Souls vs. Spirits

I guess I'm too simple for these deep explanations, but I thank all of you! lol Perhaps if someone could draw me a picture! :)

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by 10:18

I guess I'm too simple for these deep explanations, but I thank all of you! lol Perhaps if someone could draw me a picture! :)

lol... Ironically the discussion is about the stopping of drawing a picture and starting with a blank piece of paper..........

Greetings..

Originally Posted by WhiteShaman

Thanks for responding Tzu. I get it when it comes to a clear awareness of what is happening and a still mind being a prerequisite to that. However, what doesn't sit well is having a clear awareness of that awareness.
The stillness I speak of is silence. The silence is silent. (this is my belief, not my experience)
A clear mind allowing one to see what is happening is a great thing to pursue in order to see what is happening without prejudice but it is not what I am talking about. Where is the silence, in being aware of what is happening? Where is the silence in having a clear mind? If I need to let go of anything, it is the gut feeling that there is such a silence and the gut knowing that it can never come back and define itself.
I can't let this go because I don't understand it, so for now it acts as a warning beacon for me and I must trust it until I know better.
No offense to you, it's just the way it is. I seem to be able to know what isn't without really knowing what is. Maybe cuz of a lifetime of what isn'ts playing themselves out in me. Maybe cuz there is nothing else to know and I get that.

Hi James: Stillness is silence, not absence of sound, or absence of communication 'about' silence, but.. absence of the mind's distracting and distorting chatter, inner silence.. anything you "can't let go" of is an attachment by mind, let go of it all, then.. there is the 'silence'..

Be well..

Greetings..

Originally Posted by WhiteShaman

lol... Ironically the discussion is about the stopping of drawing a picture and starting with a blank piece of paper..........

Excellent! it occurs to me that your issue with 'silence' is like trying to draw the blank piece of paper, on a blank piece of paper..

Be well..

[BlueSky]

Originally Posted by TzuJanLi

Greetings..

Excellent! it occurs to me that your issue with 'silence' is like trying to draw the blank piece of paper, on a blank piece of paper..

Be well..

Yes but the issue is not in it being an issue. The issue is that it may be an issue and it may be something else...lol
But with that said, and for the sake of discussion, this that you wrote below, is (to me), like making that blankness into a "piece of paper". Like saying the silence sounds like a wolf........lol
I can't explain why though. It's source may be that I believe there can be noone there to notice. That there can only be silence aware of silence so to speak. or that i am highly intuitive and intelligent...lol

"i am 'that' which chooses to still that chattering or believe the noise it makes.. 'i' am the evolving experience of 'me', a uniquely manifested version of the Whole, experiencing its own existence through the creative diversity of the Cosmos..." Tzu

To me this reads like you are attempting to draw the blank piece of paper onto a blank piece of paper.

[Lynn]

Hello

The dictionary defines a soul as the immaterial part of a person; the cause of an individual life.

C.S. Lewis once said, “You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”

I believe the soul exists long before and after our physical bodies we’re living in. So our soul is just as much –more – of a part of who we are as a person as our physical bodies. It is in our souls that we carry our inner sense of knowing, share our connectedness with every other living being. It is the place within us where we are all-knowing, intuitive.

A Soul ( in some thoughts ) is an incorporeal essence of a person. It is commonly held that humans have a Soul and that it is essential to the consciousness and even the personality.

If we look to the teachings of Plato the Soul is the essence of a person, being the control part of how one behaves. Plato considered the Soul to be eternal and an occupant of our being. As the physical body dies the Soul is continually reborn to new bodies.

Aristotle took the view of the Soul being the definition of a living being but argued about the Soul having a separate existence from the living physical body. He felt that the Soul stopped existing when the body died. Aristotle believe that the Soul was actually of the living body.

Just some thoughts I have on the subject. No right no wrong just thoughts from a rambling mind.

Lynn

Although it seems to me the discussion is merely rotating around semantics, there is a core point it seems to me.

