Soul… What different associations this word gives rise to! Someone will imagine the silence of the temple and the trembling of a candle in front of the icon, someone will list set expressions type "soul of the company".
And someone will surely say that the soul is what is studied in psychology, because the name of this science was given by the Greek word ψυχή, which is translated into Russian in this way. Many will remember that there is a soul, and there is a spirit, and they will think about the difference ...
Indeed, what is the human soul? Why does she hurt, whine, rejoice? Can anything be said about this phenomenon? scientific point vision?
To determine what is included in the phrase “human soul”, to try to answer what it is, we will have to turn to science, philosophy, religion, take into account different shades the meaning of this word. Be prepared for the fact that some opinions and interpretations will cause rejection, and you may want to agree with some.
So, the soul is the non-material, non-corporeal side of the personality - this or a definition close to it can probably be called the most general, covering all areas in which the concept is applied. What about in particular? Of course, there is more than one meaning of the word "soul" in Russian.
Throughout history, the concept of the soul has changed. Understanding it as something supernatural was, of course, primary. The mythological consciousness of ancient people endowed animate (let us pay attention to the root of the word) objects with special power - mainly people, sometimes animals and plants. And people noticed that when dying, a person stops breathing and loses blood - so in both, they began to see carriers of the soul.
What is the human soul, tried to understand and ancient philosophers. It is interesting that some of them spoke about the opposition of the soul and body, and some, on the contrary, argued their inseparable connection. For example, the first point of view was held by Plato.
According to his concept, before the birth of a person, the soul is in the world of ideas and, moving into the body, already knows everything that is necessary, and the person during training only “remembers” the ideas it has learned. Aristotle (a student of Plato) shared the second view. He believed that the soul driving force body, inseparable from him, giving him the opportunity to feel, think, remember, imagine, manifest will.
The ratio of soul and body is a question that does not have a clear answer so far. You can also argue about how the concepts of "soul", "spirit", "body" are located in the semantic field. Let's see what Christian teaching says about this.
However, if you think about it, we, the native speakers of the Russian language, still cannot say that these words are absolute synonyms. Yes, in the context of their interchange is possible, but in general… The adjectives they educated differ: “soulful” and “spiritual”. Such a view is in good agreement with the tripartite idea of the structure of the personality, to which Orthodoxy tends.
The soul is what a person is, the guarantee of his very life, the realm of feelings, passions and experiences. It can be sinful and is the link between body and spirit. A person may or may not have a spirit, it is an aspiration for God and higher values, respectively, there is no place for sin in the spirit. We can also say that the spirit is the highest ability of the soul.
It must be emphasized that this is a religious interpretation, with which one can both agree and argue. Nevertheless, at the level of everyday consciousness, we draw the line between these concepts in much the same way.
The experiment was carried out in 1907, the accuracy measuring technology was low, in addition, it is not specified anywhere how the moment of death was recorded: it is known that there are several stages of death. Therefore, is there a soul, about which theologians speak, is a question that everyone will answer for himself.
And in general, no matter how much a person reads about this phenomenon, no matter how many interpretations he hears, he will certainly have his own opinion on this matter, perhaps similar to the existing ones, or maybe quite unusual. And for sure, each next generation will think again and again: “The soul - what is it, where does it come from, where does it disappear?” Author: Evgenia Bessonova
According to modern concepts, the concept of the soul goes back to animistic concepts of a special force that exists in the body of a person and an animal, and sometimes even a plant. Since ancient times, man has wondered about the difference between living and non-living things. In the course of the development of mythological thinking, the concept of the soul as some attribute of a living being was formed. Observation of the breath of the living, which disappeared after his death, contributed to the emergence of ancient ideas about the soul as a breath that occurs from outside. Corresponding observations on blood and the termination of life with its great loss led to the fact that the bearer of the soul was seen in the blood. Dreams led to the idea of the soul as a substance that exists independently of the body.
Due to the fact that the soul is understood as a substance, the properties of the finest substance in the blood are first attributed to it, as was the case with most of the pre-Socratics in Greek philosophy (Empedocles, Anaxagoras, Democritus). According to Plato, the soul is immortal and immaterial and precedes existence in the physical body. Before the birth of a person, the soul contemplates ideas in the non-material world, and after it inhabits the body, it “forgets” them. Hence Plato's judgment that all knowledge is only a recollection of forgotten ideas, known by the soul before birth. Aristotle calls it the first entelechy of a viable body; only the rational human soul (spirit) can be separated from the body and is immortal.
