Michael Shermer - Can a Person Be a Soul? 

We have bodies. We have eyes, we have ears, and we have tongues to speak. We do not have souls. We ARE souls.

This subject has been of interest to me for much of my life, not as an obsession, but as an area that caused me to perk up and think when I read something about it or saw a video like this one. I generally file the experience away as one of those things that I just won't get to know more about. I don't want to criticize anyone else's belief. Three days ago, while I was relaxing on the couch, sort of half asleep, I had an experience that caused me to think of this subject in a different way. I don't want to advance any theories. Here is what happened: I at some point gradually became aware of something around me. This was an awareness that goes beyond sight and any other form of knowing. There was a sphere of information around me in which I knew everything that was going on. I could experience in a more than visual sense, although my eyes were closed. I was mentally exploring this knowledge, and did not want to open my eyes for fear of losing the connection. I had the impression of sounds and movement of things around me other than myself. I did not experience a limit to this sphere of knowing; but I also did not "see" too far into it. I was trying to see more; but I was so charmed by my ability that I had enough to keep up just with what was near to me. I felt somehow enchanted by it all. I slowly opened my eyes and the feeling cleared out. The thought did remain that it would be interesting if indeed one could experience true knowledge of something outside of oneself without any physical senses involved. I have had a few experiences of flying in dreams in my lifetime, not many. This was not like that, because this was only a mental experience, and with no thought of my body. I naturally thought that this could be the way a soul could exist and be aware of everything at once, in a sort of way that one would possibly ascribe to God. It suggested a way of existing in some other way. No drugs, no alcohol or anything of that sort. No stress. I did have elevated blood pressure due to the fact that I had been busy and had not taken my meds the day before. Otherwise, I am in good mental and physical health. There was nothing unusual about relaxing on the couch. This experience was a knowing. I thought that it was quite comfortable and pleasant. While I was enjoying it, I had a sense of being me, but not thinking of my body. It did not feel weird. It was more like a discovery of something new. If I try to describe any more, I will have to start translating the feeling like a language and maybe making something up. My plan is to get in that state again without any intention of making it happen. No, I don't mean that! That happens to everyone anyway. I want to experience it the way it was because it really was pleasant to have some sort of universal access to knowledge.

"Can a Person be a Soul?" Michael Shermer just revised the Webster Dictionary to screw up the meaning of a person and the soul ... ... wow, the things that Godless Materialists over-reach just to maintain their addiction to sense of NO ACCOUNTABILITY just a slave to natural laws.... ..and Robert, instead of asking tough questions such as "what natural law drives physical matter to choose to believe in God so to kneel and pray?" , he just went along with whatever this lost man blather, consenting more on his erroneous conscience...sigh.. ..of course, birds of Godless feathers fly together...how sad..

Wow less the five comments so far!? Last time I was this early, it was still "only two weeks to flatten muh curve."

This is one of those debates where I find myself warming up to whichever side is NOT making their supposedly triumphant points.

Shermer's comparison of a car to a person is ludicrous. Taking such a position means he is responsible to explain why destroying a car is not tantamount to murder.

If we would only translate the word “soul” properly-psyche, the conversation would be complete different and probably much easier to understand.

The living organism or in the case of humans, we say the living person is the "living soul." (Genesis 2:7 King James Version) For a lifeless organism or person, we say a 'dead soul' ("the soul that sinneth, it shall die." - Ezekiel 18:4 King James version). So there are both living and dead souls. Since all humans are sinners, we all eventually become dead souls. The only immaterial thing possessed by any living organism is the spark of life, "the breath of life," or "spirit of life." (Genesis 7:22) This is the igniting force that makes the transition from dead chemical substance to a living organism. This force originates only with God, the epitome, the ultimate consciousness. When we die, we lose this element of life. We will only repossess it if God reignites it in us, that is if He finds us worthy, and that will be by means of the resurrection. - Psalm 36:9

He has never felt something that is not from this dimension

Eternal life would be a nightmare.

