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."

Famous quotes containing the word soul:

“The soul and body are joint-sharers in every thing they get: A man cannot dress, but his ideas get cloath’d at the same time; and if he dresses like a gentleman, every one of them stands presented to his imagination, genteelized along with him.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)

“The Soul selects her own Society—
Then—shuts the Door—”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)

“I am in love
And that is my shame.
What hurts the soul
My soul adores,
No better than beast
Upon all fours.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)