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How can humans live without a soul/spirit?

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
Well, I know I'm conscious and I think that it's reasonable to assume that other people are too

See, I have trouble with that reasoning.

To me, it's like saying, I know I like puliogare, so I think it's reasonable to assume that everyone else does, too. Or in a more religious context, I know I needed to be saved, so I think it's reasonable to assume everyone else needs saved, too.
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
See, I have trouble with that reasoning.

To me, it's like saying, I know I like puliogare, so I think it's reasonable to assume that everyone else does, too. Or in a more religious context, I know I needed to be saved, so I think it's reasonable to assume everyone else needs saved, too.
Do you not believe that you are conscious???

Because you seem conscious to me :D

If you're a chat-bot then I'm sure you'd pass the Turing Test
 

Evangelicalhumanist

"Truth" isn't a thing...
Premium Member
As the headline say, How can humans live without a soul/spirit?

If there is no form of spirit or soul that is the true being, what is keeping us alive?

Please respect that people will have different understanding and views on this, no need for snarky or bad words toward others who may see it different than you do.
It would seem to me that if a soul or spirit is required to keep humans alive, then it would required to keep anything living alive, would it not?
 

Evangelicalhumanist

"Truth" isn't a thing...
Premium Member
See, I have trouble with that reasoning.

To me, it's like saying, I know I like puliogare, so I think it's reasonable to assume that everyone else does, too. Or in a more religious context, I know I needed to be saved, so I think it's reasonable to assume everyone else needs saved, too.
I think you are making a false equivalence. Consciousness is a state (of awareness), while liking is a matter of taste or preference, and "knowing I need to be saved" is a belief.
 

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
I only want to hear what others think or believe:) i do not the have the correct answer
And I was trying to give you what I believe.

I've heard a few different versions of "soul" and "spirit," but I've never seen any reason to think that any of them exist at all.

It seems that I'm nowhere near the place you are, where you're apparently so convinced that they do exist that you can't see how they couldn't.

I find it interesting that we could both look at the same world and see things in such different ways.
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
Do you not believe that you are conscious???

Because you seem conscious to me :D

If you're a chat-bot then I'm sure you'd pass the Turing Test

My point is, I have no way of being certain that you are, and you have no way of proving for certain that I am.

Consider a dream. Are the characters other than you in your dream conscious?
 

Eddi

Agnostic
Premium Member
My point is, I have no way of being certain that you are, and you have no way of proving for certain that I am.

Consider a dream. Are the characters other than you in your dream conscious?
Yes, you are right

One cannot be certain, that is true

A leap of faith is required

And I think that the faculty of empathy helps us recognise consciousness in others
 

osgart

Nothing my eye, Something for sure
Biochemicals do not have intrinsic properties. There's no aboutness to them. They are forever inanimate. Being alive is to have heart, desire, loves, hates, ambivalence. Awareness is secondary.
 

Koldo

Outstanding Member
As the headline say, How can humans live without a soul/spirit?

If there is no form of spirit or soul that is the true being, what is keeping us alive?

Please respect that people will have different understanding and views on this, no need for snarky or bad words toward others who may see it different than you do.


Short answer: Biology.
 

nPeace

Veteran Member
As the headline say, How can humans live without a soul/spirit?

If there is no form of spirit or soul that is the true being, what is keeping us alive?

Please respect that people will have different understanding and views on this, no need for snarky or bad words toward others who may see it different than you do.
Genesis 2:7
And Jehovah God went on to form the man out of dust from the ground and to blow into his nostrils the breath of life [spirit], and the man became a living person [soul]. . .

(Job 12:10) In his [God's] hand is the life of every living thing And the spirit of every human.

(Psalm 104:29, 30) 29 . . .If you take away their spirit, they die and return to the dust. 30 If you send out your spirit, they are created,. . .

(Ecclesiastes 12:7) . . .the dust returns to the earth, just as it was, and the spirit returns to the true God who gave it.

I hope that clearly answers your question, buddy. The Bible keeps things quite simple, and in my view, truthful.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
As the headline say, How can humans live without a soul/spirit?

If there is no form of spirit or soul that is the true being, what is keeping us alive?

Please respect that people will have different understanding and views on this, no need for snarky or bad words toward others who may see it different than you do.

Edit. Rephrase this while on a computer instead of a phone.
I believe we have a soul-an identity or what makes that person a "person." Objects have their own unique traits. Living beings in our environment, the physical universe, and so forth all have their unique traits. Twins who have different perceptions of life (and I assume at a much deeper level). Everyone has their own fingerprint.

I believe everything and every being of the physical universe are alive or form into existence by a spark of life (lack of better words). In a human, that breathe or energy has been there since conception and will no longer exists once the body dies. I like how the bible puts it actually from a JW perspective: when god breathed life/spirit into a human and made him a soul/person. The spirit is the animating principle that sustains all life. The thing is I don't see it as a "some-thing" but an action or movement. However, its kind of hard to talk of it like that without making it into a noun.

I likened it to ocean and waves:

I Am: Spirituality and Science

Do you believe in the afterlife? #5

As the headline say, How can humans live without a soul/spirit?

I don't believe we can live without spirit. I don't see the two the same (above). I do believe when we die the spirit will no longer be life in the body (best way to put it actually). Life still exist just our bodies don't "hold it" for a long time. What. 100 years?

Humans can live without a soul. Think of someone in general anesthesia, unconscious because of a gran mal seizure, or so have you. Our soul "clonked out" cause it can no longer express itself through the body. Since we are not aware during these episodes, why would our soul exist or be aware of itself when we die.

If there is no form of spirit or soul that is the true being, what is keeping us alive?

I don't understand the question actually. This assumes the spirit or soul is an entity in us, and I don't know what the nature of that entity would be.

1. What do you mean by true being?

2. Do you separate soul from spirit or do you see them the same?
 
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blü 2

Veteran Member
Premium Member
As the headline say, How can humans live without a soul/spirit?

If there is no form of spirit or soul that is the true being, what is keeping us alive?

Please respect that people will have different understanding and views on this, no need for snarky or bad words toward others who may see it different than you do.
What is keeping us alive?

In a word, biology.

We can go into a certain amount of detail if you wish.
 

Evangelicalhumanist

"Truth" isn't a thing...
Premium Member
I was making a relatable analogy, not an equivalence.
I understand, but I simply didn't find the analogy to be relevant. It is a built-in feature of the normal human brain to presume that other humans are conscious -- and you know this everytime we make even the slightest effort at communication with another. If I were to pass you on the street, I would certainly assume that if I said, "excuse me, but do you know the way to...?", you would at least recognize you were being talked to. You might not speak English, but at least you'd know I was attempting to communicate.

I would not, however, make any assumptions at all about your culinary tastes or religious beliefs.
 

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
I understand, but I simply didn't find the analogy to be relevant. It is a built-in feature of the normal human brain to presume that other humans are conscious -- and you know this everytime we make even the slightest effort at communication with another. If I were to pass you on the street, I would certainly assume that if I said, "excuse me, but do you know the way to...?", you would at least recognize you were being talked to. You might not speak English, but at least you'd know I was attempting to communicate.

I would not, however, make any assumptions at all about your culinary tastes or religious beliefs.

Fair enough.

If you were to talk to someone on the street in your dream, would you assume they recognize they were being talked to? Do they have their own consciousness?
 
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Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
I believe the soul is our identity. Spirit is the "energy", wind, and breath that has been in us since conception and will no longer hold the body alive after death. When I see a dead animal on the road, I see their life force or spirit left them and they no longer have a spark of life. Theyr soul, what makes them a bird, deer, racoons, so have you no longer their (I guess) indentity.

How can humans live without breathing or spark of life or force that keeps us alive, we can't. I don't believe a true bring (a soul?) exists after death.

Our soul is expressed by the body (our behaviors and character for example) and our spirit keeps the body alive.

If you mean form as in a being or walking entity I don't believe that.

Here's what I believe:

I Am: Spirituality and Science

Do you believe in the afterlife? #5

Anyway. I don't believe so. Curious: Do you deferientiate the soul and spirit?
In my understanding soul and spirit is the same, i could be wrong on this
 

Stevicus

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
As the headline say, How can humans live without a soul/spirit?

If there is no form of spirit or soul that is the true being, what is keeping us alive?

Please respect that people will have different understanding and views on this, no need for snarky or bad words toward others who may see it different than you do.

I don't know that I have a soul. I've seen anatomical charts of the human body, but to date, none of them indicate the location of where the soul actually exists in the human body. I've heard some people say that "the eyes are the windows to the soul," suggesting that the soul resides in the optic nerve or somewhere in the brain.

Even if we did have souls, I don't think that, in and of itself, would "keep us alive." After all, everything that lives will eventually die, while the soul is said to be immortal. If the soul supposedly keeps us alive, then what is it that eventually kills us?
 

A Vestigial Mote

Well-Known Member
As the headline say, How can humans live without a soul/spirit?

If there is no form of spirit or soul that is the true being, what is keeping us alive?
There is no evidence for a "soul" or "spirit". What we do have is evidence of various forms of energy (electrical signals for instance) being used as signal carriers, and chemical reactions that spur on various changes in our bodily systems. We also have billions and billions of examples that demonstrate that when those electrical and chemical signals are stopped for whatever reason - so is the "life" of the body. Those electrical and chemical signals, therefore, must be pretty darn important. Of completely questionable importance is this idea of "soul." You seriously may as well just make something fanciful up and ask how we could possibly live without it. Here... I'll do it now:

How can humans live without bligfargles? If there are no bligfargles to organize and direct our voluntary/involuntary cellular actions then what is keeping us alive?

Now, prove to me that there are no bligfargles, and that no bligfargles are necessary to keep a human being alive. I made the ridiculous claim that there are such things as bligfargles, but I am going to leave it to YOU to prove me wrong. How's that?
 

Aupmanyav

Be your own guru
In my understanding all living being has a form of spirit, but can not explain how
Why to believe on things that we do not understand? And the question you asked is quite simple. Have you seen any evidence of spirit in dying men or animals? Have you seen ghosts? You have no evidence but you still believe. Atheist just do not do that.
My understanding is a bit flipped from yours; one being has many living forms.
If it is a being. What do you think?
Personality and memory, for starters.
Personality and memory is from your brain. When the brain stops working, they are erased like a file in a computer.
 
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