What is a soul?
My husband is a very analytical kind of guy. Entirely logical, pragmatic to a fault. If he doesn't see how something may make sense, it's not something he can easily grasp onto. It is no surprise then, that abstract concepts elude him sometimes.
I, not entirely. I am quite romantic, idealistic, and perhaps too strayed in my thoughts. I am an artist. I don't need to know the full details before I believe in something. I take abstract concepts and I run with them. My mind in essence, is a disordered amalgamation of everything that I am.
So now the question came up from my husband, one that I could not logically answer.
What is a soul? Do souls exist? Why can't we describe one scientifically? What tells us that they are there?
So many ways can these questions revolving around souls be framed. Not one of those questions is a bad one. They are all necessary for growth on a spiritual plane. You need to ask yourself things before you do inherently decide what to believe, right?
So, what is a soul?
A soul is life. it's the start, the thing that tells you, this thing has consciousness, this thing exists and knows it itself exists. it knows its place in the world.
Does a tree have a soul? Maybe. it's alive. Does it know that it is alive? Maybe in the most rudimentary sense.
Does an antelope have a soul? Yes. it's alive, it has a plane of consciousness. Is it's soul as consciousness as ours? No. However it still needs to be respected as a living being.
Even the Bible mentions that animals have souls, just lesser than ours.
These aren't new concepts, the people before us knew intrinsically that souls existed. Most every culture has some explanation for a soul.
So scientifically, what can souls be equated to? Do we have to ask every question scientifically ? Why can't we look at something and know that it exists, even if we don't have answers for it? Why do we doubt what we already know innately, are we really supposed to know everything about life itself, the greatest gift of all?
Perhaps we shouldn't know in the most logical sense, or we have no way of knowing because its beyond our scope of understanding.