It’s common for some folks in our culture (AKA Christians) to say we “have a soul”.
Even during my atheist years (childhood, early teens), I thought that sounded funny. Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that we are a soul, and have a temporary physical body?
As with so much, it’s all a matter of identification and perspective.
If I am identified as a human being, I may say I “have a soul”. The soul seems “other”, along with the wider world, God, and more.
If I am identified as a soul, I may say I am a soul and have a temporary physical and human form.
If life (Spirit, Big Mind, Brahman, God) recognizes itself, the individual soul and the human self it functions through are recognized as life itself. Here, it may be said that life itself is functioning through a soul and human form. Or we may say that we have a soul and temporary physical form.
It’s interesting that when life recognizes itself as all there is, functioning through a soul and human self, the words used may be what we often use in our culture anyway. We have a soul, and we have a temporary physical human form. There are two ways to look at why this is also our common way of speaking about it. One is that there is a knowing and intuition of reality. The other is that we identify as a more abstract and mostly separate “I” (created by words and images), and this abstract “I” seems to “have” a soul and physical form.
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– have a soul vs is a soul
– have a soul (a) b/c identified as the human self (soul seems “other”), or (b) from BM/BH
– is a soul, identified as the individual soul (expressed through a human self, both within/as what we are)
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It’s common for some folks in our culture (AKA Christians) to say we “have a soul”.
Even during my atheist years (childhood, early teens), I thought that sounded funny. Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say that we are a soul, and have a temporary physical body?
As with so much, it’s all a matter of identification and perspective.
If I am identified as a human being, I may say I “have a soul”. The soul seems “other”, along with the wider world, God, and more.
If I am identified as a soul, I may say I am a soul and have a temporary physical and human form.
If life (Spirit, Big Mind, Brahman, God) recognizes itself, the individual soul and the human self it functions through are recognized as life itself. Here, it may be said that we have a soul and temporary physical form.
It’s interesting that when life recognizes itself as all there is, functioning through a soul and human self, the words used is what we often use in our culture anyway. We have a soul, and we have a temporary physical human form. There are two ways to look at why this is also our common way of speaking about it. One is that there is a knowing and intuition of reality. The other is that we identify as a more abstract and mostly separate “I” (created by words and images), and this abstract “I” seems to “have” a soul and physical form.