Many profound volumes of metaphysical thinking from various traditions have been written about the Soul, and few agree.

The Buddhists, don't use the word soul, but prefer the concept of point of consciousness to describe that metaphysical essence which survives from one life to the next.

Others, such as the Vedic, use soul to mean a metaphysical extension of The Undefinable "All which is at one with The All", while simultaneously maintaining an illusion of separation from "The All".

While most agree that people have individual spirits or souls, others believe that your soul is part of a larger, universal soul.

Some native tribes feel that even inanimate objects,such as rocks, the wind, or the sun, have souls. Others feel that animals also have souls.



What is certain is that almost everyone feels there is "something else" about them besides their body and mind.

What is your own definition of SOUL?

Tish

Hi Tish, if you can find it..check out Michael Newtons book called Journey of Souls.
It almost parallels my own viewpoint on the soul. (I mean its the closest thing out there to describing and explaining what Ive been shown) Its very similiar to "Life Between Life" by Joel Whitten and Joe Fisher.

Hi Aries,
Thanks, I will look for it.
Last week, with some friends we had a long discussion about the meaning of "Soul" and the meaning of "Spirit", we couldn't agree with the definitions, and differences.
And I found this written by me a few years ago in a book:
"Spirit exists,
Soul is"

The book "Seat of the Soul" by Zukov is also a good one.

The soul, the breath, the breath of life, the essence of our being, of all being...

But I think there is a difference between soul and spirit.

Hmmm. A rhetorical Quest-Eon. I like these. Open to interpretation and no answer being right.
A Sole.
A Soul.
Soul.

A soul has come to mean many things to many people...in all facets of all religions it is the essential building block or microcosm, if you will to any Life as we know it. The Sole Soul is A-lone the Only center particle for the sustenance of Living Life. The Soul is the allowance of our Creator to enter what we, in turn, call Life. The In-Carnation of Spirit into Body through the Miracle of Birth, through which the trans-form-ation of Etheral Spirit be-comes Flesh and Blood, unifying and fusing the two into Life as we know and call it.
Until this fusion takes place, at the magical moment of Birth, Earthlings are unborn Humans and the Spirit awaits it's calling for the Free Will to choose it's destiny based on it's persoanl Karma.

OR
Soul is something one gets by dancing to the Rhythm.

Dear Tish,
Great thread!
This is a good opportunity to attempt to articulate the concept of the soul.
Just to try to describe what the soul is, I would guess that the soul is the Higher Self and provides the outer "clothing" of the physical body and contains the physical body and persona and also dwells within the heart; that the soul is a part of the Great Spirit, and that the soul is seeking to reunite with the Great Spirit/Divine Creator/God/Father-Mother. The soul is learning wisdom and love by manifesting into the physical plane, or earth, which provides the teaching ground. Since the soul is a part of the Great Spirit, the Great Spirit dwells within each one of us. We are learning to live as spirit and as one, for now, on earth.
I believe that the Great Spirit dwells in All There Is, including plastic! because even subatomic particles have consciousness--without spirit there would be nothing, so that WE are part of EVERYTHING because we are all part of Spirit.
Chaldean, I loved BOTH your definitions of soul!
Hi Aries! I have that Newton book and it is very good.
Love,

Hi Rachel, Charles and Piscisdreamer,
Thank you for writing your definition of Soul.

I also believe there is a difference between Soul and Spirit.

For me , the Soul is an extensión of "All There Is", that is God, therefore we are part of It, so we are One with It.
This IS the core of our identity, the psychic seed from which we sprang.
It is NOT something that we have.
IT IS WHAT we ARE.
It is our most intimate powerful inner identity.
IS forever changing.
It is alive, responsive, curious.
It forms the flesh and the world that we know.
It is NOT something waiting for us at our death, nor is it something we must save or redeem, and it is also something that we cannot lose.

We ARE a SOUL!
We ARE a particular MANIFESTATION of a SOUL.

I like to name the Soul "My Higher Self"


And The Spirit is the Soul's personality that is incarnated or between lives, I like to name the Sprit "My Inner Self"

Tish

Hi Charles,

When I wrote "Soul" on the searching engine, I got many links to Soul Music!!!!

Thank YOU for posting a Onederful Rhetorical Thread! The one's that get the Mind bending in all the right directions. The in-tent-eon of this SIte I be-lieve. I also agree with many insights of your definitions on Soul. It is one of those words MANY people can disagree on and often do....seperating people by dogma....I am glad we can incorporate thought together to dissect some Mystery.

I wonder why they call it SOUL MUSIC anyway? Does our body FEEL the music? DO we surrender to the beat? Does our Soul innately know the moves? Is there a rhythmic pattern we merely follow? Hmmmm....purrhaps another thread to the cloth?

On and on and on and e-on and e-on we go.....

Hi Charles,

I think you are right, our body does feel the music and we surrender to the beat...

Hi Tishy Tish... Dear SiStar

I feel the same way you do about it. That my soul is eternal and connected to the All/Universal Mind and is my God/Goddess self. I see my spirit as the form I am in in any particular lifetime/incarnation.

I like the soul music thought Charles. I think our souls dance to it because they resonate to the beat and our feet and body are smart enough to join along...

Hi Kel, and friends

Look like we can use many different words, but we arriv to the same...

Dear Tish,
Your words describing the essence of the soul are beautifully put.
I do believe music is the "language" of the Uni-verse. Did you all see in the news this week that the DNA strand was mapped as music notes, that it has rhythm, that it sounds familiar? Each DNA strand has its own music...

Piscesdreamer! Where did you find that information? Any links?

That's very interesting Donna...that would be explain a lot of things, right now I am thinking on Linda's Theory's about sound from her Star Signs...

