[Radical]

We feel that we have soul in us. Why do we say that we have soul in us? There is feeling of living entity in us and that feeling of the living entity is what we call soul. We have that feeling that there is something more to us then the body. Also different religions and authority have told us that we have souls. All these make us believe that we have a soul. We do not say that there is a soul in our leg because the feeling of living entity is not in a leg. We have seen that, this feeling is a property of the brain. It makes us feel that we have some separate living entity called soul in us. The reason we say that we have a soul is because we have that feeling of separate living entity.

Before we can say that if soul exists or does not exists, we have to define its characteristics. According the common definition the way the word soul is used we can say that some of the characteristics of a soul are:

1. Soul defines our identity. As an example when you say that “My name is X” then the X refers to the central identify we call it “soul”. This is essentially same as the central feeling of “I”.
2. It is a separate entity from body.
3. Soul is a living entity within us. Soul gives us the feeling that we are alive.
4. During our lifetime it lives within our body but is not part of our body.
5. When body dies, soul does not die.
6. Soul never dies, but when body dies then it goes from one body to another body.

Since we have defined what soul is and have defined some of its characteristics then we can start discussing if soul exists or not.

Suppose if we start with the claim that soul exists. Then we will have following questions that we may need to answer about soul’s existence. These are only subset of questions. You may think of more questions then what I have presented.

1. Where souls are made?
2. Do number of souls remains same?
3. How does soul goes from one body to another body? And at what point?
4. If a body is not available for soul to go to, does soul go to some repository? Where is that repository?
5. At what point soul enters body of another animal or human being. At birth? At conception? How?
6. What is the driving force that makes the movement of the soul from one body to another body possible?

Question: Where souls are made?

Answer: Here we are assuming the existence of soul. If we say that soul exists then some where in the universe soul should have been made. When did the first soul was made? Where in the universe the souls are being made now? We do not know the answers of these questions. You can answer this question that God produces soul then where is God and which place does he or she resides and makes souls?

We do not have a satisfactory answer to this question. So we cannot justify the existence of soul.

Question: Do number of souls remains same?

Answer: Human population and living entities population of earth does not remain constant. When planet earth first existed then there were no living entities and later on population of living entities started increasing. From that standpoint the number of souls should increase too. Currently the population of living entities is increasing. In that sense the number of souls should increase and at some place souls must be made to fill the need of increased population. We do not know where souls are made so we are not able to give satisfactory answer to this question. We cannot justify the existence of soul.

Question: How does soul goes from one body to another body? And at what point?

Answer: We say that upon death of the body soul goes from one body to another body. When body dies then how does it go to another body? We have seen cases in medicine that after CPR, body does get revived in some cases. Does soul goes out and then comes back when body gets revived? If body does not get revived then at what point soul leaves body? We do not have answer to this question either. Don’t you think that the feeling of soul is produced by brain and it lasts only as long as brain is functioning?

Question: If a body is not available for soul to go to, does soul go to some repository? Where is that repository?

Answer: Suppose at some point population is decreasing. Then soul should go to some repository or they should get destroyed. Where these events are happening? We do not know. Let us not generate answers to questions we do not know. We have created the concept of soul but the characteristics that we have defined cannot be justified.

Question: At what point soul enters body of another animal or human being? At birth? At conception? How?

Answer: In most living species fertilization happens before growth starts. In bacteria just cell divides and new bacteria is produced. At what point the soul enters in the body of a living cell. Initially there is only one cell. Where in the cell soul resides? Does it reside in cell or a body? If it resides in a cell then each of our cell should have one soul. When cell divides then how soul gets divided? Please do not generate the answer but reason out the answer. We use our imagination and generate answers when we do not know the answers. These generated answers have no backing of reasoning and are detrimental to finding the truth.

Question: What is the driving force that makes the movement of the soul possible from one body to another body?

Answer: You may say that I am treating soul as an entity, which requires force. You may say that soul is not an entity. Then what is really a soul? If you say that soul exists then you should be able to explain what you mean by soul. Or is it that we have created some illusion that soul exists because we are afraid of death?

Regarding the driving force needed to move the soul there is no force and we cannot justify how it operates. This whole concept of soul is a delusion that was imagined because of fear of death.