SCEPCOP Forum

The Truth About the Soul

That's another inheritance from Egyptian myth and Greek Mythology. I have been asked about the soul. Probably by questioners tired of being exploited by the crooks of this world who have been for thousands of years using this one more item to keep the naive ones under the religious chain which, psychologically keeps the channel open for Mammon.

In fact, what indeed is the soul? The soul is not something we have, but something we are for a limited time. The soul is a condition. The condition of being alive. As soon as we are dead, the soul is non-existent. In Israel, whenever there is a massive accident or terrorist attack, the first question in the air is, "How many "nephashote" were there at the area? That's what soul is called in Hebrew; "nephesh." For dead casualties comes the second question. How many guphote, God forbid? That's what the dead body is in Hebrew, guphah. Therefore, guphote, the dead ones.

Now, before you think or say, "Behold, Ben is back with another of his wild interpretations of the Scriptures, let me invite you to Genesis 2:7. "When the Almighty formed man from the dust of the ground, He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." That's what man is, "a living soul". At the time of death, as the body goes back to the dust, according to Ecclesiastes 12:7, the breath of life returns to God Who gave it."

The expression, "returns to God Who gave it," means only that something is gone; it is over; it is just no more. It means that at death, when the breath of life is separated from the body, the soul ceases to exist. We are allowed to name the breath of life spirit, which only makes of the soul a temporary emanation. Then, spirit could name almost any kind of emanation.

So, no more fear of souls, or the thought that soul survives the body, or is collected somewhere to be loaned, so to speak, to a body who is being born, or that it will enjoy or suffer any kind of afterlife. We are all living souls and, once dead, the soul is gone as if it did not exist, or ever had any life of its own.
Ben

Thou art a contradiction, Ben

You're also proof that any fool can manipulate scripture to say whatever the hell they want to preach on.

Pardon my rudeness, but you really are coming across as one of those "Have my cake & eat it too" types that want to exist in the world of the rationalists as well as the faithful. Where I do the same, my objective seems a bit more digestible, even logical compared to someone that wants to show how well they (think they) know the Bible but seek to superimpose some very abstract ideas around it; concepts that are light-years away from where any of the scriptures at both, exoteric and esoteric levels, even remotely hint at.

Granted, you seem to offer a pseudo-gnostic position with things but even that seems a bit mangled.

Rather than cherry-pick scripture for the sake of sustaining your thinking, try reading the meat and gravy that surrounds said potatoes. Consume the fuller view of a given chapter or storyline.

Yes, the "soul" is in deed a "thing" and some would even argue that it's an emotion more than a part of our consciousness. In some traditions it's known as the "Ego" but modern views have transmuted the meaning of that term even though mental health science seems to have comprehension of it, equating it in some degree to the "Psyche". Nonetheless, we are looking at nature and an aspect of the human animal that is very much a part of the being but which likewise stands a part from the corporeal essence we are -- the Soul taking loan of this biological mass we call a body and in so doing, claiming an identity.

I personally have strong believe in Reincarnation and so I do believe that some part of our consciousness survives death, has the opportunity to discover/learn and this, return to a new life in order to correct imbalances and grow towards a "higher nature" -- that is the macrocosmic view. On the microcosmic level we know ebb & flow as well; little deaths and rebirths throughout life that likewise exist as a way to help us grow at emotional and spiritual levels. The "spirit" being more akin (in this particular stage) to "character".

Defining the "soul" is like defining "god" or "love" or any number of other things that exist through non-existence. There are far too many variables and perspectives and thus, it becomes a matter of personal purview.