They ask you ˹O Prophet˺ about the Soul. Say, “Its nature is known only to my Lord, and you ˹O humanity˺ have been given but little knowledge.” Quran 17:85 The medium of the Soul is unknown to us just like the 11th dimension or Dark Energy are truths we cant see.

Richard Swinburne would annihilate this guy💀

We don’t have bodies. We are bodies.

Consciousness is entangled to the soul 💫

If you have a conscience you also have soul too.

🧐Reported accounts of children recalling other lives lived while occupying other bodies at different points in time🤯 What is consciousness🤔 Does it emerge from a natural cosmic order & self governing or engineered &/or A.I 🤔 🧐3rd,4th or 5th dimension point of origin🤔

The mistake all materialists make is to fail to realise that facts are abstract, and eternal. Your soul is composed of the truth about you, and whereas material things must be recycled because of conservation of energy, and because the transfer of energy involves a subtraction from a and an addition to B. When it comes to facts there is no such subtraction, the transfer involves no loss, no subtraction, and the truth of what was remains true tomorrow and thereafter. It is what will survive of you, even when your body is decomposing.

because you refuse to think it possible, you have thereby made your choice not to believe it possible there is more than what you can simply see,

"A soul is self recognition that while our bodies are bound with time and space, the consciousness isn't. The soul means the ability to detach from this world and be passers-by. The ability to control polarity and transcend to divinity. A Soul is a spiritual awakening and enlightenment yet superior to this world NOT after life but why living in the present. This wisdom has been passed on from generation to generation but only few seek it." - THOMAS SOLER

It is argued that, all our behaviours are due to neural wiring; and yet that neural wiring could be changed - neuroplasticity. Also, rewiring of neurons constantly happens, if one 'wills' to go against his brains' typical wiring, and take a different path to acheive things; surely "you" are superseding the brain. One question really stucks with me: where does that 'will,' to carry out voluntary actions, comes from? If it is dependant entirely on brain, then how is to so, that it can go against those phenomenons, which are entirely dependant on brain e.g anxiety, thoughts etc. When some one says, show me, where is that non-physical-mind, or non physical mechanism- its hard to show non physical.

any physicist could provide possibilities for a soul...quantum entanglement, matter is made of energy, 2nd law of thermodynamics, higher dimensions, etc...there's still so much to be known that how could one simply discount the idea based on a lack of knowledge of energy pattern transfer...when entanglement can occur between galaxies

The proof of the Soul is a later argument when speaking to an Athiest. The first step is to establish the existence of God. So only discuss God's existence with an Atheist. Once he is over that hurdle then we can talk about Soul, After-Life, Prophets, Angles, Scriptures, Purpose, Hell/Heaven. Its useless to discuss any of these things before establishing the existence of God. It would be like explaning higher level dimensions or non-euclidean geometry to someone who doesn't believe in numbers or numerals or simple mathematics. Start with the basics then build yourself up.

Cool experience. Being an awareness not of your body is, ‘as a matter of experience’, quite true, our whole world exists as represented in our awareness. That is experienced by meditators, through drugs, illness, etc. But it doesn’t follow that it can then exist ‘without’ a body/brain. That’s a huge leap that so far has no substance.

I also consider the story of the parts of the King's charit or in modern times a car if you pile up all the parts is there a charit or a car or a person , if when in one piece it's a car or you are you still existing when it or you are disassembled is the car still able to drive you around or disassemble me or you are we still able to form new memories or bring add to our fellow person .? Just to rise thought .. provoking questioning....

Thanks for the great talk, Robert and Michael! Maybe Michael could read someone like Bernardo Kastrup - an analytical Idealist, extremely scientific and rigorous thinker - to see existence through another angle! That would lessen his materialism and maybe allow him to see himself as a "soul" in a universe made only of "souls" ! haha! I am still struggling with that view though, as it is almost as scary as materialism! Thanks again! 🌿

Animals are souls to.

