What is the soul?

[Wyatt]

When I meditate very intensely, I can completely turn "off" my thoughts and turn my attention to what is true in this present experience. Is the soul the thing that is aware of the present experience (thoughts, emotions, sensations), and maybe the thing that decides what to do with it?

[AleksM]

@Wyatt Yes.

[Staples]

A story.

(Leo's recent blog post is an absolute banger)

[LaucherJunge]

@Wyatt Well yes the Soul is basically stands for what you really are, what everyone is. There is nothing else that has the capability of percieving than the oneness itself.

Edited November 24, 2017 by LaucherJunge

[Joseph Maynor]

@Wyatt Technically no.  Awareness cannot be conceptualized.  We can dance around awareness with concepts and describe it metaphorically, but you cannot capture reality (aka awareness) with concepts.  Anything said cannot be it.  Reality transcends conceptual description.  Many people seem to miss this point and fall into the trap of thinking reality or awareness can be conceptualized — but it never can and it never will.  

Edited November 25, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[30secs]

what if soul is real, and is actually everything

 

[Joseph Maynor]

@30secs

1 hour ago, 30secs said:

what if soul is real, and is actually everything

 

That too would be technically false and metaphorical at best.  Anything said cannot be it.  The Mind is only pasting stories on top of what is and nothing more.  I know this is tricky, but you gotta grok this deeply.  Otherwise you’re gonna fall into the trap of interpreting thought-stories as reality.  The Mind is very sneaky with this trap.  This is why we say reality is Idealism in order to drive home this point.  The One cannot be fragmented.  By its very nature the Mind fragments; it cannot function any other way.  In conclusion: Reality can’t be rationally grasped.

Soul is a concept that the Mind pastes on top of reality.  Technically, there is no soul.  Reality is non-dual — it has no pieces or finite properties.  All such pieces and finite properties are birthed by the Mind and are technically false.

 

Edited November 25, 2017 by Joseph Maynor

[30secs]

@Joseph Maynor yeah maybe.hehe..everything is mystical and unknown, and most of the egos cannot stomach the fact that it is as it is.

[vizual]

I think the soul is the unique essence of your human expression. Every human being is unique in its expression, experience and view of life. Every soul has something to offer that other souls don't. That is the 'core' of your human being. Note that you can not find the soul as a material substance in the body, it's not located anywhere. But no one can deny that you or me are unique. Never in history has there ever been anyone like you or me. It's not our soul that 'makes' decisions. But decisions "flow" out of our soul essence.

But beneath that individual soul there is something even more fundamental. The shared consciousness of being, the ground of experience. This consciousness is not different in you and me. This is what everyone shares. The individual souls come out of our shared consciousness but are not apart from it.

[Spiral]

The word soul is deceiving as it implies separation, aka that everyone have a separate soul.

Edited November 26, 2017 by Spiral

[Shin]

On 24/11/2017 at 3:03 PM, Wyatt said:

When I meditate very intensely, I can completely turn "off" my thoughts and turn my attention to what is true in this present experience. Is the soul the thing that is aware of the present experience (thoughts, emotions, sensations), and maybe the thing that decides what to do with it?

Did you experience in your meditation your soul ?

You don't feel your body, there is no sound/imagery, there is no time, there is no mind, there is just "this" (whatever the label you want to use).

For people who think it's hard, not it's not, you may just have to meditate a bit longer, so do it