We cannot debate whether there is a soul until we agree what we are talking about. So, whether you believe you have one, or you believe you don't, what is it YOU mean by 'soul' when you believe what you do?
And PLEASE! Let us not get into debates about whether there is such a thing yet. Let's get clear about what we are talking about and then we can go at each other "hammer and tongs" (Or is it "hammer and thongs"?)
The dictionary says .... the spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal ..... and also ....a persons moral or emotional nature or sense of identity..
Don't know but if soul exists I would guess it may have these features... be infinite in nature, as in, not subject to birth or death be all knowing, enlightened, and always present
Definition of Soul? Gosh, that's a tough one...The part of me that is uniquely me, immortal (I hope) always evolving, continually growing toward wholeness, craving return to unity/oneness with God (however you understand that entity to be).
Hmmm. Well, I really like what loui had to say (and, no, we're not related, even though I know we look a lot alike--people always think we're twins; I'm taller). I'll think about it, though, and see if I can think of anything useful to add.
When God breathed life into Adam he became a living soul. In Leviticus it says the soul, the life is in the blood. So its then our "life" ....who we are. It becomes our personality the thing that makes us uniquely us. It lives on after we are dead, we have the potential to be immortal. When you see someone who is dead, or a pet...and if you see them die......they are there and then they are ...gone. Its a miracle. The body is there but the person is NOT. SO......thats how I see it somewhat. Kind of hard isn't it to describe.
The soul is the spirit part of us. The body is the machine that the spirit drives so to speak. Some have said that they have been able to step outside their bodies and see their body beside them and go off and do things and then come back into their body. I believe it is possible to do that...but i personally would be too afraid to try for fear of not being able to get back in again.
Let me modify the Leading Question, please. Several of you are defining 'soul' in terms of 'spirit'. For me 'spirit' is just as obscure as 'soul', if not more so. So, let's also ask the question: "I you believes, or don't believe, we have something called a spirit, what is it?"
I had (another) philosophy professor in undergraduate school, who would tell us that if we were going to analyze a concept in any of our papers, we were forbidden to cite a dictionary definition of the term under analysis. "Dictionaries are the repository of bad philosophical theories", he told us.
