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It is fascinating to me how and why people create such ideas, and how these ideas gather force over large populations. So, to me, the question is not, does the soul exist?, or does God exist?, but rather, WHAT are these ideas doing for us? Why do people believe this, and, in believing things like this, do people, in fact--in some kind of collective sense--CREATE that which they believe in?
Or, another thought that I have had: Did the perception of certain things, by ancient people--for instance, their perception of the strength of their tribe or community, when they unified their thought around a God--cause them to identify a quality of the human brain--its ability to think collectively and communality--with a word: God, Diana, Ares, Innana, Allah, Ix Chel. Did this inherent quality of the human brain (obviously embedded in human DNA) get projected out as a God? An inner quality became an imagined outside agent?
I've always been startled by Jesus' words, "The kingdom is within you." I tend to think that that is the key, right there, to what and who God is, and what the soul is. It is something within us, or among us, that NEEDS a God (an idea that pulls us out of our little egotistical world), and the soul is something within us, individually, and also among us--in various tribes and communities--that NEEDS a concept of human beings that transcends physical reality and temporal reality (the day to day clock ticking).
Demagogues and charlatans USE these needs to control and exploit people, and to develop ridiculous notions of monolithic power to dictate who or what God is, and what the soul is. You only have to read about some of the proceedings of Church Councils in the 3rd through 6th centuries AD (during the period when the Christian movement was cemented with state power and male ambition, and "faith" began to be enforced by the sword) to know what utter absurdity and bullshit men get involved in, trying to formulate and then DICTATE what everyone must believe. But that doe NOT mean that those charlatans are NOT using concepts that have real meaning and importance to the human race. Indeed, I think their power comes from the fact that they ARE. They take some creative, inspiring notion, like "the kingdom is within you," and turn into armies and crusades and pogroms and thought control. What an insult to Jesus! He was no dogmatist!
Anyway, try to think of the matter totally apart from the misuse and abuse of human beings, and the human brain, for powermongering purposes.
There have been many, many Gods. What to think of a poor simple housewife, for instance, a couple of thousand years ago, touching her little Kitchen Deity every time she steps indoors? What is she doing? She is calling up the spirit within to create the frame of mind she needs to cook well, and to serve good food to her family. This enhanced mental state might make her more sensitive to heat levels (prevent her burning the bread), or to what spices are needed, or to rancid or poisoned food, and may move her to the height of artistry in the cooking and presentation of food. Why does she bless the Idol? How does it help her? And does she, in honoring it, create an actual presence of some kind in her kitchen--or is it just her own heightened awareness and dedication?
Then there is "soul music"--with "soul" in that sense being a gift from African-American community. What does it mean when we say that something or someone "has soul"? It is hard to define, but we know what it is. Love. Passion. Truth. And perhaps above all, Suffering. You have suffered. You have seen the downside. It has taught you something--feeling, compassion. A singer who has "soul" MOVES people--sings from a place deep inside him or her. And you often feel that "soul" singers are expressing decades, centuries of experience--love, passion, truth, suffering that go back to slavery, of course, but even further, back to the beginning of human feeling and thought. Is this what "soul" is--our ability to connect with all sufferers, alive and dead, and in the future? Does some wretched black mother from long ago, her children torn from her, her husband torn from her, placed to a lifetime of servitude, abuse, rape and dehumanization, live again--does her soul come back to life--through someone singing "soul" NOW? You sometimes get the feeling that she does; that the singer is a "channeler," and has the ability, the talent, the...DNA...the "soul"...to call upon depths of feeling and suffering that the singer did not personally experience. Personal experience enters into it, but it is by no means the whole story.
Bessie Smith had this quality. So did Janis Joplin. Two that spring to mind. Soul.
How can you not believe in it?
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