The focus of a person's spiritual life is self-consciousness, consciousness of oneself as a unique human being, individuality.
The soul began to be considered as a philosophical concept accessible to rational analysis among the ancient Greeks. All the pre-Socratics wondered about the soul and especially about the connection between it and the body - two fundamental dimensions of human existence. From Plato's point of view, the soul and body exist separately from each other, while for Aristotle they are inextricably linked. “The soul is the first entelechy of the natural body, which has life as a possibility. (…) So, the soul is inseparable from the body; it is also clear that any part of it is inseparable if the soul by nature has parts, for some parts of the soul are the entelechy of bodily parts,” writes Aristotle, for whom “all natural bodies are the instruments of the soul.”
According to the understanding of some Christian writers (for example, Tertullian), the soul is material (treatise De anima), while others - the Church Fathers (for example, Augustine) consider it to be spiritual, just as in classical patristics, the understanding of the soul as a non-spatial, non-material substance prevails.
Immanuel Kant spoke out against such an understanding, which is dominant in Christianity. An appeal to an immaterial principle in the name of resolving the question of the soul is, according to Kant, "the refuge of a lazy mind." For him, the soul is an object inner feeling in its connection with the body, not the substance; the theory of the substantiality of the soul must give way to the theory of its actuality.
The doctrine of the immortality of the soul is integral part creeds of all Christian denominations, with the exception of Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses and some few denominations.
The basic idea of this creed is that the soul continues its conscious existence during the period of time between death and the general resurrection. She either immediately goes to heaven or hell, or else stays for some time in some intermediate place. This can be either the so-called bosom of Abraham, or purgatory (for some souls, the teaching of the Catholic Church). According to these views, the fate of the soul is decided at the so-called private court, immediately after the death of a person. And after the universal judgment, the soul unites with the resurrected body and either eternal life or eternal torment in hell (fire hell) awaits it.
The denial of the unconditional immortality of the soul (as inherent in the very nature of man) is sometimes found in early patristics. In particular, Tatian wrote in his "Speech against the Hellenes":
The soul itself is not immortal, Hellenes, but mortal. However, she may not die. The soul that does not know the truth dies and is destroyed along with the body, and receives death through endless punishments. But if it is enlightened by the knowledge of God, then it does not die, although it is destroyed for a while. In itself, it is nothing but darkness, and there is nothing light in it. This includes the words: "the darkness did not embrace the light." For it was not the soul that preserved the spirit, but it was itself preserved by it, and the light embraced the darkness. The Word is the Divine light, and the darkness is a soul alien to knowledge. Therefore, if she lives alone, then she turns away to matter and dies with the flesh; and when she is united with the divine spirit, she is not without help, but ascends where her spirit leads her. For the dwelling place of the spirit is in heaven, but the soul has an earthly origin. (Tatian. Speech against the Hellenes 1:17)
Ideas about the conditional immortality of the soul are contained in the work of Theophilus of Antioch "Epistle to Autolycus":
But someone asked us: was man created by nature mortal? no. So, immortal? We won't say that either. But someone will say: so, he was created by neither one nor the other? and we won't say it. He was created by nature neither mortal nor immortal. For if God had made him immortal at the beginning, he would have made him God; if, on the contrary, he created him mortal, then he himself would be the cause of his death. So, He created him neither mortal nor immortal, but, as was said above, capable of both, so that if he aspires to that which leads to immortality, fulfilling the commandment of God, he would receive immortality from Him as a reward for this, and would become God; but if he strays to the works of death, disobeying God, he himself would be the cause of his own death. For God created man free and sovereign. So, what a person has brought upon himself by his negligence and disobedience, God now forgives him according to His philanthropy and mercy, if a person obeys Him. Just as by disobedience a person brought death on himself, so by obedience to the will of God, the one who wishes can secure eternal life for himself. For God has given us the law and the holy commandments, by fulfilling which everyone can be saved and, having reached the resurrection, inherit incorruption. (Theophilus 2:27)
During the Reformation, the denial of the immortality of the soul was found among some Anabaptists. A well-known proponent of beliefs about the conditional immortality of the soul (the "sleeping soul" notion) was Martin Luther, for which he was criticized by John Calvin.
