A different take on our ideas of the soul and immortality
Hello fellow Protagonists,
Try this out for me, point to your soul.
Where in your body did you point to? is it stored somewhere in your stomach, your head, in your heart perhaps?
Or maybe you didn't know where to point, or that there is no such thing as a soul. Which are also both interesting things for you to do.
It is quite clear in most of our Western religions and cultures that it is our soul that travels inside of us and is either sent to heaven or hell when we die. It is like our physical bodies are biological cages to store our souls until that day arrives.
Like the world is some sort of test for a spiritual afterlife or we are the Uber Eats drivers of the soul pizzas.
In this sense a soul becomes a very personal thing, something we own and have to be accountable for. This doesn't sound like a bad thing at all but what consequences can this have on our ideas of life?
When we own something we can become very protective of it. Think about our houses, favourite belongings and our pets (though do you every truly own a cat?). We want those things to stay around as long as possible and are potentially less inclined to share things that we own, compared to say communal items.
Could this also be the reason why we can be so fearful of dying? The fact that we own our souls and are held responsible for them can mean that we will do whatever we can to keep our souls in our conscious possession for as long as possible.
We may not truly know what happens to us and our souls when we die and this matters because we are still seeing that soul as ours to own, so it affects us directly.
If we continue to "own" our soul then what does that mean for the life of the universe? That every person just takes and keeps a part of soul, which would either mean there is an infinite amount of soul to hand out to each person, or we have selfishly taken a part of the soul that won't be reused. Like a spiritual fossil fuel.
We may be wrong altogether and there is no afterlife, which for a viewpoint based around possession means we lose it all! So we then go on to think that it is best to do whatever we can to avoid death so we don't have to find the truth out.
The more we avoid something the more we fear it, which is why death is created into the ultimate fear.
What if we were to spin this concept of soul ownership around and say that we do not own our souls. That instead of our bodies being a physical prison for our soul, a greater external soul is keeping our physical bodies alive.
The person on the left represents an internal soul. The person on the right represents the opposite external view.
This is where we start to see things from some other, more Eastern religions and cultures. I do want to point out that all religions and cultures will be different and each person's specific views also differ within those religions. This is more of a planting of mental seeds into how other people may think, rather than a generalisation of a certain religion.
"We live not by the breath that flows in and flows out, but by him who causes the breath to flow in and flow out." - The Katha Upanishad
What brings us life is external to us. The collective soul of the universe is what enables us to be alive, not what soul is personally horded.
So why is this differentiation so important?
The biggest difference is on the concept of immortality. People who believe that they own their own soul may try to do whatever they can to reach immortality. Which in this sense is impossible because personally we are all going to die eventually.
It does not matter how much money you hoard, there is no elixir to an eternal physical life. Large buildings with your name on them will be destroyed and forgotten eventually, to probably be replaced with somebody trying to do the same thing. You can look younger, feel younger and act younger but that doesn't mean you have turned back time.
We can even pass on our bloodline through having children, which in a sense does continue half of your genetic code but will eventually be diluted out. Our children are also their own people with their own conscious.
If the collective soul is external to us and lends itself to keep living things alive then this is the true meaning of immortality. To realise that we are part of a soul that connects everything together. As long as something exists then we are part of a soul that is eternal.
Does this make the concept of a physical death less scary? For me I think it does.
Here are some other aspects as to why I feel the viewpoint of an external soul can help people:
It takes the pressure off life! We get to use the soul energy we are borrowing to do what we can and when we die that soul energy will be used to support something else
We are not eternally judged for the actions that our tiny fragment of living made
An appreciation that everything is linked which may encourage people to be more thoughtful of others, not out of fear of judgement but just because people are connected
This concept is simple and leaves less questions unanswered. Use the opportunity you have because when you are done it is someone elses turn
Maybe trying less to prevent the inevitable will mean we spend more time focusing on what does matter, which by these reports of dying people are focused around being yourself, connecting with people, expressing yourself and being happier
It may make it easier to connect with nature as the same soul energy is also used there
Maybe death isn't such a terrible and fearful thing
This is such a huge topic that this little post won't give it the justice it requires though I hope you found it an interesting read.
I also am not saying that one view point is better than the other, just an opportunity to see what other view points are out there and if you feel this would help you in any way to better your own life. That's the best thing about belief, it can be whatever you want it to be.
GLHF (Good Luck Have Fun)
Warrick
You can Join The Daily Buff on Facebook and Twitter. Share it if you liked my post and subscribe to keep up to date will all upcoming posts.
Contact me on Thedailybuff@gmail.com
Other posts you might be interested in: