If you think that humans have a soul or spirit....?

Question

.... do you think that this occured as a random mutation during evolution that has remained in the population because it is not harmful to the organism, or do you think that it is a beneficial adaptation?

If you think it is beneficial how do you think having a soul aids in our survival or successful reproduction?

I am asking in this section rather than religion or elsewhere because ghosts mostly rely on the idea that humans have a spirit which is separate to their physical bodies.

Answer 1

I believe that the notions of "spirits" are an antiquated notion

that are no longer needed now that we know that biology

is a chemical process. We are a kind of biochemical

machine that operate for a time, until the works wear out

and break.

In ancient times, the Buddha also tossed the notion of

spirits. He reasoned that the idea was popular owing to fear.

People imagine they have a spirit to preserve themselves

beyond death, and once they have cluttered up the universe

with all those spirits, they cling to the notion of god to

protect themselves from the other spirits.

Toss all that stuff and the world is a simpler and cleaner

place.

Answer 2

I think soul and spirits are the same thing.

Answer 3

i agree with pascha, we are soul's/spirits, having a human experience, enjoy and learn, while your here.

Answer 4

Same thing. Something of us moves on after death. I guess it depends on your belief system.  I know it is real, I see spirits/souls/angles or what ever you want to call them, all the time.  We should not get hung up on the words that you call something, that is what has caused all the religious wars.  If I see a green car and you see the color as blue it is still the same car.  To many people get stuck on the words and never get the feel for the book.  If you are reading a repair manual then get technical.  If your reading a religious book then forget the tech stuff and get the feeling for it.

The soul is above evolution and is the source intervention.  By inventing things like the sharp stick, clothing and home fires, we have made life a little safer and that edge sometimes all it takes.  Luck is a big factor most people overlook in science all the time, either you are lucky or you can make your own luck.  I'll take  a hammer over a stone or a rifle over a shape stick every time, because I'm not lucky.  He who survives gets to have offspring, he who doesn't is just dinner for something else.

Answer 5

Humans don't have a soul or spirit like some sort of separate add-on.   They and every other living thing ARE spirit.

Whether you call it energy or something else, it does not begin with our birth into this earthly existence nor does it end there. This is not a random mutation, but the essence of being.

Answer 6

Pascha hit  the nail on the head. We are spirits having a mortal, close-to-Satan existence to test whether we are fit for God's Eternity. Run the good race! Avoid evil! The survival value should be apparent even to a skeptic...

Answer 7

I can't think of any benefit in having a soul, which would be the reason why we dont have one.

Answer 8

Since I have to guess on this one, I will say the correct answer is beneficial adaptation.  The human mind needs hope and something to look forward to in order to survive.  Personally I don't know where we come from, why we are here or where we are going when we leave.  But I am comforted with the idea of ghosts because that means that death doesn't mean the big black nothing.  Something is out there.  And I can only hope it is not a mutation or an adaptation, but something natural and beautiful.

Answer 9

The souls of people are the thoughts of God...

God breathes into his thoughts, and the spirit is entwine with the soul...

God sends these newly created spirits on their way, to be redeem, to grow in the body, learning from experiences.

This is true that ghost and spirits know that us humans have a spirit. Because our spirit is always awake while we sleep, and that these spirits I do know this, and communicate with our spirit during sleep hours. I know this because I am aware of it when my third eye opens when I am asleep, I see and can communicate. So I wonder if it happens to everyone at times? And they know that we can astral project, I have done this and had some communication.

Answer 10

Soul, yes what the believers said, we are eternal.

Answer 11

We are all energy. We just fill our form bodies while on earth. When our body dies our energy moves on to some place else.

Answer 12

I think the only spirits we have are those which we consume.

Answer 13

Unproven eternal souls have no testable differences from human consciousness.  While some would claim benefits from belief in a soul, that it causes people to care for and help one another, the arguement could be made that the belief in the soul also has done untold damage in cases such as the Crusades, the Inquisition, religious fanaticism, and suicide cults such as the one centered around Jim Jones.  Because it can't be proven and doesn't seem have any effect on your life, I don't really think about it that much.

Answer 14

Soul and Spirit and evil and devil and angels and......

are man creations thru religions and forced to became a belief,

it is recorded in hyroglyphs in Pharoes temples in Egypt

Answer 15

A great take on the subject of soul and one that I've considered. Is it possible for humans to have souls and for there to be an afterlife without a Creator? I think its possible.

Answer 16

we do have spirts and i do belive it it