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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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