Soul

From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.

According to many belief systems, a soul is that part of a living human being which is supernatural and survives human death. It cannot be perceived by science since it cannot be tested in any controlled way. Many different opinions exist as to what happens to personal experience after death. Many atheists say that there is no such thing as a soul.

In popular culture, soul usually means deep feeling and commitment. It is in this sense that the word appears in the term soul music. However that music was also influenced by gospel music which was religious.

One common idea about souls that is easy to express, is that a person is a soul, and has a body. The soul is the "I" in "I exist" that feels and lives life. What people call the mind could be part of the soul: one soul started this article, other souls edited it, and another soul is reading it. This view, however, implies that the human body is a possession, and seems to devalue bodies that do not have souls as defined or understood by the speaker (some people say that animals, heretics, and people of another religion do not have souls). Like most uses of the verb to be, there is an ideology in these simple words.

One distinction often made is between soul, which is distinct from other souls, and spirit which may be combined with that of other beings. The idea of the Holy Spirit in Christianity, for example, is a universal and shared spirit many souls are part of, and which is expressed on Earth in that faith by "the Church" meaning "the body of Christ" meaning "all bodies that follow Jesus." This could be more inclusive than the is/has view of souls and bodies.

Reincarnation is another belief that emphasizes spirit over soul, and connection between beings over separation of the beings.