Hi Eagle Over the Sea,
Haven't talked to you in ages--nice to be talking with you again.
I actually found the newspaper article--it was in our local paper last Sunday, January 19:

SCIENTISTS MAKE MUSIC WITH DNA
Associated Press

MADRID--Imagine the human genome as music. Unravel DNA's double helix, picture its components lined up like piano keys, and assign a note to each. Run your finger along the keys.

Spanish scientists did that just for fun and recorded what they call an audio version of the blueprint for life.

The team at Madrid's Ramon y Cajal Hospital was intrigued by music's lure--how it can make toddlers dance and adults cry--and looked for hints in the genetic material that makes us what we are. They also had some microbial genes wax melodic.

The end product is "Genoma Music," a 10-tune CD due out in February. "It's a way to bring science and music close together," said Dr. Aurora Sanchez Sousa, a piano-playing microbiologist.

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is composed of long strings of molecules called nucleotides, which are distinguished by which of four nitrogen-containing bases they contain: adenine, guanine, thymine or cytostine, represented as A, G, T, and C. These became the musical notes.

French-born composer Richard Krull turned DNA sequences--a snitppet of a gene might look like AGCGTATACGAGT--into sheet music. He arbitrarily assigned tones of the eight-note, do-re-mi scale to each letter. Thymine became re, for instance. Guanine is sol, Adenine la, and cytosine do.

Played solo on percussion, classical guitar, or the other instruments used on the CD, the sequences would sound cute but rudimentary, the msical equivalent of PacMan in an era of Microsoft Xbox.

So the alphabet soup of bases served as just that, base lines to accompany melodies composed by Krull and his scientific colleague. They say the melodies were influenced, even dictated, by the mood and rhythm of hte underlying genetic code.

In general, the genome music is an easy-listening sound that is vaguely New Age. One of hte prettiest songs is based on Connexin 26, a human gene that causes deafness when it mutates.

(That was the entire article...neat, huh?)
Love,

Wow great topic you guys. . .

For the most part I agree with everything that's been written-- guess I'd just like to add, I always think of Soul as being something you have to 'Tap' into-- Spirit I always think of as being active-- "& then my spirit took over and broke loose and I did . . . .something". Do you know what I mean, somewhat?
My friend was suggesting to me recently that sometimes the Soul, Our Soul, asks us to do something. . .pushes us, and that is where inexplicable emotional urges come from. . .and fears. . . all reside in the soul???

I think of my Soul as my Memory, more than anything. . .

But the word Soul also relates to Sol-- the Sun, and the Sun is definitely the center of some system-- I know in Gooberz Linda writes alot about the Soul being different than the Higher Self-- it is kind of on par with the Mind. . . . Not sure how to interpret that. . . For me though, SOUL is kinda like pornography. . . I can't define it, but I know it when I see it. . . ( & when I feel it)

Oooh & Donna, that article was amazing!!! WOW!! But we've always known that music was the "shorthand of the emotions", right?

Love Jennifer

HI Jen..Yes, I know exactly what you mean! You'de be another great candidate to read Journey of Souls..its somewhat an advancement on what Linda talked about. I say "candidate" as I think everything you touched on here is touched on in the book. Even if you can get to a Chapters or somewhere and check out chapter 12 on " Life Selection", as its possibley one of the best chapters.

The author also states "seconds in the spirit world seem to represent years on earth which is something very much refered to in the bible.

As for the music and DNA..I think Pythagoras as well as Jesus were probably well ahead of their earth time. ie: the mystery schools.

Yes, really neat, Piscesdreamer! Wish I could hear one of the songs on that CD.

In reply to:

---

One of hte prettiest songs is based on Connexin 26, a human gene that causes deafness when it mutates.

---

Wow!

Tish -

What a cool thread you started . I liked reading the various definitions of a soul. I am really not sure how I would define soul, but it comes pretty close to what Tish and Kel said, especially the "That my soul is eternal and connected to the All/Universal Mind and is my God/Goddess self. "

What I found fascinating was when Piscesdreamer mentioned the "DNA strand was mapped as music notes ..."

Suchi -
I also wished I could listen to one of the songs. So, I did a little digging and below is what I found for you and anybody else that is interested.

The site I just found has some bad links . But it does have a sample of the CD that is worth listening too and it's free . Once you get on the below site, scroll almost half way down to where it says "Listen to our Streaming Sound Files" . Unfortunately, the Mp3 link did not work (at least for me), but the Real Player link does: DNA.LevelOne

If you scroll down some more on that site, there are more interesting links that do work especially this one: http--www.visionarymusic.com-dna-listen.html

Below is the link I found to the article that Piscesdreamer's was referring to:
Boston Globe Online - Nation World - Scientists make music with DNA


Sabra

Wow! I didn't think they would have that online already.

I was just imagining what it would sound like and I thought of a song I like. The beginning of that song, that is. And this DNA song started out sounding similar, atleast to me. Cool, huh?

It sounds good, Sabra. Oh, and I'm using the MP3 link. It works for me. Though I'm hearing it in little installments due to my connection

Doesn't it sound like floating around in a deep, dark ocean?

Thank you dear Piscisdreamer for posting the article that inspired Sabra to post the links to the music.
Thanks for looking for it Sabra.
Eagle, I enjoyed it too!!!

Dear Jenn, I agree with you that the soul pushes us to certain things, including especial emotions, dreams and visions, they appear on the right moment. I always try to follow them even though sometimes is scary at the beginning.

Soul is the MEETing of mind, heart and spirit formulating the pure ONEness of the Higher-SELF collecting all experiences in all its lifetime to BEcome ONE with the eternal loving, forgiving, powerful universal GOD creator.