At present, some religious directions, including Seventh-day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses, have different ideas from other Christian denominations about the nature of the soul. main feature these ideas - the soul itself does not have an immortal nature, the soul is mortal.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the soul ceases to exist when a person dies. These views are supported by the following Bible verses: "The living know they will die, but the dead know nothing"(Eccl.); “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it according to your ability; for in the underworld where you are going there is no work, no thought, no knowledge, no wisdom.”(Eccl.), "The soul that sins, it will die"(Ezek.),
In Christianity, the concept of "soul" is inextricably linked with the concept of salvation. The salvation of a person's soul is understood as the salvation of the person himself from death, which is also considered a consequence of sin, and from eternal punishment for sin (in hell or fiery hell). Most Christians believe that after the resurrection of the dead, the souls of the saved will be reunited with the bodies and in these bodies the saved will be guaranteed eternal life.
In theology, the following meanings of the word "soul" in the Bible are distinguished:
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.
Gen.2:7 (akin to Pet.3:20; Rom.13:1; Acts.2:41)
And God said, Let the water bring forth reptiles, living creatures; and let the birds fly over the earth, in the firmament of heaven
Gen. 1:20 (akin to Gen. 1:24)
He who saves his soul (life) will lose it; and he who loses his soul (life) for my sake will save it
Mt.10:39 (akin to Lev.17:11; Mt.2:20; 16:25; Jn.13:37; 15:13)
The multitude of those who believed had one heart and one soul; and none of his possessions called his own, but they had everything in common
Acts 4:32 (akin to Ps. 103:1)
May the God of peace Himself sanctify you in all its fullness, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved without blemish in the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword: it penetrates to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
I know a man in Christ who, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I don't know; out of the body, I don't know, God knows) was caught up to the third heaven.
2 Corinthians 12:2 (similar to: 2 Pet. 1:14)
The soul, as spirit, is eternal and immortal:
Therefore we do not lose heart; but if our outer man smolders, then the inner one is renewed from day to day ... the visible is temporary, and the invisible is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:16,18 (similar to Matt. 22:32)
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.
Attitude towards the death of the Apostles:
For to me life is Christ, and death is gain. But if life in the flesh bears fruit for my cause, I do not know what to choose. Both attract me: I have a desire to resolve myself and be with Christ, because this is incomparably better; but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.
Philp. 1:21-23 (similar to 2 Cor. 5:8)
The book of Ecclesiastes (Solomon) in the Bible is unique in its kind, since it gives a lot of intermediate and limited reasoning, views on the life of a carnal skeptic who accepts only what is “done under the sun”, experiences everything, relying solely on his own mind . The original premise of Ecclesiastes about the soul is pessimistic and mundane: And I praised the fun; because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat, drink and be merry (Eccl. 8:15). Everything and everyone is one: one fate for the righteous and the wicked, the good and the [evil], the pure and the unclean (Eccl. 9:2). The living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and there is no longer any reward for them, because the memory of them is forgotten (Eccl. 9:5).
And yet, after philosophical reflection, the final conclusions that Ecclesiastes comes to are as follows: Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart taste joy in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart and in the sight of your eyes; just know that for all this God will bring you to judgment (Eccl. 11:9). Let us listen to the essence of everything: fear God and keep His commandments, because in this is everything for man (Eccl. 12:13). And the dust will return to the earth as it was; and the spirit returned to God who gave it (Eccl. 12:7).
In 1854, the German anatomist and physiologist Rudolf Wagner came up with the hypothesis of the existence of a special "substance of the soul" at the physiological congress in Göttingen. (English) Russian , which, however, had no consequences in the scientific world.
In 1901, the American physician Duncan McDougall set up a series of experiments on the direct weighing of the soul, in full accordance with the scientific methodology of his time. McDougall used a floor scale that allowed weights from one ounce (28.35 g) to 250 pounds (113.4 kg) to be weighed. The doctor performed 6 measurements of the soul of dying people with their consent. In five dimensions, he found a post-mortem weight loss ranging from 15 to 35 g. Once he failed to accurately record the moment of death and the experiment was rejected. McDougall later repeated his experiment 15 times on dogs - this time with zero results. McDougall concluded that during life a person has a material soul, while animals do not have a soul. McDougall published the results of his experiments only 6 years later. They were published in well-known journals such as American Medicine and the American Journal of the American Society for Psychical, and were later retold by the Washington Post and the New York Times. At the same time, McDougall emphasized that new precise experiments in in large numbers. However, no new scientific experiments in this area have been published.
