(January 1, 2023 at 12:10 pm)Hi600 Wrote: What the hell is the soul supposed to be? I’ve never understood it.
The soul is a proposal to the following question:
What is the "cause" of consciousness and personal identity? What makes me "me" as opposed to someone else or a toad?
The idea that this "soul" might come from some non-physical source, or might exist after the body is dead (though it might need a new body to operate), is the raison d'etre of the major religions.
Christianity makes it eternal, and its fate dependent on a belief in Jesus before death.
Hinduism puts the soul in an eternal cycle of rebirth. Buddhism claims to provide a way out of the cycle through enlightenment (where the soul merges with the universe or something).
