Hello dear reader.
This is our very first post from our company. We are starting with spirituality because we believe spirituality is a very important ingredient in our daily lives. We will be starting with the subject of the soul, so sit back and enjoy.
So, what is a soul?
What color is it? Where does it come from? How long does it exist? Do only humans have souls? Is there more than one soul in a human? Can you damage your soul? All questions that are interesting for the thinking mind.
Let’s see what different cultures and religions say it is.
According to Taoism (Chinese tradition), every person has 2 types of soul called Hun and Po (Yang & Yin).
Sikhism considers the soul (Atma) to be part of the creator and that the soul is divine and spiritual light.
The Shinto (Japanese) distinguish between living and dead souls and sub souls. In Jainism in India (by the way, if you look, that is where you can see the origin of the German swastika Kreuz, but no association), they believe every living being from plant or bacterium to human, possesses a soul and the soul is eternal.
In Islam, the Quran uses two words for the soul Rüh (similar to Hebrew Ruach) and Nafs (similar to Nefesh), which denotes divine spirit. Hinduism, there is jiva and atman, the individual self, and the universal unchanging self-present in all human beings.
Christianity has different denominations with different views, so I will mention only one. According to Catholicism, the soul refers to the innermost aspect of people, which is of greatest value, the spiritual principle in humanity.
In the ancient near east (Egypt and Babylon) an individual was believed to be made up of various elements, some physical and some spiritual. One of the oldest archeological finds, the basalt stele (800 pounds, 3 ft tall and 2 ft wide) from Kuttamuwa (uncovered by the Neubauer Expedition) describes Kuttamuwa requesting to have his soul in the afterlife commemorated.
And finally, what does the Hebraic/Jewish faith say in the Torah (Bible) about souls?
Well, there are 5 aspects or levels of the soul (great read from Prof. D. Solomon), almost like getting dressed in the winter, you have layers you put on, the underwear, shirt & pants, coat, hat, gloves, and shoes all to protect certain parts of the body, from the bitter winter cold.
The soul layers are called, Nefesh (Living being), the part that breathes, it is the eye of the so-called Consciousness. Above that, from the bottom up is the Ruach (literally “wind”). This is what characterizes your personality. The Ruach ascends and descends in and out of this material realm.
The level above that is the Neshama (breath), your uniquely spiritual self, your realized meaning or purpose in life. Chayah (literally “Life”) is like an aura around the body. And Yechidah (which means singularity) has no association at all with the material world. It is the energy source for the lower levels of the soul.
Do you know the phrase “connecting with your higher self”? Well, there is a lot of truth behind that. That higher self is our purpose in life. Our purpose is not the 5-figure monthly income, the fancy sports car, the ownership of real estate /Yacht, or just the pure lust of material life. Sure, everyone that is blessed to afford and enjoy these things great, enjoy, but what is your real purpose, what is your soul? At the end of the body’s allotted time here on planet earth and separation from the body, is there going to be a fulfillment where the body and soul will actually rest in peace or can we expect the worst to come when we have failed our real mission here on the planet?
We do not want to scare or discourage anyone; our objective is to promote peace and goodwill amongst humans, to make you sensitive to what life is really about because we are all souls that came from the same source and will leave the same way – with nothing of this material realm. One more thing about the soul. What does Science say?
Robert Lanza, a leading scientist in neurogenerative medicine, agrees that life does not end when the body dies. Mr. Lanza says that research suggests that a part of the mind – the soul- is immortal and exists outside of space and time. Lanza says that “we carry space and time around like turtles with shells” meaning
that when the shell (space and time) comes off, we still exist.
So, is our mind a part of our soul? What is mind, what does it look like? Does the universe have a soul or souls? Are we connected and how?
Stay tuned…
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