In theology, the soul is further defined as that part of the individual which partakes of divinity and often is considered to survive the death of the body. Many cultures have recognized some incorporeal principle of human life or existence corresponding to the soul, and many have attributed souls to all living things.
The soul or atman, credited with the ability to enliven the body, was located by ancient anatomists and philosophers in the lungs or heart, in the pineal gland (Descartes), and generally in the brain.
The soul is the "driver" in the body. It is the roohu or spirit or atma, the presence of which makes the physical body alive. Many religious and philosophical traditions support the view that the soul is the ethereal substance – a spirit; a non-material spark – particular to a unique living being.
Your soul speaks of your inner-life in relation to your own experience: your mind, heart, will, and imagination. It also includes your thoughts, desires, passions, and dreams. But your spirit speaks of the same inner-life in relation to God: your faith, hope, love, character, and perseverance.
The Catholic conception of the afterlife teaches that after the body dies, the soul is judged, the righteous and free of sin enter Heaven. However, those who die in unrepented mortal sin go to hell.
In the time of Aristotle, it was widely believed that the human soul entered the forming body at 40 days (male embryos) or 90 days (female embryos), and quickening was an indication of the presence of a soul.
When we die, our spirit and body separate. Even though our body dies, our spirit—which is the essence of who we are—lives on. Our spirit goes to the spirit world. The spirit world is a waiting period until we receive the gift of resurrection, when our spirits will reunite with our bodies.
The Epicureans considered the soul to be made up of atoms like the rest of the body. For the Platonists, the soul was an immaterial and incorporeal substance, akin to the gods yet part of the world of change and becoming.
We enter heaven immediately upon our death, or our souls sleep until the second coming of Christ and the accompanying resurrection. Most have chosen to believe what the Bible appears to overwhelmingly propose: our souls (spirits) penetrate heaven immediately after we take our final breath.
But the soul was brought into being (producta in esse) through creation, whereas the body was made at the end of the work of adornment. Therefore, the soul of man was produced before the body.
In other words, each person's soul is divided into three different parts, and these parts are simply in different balance from one person to the next. Plato defines the soul's three parts as the logical part, the spirited part, and the appetitive part.
For (1) the soul is the principle of life in the body; now all the parts of the body are living; therefore the soul is in every part of the body. (2) The same conclusion is drawn from the fact that the soul is the principle of sensation, and that it is sentient in each part of the body.
By and large, they all adopted the view of Aristotle according to which the soul is the 'principle of life'. Hence, all living beings, from plants to humans, possess souls; otherwise they would not be alive.
The stomach in general and the kidneys and liver, in particular, were commonly believed to be the fleshy containers of the soul. But while ancient physicians and philosophers sometimes caught a glimpse inside the body when it was wounded in battle or by accident, human dissection was largely forbidden.
Traditionally, science has dismissed the soul as an object of human belief. While science has explained some of the functioning of the human brain, the reason for one's subjective experience remains mysterious.
Separation, as we shall see, does not necessarily refer to the moment of death but to a full separation of body and soul even during earthly life. This is termed “philosophical” separation, a term which equally must involve the concept of a “philosophical” union of body and soul or rather “fall” of soul into body.
It is the seat of your memory, and your feelings, and your imagination, and your convictions, and your desires, and your affections. In Mark 8:35-36, Jesus says our soul has great value.
However, what's important here is not the substance of the brain itself, but rather the patterns contained in it (which could also be contained in other types of substance) since this is what constitute the essence of the human soul. Therefore, the human soul is not a kind of energy, but rather a kind of information.
No matter what a person's preference is, from the Christian perspective, cremation does not prevent one from going to Heaven.
Some pagan traditions believe that the soul of a recently deceased person continues to wander the earth for forty days; other religious traditions believe the soul will rest in the Lord's hands after death. The number 40 is often used in many spiritual traditions, but the specific reason is unknown.
Other traditions hold that the soul passes out through the nose, eyes, and mouth. Some believe it is better still if it leaves through the anterior fontanel, an opening in the skull that normally closes during early childhood.
The Five Soul Cycles
They undergo is a structured development — a structured way of learning. The Souls go through the five stages of being an Infant Soul, a Child Soul, a Young Soul, A Mature Soul, and Old Soul, until they realize their Buddhahood, Krishnahood or Christ Consciousness.
Building on the idea of stages in spiritual growth (Fowler, 1981), in The Five Stages of the Soul I described this process in terms of the Call, Search, Struggle, Breakthrough, and Return (Moody, 1997). Here we offer an approach to these stages not only in conscious experience but also through dreams.
24-72 hours after death — the internal organs decompose. 3-5 days after death — the body starts to bloat and blood-containing foam leaks from the mouth and nose. 8-10 days after death — the body turns from green to red as the blood decomposes and the organs in the abdomen accumulate gas.