Our perception of the soul comes from a sense of awe rather than the certitude that we're mortal. Awe about life, consciousness, love, ethics, nature, the universe etc... If it were just a matter of fear of death, we'd be focusing exclusively on that, we'd use all of our time and energy and knowledge to fend off death but religion is much more than this focus on death. It uses death to help people understand how.to live. Religion is, in fact, about life and love, about being in harmony with life. Religion is about what it means to be human and it shows the best way to be so. It is a travel guide for the soul in the present. It points to the soul as a means to understand how we can live beyond our basic material needs and, also how this bigger picture can help us prepare ourselves for a finality of our lives. Souls give meaning to our lives and humanity.

Mike keeps getting better and better through all these years…thank you Mike !! Great logic 😊

Self- I exist, and to know that you exist you have to be self-aware that you exist, so to be conscious is to be a self.

Excellent interviewing skills, as the host repeats/reframes back to Mr. Shermer what he hears his position to be, to gain clarity for himself and viewers, while validating for the guest that he's being listened to. Would that political debates went this way!

Please someone turn off this echo🙏🏻😂

The biblical "soul" was the living being. "God" breathed into the man he formed from the dust and the man became a living soul.

Shermer's argument that other species aren't aware that they will die is that he doesn't know any chimps that are worried about death? Idk if arguing from induction is our only option here, but if it is...how many chimps does Michael Shermer know, and how well does he know them?

At 2:50 a much younger looking Michael Shermer suggests that all this talk about soul "has all the earmarks of wishful thinking on it." Speaking for myself, no afterlife would be a blessing, who wants to hazard a return to *this* kind of world? But I digress. My own perspective is that the *nonlocal self* can provide the vehicle for reincarnation. Don't get too excited though, it won't be Michael Shermer returning as Michael Shermer in another part of the cosmos. It will be a rebirth of his same sense of self, the "I am", but into an entirely different body, culture, language and maybe even sex... not unlike how our selves remanifest in dreams. Can I prove it? Of course not, but one can argue the point, with examples from dream states and contemplating the "where I came from" as suggested in our earliest memories. Can Shermer disprove it? No, and he might passionately object. The conjecture is, however, unfalsifiable. Nonetheless, the idea is not new, and Venerable Dr Yifa alludes to how this might work, in terms of karma, in our CTT interview of 9 days ago. I find the nonlocality of self argument, favoring reincarnation, compelling for a number of reasons. In the first instance, it fits with the phenomenology of innocence at the time of birth, for all creatures, not just humans - we will reincarnate with the exact same innocence that we entered this world. Secondly, it fits with Einstein's relativity theory and the constraints (c) on the speed of transfer of information. Thirdly, with nonlocality, there's no need to account for the nonsensical phenomenology of a soul floating through space. Fourthly, see the CTT interview of 9 days ago, with Venerable Dr Yifa, on the nature of evil, morality, suffering, etc, it all fits perfectly. And so on. I thus conclude, unfortunately, that we will be reborn. Worse, there is no get-out-of-jail-free card - we will have to bear the consequences of the choices we make in this life in the karma in which our self will re-manifest. No God, no fairies, no soul, no angel-dust required. While I'm agnostic on the god question (the question does not interest me), this approach does not rule out God, for those who insist.

There is no need to believe the soul or no soul. See for yourself if you can discover. But also there is no proof that there is no soul?

We can create a 'soul' - a soul is just a backup drive for experiences.

Identity.

Our imagination is the seed of God in all of us if you flip your imagination inside out it goes on forever and every direction and we're all one in that place in your mind it's black in your imagination until you create something You're creating from the black and it's not empty it's completely full... What do y'all think lol

Shermer ask, why must there be a nonphysical substance. Answer: because our external senses can give us any information on what it is like to be human because that is an internal , subjective, truth and not an objective truth. Truth is that which is realized to be true, but our inert physical body is not that which truth flows from because truth is the property of the self alone.

