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Re: What are souls? everynametaken Send a noteboard - 14/04/2011 06:15:36 AM
Even though I'm writing a story involving souls, I'm an atheist and do not personally believe in souls. So before this, I'd not really given the soul concept much thought.

I probably should have asked this before my previous question. But the responses have really helped to show me that I should definitely get this pinned down for my story.

I would love to read your thoughts/definitions/beliefs about what souls are, as specific as you care to be.

This is all SO helpful for my story!!!


You might really enjoy the book The New Physics by Davies. It was written in the early 80s but is timeless in my opinion. He discusses an alternative to dualism that has heavily influenced me. His argument is that consciousness (what most people think of as a soul) is really a "strange loop", a circular process in which mental processes which are rooted in biological processes flip and begin to affect biological processes so that it seems like consciousness is more than just the effect side of causes.

That was a mouthful. ;)

You can also read Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter as his book heavily influenced Davies and might be more focused on that specific topic versus Davies' book which is about other topics in physics too.

Oh! I don't believe in souls. :P
But wine was the great assassin of both tradition and propriety...
-Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings
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What are souls? Antigone - 14/04/2011 03:49:56 AM 1334 Views
Re: What are souls? everynametaken - 14/04/2011 06:15:36 AM 1069 Views
Re: What are souls? Antigone - 15/04/2011 04:08:41 PM 1298 Views
roger woolger and brian weiss have interesting books on this temeraire - 14/04/2011 06:24:01 AM 967 Views
Translating the word 'psyche' from Greek to English bobsledai - 14/04/2011 08:37:30 AM 975 Views
I'm on the fence on souls Helene - 14/04/2011 10:34:34 AM 930 Views
Re: I'm on the fence on souls Antigone - 15/04/2011 04:14:28 PM 1310 Views
The million dollar quesiton Isaac - 14/04/2011 12:16:49 PM 1036 Views
from a writing point of view figuring that out could be a major part of the story random thoughts - 14/04/2011 02:45:40 PM 1138 Views
they are a type of fish and the bottom of the foot or shoe Yunalesca - 14/04/2011 02:57:30 PM 970 Views
I've always conceptualized.... Jeordam - 14/04/2011 04:53:14 PM 923 Views
^ This ^ *NM* LadyLorraine - 19/04/2011 01:47:36 AM 465 Views
Poetic construct. Vivien - 14/04/2011 07:07:53 PM 1012 Views
My Soul (A Poem) Kuke - 14/04/2011 09:31:39 PM 890 Views
Re: Ok so... I was stoned once, and reading Jung... Gaps - 16/04/2011 01:49:51 AM 949 Views
Souls? I don't believe they exist. aerocontrols - 16/04/2011 02:05:01 AM 950 Views
It's strange... TaskmasterJack - 19/04/2011 01:04:57 AM 926 Views
That's because we're the same aerocontrols - 02/05/2011 05:51:15 AM 910 Views
That seems unlikely... TaskmasterJack - 02/05/2011 08:49:20 PM 889 Views
Re: What are souls? DrJacJacMcScrumptious - 18/04/2011 11:38:40 PM 863 Views
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