This is something that has been on my mind for many years and now looking for some further explanation.
I had always wondered why Christians – at least – talked about ‘having a soul’. This always seemed strange to me because I always thought that I was a soul rather than having a soul.
I wondered if this explanation was to distinguish our physical bioforms as separate from our real – say eternal existing – selves.
I came across a hypnotic regression session by Michael Newton the other year where one of his subjects recounted an experience where presumably the fetus organism asked (this subject going through this regression experience) “who are YOU, why are YOU here!”
It was THIS that got me rethinking that “Oh, we as a bioform really DO have a soul”! But, my question again is "do we relate mostly with our bioform consciousness, or the real ME consciousness, or is it more likely a mix of the two and maybe why geniuses might be operating on a consciousness closer to pure soul.
If I had to guess, consciousness is just a part of our body, just like lower level of consciousness is part of animals, to me soul is not consciousness, there could be a whole species like us, without souls, and they wouldn’t differ much from us, but it seems that consciousness is somewhat linked to our soul more than our leg or arm is.
Something like in a computer game, soul is the player, the consciousness is the screen and the brain is the controller (it’s far harder to control than xbox controller though).
I also don’t think soul has some connection to intelligence. Even animal could have a soul, but I think that would be insufficient body for a soul, as it would be hard to get anything done, knowing that animal is mostly ruled by instinct. It would be like a controller that doesn’t respond to your clicks 99% of the time.
Is that the longest thread title that’s ever been posted?
What is (a) soul?
Sorry but I didn’t read it. It’s length exceeded my attention span. 
Pretty sure it is one of the metaphors by which we understand our selves.
Next question: what’s a self?
Indeed. Is that what those invoking the term here mean?
Let me hone my question down.
Our consciousness is our awareness of ourselves and our environment.
It is always stated that we as humans have a soul.
Humans are like any other life form in the material plane. Some say that only humans, or certain tribes of humans, have a soul. I am now presuming that humans are a combination of two separate entities and consciousness.
My question is, are we mostly living in our animal consciousness or in our soul consciousness. I am guessing that it is a combination of both of these states working in tandem. I have just never seen an explanation for this in all my spiritual/religious readings from around the world over the years, but suspect that we have the choice of migrating to one form or the other as our space to dwell in.
I suspect the Michael Newton Institute might have the answer, but I they don’t have a forum that I can see. I will send them a personal question.
If only. Probably not.
Is our consciousness while in the physical plane operating more from our bioforms, or the part of our soul (our real nomadic identification throughout eternity), or a combination of these two selves existing in harmony together?
The short answer is that consciousness is a physical phenomenon.
I believe in an interaction with the spiritual but for us it is nearly epiphenomenal with almost all the causality going from the physical to the spiritual. As a theist I believe God, who is spirit, interacts with the world, so it is not as if I think it is impossible for causality to go the other way. God can do things we cannot.
It is possible that the spiritual interaction plays a role (very small one) in consciousness… adding to our sense of ownership over our own thoughts and actions. But I don’t think that is anything measurable.
However, consciousness being a physical phenomenon (and I do think all living organisms have some measure of consciousness) doesn’t mean that human consciousness is entirely or even primarily biological. A very great portion of human life is one of the mind, which I believe to be a living organism in the medium of human language. Perhaps this experience of life apart from the body is what many confuse with something spiritual, because I do not believe in the rational soul of Gnostics, Hindus, and Greek philosophy. I do not believe in anything which enters into and animates physical bodies. Physical bodies operate because of what they are and not by some magical/non-physical addition. I only believe in the spiritual body of 1 Cor 15 which comes after the physical.
WOW! Thanks for that! It seems like we are on a whole separate page, but maybe I am getting more insight into what Christian philosophy is about.
From what you are saying is that you view yourself as a pure animal, or that you are in a vegetative state, but having the intelligence to praise and respect God in order to enter his realm as an actual soul.
Reminds me of Pinochio’s wishes to be a real human being.
From your last comments, it seems that you do Not believe in Life! No?
My longest reply? NO! My apologies to those with low attention spans.
WOW! It’s like you didn’t read what I wrote but just replaced it with a lot of stuff you just made up. I can do that too if that is the kind of game you want to play.
From what you are saying you view yourself as mud possessed by a magical force, or that you are a demon trapped in a prison of matter, but without intelligence to comprehend science in order to understand the world around you. Reminds me of Casper the friendly ghost wishing he could grow up. From your last comments it seems you do not believe in the laws of nature! No?
…or if you want to have a RATIONAL discussion…
Incorrect. Even physically we are great deal more than the animals – a whole different form of life in fact. AND we are not just physical, we are spiritual also.
I just don’t believe in the mind=spirit spiel of Descartes Dualism and Neoplatonism which is not in the Bible. Rather I believe in two separate effective dualisms – one between mind and body and another between physical and spiritual. Mind and body are both physical but different forms of life – life process in different mediums. Physical and Spiritual are different because physical things are a part of the mathematical space-time structure of the physical universe and spiritual things are not.
BTW did you read 1 Cor 15?
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall[b] also bear the image of the man of heaven. 50 I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
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