Victor Hugo in The Man Who Laughs wrote:
The approach of a storm was felt in the air... The moment of that disturbing premonition has come when it seems as if the elements are about to become living beings and before our very eyes there will be a mysterious transformation of the wind into a hurricane... The blind forces of nature will gain their will, and what we take for a thing will turn out endowed with soul. It seems that all this is to be seen firsthand. This is what explains our horror. The human soul is afraid of meeting with the soul of the universe
Victor Hugo, collected works in 10 volumes, M.1972, v.9, pp. 55-56
| Soul in Wiktionary | |
| Soul at Wikiquote | |
| in Wikisource |
A person is biologically arranged in such a way that his brain perceives the surrounding reality through the available senses, unambiguously considering only the visible, tangible and perceived by other senses part of it to be real. But is there another, non-material part of the Universe, another dimension, where the mind is present and the physical laws familiar to us do not work? And is there in the world that we physically perceive a certain substance connecting both worlds, the existence of which is possible on both sides of being?
Many have probably already understood that this element or substance is the soul, a metaphysical concept that has not yet been proven or refuted by anyone. It will be about her dear, the human soul. Let's try to understand what the soul is, what its nature is, what is the purpose and essence of the human soul.
The hypothetical transcendental world, which lies beyond the limits of earthly existence, is doubtful for most people. It is worth noting that even theoretical physicists, who are mostly adherents of materialistic views, admit the multivariance of measurements and the presence of other forms of life. There are many among the learned brethren who have believed in God's Providence. Therefore, dear skeptics, before you start to categorically deny everything that does not fit into the framework of the logic so familiar to you, remember that everything is relative in this world! More than once, the most incredible assumptions have been confirmed.
In order not to somehow hurt, not offend those who believe in God, as well as those who do not believe in Him, the reader is advised to classify this narrative as a fantastic genre, possibly having nothing to do with true reality.
Many people, striving for a realistically achievable momentary good, willingly follow the logic of well-known sayings: "Live here and now", "Take everything from life", which have already become the life credo of the majority, not only those who adhere to the atheistic worldview of people, but also those who only allow existence God, whose faith did not take shape in a specific picture of the universe. They take more than they need, little or no thought at all about what will happen later, after physical death, and consider themselves realists, claiming the title of wise men, confident in the truth of their vision of the world, which in essence is blind faith in Chance. Any other faith for them is the delirium of the weak-minded, but you ask them: "Why is there no soul and God"? In response, you will hear: "Because it is unrealistic and that's it!" They can be understood. It is convenient, simple, and most importantly understandable and pleasant for atheists to live like this. They are afraid to live life in vain, without taking from it what is considered valuable in their view. They want to have a "bird in their hands" (earthly temporary paradise), and "crane in the sky" (heavenly eternal paradise) is just a myth for them. They prefer to consider themselves gods and the quintessence of a higher will, and not some mythical Supreme Intelligence. Arguing with this category of people on metaphysical topics can be just as eternal and fruitless as if you had to describe to a born blind man all the riot of colors in nature, which he is simply not able to see and can only believe or not believe in their existence. Atheists are the children of the system who have absorbed materialistic views with "mother's milk", which can only be changed by irrefutable facts, a miracle or extraordinary circumstances.
The values of believers in God are not in this life, but in the one that begins after death. In fairness, it should be noted that most of them are not at all fools, as some believe, and far from being angels, inflamed with pure, selfless love to the Creator and expecting nothing in return for their love. They are ordinary people striving to get their main benefit, but only at the end of their earthly journey and in an infinite equivalent. The logic of their actions is dictated by the choice in favor of the eternal bliss promised by the Lord and the normal fear of losing this "paradise bonus". That is, each person has life strategy, but here's what "place" first of all he chooses it? The answer is obvious - the mind. And that's okay! The mind in a dangerous physical world must play a decisive role, otherwise a person cannot survive. And any rational being strives for the good and safe existence. The whole point is that some choose a short-term life with an obvious end to everything, others rely on the Absolute - the immortality of the soul and immense happiness.
Summing up the introductory part, we can summarize the following: some believe that an incredibly complex, accurate and beautiful picture of the universe appeared as a result of accidentally "spilled colors", which, in turn, magically suddenly materialized and structured in the original Absolute Nothing, others are convinced of that the Universe is the Creation of an unknown Artist. In this regard, it makes no sense to convince anyone in matters of faith. However, it is possible to speculate on eternal topics, using not only conjectures based on religious beliefs, but also assumptions based on real technologies.
So, for sure, no one will deny the obvious fact that a person is a biological carrier of an indefinite amount of information, an unknown percentage of which falls on his consciousness and personality. In other words, the personal "I" can be expressed as information that is the core of our essence. The origin, formation and evolution of this "I-core" occurs in synthesis with some other substance, not from our existence, which is supposedly of an energy-informational nature.