I am not my body. It doesn't matter what I believe and you don't have to worry about it. We transcend once this experience ends. Everyone does. Maybe all life forms. Religions get some parts of this right. There are things we will never know until this time period ends. Or there is nothing. We'll find out or we won't.

If I understand some , the Hindu idea is we, all transform to a single indenty, perhaps a Taoist creative force that is unaware of itself or all of us as the western view sees it . I lean to a multiverse, and this has the correct parameters, but I agree common sense says once memories are no longer being made, we are dead but new research is showing at I think NYU may be quiet some period of time ....

The inner internal small organs, also called the soul, uses breath generated by movement to enhance your feel of peace, which started with our mind.

Again I ask, this time to Michael Shermer, what do you know that hasn't come to you through your conscience experience? The answer: nothing. Therefore, how do you know that anything besides your conscious experience exists? Thus, any further speculation about reality is just that, and your materialism is no more valid than my spiritual answer.

Shallow

Thank you it was good topic good point good view without conversations like this can't find or figger yet to me soul or spirit like a the particles eliments keeps us alive survive mode experience knowledge skills that we collect today for tomorrow is what's needed looks like it's upgrade by planet earth dosent know yet what is the fact or efect of human's creation if we get total just human's catogrys some tipe very smart some midium some low reasons I don't know actually we don't view this point without English we know it's a standard for good meaningful life other than climate change whether change senser of planet earth say

"Believing in the existence of the soul is wishful thinking and there is no reason to believe that a person has an immaterial component of consciousness, personality or mind". At the same time, materialism does not explain even the most basic mechanisms of how the mind arises from the brain, how they relate to each other, as well as what consciousness is, which seems to be connected with both the body and the mind, but is neither one nor the other. For some reason, and without any proofs materialistic scientists consider all of these to be manifestations of matter, dismiss all other theories... and this somehow is not wishful thinking on their part. Seems like double standards and confirmation bias to me.

