A question for atheist and agnostic members...

[T-16bullseyeWompRat]

The definitions for both are similar in their skepticism of God or gods, although one doesn't rule them out entirely. Neither definition rules out the idea of a soul or spirit however. I guess I'm curious if you believe you have a soul or spirit? If not, is it for basically the same reasons you do not believe in a God or gods? If yes, what does the idea of a soul mean to you?

[basil67]

I'm an athiest and I don't believe in a soul or a spirit. And yes, it's for pretty much the same reasons.

[RecentChange]

Hum.

 

Well I think a athiest believes that there is not a god, while an agnostic believes that their is neighter proof of a god or not.

 

As far as "soul" for me it depends on the definition I guess.

 

I do not believe we are morally above animals. But I do that we are intellectually above them.

 

I do not believe in a "doomed" soul, but I do have faith in karma.

[SJS]

I identify myself as agnostic. As far as souls (or ghosts), I believe that this can't be all there is to life, but I don't know if that comes in the form of a soul, or reincarnation, or just thoughts.

[loveweary11]

Basically, the same as recent change said.

 

I'm an atheist. I don't believe in any soul, or ghosts or anything we haven't observed to be true/factual.

 

I believe that just like a computer's RAM, when you turn off the chemical computer "brain", it just turns off. Everything is gone.

 

This is why my personal philosophy borders heavily on Buddhism, as most of that is about making this life the best it can be.

 

But... I also believe in a form of scientific reincarnation or connection between living and dead things.

 

When you rot, decay and are eaten by woms, bacteria, etc... your atoms are disbursed into the world by these little creatures. You become them at first, then maybe a tree that grows from their excrement, or part of a bird that eats one of them, connecting all life together.

 

In the same way, you ate a lot of plants in your life and a lot of other animals and things. Even as you were born you are already comprised of atoms that were part of other living things. We are all connected through this process.

 

But no soul, no consciousness after death.

[MightyPen]

No, I do not believe people have souls. We are animals. Now, we're obviously very smart animals, but we're animals all the same.

 

I think religious folks who believe in souls generally accept the creationist theory of life, because you can't really reconcile "souls" with evolution. I mean, can you imagine the look on the face of the very last human/generation of humans who didn't 'get' a soul/souls from a god?? They'd be like, "what the hell, man?"

[TaraMaiden2]

No soul, no spirit - but I am open to the distinct possibility of re-birth.

Nobody has been able to give me an adequately convincing argument for it to be absolutely impossible....

Whereas having previously been a devout Christian for many years, there is little or nothing anyone can say to convince me of the existence of a separate, omniscient, all-powerful eternal entity.

[MightyPen]

Addendum to my previous comment:

 

 

Has anyone thought about how terribly egotistical it is for people to think we have souls? I mean, ponder it. For some reason, many people think that we, out of allllllll the creatures on the planet, and out of allllllll the living beings out there in the universe (and yes there are certainly other living beings out there - it's just a math thing - sextillions of galaxies out there, literally with each one akin to a grain of sand on our planet) get some sort of eternal life.

 

I mean, really? Why would anyone think that? We breathe the same air other animals breathe. We walk on the same ground. Hell, 3 million years ago we weren't all that impressive. We just slowly evolved. Why would any of this lead someone to believe that our souls exist until the end of time? Geez, again, think about how egotistical that sounds. The cosmos will continue along just fine without us when we die.

[jen1447]

Can't really answer til you say what you mean by soul or spirit. If it's just a euphemism for an intangible idea of the essence of your identity or the sum of your persona, fine, but if you mean an actual thing that lives on after you die or whatevs, no.

[Quiet Storm]

No, I don't believe we have a soul that lives on or is reborn.

 

We have personalities, characters and temperament. We have the ability to love and to hate. We are influenced by our upbringing, our environment and our communities. We each have likes and dislikes, habits and hobbies, talents and skills, shortcomings and strength. We have unique and individual traits, but I would label this our essence, not our soul.

 

We live on in the memories of our loved ones.

 

I think of Granny's hugs when I smell Red Door. I remember her taking me to NYC at Christmastime. I remember funny things like how competitive she was when playing Yahtzee or cards. I think of how cared for she made you feel in her presence, so loved. I think of Pop when I have oyster stew. I remember his patience and desire to teach us everything he knew. He carved beautiful ducks out of blocks of wood. He'd have a few drinks and start singing crooner style. He smelled like black licorice.

 

There is a Billie Holiday song that I think explains it perfectly...

 

I'll be seeing you

In all the old familiar places

That this heart of mine embraces

All day through

 

In that small cafe

The park across the way

The children's carousel

The chestnut trees

The wishing well

 

I'll be seeing you

In every lovely summer's day

In everything that's light and gay

I'll always think of you that way

 

I'll find you in the morning sun

And when the night is new

I'll be looking at the moon

But I'll be seeing you

[T-16bullseyeWompRat]

Great answers so far guys, some i expected and others I'd hoped for as well. Jen, i left your interpretation of what a soul means up to you, which you answered perfectly thanks!

[qubist]

to me atheist = agnostic. no human can know for sure that there isn't anybody watching us, but there is no evidence of the contrary. however I do believe that the "GOD" that Jews, Christians and Muslims refer to never existed.

as for the soul thing, allow me to share an experience. I had a surgery 5 years ago, and I remembered laying down in the surgery room and this nurse in front of me was talking about her daughter's first overseeing trip. the next thing I saw was the same nurse standing in the same position smiling while I was still interested on her story, I didn't realize that I was out of more than 2 hours. during the surgery I was technically dead My brain was put to sleep was not giving any signals to my body. the breathing and blood circulating is induced by machines during surgery. during that time my brain was dead if you look at it and didn't remeber anything no soul no angels no daemons , Nada. these 2 surgery hours were wiped out. I think everything we interact with is a result of chemical reactions and brain signals, once the brain stops doing it it will be black out .

Human for some reason wanted an explanation to everything and if we didn't have we made up one. and the soul was just something that we made up to explain something we didn't understand

[VeveCakes]

I'm an atheist and believe in spirits - but probably not in the sense that is in religions.

 

Since I don't follow religion, I can believe in what I think is out there, it doesn't have to follow a mold laid out by something.

[Eighty_nine]

I identify myself as agnostic. As far as souls (or ghosts), I believe that this can't be all there is to life, but I don't know if that comes in the form of a soul, or reincarnation, or just thoughts.

 

I'm agnostic and believe exactly this as well.