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The Soul and its Parts

Rival

Si m'ait Dieus
Staff member
Premium Member
If you believe in a soul, does that soul have parts or is it just one whole? Kemetic belief has several parts to one's, for lack of a better word, metaphysical being. It's described well here The Ancient Egyptian Soul | Ancient Egypt Online

The main parts are the Ba and the Ka, and in death these ideally unite to become a 'completed soul' known as an Akh. The Akh can travel to and fro as it wishes and can be given offerings by the living. The Ba is the effective personality, reputation etc. and the Ka is the vital life-force, or spirit, generally.

Other parts are the Ib (heart), Ren (name) and Shuyet (shadow).
 
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VoidCat

Pronouns: he/him/they/them
Ancient norse pagans believe in multiple parts to the soul. But I havent studied it yet. So I can't explain it.
 

VoidCat

Pronouns: he/him/they/them
@The Hammer has studied norse paganism longer then me. He might know more. I know some parts are the fylgja, the hugr, and the hamr. But I can't go into more detail then that. There are 7 parts
 

Trailblazer

Veteran Member
If you believe in a soul, does that soul have parts or is it just one whole? Kemetic belief has several parts to one's, for lack of a better word, metaphysical being. It's described well here The Ancient Egyptian Soul | Ancient Egypt Online

The main parts are the Ba and the Ka, and in death these ideally unite to become a 'completed soul' known as an Akh. The Akh can travel to and fro as it wishes and can be given offerings by the living. The Ba is the seat of personality, reputation etc. and the Ka is the vital life-force, or spirit, generally.

Other parts are the Ib (heart), Ren (name) and Shuyet (Shadow).
A a Baha'i I do not believe that the soul has parts. As I said on your other thread I believe that the soul is the personality, so if the soul had parts it would be kind of like a person with a multiple personality disorder. :D

Interesting you mention the vital force, I have not heard that term since I was in homeopathy school. I believe that the vital force is associated with the soul which means the same thing as the human spirit according to my beliefs.
 

Nakosis

Non-Binary Physicalist
Premium Member
If you believe in a soul, does that soul have parts or is it just one whole? Kemetic belief has several parts to one's, for lack of a better word, metaphysical being. It's described well here The Ancient Egyptian Soul | Ancient Egypt Online

The main parts are the Ba and the Ka, and in death these ideally unite to become a 'completed soul' known as an Akh. The Akh can travel to and fro as it wishes and can be given offerings by the living. The Ba is the seat of personality, reputation etc. and the Ka is the vital life-force, or spirit, generally.

Other parts are the Ib (heart), Ren (name) and Shuyet (Shadow).

The Egyptian soul, Ba, seem to be like the effect we have on the world having existed in it. IOW, where our presence could be felt even though physically not around.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
The soul, atma, is part of paramatma, but does not know it. The spiritual path consists of removing the "veils" surrounding the soul that keep it from knowing it's union with paramatma.
 

The Hammer

[REDACTED]
Premium Member
If you believe in a soul, does that soul have parts or is it just one whole? Kemetic belief has several parts to one's, for lack of a better word, metaphysical being. It's described well here The Ancient Egyptian Soul | Ancient Egypt Online

The main parts are the Ba and the Ka, and in death these ideally unite to become a 'completed soul' known as an Akh. The Akh can travel to and fro as it wishes and can be given offerings by the living. The Ba is the seat of personality, reputation etc. and the Ka is the vital life-force, or spirit, generally.

Other parts are the Ib (heart), Ren (name) and Shuyet (Shadow).

@The Hammer has studied norse paganism longer then me. He might know more. I know some parts are the fylgja, the hugr, and the hamr. But I can't go into more detail then that. There are 7 parts

The Norse/Germanic Soul had 4 separate parts. The Hamr, or Outer Appearance; the Hugr, which was the Soul/Mind, emotions and will; the Fylgja, a spiritual fetch/follower (basically an Astral double), and the Hamingja which encompasses ones potentiality and Fate.

