Soul

From Association of Independent Readers and Rootworkers

Soul leaving the body, artist unknown

The belief in an immortal, intangible soul — “the incorporeal essence of a living being” — exists in the vast majority of religious and folk beliefs all over the world. While some belief systems hold that only human beings have souls, many others do not limit the possession of a soul to humans, but assume that animals and even plants and geographical features have souls.

There is no universal agreement between religious doctrines or cultural folk beliefs on how the human soul essence comes into existence, how it is structured, or how it functions during a person's life or after death. These differences of belief have led to structural differences in the various religious and magical traditions of humanity.

The Creation of the Soul: Trends in Creation Stories

Dutch cemetery tombstone with a carved depiction of the soul, artist unknown

Reincarnation of the soul conceived as the infinite cycle from life to death and from birth to life; artist unknown

"Damned Soul" by Michaelangelo (1475-1564)

For more information, see Creation of the Soul

The first question we must consider in our study of the soul is how it comes into existence. Creation myths (stories conveying profound truths metaphorically, symbolically, culturally, spiritually, or even historically) rarely consider the soul as a separate creation from the being, so we shall consider ancient stories of the creation of earth and living creatures as we look for the origins of the soul. (Read more...)

• Created "Ex Nihilo," from Nothing
• Created from Chaos
• Created by a God from Earth or Other Natural Materials
• Born, Created, or Spontaneously Generated from the Body of a God
• Earth Gathered Together from the Primal Sea Floor
• Emergence from a Lower World

Anatomies of the Soul and Spirit

For more information, see Anatomies of the Soul and Spirit

Not all belief systems view the soul as only consisting of an immortal, intangible spirit essence. Many belief systems separate the soul into both physical and spiritual elements. Some even posit multiple souls, functioning in concert, for each being. Furthermore, there are schools of thought — going back thousands of years in many parts of the world — which maintain that the soul does not exist at all after death. (Read more)

• The Immortal Soul
• The Multiple or Segmented Soul
• The Mutable Soul or “No-Self”
• The Mortal Soul

The Soul in the Afterlife

For more information, see The Afterlife

If the soul is immortal, as many religions, maintain, what happens to it, what does it do, and where does it reside after the death of the body? Most immortalist religions and folk beliefs surmise that there will be some form of judgement of the soul, followed by a reward or punishment as appropriate. A belief in after-death judgement even extends to some traditions within Buddhism, despite the idea that their doctrine holds that humans have "no soul," or rather a mutable soul. (Read more)

• Heavens, Paradises, and Ascensions
• Hells, Demotions, and Devolutions
• Sheol, the Land of Dullness
• Reincarnation
• Nirvana: The Blessed Extinction of the Soul?
• Ghosts and Haunted Houses

Credits

This page is brought to you by the AIRR Tech Team:

• Authors: Miss Michaele, catherine yronwode
• Contributor: nagasiva yronwode
• Images: Michaelangelo, Unknown Photographer, Unknown Artists; sourced and photo-edited by nagasiva yronwode, catherine yronwode, and Miss Michaele

See Also

• Religious Traditions
• The Soul
• The Creation of the Soul: Trends in Creation Stories
• Anatomies of the Soul and Spirit
• The Afterlife
• The Dead and the Graveyard
• Working with Spirits