There is a part of us that is eternal and ever-lasting. You can call it soul, you can call it spirit, or you can call it Higher Self. As I said elsewhere on the forum, I always used the words soul and spirit interchangeably. Recently I became aware that there are two different aspects.... one that is the afore-mentioned eternal being.. the individualized aspect of the God-head that is YOU!... and in addition to that there is also an energy conduit that is created for the purpose of transducing that vast and eternal individualized aspect of the God-head in order to enable it to be contained in the temporary vessel of human form. That second aspect.. both the body and the energy pattern created to enable a portion of the greater self to inhabit flesh... are dissolved after physical death, leaving the greater self to continue on its endless journey, with full memories intact, an amalgamation and conglomerate of all incarnations experienced. It was explained to me that the greater self is one's spirit... the energy conduit created to allow a portion of that spirit to enter into a fleshly vehicle was described to me as one's soul... a temporary vehicle. It seems to me what we call them is unimportant, so long as we recognize the distinct attributes of each aspect

[IsleWalker]

HeartLight--

I can see the concepts you mentioned through a discussion I had about our energy systems. This person describes "core energy" as energy from the soul with added energy that is uniquely our own. That made sense to me--in the context of the whole system she was describing.

Therefore, in that discussion, it sounds like the opposite of what you said--soul being the ever-lasting thing and ?spirit being the blended-with-uniqueness physical energy part. (?)

And that makes more sense to me in terms of "spirits" who get earthbound after death. Their "soul" isn't still here, but their spirit may linger.

Lora

Greetings..

Originally Posted by WhiteShaman

Yes but the issue is not in it being an issue. The issue is that it may be an issue and it may be something else...lol
But with that said, and for the sake of discussion, this that you wrote below, is (to me), like making that blankness into a "piece of paper". Like saying the silence sounds like a wolf........lol
I can't explain why though. It's source may be that I believe there can be noone there to notice. That there can only be silence aware of silence so to speak. or that i am highly intuitive and intelligent...lol

"i am 'that' which chooses to still that chattering or believe the noise it makes.. 'i' am the evolving experience of 'me', a uniquely manifested version of the Whole, experiencing its own existence through the creative diversity of the Cosmos..." Tzu

To me this reads like you are attempting to draw the blank piece of paper onto a blank piece of paper.

Hi James: If you believe "there can be noone there to notice", we will find no common ground (since you don't believe there's a 'we'), and.. what is the purpose of communicating with others, if you believe "there can be noone there to notice"?

Be well..

Greetings..

Originally Posted by Lynn

Hello

The dictionary defines a soul as the immaterial part of a person; the cause of an individual life.

C.S. Lewis once said, “You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.”

I believe the soul exists long before and after our physical bodies we’re living in. So our soul is just as much –more – of a part of who we are as a person as our physical bodies. It is in our souls that we carry our inner sense of knowing, share our connectedness with every other living being. It is the place within us where we are all-knowing, intuitive.

A Soul ( in some thoughts ) is an incorporeal essence of a person. It is commonly held that humans have a Soul and that it is essential to the consciousness and even the personality.

If we look to the teachings of Plato the Soul is the essence of a person, being the control part of how one behaves. Plato considered the Soul to be eternal and an occupant of our being. As the physical body dies the Soul is continually reborn to new bodies.

Aristotle took the view of the Soul being the definition of a living being but argued about the Soul having a separate existence from the living physical body. He felt that the Soul stopped existing when the body died. Aristotle believe that the Soul was actually of the living body.

Just some thoughts I have on the subject. No right no wrong just thoughts from a rambling mind.

Lynn

Hi Lynn: I sense that we/us/Life are energy behaving in particular unique ways and patterns, 'energy' equating with 'spirit' if i were to use such symbolism.. 'soul' then, would be like an individual's claim to their unique aspect of the 'whole' energy.. so, in the terminology being discussed, i sense that the individual is 'spirit' manifesting in a temporary physical state, like an ice-cube is water manifesting in temporary solid state, and.. 'soul' would be the ice-cube's belief/understanding of the unique energetic identity of its solid state as an eternal attribute, which.. it is, as contained within the Cosmic Memory..

All of this, though, is metaphor and imagery, based on experience and understanding.. it is subject to change, based on new experiences and greater understanding, which is why i advocate paying attention with an open mind..

Be well..