The soul, or: Assuming it exists

Posted on by ben Alexander

A shadorma

who's to say
souls exist within?
do bodies...
can bodies...
how do finite frail bodies
hold the infinite?

Moonwashed weekly prompt

Infinite

Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.

–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

61 thoughts on “The soul, or: Assuming it exists”

  3. Wow. That is some very deep thinking! I think the soul is akin to love. It is within, it can exist outside of self and it is able to traverse great distances and even the chasm of death without diminishing.

  5. The soul is within and without, it has no boundaries, as does your body. While it is in the body, it is also everywhere else. It is multidimensional not constricted by a physical shape or form. Some peoples believe that a ‘part’ of your soul never leaves the higher dimensions.. If it did, it would get lost..

      1. I meant that unlike the body (which has physical boundaries) the soul does not have any. You can think of it as a sort of energy, that can be present in different places/dimensions at the same time. Yet, it is also whole.

  7. Wow! Excellent question, David, and up to interpretation as to what one believes, IMHO. I was brought up as a Christian Scientist, however, I never joined the church. With that said, a lot of what I was taught sticks with me. Their definition of “soul” is
    “Soul is โ€œmanโ€™s consciousnessโ€“that which he has apprehended or developed out of Spirit. . . Soul is both conscious and subconsciousโ€.

    A lot to ponder and a Bravo piece, my friend. ๐Ÿ’–

  8. An excellent question. But then some believe that everything is one, and all that we are exists simultaneously as everything that is. That would explain it. I’m still on the fence myself. (K)

    2. everything is one does not imply there is no individual souls.. it means that everyhing is interconnected in such a way that nothing can exists without everything else. in that way you contains everything and everything else contains you. As a individual soul, which is unique, you go through a long process of individuation and knowing self.. and knowing all forms of existence…

        1. yes.. there are various spiritual teachings that present the ‘soul’ this or that way.. in all of them, one can intuit common threads.. the most beautiful thing though is that your own soul is capable of knowing things – by connecting to the ‘divine channel’.. this way, you can come to know things which you want to know. this kind of knowing is not mental, you just suddenly feel that ‘something is like this’..

  9. Your exquisite poem, David, draws the reader in. โค Can souls exist within? Can souls exist after the body ceases to exist? Two questions, one stated, and the other implied, provide a framework for endless reflection and ongoing debate. Before we begin, there is also the question: How do we define the soul? So many profound questions in your tiny shadorma! ๐Ÿ™‚

Leave a Reply

Please log in using one of these methods to post your comment:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s