Soul

Soul

The soul, in many mythological, religious, philosophical, and psychological traditions, is the incorporeal and, in many conceptions, immortal essence of a person, living thing, or object. According to some religions (including the Abrahamic religions in most of their forms), souls—or at least immortal souls capable of union with the divine—belong only to human beings. For example, the Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas attributed "soul" (anima) to all organisms but taught that only human souls are immortal. Other religions (most notably Jainism) teach that all biological organisms have souls, and others further still that even non-biological entities (such as rivers and mountains) possess souls. This latter belief is called animism. Anima mundi and the Dharmic Ātman are concepts of a "world soul."

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Famous quotes containing the word soul:

    It is not in how one soul approaches another but in how it withdraws that I know its affinity and solidarity with the other.
    Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)

    If death, said my father, reasoning with himself, is nothing but the separation of the soul from the body;—and if it is true that people can walk about and do their business without brains,—then certes the soul does not inhabit there. Q.E.D.
    Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)

    Whatever men you take, keep the idea of man intact: let your soul wait whether your body does or not.
    —D.H. (David Herbert)