According to popular belief only human beings possess a soul, animals apparently do not. So what is the difference between humans and animals? As far as I can tell it's just a question of intelligence, as measured by us. After all, it's not that long ago that we were animals; our species of life (or simply, ‘we’) weren't created human, we just evolved along different lines than the others. That being the case there is nothing special about us that should warrant us having a soul and animals not, after all, some people are born with severe brain malfunctions that, on an intelligence scale, would rate them less than some other animals. So intelligence cannot be the deciding factor, unless you believe that you need to score above a certain IQ level in order to be granted a soul. Well, my friend, if we tinker around with genetics and produce a chimp with the IQ of a schoolboy, would that give it a soul? Would the chimp go to heaven? I can’t answer that, but I truly doubt. If, INCREDIBLY, we are able to find that that chimp-or-whatever does have a ‘soul’, then I feel that the rest of what I am about to say now is nonsense. So, either read on, or someone, PLEASE, try out this experiment… It would be one of, if not the best things humans could achieve in the field of biology.
Back to my debate/point, what exactly could it be that determines whether or not a life form merits a ‘soul’ or not, as the case may be? I think we can rule out intelligence. What else sets us apart from the animals? Some would say our appreciation of the arts, poetry, music, etc. I don't agree. I think that just comes with intelligence. In fact, it does. In particular, our ability to recognize music is probably the most damning evidence there is to anybody who counters this. Music is a weird thing. Here’s an interesting thought: what truly is more a result of intelligence then us dabbling about with frequencies? Music is stunning because of this. It is one of the most human things there is, that’s why it exists in every culture since we made flutes out of mammoth tusks.
What else is there? Absolutely nothing at all! We think we have a ‘soul’, we think we are 'superior' to the animals, we think there is some indefinable quality about us that sets us apart from the animals. Hogwash! We are just animals that got smart.
Assuming for the sake of argument that we do possess a ‘soul’, then the obvious question is where does it go when we die? Now we’re getting somewhere. I know what you’re thinking, it could go to heaven. So what and where is heaven?
Well, consider this. I think it is safe to say that WE are the anomalies in this place that we’re in, the universe (as far as we can – quite literally – see with our eyes/feel for ourselves). If our intelligence (as in our ability to even debate this matter, for example) came from evolution, then that is great. That’s just another result of what is, ultimately, a chemical physical process in this universe. However, if a ‘God’ bolstered our intelligence, then that surely supports the concept of, not life-after-death, but something-after-the-event-of-the-slow-death-of-our-brains. Why? Because after at least 100 billion human deaths (so, I suppose, 100 billion lives having the ability to attempt to ‘find God’ while they are living), I think it is pretty reasonable to say that ‘God’ isn’t in this form of our brains’ consciousness. We haven’t found him yet. We’ve mapped the observable universe… Ta dah! No him. All this pertains to my personal belief/belief on the whole issue. The likelihood of this belief of mine is, logically (and in my personal, speculative opinion), really not too far off.
All living things on Earth have one thing in common: control/exploitation of what are deemed to be ‘non-living’ things, to some degree. Going back to what I said about life being the anomaly/oddity in this universe, it makes sense to say that as we rot in ‘death’, our ‘soul’ goes back to what is normal: the non-living universe and, specifically, the elements. That is FACT too, we know this (well, nothing is true and everything is permitted, of course; i.e. we make out ‘the truth’). Of course, because of this, my whole thought process, and determining of what makes sense (logic) could all be wrong too. Well, so what? I’ve made no crime. No one can ever make an excuse to be odious at me for forming these thoughts. Another interesting observation that can be made is this: is it not due to a number of remarkable chemical and physical processes, we can coin the word ‘biological’? Is it a result of the supposed ‘non-living’ that makes us living? The answer to that is almost certainly yes; and THERE IT IS. The elements/the universe could have a consciousness, or it could not. There could be this wonderful, heavenly community up there, waiting to welcome us back to the eternal-normal, having been absent from it for eighty-five-something years. Even that/that energy could face the threat of entropic laws and the end of the universe etc. But I’m not going to jump to the ‘death’ of ‘death’, for even that could, in some ridiculous way, make another universe. I’m just going to stick to what I have just stated, and all of its associated connotations.
Obviously ’it’ isn't a 'real' place up in the sky somewhere. It is a ‘spiritual’ place. It has to be if the soul can go there and we, in our bodies, can't. Furthermore, what does ‘it’ do when it gets there? In what ways does it transfer/’spend’ any energy ‘it’ has. Is it the end of our journey, or the beginning? This is more to do with a belief in God. But what if ‘it’ is real? What if this ‘spiritual’ place is in fact the world of the building blocks of everything, the universe of the small; the universe of elements and atoms? I don’t know, but I’m thinking of something along those lines.
I have quite a bit more to add, but it is not related to the question of “is there ‘life’ after death”. I know this is a new realm of thinking for the question. I love this theory of mine; it fuses sanity and imagination. It could very well be true, in some way, because it is logical. And for me, that’s enough. What I would say to anyone who says this is all nonsense is you only live once, so don’t waste your time and be ignorant of an example of a common ability we all share. We can think. You can think up of something to counter just this and the theory too. But, to those who criticize, I say well done to you. Criticize, and bring out your own interpretations/theories. I can’t say anything to that. I’m just trying to say that, while it shows you have intelligence if you totally, utterly, 100%-disagree with what I have written, and think I’m just trying to write something for show/for the heck of it, you don’t have logic. I could be 100% right or wrong, so you can’t be adamant in totally dismissing this idea of mine. Damned if I know to be honest. I would just like to think that we have a soul and somehow live on after our earthly demise, but it’s just a nice thought to hang onto. It would however give meaning to our lives, and explain a reason for our existence.
What I find hard to accept is the belief that somehow the human race is special, more than just an animal. Every living thing on Earth with a brain possesses logic too! Even animals have logic. We’ve seen it. Animals do make decisions based on facts their senses give them. Having said this, I believe that we need to investigate how life managed to evolve a brain… We are animals; we evolved out of the same primeval swamp as the rest of the animal kingdom. Getting smart/gaining intelligence is not in my view a passport to gaining a ‘soul’. We all have ‘it’, all of our planet’s living kingdom.