Eastern vs. Western Concepts of the Soul

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Eastern vs. Western Concepts of the Soul

• Aaron Hogue

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Ancient Greeks

• Plato/Socrates/Pythagoreans
• soul is a rational, emotional, ghostly entity
  that breathes life into the body
• departs at death
• reincarnated
• Aristotle
• Soul is activity of body, source of rationality
• Intellect of soul persists after death

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Western Monotheism(Christianity, Islam, Judaism,
Bahai)

• Body infused with soul by god at conception
• Restricted to humans
• Soul has no past, but persists after death in
  heaven or hell (depending on whether you are a
  true believer and/or good person)

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Western Mysticism

• Kabbalah (Judaism) 3 souls, lowest shared with
  other animals, upper 2 persist after death and
  reunited permanently upon resurrection
• Gnosticism (Christianity) 3 souls, unification
  of upper two in realized Gnostics is followed by
  their union with The Source at end of time.
  Unrealized folks go nowhere.
• Sufi (Islam) highest state of soul is merger
  with the divine.

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Western Materialism

• Soul doesnt exist
• Personality, morality, intellect are an
  epiphenomenon of the brain body

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Hinduism

• A discrete entity called Jiva or Atman
  persists from life to life (Reincarnation)
• Found in all beings
• Governed by karma
• Two main schools of thought
• Advaita - Atman is part of, or one with, the
  divine (Brahman)
• Dvaita Atman is separate from Brahman Atman is
  indivisible and unchanging

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Jainism

• All beings have a discrete, unending soul that
  persists from life to life.
• Souls go to heaven or hell according to karma,
  but these are not permanent states.
• Highest state of soul is attainment of permanent
  state of bliss (soul still distinct).

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Buddhism

• No distinct, permanent self (anatman) its
  constantly changing.
• Believe in reincarnation, not of discrete souls,
  but of ever-changing, localized currents in a sea
  of consciousness.
• Governed by karma (cause effect)
• Ultimate goal is to end cycle of birth and
  death by ending attachment thereby ending ones
  apparent (illusory) separateness from the
  underlying Buddha-nature.

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Taoism

• All people have multiple, malleable elements
  which may be thought of as souls.
• These come from various sources, including ones
  parents.
• The ideal in Taoism is to achieve harmony or
  balance between the souls.

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Questions

• Is the concept of the soul universal?
  Anthropologist George Murdock, argues belief in a
  soul (at least in some form) is one of 67
  universals of culture do you agree?
• If there is a soul, where does it come from?
• If there is a soul, where is it located, and does
  it have a material basis?
• Is the soul a discrete entity that survives
  death?

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More Questions

• Does the soul think, remember, and experience
  emotions? If it is responsible for reason, how
  does it differ from the brain?
• Does the soul reincarnate? If so, can past
  incarnations be remembered?
• Does the soul change?
• If so, how, and is there a point that it changes
  so much that it is no longer the same thing?
• If not, how can we grow as individuals, how can
  our thoughts or actions influence or souls fate?