's not a strict rule, like "Ooh, for insulting that person you're getting +3 self-loathing and a -2 penalty to all relationships." But something happens to you, and I think those consequences have a real spiritual impact.

But your question also brought this to mind, which might have been your real intention: what can a soul do that is evil?

To answer that I would say the soul is responsible for deep, close relationships (as many others have also said) and it's definitely possible to use those relationships to harm people. It's also possible to be so negative that you impact the ability of those around you to reach out--that seems like an example of using your soul for evil.