👍👍👍

He can't tell you anything after death cause that is all you and him until

He is so certain of his view. No room for doubt

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. (Hebrews 11:1-3) The transcendental constants e, π and φ are important universal constants that defined our universe. Many of the fundamental laws of physics and other sciences rely over and over again on these critical mathematical constants. These numbers are encoded through Gematria that were introduced from approx 5th to 8th century BC, by which the letters of ancient alphabets had assigned a numerical value, and so every letter, word or phrase written in Hebrew or in Greek, the languages used to write, respectively, the Old and the New Testament of the Bible, have a numerical value associated to them. The numerical values of the Hebrew and Greek letters are no secret.And, they have been around for over 2000 years. Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin.(Daniel 5:25). Meaning numbered, numbered, weighed, divided. π is encoded in Genesis 1:1, the very first verse of the Bible and of the Old Testament (Torah/Tanak) written in Hebrew. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1) בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית בָּרָ֣א אֱלֹהִ֑ים אֵ֥ת הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם וְאֵ֥ת הָאָֽרֶץ׃ (Genesis 1:1) From the Hebrew alphanumeric code introduced around the 8th century BCE, And formula (NUMLETT*PROLETT/NUMWORD*PROWORD) = (28 * 2.3887 x 10^27) / (7 * 3.0415 x 10^17) = 3.1415...X10^17. it matches the actual value of π until the 3.1415. π is the number of the circle, of completion, of what is closed and self-contained; as such, it's a good mathematical reference to the concept of a God Creator of all things, and of a Creation that includes everything that was created by God; (John 1:3 Isaiah 40:22) This was encoded in the bible with a level of precision that was 2000 years ahead of Indian astronomer Aryabhata who got π close to about five digits around the 5th century AD. e is encoded in John 1:1, the first verse of the gospel (John) of the New Testament written in Greek. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.(John 1:1) ἐν ἀρχηι ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος (John 1:1) From the Greek alphanumeric code introduced around the 5th century BCE, And formula (NUMLETT*PROLETT/NUMWORD*PROWORD) = (52 * 8.4362 x 10^75)/ (17 * 9.4930 x 10^35) = 2.7183...X10^40. it matches the actual value of e until the 2.7183. e is the number of the relationship between the big and the small, of the bridge between the infinitesimal and the infinite; what number could be better associated with the Son, the One who was Sent by the Father, the One who is the only bridge for mankind to the infinite God who created the universe. (John 14:6) The Son who is the living word of God which was made flesh (John 1:14) Whose title is the Word of God (Revelation 19:13) The Euler's number e was encoded some 1500 years before the human kind first discovered its existence and importance in 1683 by Jacob Bernoulli. The fine structure constant (α) value can be also derived from the above two key verses by squaring the verse gematria values of Genesis 1:1 with John 1:1. It is considered the greatest mysteries of physics. Without it, it would be impossible to form even simple structures like atoms, molecules, planets, or stars. Given that Squaring is the best way to express the energy of a moving object in physics, Verse gematria = Sum of all letter values. (Genesis 1:1 = 2701 & John 1:1 = 3627) you would get the fine structure constant (α) derived as 27013627^2 =0.00729736..e17. Given that the current approx α value recommended is currently 0.00729735. In fact, it was only in 1916 that this magic number was first introduced by Arnold Sommerfeld. Furthermore, there is a pattern in the verse Gematria of Genesis 1:1 to John 1:1 = 2701-3627 = |27|01-36|27|; There are exactly a total of 27 books in the New Testaments which reveal the Messiah/Word of God (Jesus Christ the Son). John 1:14 states that Jesus Christ is the Word of God which was made flesh and the only begotten of the father. Whose title is the Word of God (Revelation 19:13) Revelation 22:13 states that Jesus Christ is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. Revelation 13:18 states that the number of the antichrist who will deceive the world in the end days is 666. And, the sum of integers from the beginning of 1 to 36 is exactly 666. Hence, (27) (01-36) (27) = (Jesus-the Alpha) -> (From the beginning to the end of the anti-christ 666) -> (Jesus-the Omega). In addition, The Golden Ratio Phi (φ) is encoded in Hebrew 8:5 when God spoke to Moses and reveal to him the pattern in which all things to be made in accordance to. Hebrew 8:5 states: "Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount." οἵτινες ὑποδείγματι καὶ σκιᾷ λατρεύουσιν τῶν ἐπουρανίων, καθὼς κεχρημάτισται μωϊσῆς μέλλων ἐπιτελεῖν τὴν σκηνήν, ὅρα γάρ, φησίν, ποιήσεις πάντα κατὰ τὸν τύπον τὸν δειχθέντα σοι ἐν τῶ ὄρει· (Hebrew 8:5) From the Greek alphanumeric code introduced around the 5th century BCE, And the same formula (NUMLETT*PROLETT/NUMWORD*PROWORD) = (156 * 2.2252 x 10^235)/ (28 * 7.6621 x 10^74) = 1.6180...X10^161. it matches the actual value of φ until the 1.6180. The golden ratio (φ) is a pattern which is sometimes called the "divine proportion," because of its frequency in the natural world. For centuries, the golden ratio has fascinated all kinds of people, not just mathematicians. Physicists and biologists have studied it, architects and artists have used it, and worshippers have described it as a divine design. And through the centuries, the golden ratio has continued to amaze its diverse fans, frequently cropping up at unexpected places. In fact, the golden ratio is the mathematical rule of love... do unto the next as was done unto the previous. All of nature is reflecting and expressing His character. God is Love (1 John 4:8) Now, let's go to the simple common sense example: the smallest protein we know has 25 amino acids. The smaller and more simple proteins used as building blocks for the cell life and necessary to build DNA, from 50 to 100 amino acids as a minimum, and even thousands of amino acids in many cases. But let's consider a simple typical protein with some 50 amino acids. To think that this molecule could be the product of chance, of a coincidence, requires to accept that the 50 amino acids have been combined, in the right way and in the right order, by chance, by accident, by coincidence. At first glance it doesn't look impossible if we have millions of years to test combinations, right? This is the problem with big numbers, they easily dazzle those who think they have a common sense they lack. The probability of this event, if you computes it (And if you were to do a quick consultation to some biochemist to know the factors he'll have to take in account), even if all the atoms of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen and others necessary available in the universe were only used to build amino acids, and even if all these amino acids in the universe would only be trying once and again a possible configuration of 50 steps, without repeating those who had been already checked, from the moment the universe started existing until today, and at a rhythm of one trial for every second for every 50 amino acids, even so, the chance that by coincidence that protein would be formed in the universe after 15 billion years of trial would be less than one in billions. And if we consider a more realistic case, a protein with some 100 amino acids, then the corresponding probability would require universes of universes, and ages of the universe of ages of the universe, purely devoted to try every possible combination, without repeating those already tested, to have less than one chance in a trillion to make this happen for this small molecule. Origin: Probability of a Single Protein Forming by Chance ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-W1_KEVaCyaA.html let us then consider this perspective. There are 90,000 possible 5 digit numbers from 1.0000 to 9.9999 that could have occurred from a given equation. The chance that the digit sequence 3.1415 occurs by coincidence is therefore 1/90,000 in Genesis 1:1. The chance that Euler’s number (e) is calculated from the Gospel of John 1:1 by the same equation to 5 correct digits, is also 1/90,000.The probability that both occur by random chance in these textually related verses is thus 1/90,000 x 1/90,000 = 1/ 8,100,000,000. If we add in the probability that the golden ratio could have been calculated up to 5 correct digits in the textually related Hebrew 8:5 with the same equation, you would get the probability increase to more than 1 in 7 trillion chance that this is just a coincidence. Furthermore, we have not even include the probability of the fine structure constant α being derived from combining the verse gematria from the aforementioned Genesis 1:1 & John 1:1. And, that both key verses gematria pattern confirms the AC number in the book of revelation. And, the exact number of new testament books which give us Jesus Christ the Son, the living word of God which was made flesh (The only bridge for our salvation).

