Some more questions on the Soul

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mr_Inquisitive
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
M

Mr_Inquisitive

Guest
Hello All,
I have some more questions about the Soul.
  1. People have different levels of intelligence and from a Catholic perspective does that mean that intelligence flows from the brain or the Soul?
  2. If intelligence is from the Soul then how does that explain learning difficulties in people?
  3. We mature and seem to get more intelligent with age does this mean that the Soul grows withe body or is the Soul always the same regardless of the changes?
  4. If two people die and one is a baby of one day old and the other is a man of 80 will they have the same intelligence in the afterlife (before the resurrection)?
    These questions may be perceived as either intelligent or stupid depending on who decides to answer but they are sincere questions which will enable me to understand the immortal side of ourselves.
    Thank you
    John
 
Intelligence is a propensity of the mind, and is generated by the soul; but requires the human head to be expressed.

The quality of the neurons in that head, the head’s state of growth development and education, and the wellbeing of the body generally, will all affect how the intelligence is expressed and used.

Point 4 would be significant if time were experienced after death; it is not. Presumably each soul, in a “Resurrectional head,” will express far more mind than earthly differences would account for.

We have no way of knowing how a mind who never lived a full human life would develop in the life everlasting.

ICXC NIKA
 
Mr_Inquisitive said:
Hello All,
I have some more questions about the Soul.
  1. People have different levels of intelligence and from a Catholic perspective does that mean that intelligence flows from the brain or the Soul?
  2. If intelligence is from the Soul then how does that explain learning difficulties in people?
  3. We mature and seem to get more intelligent with age does this mean that the Soul grows withe body or is the Soul always the same regardless of the changes?
  4. If two people die and one is a baby of one day old and the other is a man of 80 will they have the same intelligence in the afterlife (before the resurrection)?
    These questions may be perceived as either intelligent or stupid depending on who decides to answer but they are sincere questions which will enable me to understand the immortal side of ourselves.
    Thank you
    John
Click to expand...
We can’t know what God has in store for us. In comparison to the angels, I suspect that our knowledge and intelligence is that of a baby.

Hopefully, God willing, when I am with Him in eternity, I will be able to learn all those things that are so far above my intelligence now.
 
Mr_Inquisitive said:
Hello All,
I have some more questions about the Soul.
  1. People have different levels of intelligence and from a Catholic perspective does that mean that intelligence flows from the brain or the Soul?
  2. If intelligence is from the Soul then how does that explain learning difficulties in people?
  3. We mature and seem to get more intelligent with age does this mean that the Soul grows withe body or is the Soul always the same regardless of the changes?
  4. If two people die and one is a baby of one day old and the other is a man of 80 will they have the same intelligence in the afterlife (before the resurrection)?
    These questions may be perceived as either intelligent or stupid depending on who decides to answer but they are sincere questions which will enable me to understand the immortal side of ourselves.
    Thank you
    John
Click to expand...
I would say that these are very good questions. They touch upon the unknown properties of consciousness and the relation between conscious awareness and intelligence and the brain. Is our consciousness and intelligence a purely material phenomenon which arises from the interaction of physical particles and forces or is there something non-material and spiritual involved? In any case, the material brain plays a large role in learning and intelligence. Some intelligence is adaptive and can be enhanced by practice and exercises, much as you can enhance your ability to swim by practice. But other aspects of intelligence may be inherited and due to the biological makeup in the brain.
 
Mr_Inquisitive said:
Hello All,
I have some more questions about the Soul.
  1. People have different levels of intelligence and from a Catholic perspective does that mean that intelligence flows from the brain or the Soul?
  2. If intelligence is from the Soul then how does that explain learning difficulties in people?
  3. We mature and seem to get more intelligent with age does this mean that the Soul grows withe body or is the Soul always the same regardless of the changes?
  4. If two people die and one is a baby of one day old and the other is a man of 80 will they have the same intelligence in the afterlife (before the resurrection)?
    These questions may be perceived as either intelligent or stupid depending on who decides to answer but they are sincere questions which will enable me to understand the immortal side of ourselves.
    Thank you
    John
Click to expand...
The intellect , the power to know, is the faculty of the soul, it is a spiritual faculty. In our mode of existence , union of body and soul, the intellect extrinsically depends on the brain for it’s information, from the objective, real, physical world, the body and the soul are co-principles that constitute the nature of man, homo sapiens (knowing man) Learning difficulties come from some irregularity in the physical nature of the brain, and it’s capacities, the intellect is impeded by this condition, but does not lose it’s power to know, even after death.

If after death, the baby and the man will know intuitively according to St, Thomas, God will infuse knowledge into their intellects as He does with the Angels. How much each individual shares in the knowledge or light only God knows, the knowledge shared is superior in nature, than knowledge of the natural world, both will be in the presence of the beatific Vision, seeing God face to face.

The soul does not grow as the body, but it grows in knowledge, virtue, in holiness, in spiritual maturity, and it’s glory will depend on this growth. In Heaven there are many degrees of sanctity, ( In My house, there are many mansions , Jesus says )
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top