"Everything replaces the brain" - you say. Not all! The human brain is just a biocomputer placed in the cranium, a "logical machine" that excludes everything that cannot be sensory fixed or has an irrational nature, a lot of unknown variables. Our brain is undoubtedly a powerful tool, but we should not forget that it gives us only reason, allows us to think rationally and logically, but here are some feelings ... it is doubtful that the brain can autonomously produce a reckless feeling of love, rage, or a desire to save other people's lives by sacrificing at the same time, his own, etc. It seems that it is not only the brain that makes a person human, but also something else. Maybe this is something like a program code that introduces some kind of subconscious correction, as a result of which we become aware of ourselves and become intelligent, in the full sense of the word, living beings endowed with emotions, freedom, and the desire to create? You can call this code in different ways - "virus of the mind", "free radical" or something else, in religion this mysterious substance is simply called the soul.
What is the human soul? What is the essence of the soul? From various sources, including biblical ones, it follows that the soul is the essence of man. By definition, a person is understood not as a biological, but as his moral, informational (spiritual) essence. The body is just a mortal shell, the receptacle of the soul. The soul, in turn, is an information channel that connects this world and the higher one, the one from where we draw love, creative energy and where our consciousness moves after death. Or, the soul is an installed "package" of higher feelings and laws that make us people, not biorobots with a cold mind, a kind of repository of vital energy, the Word and Light of God, everything that can be attributed to the concepts of the divine category. The soul is a navigator indicating the highest path of development. Perhaps the soul is simultaneously a navigator, a repository and a bridge between realities.
This suggests a rough analogy with a computer operating system and a set of other system subroutines, as well as the electricity required to run a computer. Without a soul and a divine spirit, a person is like a "dead" computer without any digital data and power supply.
Science is not yet able to understand the structure of the soul and isolate it into a matrix separate from the body. It is not even clear where the soul is located in us. But despite the lack of scientific knowledge, it is foolish to deny its existence in theory, as well as the potential opportunity in the future to learn how to "pack" the human "I" into a certain "file".
Of course, there are many skeptical citizens who consider the analogy of a person and a computer to be incorrect or categorically define all of the above as nonsense. Just in case, "wise men" would like to be reminded that everything stated in this article is just a fantasy that has the right to be. It is no more delusional than any scientific hypothesis about the random origin of the Universe, which does not bring closer to understanding the truth. In science in general, versions regarding this issue often change.
Taking for truth the idea that the soul is information, and human body– its carrier, let us ask ourselves the question: “Is it possible to move our spiritual basis outside the body and the existence of a mechanism hidden in us that ensures this transaction, the activation of which is programmed and occurs, for example, at the moment of reaching the minimum allowable value of the working activity of the brain, when it is completely turned off or destruction"? The question is essentially rhetorical. The answer is obvious - of course yes! The presence of such biotechnology is quite likely. After all, a person has learned to transmit information "over the air" (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth technologies), although they did not even think about such a thing 100 years ago.
There are many confirmations of the conscious "exit from the body" (in the Astral) of Indian yogis, people who have been in critical condition. People who survived near-death experience spoke about the preservation of their consciousness and the journey through a mysterious tunnel, at the end of which a soothing light was observed. The explanation of this phenomenon by hallucinations, which allegedly arise due to intoxication of the body with cadaveric poisons and the so-called tubular vision, does not stand up to criticism. It is doubtful that as a result of poisoning with the same poison in all cases, the "dead" will experience the same "visual effect" (observe themselves from the side), view their lives like a film, meet with deceased relatives and "see" identical visions.
So why then are materialists so categorical in denying the soul and its movement after death to another world or dimension? People, then, can operate with the Number in all sorts of ways, and Someone else, even theoretically, is not able to perform similar operations with our soul? Is intelligent life possible in only one form familiar to us? Or maybe we are the creations of a higher immortal race that exists outside of time and matter, and we are sent to Earth to undergo training, maturation of souls in the school of life, and those who worthily "studied" get a chance for eternal life? Let each one give answers to these questions for himself.
Continuing to "draw" an imaginary picture, let's try to imagine that posthumous world, where, according to believers, the soul ends up at the end of the earthly path. We are not talking about searching for evidence of its reality - during life it is impossible to do this in principle (at least, science does not move in this direction), as the saying goes: "Until you die, you will not check whether there is heaven or hell." All considerations regarding the "afterlife theme" are perceived by non-religious people as a pure abstraction. However, any fantastic thought can be objective reality. Moreover, it is possible that our reality is actually just a miserable, distorted copy of the real Ideal Being. How can the afterlife be, which after earthly life becomes the eternal refuge of the soul?