Robert is afraid of death.

This was a pretty lame conversation.

Guys doesnt know nothing about soul though philosophy or neurosience. What is soul? When he responses this question he show this with several inconsistency though neurosience or philosophy proceendings. Rambling

Why must there be one more platform besides the physical? - Because there are several things (proper to humans) non-physical by definition such as Free Will, Feelings, Ability to contemplate, to Plan and to Affect the future. These things are viewed as the Human Soul. And there is one more thing non-physical by definition which "exists" independently of Humans: the Platonic Universe (in particular Mathematics). Vulgar materialists believe that the above-mentioned things are merely illusions being properties of the physical world and obeying the laws of physics. According to them, humans do not have souls - because materialists cannot verify or detect it by physical methods. Well, it's impossible to verify and detect the existence of ... Of the physical world too! Solipsism claims that the entire stream of our perception is a dream having nothing to do with some inaccessible reality. And solipsism too cannot be verified in principle...

Michael Shermer, you lack reasonable perspective.

The fundamental mistake Shermer continually makes is to limit his imagination to what he can determine with current science and technology. He definitively concludes that there is nothing other than what he can metaphorically speaking, feel, see and touch. He can neither prove nor disprove the possibility of a "soul" and yet he determines it cannot be.. The ego is strong with this one. His dismissive attitude is not only rude but arrogant. I get it. It's his schtick. He makes a lot of money as a contrarian.

🤔 I believe in other life forms. Most present self awareness, intelligence and individual consciousness🤯. 🤔 Many other stranger consciousnesses 🤯🤯. 🤔 Variable interacting inter-dimensional consciousness’s🤯🤯. WTF does THAT MEAN?🤯🤯🤯. 🎨🖼

I wonder if Mr. Shermer loves his wife? If so, is that only a material process of some sort?

Not saying he’s wrong but to think we understand everything is a joke as well….he comes across just a little bit cocky to me.

