What exactly is a soul?!

[George Palmer]

The bottom of a shoe

or

a music genre that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying.

 

[Xvito]

Any Douche bags who tell me souls don't exist can stay out of this thread!

Souls are the things you level-up with in Demon's Souls...

The word you might be looking for in real life, however, is a "Brain". Or at least something close to a brain, since a brain is something organic, and robots could be intelligent/have feelings...

 

[Yumi_and_Erea]

I suppose I should clarify this, to avoid confusion:

No I'm not racist, and I believe black folks have just as much of a soul as whites and others.
This was a comment on the music, not on the people.

Just wanted to clear that up real quick.

Yeah I know you never meant it. If you did your avatar would have a white pillowcase headgear in it.

I still don't get how soul is...soulless though.

Go here for details: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.163646?page=2#4243150

 

[Rawker]

You don't have a soul. You are a Soul. You have a body. ~ C. S. Lewis

/thread

 

[Simon Hadow]

A theoretical part of the para-biology of living beings (Some beleiving they are only in certain animals, or just humans) that is seperate from the conventional mortallity of the rest of the body, "passing on" after death, either to theoretical afterlives, or to linger, as in haunting, or reincarnation. The soul is a common element in religion, and most adress it as an immortal part of ourselves that will be affected after death by our actions in life. Most also agree that it is indestructible, being forever in the various cycles or progressions that the soul will go through, never ending.

Anything else anyone feels I missed?

 

[wolfy098]

hmmm took along time...BUT!

1)If creatures have souls they are part of the brain that causes individuality

2) Therefore any creature that is capable of of having its own personality has one

3) If you didn't have one then you would merely fight to survive, like very small creatures and single cell organisms

This is my theory of IF souls exist, I don't believe in them personally.

 

[Godavari]

escapist, for a while now, three questions have been stuck in my head

1. What exactly is a soul?

2. What has one?

3. Is it possible for someone to survive without one?

Any Douche bags who tell me souls don't exist can stay out of this thread!

1. The definition varies on who you talk to - I prefer defining a soul as "a fictional part of human anatomy that is believed by some to control a person's creativity and is connected with the act of living."

2. Nothing. Because they do not exist.

3. Going off of 2, yes. Because they do not exist.

It's a good thing I'm a nice, polite, respectful person instead of a douchebag, huh?

 

[kemosabi4]

Oh, Jesus Christ. Not these philosophical threads again. I still have nightmares about the thread asking what the word "Them" really meant.

Now, don't make me whip out my exploding head image macro.

 

[Godavari]

Oh, and for question #2 (What has a soul?), I present this:

Spoiler

 

[USSR]

The inside of your shoe.

Your source of life, I guess?

I won't give you a church lesson, so I guess that'll dumb it down.

 

[Simriel]

Thing on the bottom of your shoe.

 

[Kinguendo]

Exactly? Okay. Its that feeling you get just before you sneeze, not to be confused with the feeling you get just after... which is apparently the same feeling you get when you use Barbara Streisands cutlery.

(OT: Just the mind, people found it hard to come up with a reason for your conscience and inner monolog... I guess they drew the answer out of a hat or something.)

 

[God's Clown]

Soul is kinda just like the Essence of your being. Everything that makes you, you. Anything that can have a "personality" should therefore have a soul.

I would say you could theoretically survive without one. You would be nothing more this a shell, simply there.

 

[The_ModeRazor]

Well, someon already summed it up I guess, so let's go with a completely different concept.

Imagine a pizza. But a really delicious one.

Now that is NOTHING like a soul.

 

[The_ModeRazor]

Soul is kinda just like the Essence of your being. Everything that makes you, you. Anything that can have a "personality" should therefore have a soul.

I would say you could theoretically survive without one. You would be nothing more this a shell, simply there.

Yeah, about that personality...
Most people don't have one. They are like vegetables trying to behave like monkeys.

 

[Ace of Spades]

The thing that separates a person from an animal. It's the essence that makes up who I am, and it is constantly changing.

 

[MrSnugglesworth]

Its your own interpretation of what YOU are.


I don't believe souls are real as tangible (Or intangible, but still there)but real in a Metaphorical way.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

It's meant to be the spiritual part of the living being which dictate our emotions and whatnot, at least that is the belief. People believe this is what drives us to do many of the things of which we can't explain the motives. So I guess based on popular belief

1. The Spiritual part of the living being
2. People
3. No

"Soul" is ironically enough the kind of music played and enjoyed by people that haven't got one.

Spoken like a true ignoramus, whether it was sarcastic or not. So you're implying Ray Charles never had one?

EDIT: Yes, I C wut he did thar, I'm tired and it's been a long day, leave me be to bask in my idiocy.

I suppose I should clarify this, to avoid confusion:

No I'm not racist, and I believe black folks have just as much of a soul as whites and others.

No I did not mean to imply that Ray Charles never had a soul. What I meant was this:
Pretty much everybody who founded and created soul (such as Ray Charles and James Brown) is now dead. While the purpose of this thread is to discuss the souls of the living, I think we can all agree that people who are long since dead no longer have one (the undead being up for debate).

As for modern-day musicians of soul and fans of the genre: All of the new ones are basically ripping of the golden oldies, devoid of any passion, originality or soul themselves, and the fans are either trapped in the past or addicted to the pretentious, facade of the newbies.

So basically it comes down to the fact that all people associated with soul are one of the following:

Dead,
Ripping off the dead,
Trapped in the past and glorifying the dead,
Functionally braindead and glorifying the people who are ripping off the dead.

My deepest respect to the folks that pioneered the genre, but let's face it folks:
Your glory days are over.

Nah, you didn't need to clarify at all, like I said in the edit, I see what you did there, and I agree. Just chalk it up to sleep deprivation.