Let's start with the main one. Everything has a root cause. Without it, nothing will arise by itself. What operations do not perform with zeros, without a unit the result will always be zero. That is, in the absolute primordial Non-Being, a “number” could not have arisen by itself, there had to be a root cause acting as a unit, some kind of force that made the particles move. Based on this premise, let's assume the existence of an Operator, Author, Supermind or Creator of all things, He has many names, but there is one generalizing capacious concept - God. Let's take it for granted. For what purpose did He create the world? Probably the same with which a creative person creates his creation, through which he expresses the inner creative energy, love or some other experiences arising from the soul. Perhaps the Creator wanted to create a semblance of that ideal, infinite happiness, which He Himself is, and a small copy of this Original is not a material body at all, but other substances that are inside us and make up our essence - spirit, soul, mind. After all, if a human creator decides to create his own likeness, it will mean, first of all, a rational basis that is closest to the original (artificial intelligence) and enclosed within the framework of human logic. The shell in which the created entity will be placed is secondary.
Let's not "burrow" in the comprehension of God's Intention, which a person will probably never understand. The theme of this story is an attempt to present the Path and essence of the soul.
Many religious sources say that in the Other World life is eternal. Why not. Man also strives for immortality, and one of the hypothetical concepts in this direction is the transfer of consciousness from a dying body into something new, ideally into the eternal. What doesn't destroy time? Only the immaterial is not afraid of time.
If the other world is non-material, then a different logic reigns there, not subject to the physical laws of our being. Probably there is no flow of time familiar to us, everything eternal eliminates the need for this category.
Earthly life should be perceived as a school or a testing ground where a person is tested. Only a person who passes the exam with honor and worthily enters the kingdom of God called paradise. The more the soul at the "exit-input" retains in itself from God, the higher and closer to the Lord it will ascend. And vice versa - an individual who has accumulated a critical mass of sins (evil) during his life, one in whom the distortion of the absolute standard (God) is too great, will go to hell. In other words, we all pass through a filter whose purpose is to prevent evil from entering paradise. The structure of this model of being from a rational position is quite understandable and explainable. In order to create and maintain an ideal structure indefinitely, everything in it must correspond to the idea, that is, the ideal, the drawing of the model. Any flaws are unacceptable. For example, to develop and implement a project, you will need only what corresponds to its idea. Everything unnecessary, potentially harmful, is classified as garbage, the place of which is in the bin. This is the principle of an antivirus program that protects the computer's operating system from malicious code. The "wastebasket" where dirty souls end up is hell. Evil is concentrated there, garbage, which has no place in paradise, in the kingdom of eternal happiness. At the very bottom of the "hellish basket" the greatest sinners are crushed by a heavy load of darkness. It can be assumed that the main experienced hellish torments, to which sinners doom themselves, lie in the awareness of their fate to remain forever garbage in darkness and the absence of any bright prospect.
Attention should be paid to the presence in the next world of the heavenly hierarchy. It is natural and absolutely necessary. When there is no hierarchy, there is no structure, and this creates chaos. Without hierarchy, the order that ensures the strength of the system is unattainable. At the top of the pyramid, at the Throne of God, there are Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones, as close as possible to the Lord, and below each one takes its place in terms of the degree of godlikeness. "Zero horizon" - a place of waiting until the White Throne Judgment, where the souls of the dead apparently initially appear (according to the Catholic version, purgatory, filtration or purification take place there), below which seven levels (circles) of hell "go into minus".
This may be the essence of the human soul and its thorny path in eternity. Personally, to me, the author of this essay, the above version of the world order does not seem crazy at all. On the contrary, the belief in the absence of Supreme Intelligence or Causes of all things. Be that as it may, it is much more humane to live in observance of moral laws, to be the master of your spirit, and not a slave of animal passions, and then, after life, suddenly happiness smiles at you, and may you stay in the eternal blissful world of goodness and love. The choice is yours!
What is the human soul? Why human soul and his spiritual development are priority? In the "Soul of Man" section, we will highlight these and many other questions regarding the human soul. Sorry for the digression, but I think it would be appropriate to quote Clive S. Lewis here "You don't have a soul! You are the soul! You have a body!"
The first is the physical body visible to us, consisting of billions of cells.
The second is the etheric body, an exact copy of the physical body, the physical body receives vital energy through it, the etheric body maintains the shape of the physical body, it has long been photographed using the Kirling method.