Death in Norse paganism - Wikipedia
 

George-ananda

Advaita Vedanta, Theosophy, Spiritualism
Premium Member
In my Hindu teachings what is closest to the western concept of the soul is called the (link) Karana-Sarira.

This is the vehicle that stores the karmas and lessons of past experiences and initiates new incarnations on the lower planes for necessary growth.
 

amorphous_constellation

Well-Known Member
The main parts are the Ba and the Ka, and in death these ideally unite to become a 'completed soul' known as an Akh. The Akh can travel to and fro as it wishes and can be given offerings by the living. The Ba is the effective personality, reputation etc. and the Ka is the vital life-force, or spirit, generally.

Other parts are the Ib (heart), Ren (name) and Shuyet (shadow).

Hm, that's interesting. At a first pass, it seems like Akh is more vehicle-like, and closer to being flesh-like (I could be entirely incorrect). A sort of vehicle beyond the flesh vehicle, and then as for the Ba, that seems like it's more of a pure spirit force. But I don't know, I really have no idea. But I think maybe with the Ba, that seems somewhat closer to the contemporary western conception of the soul. The idea of the personality seems emphasized, and ability of movement seems secondary to us.

Or perhaps it is combined, in modern conceptions, and this may go all though back to even the pre-christian and western conceptions of the soul, like in seneca's description of the soul. Here we see that the soul is already seeming to be considered a unitary form, uniting the traveling and personality aspect. Though in looking at the passage again, Seneca seems to notably ascribe multiple parts or qualities to a soul, even though they are similar

Lately as I've been looking at the tarot, an apparently western spiritual construction, the World card apparently has a traditional way to point out soul division, but I'm too much of a beginner to know anything about that either.

I think I've had a very amateur view on the soul, overall. I have always tended to view things with a generic dualism, but I'm starting to see that further division might be just as salient or important, that things are made up of parts, when I emphasize the wholes.
 

amorphous_constellation

Well-Known Member
@The Hammer has studied norse paganism longer then me. He might know more. I know some parts are the fylgja, the hugr, and the hamr. But I can't go into more detail then that. There are 7 parts

Now I've read the myths, but that's definitely something I apparently know nothing about. I'm curious at what point in the stories that is comes into the picture, that's interesting
 

Spiderman

Veteran Member
In the New Testament, the poor man Lazarus is taken to Abraham's bosom.

The rich man is tormented by flames. He asks Abraham for Lazarus to put water on his tongue to cool it down.

It implies that he is experiencing physical pain and has a body. If he has a tongue, it is likely he has other body parts as well, even though his other body is dead and left behind.

I'm not saying I believe the Christian Scriptures, but it would imply dead people still have bodies in the next life.
 

Hawkins

Well-Known Member
If you believe in a soul, does that soul have parts or is it just one whole? Kemetic belief has several parts to one's, for lack of a better word, metaphysical being. It's described well here The Ancient Egyptian Soul | Ancient Egypt Online

The main parts are the Ba and the Ka, and in death these ideally unite to become a 'completed soul' known as an Akh. The Akh can travel to and fro as it wishes and can be given offerings by the living. The Ba is the effective personality, reputation etc. and the Ka is the vital life-force, or spirit, generally.

Other parts are the Ib (heart), Ren (name) and Shuyet (shadow).

The relationship between the brain and soul is more or less like a clustered failover computer pair located in the different locations. The brain resides in our physical realm while the soul residing in an "adjacent" space. When they depart, the soul naturally will descend to Hades. Some of them are unnaturally brought to another location called the third heaven or "Abraham's Bosom". Thus Lazarus in parable did not naturally descend but was carried by angels to Abraham's Bosom.
 
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`mud

Just old
Premium Member
The `soul` hasn't any `parts`, it is the worth of any person,

it is the spirit within that expresses one's outdoing,

`good` I would wish.

We all will miss cognizance, when the whole `soul` is gone.
 
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