He has no clue really. Stuck in an outmoded materialist paradigm. He needs to read Donald D. Hoffman. A more useful scientific perspective

The only thing that you need to be concerned with pertaining to the soul is clearly defined in Ezekiel 18. The soul is not immortal . Death is real and final. The only way to spiritually die is to be removed From the mind of god.

Why does the audio start distorting towards the end

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible." -Hebrews 11:1-3

I think before asking a question about the soul, firstly we need to establish what the soul is. If you refer to the soul as something beyond our physical existence, you can't ask questions about the soul to someone who is already denying everything beyond our physical world. So the person to speak to in this matter is a theologian. I think what Robert doing wrong is, that when he wants to ask these questions to a theologian, he chooses a Christian scholar. Christianity fails to answer such questions since it doesn't claim to be all rational in the first place, (the concept of trinity is a good example). As far as I can tell, what Robert doesn't know is Islam is a much more grounded religion in these matters and is suitable to ask such questions and can be expected to get rational answers. When you say 'religion', there is an underlying assumption that all religions are the same, but as a Muslim, I can say that Islam stands on very different grounds than Christianity does. I can assure you that you will not find Muslim scholars answering such questions by saying "You should feel god, you can't prove it, just believe in it, etc.". If you find a decent Muslim scholar, he will take you seriously and will answer them logically, if god wills.

One does not need use 'Soul' to express a non physical reality - Light is beyond the senses of man. Illumination of this principle is what man sees and allows him to see. Stating 'anything non material' means only something that is beyond the senses of man.

Soul is a profund recognition. Like an artwork on canvas, first requiring the intellect of the artificer paints the forms onto the canvas, which is the Soul. Without the Intellect of the painter, there can be no forms, without the Canvas(Soul), there can be no manifestation of the forms of the intelligible realities. Some people may not agree with this, and that's fine. I simply ask: what then is your explication and exposition? Great men, like Pythagoras, Plato, Plotinus, Iamblicus, Proclus - if you can't refute these men, you don't matter.

[A] I don't trust theologians. They're only human. [B] Anyone with interest in the subject can be an amateur theologian as a hobby. You don't need a PhD. to read up on religions. [C] I consider myself one such hobbyist. [D] Much of the controversy about souls and other such religious terms can be reduced to simple semantics. In other words how precise is the definition ???????? Thank you lieutenant. [E] Watch the clip. Wait for it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JXfU49A3bo8.htmlsi=esh1LP6NsIMNRwTd

💯💯💯💯💯💯

Religion: "Trust me bro"

I have heard the word ”soul” as a term of music. It is used also desciribing ”soulful” things. The concept is near the word ”spirit”. The most commonly it is used in church and owned to ”evidence” the immortality of human being. It is production of imagination. We would like to be eternally happy in the centre of the universum as the history of religions shows. Michael Shermer is right when he reveals the basis to the need to have the concept of human soul.

My teacher states: what makes you think you are that which dies? Buddha applied retroduction in the Nikayas. Are we that which dies? Are you the presonality, bias, memory, opinion, trama? These things are functions. Are we the function? I'm siding with the ancients than modern man.

Souls: *exist* Materialists: *triggered*

I can identify with Michael Shermer's position on these things.

Why do some people need a soul to exist ?

Many animals understand loss and death. It's not exclusive to humans. Don't agree with this guest.

عظيم السؤال.. الروح مالها وجود.. تخيلات اطفال يعني

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Jesus brought the dead back to life by God's permission.

When I am unconscious, my soul doesn't exist.

Who cares bruh!

Shermer nails it. You only have a soul while alive. After death -- nichts, nada, nothing. 😢

We are now in the 2024th year since Jesus of Nazareth was born. He died on the cross but rose from His grave on the third day. He was seen by many of His followers after His death. He appeared to have a physical body but was not immediately recognized and asked not te be touched.

Michael shermer has the least knowledge and understanding on the subject of soul.

A psychedelic trip is in order!