The third is the astral, in which the process of desires and emotions takes place, the frequency of its vibrations is so high that it is invisible to the physical organs of vision. The astral body is slightly larger than the physical body (by several decimeters). The connection between the physical, ethereal, astral bodies is carried out with the help of a “silver thread” (biblical term), which is located near the heart, and at death it disappears. During sleep, the astral body leaves the physical body and begins to travel through space. If you know how to manage your dreams, then you can foresee future events.
The fourth is the mental body, it plans a reasonable structure of behavior. In the state of deep sleep, without dreams, the mental body separates from the physical. The physical, etheric, astral, mental bodies are not constituent parts eternal soul, they are temporary.
The eternal part of the soul includes the fifth, sixth, and seventh bodies.
The fifth is the body of abstract thought.
The sixth is the body of the spiritual mind (the body of the Buddha).
The seventh - the higher body, represents a particle of God (our higher "I"), which is enclosed in the body of the spiritual mind, i.e. the sixth body is the superconsciousness, which gives a person the possibility of insight, endowing him with intuition. The seventh and sixth bodies form an eternal monad (Monads are living, spirit-like units of which everything consists), the same for all people, which are the unconscious basis of the soul of each person. Around the monad is the body of abstract thinking (fifth), which is the repository of the results of life experiences, experiences. There are stored acquired mental and moral qualities otherwise they could not grow in the process of spiritual development.
What is the mechanism of evolution of the human soul? – passes according to a certain plan of the Creator. According to this plan, a person lives each life as one lesson of the school of eternal life. Relatively speaking, immortal life Each of us is divided into several classes, each of which has its own tasks, its own life lessons.
The first class includes people for whom the topic of the lesson is a sharp decrease in the level of egoism. The mental development of such people is in its infancy. They are born in semi-civilized societies, incarnate many times in the same sub-race, have a short break between incarnations.
The second class is people with a limited outlook, their interests do not go beyond the family, nationality, but the task for them is already changing - a person must learn to share with others. They reincarnate many times, between reincarnations they have a short rest, the duration of which depends on their success in spiritual development during earthly life. The first two classes are currently "educating" the majority of humanity.
The third class is cultured people who strive to comprehend the sublime, with high ideals, their mental development makes it possible to realize the unity of mankind, they take part in the fate of other people, strive to help them. Between the reincarnations of their souls, a hundred, even a thousand years can pass.
The fourth class is people who have reached cosmic consciousness, who have realized their place in the Universe. To accelerate their spiritual evolution, they consciously refuse to stay in the astral plane, reincarnating immediately after death.
Fifth grade - people who have reached high development souls, possessing great abilities, opportunities, they help groups of people, all of humanity. These are Great teachers: Christ, Buddha, Mohammed, Moses. They incarnate only at will, when there is a real threat to the existence of mankind.
Thus, spiritual development for each of us is determined by the will of God, but the speed of his spiritual evolution depends on the degree of effort. If these efforts are insufficient, then in the first two classes of earthly education they will spend most of their lives experiencing constant physical and moral suffering. If a person's efforts are directed towards intensive spiritual development, then this will allow him to live most of his life in harmony with the Universe, without experiencing physical, spiritual inconveniences. These efforts to accelerate spiritual evolution are called self-cultivation.
From this follows the conclusion: development, and the goal of his earthly incarnation is to achieve as much as possible high level development of the soul through self-improvement.
human soul
the immortal image of God in man. This is the divine basis of man, his life principle, the receptacle of spiritual potency and the ability for spiritual and moral improvement, according to the teachings of the New Testament. The soul is immortal and does not die with the body. The soul is the person himself, his personality. Concern for the salvation of the soul is the main thing in a person's life. From how a person lived his life, the soul is either saved or doomed to eternal death and, accordingly, goes either to heaven or hell. After Doomsday the soul unites with the resurrected body. Man, according to the teaching of Holy Scripture, consists of a body and a soul (see Gen. 2:7; Matt. 10:28). The soul animates the body, spiritualizes it, without it the body is dust, and therefore the soul in the Bible is often called the breath of life, the spirit of life, or simply the spirit. The soul does not come from the body, but is that special force that turns dust into creature and has its source in God.
