If all of the words in every post on this board were about soul, it would still only be a fraction of the existing comments on the concept. Soul has been exhaustively well defined for as long as the written word has existed. We know more about what people thought about souls than they thought about their day to day lives - because we decided that one body of literature was more important, more worth preserving than the other.
In the same way that peoples experience of a sunset can differ, peoples experience of whatever it is they're referring to as a soul can differ. We all understand the term well enough as common experiential content to use it in casual conversation, even. This obviously doesn't vouch for every item in the set - there are ideas about soul that are certainly false, and ideas about soul that are probably false. Still..it would be difficult to understand how an empty set finds itself so thoroughly described (if differently) in every culture on earth - if there weren't some there, there. No matter how many of our explanations are false, or in what specific way those explanations are false, it is at least true that we've all been describing something that's rattling around in our heads. Some thing we notice that we feel compelled to explain, and to spend so much time explaining.
I think, if you're wondering about specific descriptions of soul that might be novel or interesting - consider these. As we're most familiar with soul - it;s strongly bound to our personal identity. This is why people who hold a concept of soul like ours..but who do not believe in supernatural whatsits, understand soul as an early comment on consciousness. This doesn't have to be so, though. In some myths soul was a separate entity to being. A thing you possessed, but not a thing that defined you, personally. In others, your soul may not even reside within you, or have any essential connection to you beyond it's nature as your soul. Differences like these formed the shape of disagreements as to how the soul figured in a "right life". You might, for example, consider you soul as possession the same way that you do any other item in your possession that your life requires. We wash our cars, maintain our cars, send our cars to experts to be analyzed - in short, we perform all the day to day rituals required in order to properly care for an item of personal importance. If soul, however, is conceived of externally - the compulsion to maintain it takes on a broader scope. It may not be in your own personal interest to satisfy whatever requirements soul imposes - but duty binds you to do so anyway. Soul as an individual possession and soul as a community resource present themselves not just in different behaviors at the level of the individual - it strongly effects the development of entire societies.
In the same way that peoples experience of a sunset can differ, peoples experience of whatever it is they're referring to as a soul can differ. We all understand the term well enough as common experiential content to use it in casual conversation, even. This obviously doesn't vouch for every item in the set - there are ideas about soul that are certainly false, and ideas about soul that are probably false. Still..it would be difficult to understand how an empty set finds itself so thoroughly described (if differently) in every culture on earth - if there weren't some there, there. No matter how many of our explanations are false, or in what specific way those explanations are false, it is at least true that we've all been describing something that's rattling around in our heads. Some thing we notice that we feel compelled to explain, and to spend so much time explaining.
I think, if you're wondering about specific descriptions of soul that might be novel or interesting - consider these. As we're most familiar with soul - it;s strongly bound to our personal identity. This is why people who hold a concept of soul like ours..but who do not believe in supernatural whatsits, understand soul as an early comment on consciousness. This doesn't have to be so, though. In some myths soul was a separate entity to being. A thing you possessed, but not a thing that defined you, personally. In others, your soul may not even reside within you, or have any essential connection to you beyond it's nature as your soul. Differences like these formed the shape of disagreements as to how the soul figured in a "right life". You might, for example, consider you soul as possession the same way that you do any other item in your possession that your life requires. We wash our cars, maintain our cars, send our cars to experts to be analyzed - in short, we perform all the day to day rituals required in order to properly care for an item of personal importance. If soul, however, is conceived of externally - the compulsion to maintain it takes on a broader scope. It may not be in your own personal interest to satisfy whatever requirements soul imposes - but duty binds you to do so anyway. Soul as an individual possession and soul as a community resource present themselves not just in different behaviors at the level of the individual - it strongly effects the development of entire societies.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
