New Reflections on the Soul
Metaphysicists, theologists and anyone who ponders the mysteries of human existence have questioned what the soul truly is. Because of its lack of physical properties, there is no way to accurately examine it. Its lack of tangibility haunts us and yet, its possibilities embolden us to seek enlightenment. Most religions have a concept of an eternal soul and are probably the main venue for our interpretations of the soul.
A human being is said to be made up of a mind, body and soul. This is the basic framework that makes up who we are.
We can all understand the fundamental workings of the body and there has been a great accumulation of scientific information on it. The mind is comprehensible as a concept and although it may be incomplete in our understanding, we can all agree that the mind is a tangible aspect of man.
The soul, on the other hand is still a ghost, yet to be seen or measured. Like the presence of our Creator, it is not accessible with our physical senses. Because we can’t sense it, we might not pay much attention to how it affects our lives. Other than religious and spiritual inquiries, the soul has received little attention up till now. Science is slowly entering the ring and is helping to shed some light on this mysterious subject.
Quantum mechanics is demonstrating the existence of a nonmaterial “soul”. Testimonials from prominent physics researchers from institutions such as Cambridge University, Princeton University, and the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich claim that quantum mechanics predicts some version of “life after death.” They assert that a person may possess a body-soul duality that is an extension of the wave-particle duality of subatomic particles.
Peter Dürr, former head of the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich, proposes that, just as a particle “writes” all of its information on its wave function, the brain is the tangible “floppy disk” on which we save our data, and this data is then “uploaded” into the spiritual quantum field. Continuing with this analogy, when we die, the body or the physical disk is gone, but our consciousness, or the data on the computer, lives on in wave form.
Because of the soul’s intangibility, I would suggest that every concept of the soul is subject to scrutiny and even ridicule, based upon individual perceptions of life and the afterlife. What I am presenting next is only for speculation as I am no more qualified than any other layperson on this subject.
Quantum mechanics theories about the particle/wave duality suggest that the soul might be the wave and the physical world would be the particle. I find that to be a reasonable theory and it fits with some of my personal ideas.
When I was doing some research for writing my book, Master the Mystery of Human Nature: Resolving the Conflict of Opposing Values, I became intrigued with how emotions are the absolute beginning and end to everything we do. Research by Dr Paul Ekman has demonstrated that we all are born with certain emotions (not feelings) that are universal to all humans regardless of all variables. The common emotions that have been proven to be there by birth are fear, disgust, surprise, anger, sadness, and happiness.
My speculation is that most, if not maybe all of our emotions are present from birth. Our motivations, preferences, thinking and feeling could all be written into our ‘computer program’ that runs us. I believe that our temperaments are a testimony to this theory. If you have read my book you know that I believe that our temperament is present from birth, along with most of the preferences that goes with each type.
If emotions are present from birth, then maybe they remain as we pass into the next life, whatever that may be. From my point of view, reincarnation is the only idea that makes sense to me at this point in time.
Research shows us that our emotions can be measured electromagnetically. Hear what HeartMath researchers say about this.
“The heart produces by far the body’s most powerful rhythmic electromagnetic field, which can be detected several feet away by sensitive instruments. Research shows our heart’s field changes distinctly as we experience different emotions. It is registered in people’s brains around us and apparently is capable of affecting cells, water and DNA studied in vitro. Growing evidence also suggests energetic interactions involving the heart may underlie intuition and important aspects of human consciousness."
This energy could be what our essence truly is in both the physical and nonmaterial worlds. In other words our emotions could actually be our souls that we take with us after our life is over in this world.
I know it is all speculation. But I feel it’s comforting to have some ideas like this. It’s definitely food for thought on a subject that has meaning for everyone.