The whole world was created by God in such an order that during His creation the Creator passed from the lower forms to the higher ones. First, inorganic bodies were created, plants, then fish and birds, then animals, and finally, as the crown of the universe, man. Animals also have a soul. But the very fact that man is the latest and most perfect creation of God testifies to the perfection and distinctive properties of the soul of man from the soul of the animal. The nature of animals was created at once, but in man body and soul were created separately; at the same time, the very creation of the soul of animals and man took place differently. The souls of animals were created by God from those principles that were contained in matter itself, although by creation they represented something different from it (see Gen. 1, 20, 24). The human soul was created by God as something separate, independent and different in the material world, in a way that was called the breath of God (Genesis 2:7). This image of the creation of the human soul testifies that it had to receive perfections that brought it closer and made it related to God, in contrast to animals; the soul of man possessed those distinctive features that he alone was created in the image and likeness of God. The special properties of the soul consist in its unity, spirituality and immortality, in the ability of reason, freedom and the gift of speech.
In Orthodox teaching, there are theologians about the two-part and three-part nature of man. In the first case, a person is the antithesis of bodily and mental-spiritual substances. One pole is the earthly physical, carnal beginning of a person, the other pole is the heavenly immaterial, incorporeal beginning. The difference between the soul-spiritual is presented here as the difference between the higher and the lower, as two sides of a single spiritual principle. In the second case, the antithesis "body - spirit" takes place, and the soul is something intermediate, uniting, connecting, "linking" the material and immaterial principles. The problem of choosing the theologian arises, while the opinion is widespread that both theologian do not contradict each other, but everything depends on the “point of view” (ie epistemology). The soul and spirit constitute something unified from the point of view of those who are close to the two-dimensional vision of man. This is the unity of the soul-spiritual substance. The point of view is also widespread that the spirit is the soul in its spiritual nature. Souls are born from parents, and the spirit is breathed in by God, i.e. spirit is something else. Sometimes the spirit is identified with the mind. The well-known words of the Apostle Paul: May the God of peace Himself sanctify you in all its fullness, and may your spirit, soul and body be preserved in its entirety without blemish (1 Thess. 5:23), which are taken to substantiate the tripartite nature of man, are sometimes interpreted as two aspects of spiritual life: either as a spiritual structure in the soul, or as a step in the life of the soul.
Orthodoxy. Dictionary-reference. 2014 .
human soul- Having created the first man Adam from the earth, God breathed into him the breath of life, i.e. soul, a spiritual and immortal being (Gen. 1:26, 27). After the death of a person, the soul returns to God, Who gave it (Ecc. 13:7) ... Bible. Old and New Testaments. Synodal translation. Bible encyclopedia arch. Nicephorus.
human soul- the immortal image of God, enclosed in man. Man is formed by the unity of the body and soul (spirit) ... Orthodox Encyclopedic Dictionary
human soul- after God created the first man from the earth, he breathed into him a living soul (an immortal spiritual being). And after the death of a person, she returns to God, who gave her (Ecclesiastes, 8, 7) ... Orthodox Encyclopedia
SOUL- [Greek. ψυχή], together with the body, forms the composition of a person (see the articles Dichotomism, Anthropology), while being independent start; D. man contains the image of God (according to some of the fathers of the Church; according to others, the image of God is contained in everything ... ... Orthodox Encyclopedia
Soul- This term has other meanings, see Soul (meanings). Soul (from other Russian ... Wikipedia
soul- @font face (font family: ChurchArial ; src: url(/fonts/ARIAL Church 02.ttf);) span (font size:17px; font weight:normal !important; font family: ChurchArial ,Arial,Serif;) (ψυχή) breath, animal soul: 1) the beginning of sensual life, common to ... ... Church Slavonic Dictionary
SOUL- (Greek psyhe, lat. anima) is one of the central concepts of European philosophy, in connection with the development of which the entire hierarchy of being, life and thought is gradually mastered both in its lowest and highest layers and in relation to which ... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
THE SOUL IN THE ARAB-MOSLIM PHILOSOPHY- is expressed by the term "nafs". In the classical period, two lines of interpretation of the soul stand out: one brings it closer to the concept of “zat” (self, see Essence), with further identification of the self with “I” ('ana) and “appearance” (zuhur), with which the understanding is connected ... … Philosophical Encyclopedia
Soul- (Greek psychē, lat. anima) a concept that expressed historically changing views on inner world person; in religion and idealistic philosophy and psychology, the concept of a special non-material substance independent of the body. The concept of D. ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
SPIRIT and SOUL- religiously philosophical concepts, meaning immaterial beginnings, in contrast to the material Man relatively easily cognizes the material shell of created nature, but he does not have easy external access to the essences of the spirit and soul, which is often ... Modern Philosophical Dictionary
