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Pete_1
Guest
How can the soul interact with the body without violating physical laws?
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mapleoak
Guest
What physical law is violated by a spiritual soul interacting with the body?How can the soul interact with the body without violating physical laws?
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JimG
Guest
Physics would have no way of measuring soul-body interaction. No physical laws are violated because no physical measurement is possible. Catholic theory presumes the soul to be a spiritual substance. A spiritual substance does not, in itself, have parts, or occupy space. Yet our soul is intimately united with our body, such that if soul and body are torn apart, that is known as death.
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Sam_Maloney
Guest
I agree with Jim: the tools simply aren’t adequete.
You can’t see the stars with a stethascope.
You can’t see the stars with a stethascope.
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Pete_1
Guest
What I mean is for the soul to will the body to move neurones must be fired, how can this be done without violating physical laws, what would cause the neurones to fire?
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Michael_David
Guest
Is the Soul and Body separate? They are fused together in the Human Being.
I look at it a few ways: the trees roots are not the dirt around them, but both interact together to water and feed the tree and make it grow. Another way: The sun and the earth are not one but they interact to make day/night; summer/winter; air currents; and along with the moon, tides; as well as make the tree grow.
For me, the Soul is like the trees roots in the ground of the Body. At death, the roots (Soul) is pulled leaving only the ground (Body) behind. One cannot see all the roots or where they are or what they do, but can see the effects by looking at the tree.
I look at it a few ways: the trees roots are not the dirt around them, but both interact together to water and feed the tree and make it grow. Another way: The sun and the earth are not one but they interact to make day/night; summer/winter; air currents; and along with the moon, tides; as well as make the tree grow.
For me, the Soul is like the trees roots in the ground of the Body. At death, the roots (Soul) is pulled leaving only the ground (Body) behind. One cannot see all the roots or where they are or what they do, but can see the effects by looking at the tree.
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Fox
Guest
Where is the soul located in the body or is it in every part of the body until death?
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JimG
Guest
Yes, it is the old mind-body problem. If the mind is a faculty of the soul, as we believe it is, how does it interact with the body? You decide: I will raise my hand. Then you do it. The will was involved there somewhere.What I mean is for the soul to will the body to move neurones must be fired, how can this be done without violating physical laws, what would cause the neurones to fire?
But I think it will never be discovered in a physics experiment. The mind-body connection is so intimate that while we are compose of two substances, body and soul, they are united into one. They are so totally united that they can only be separated by death.
As for where the soul is located: a spirit IS where it ACTS. The soul acts throughout the body; but it is a non-spatial entity, so it cannot be thought of as being “spread out” throughout the body. Rather, it is the vital source of our life at every point of our body.
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Fox
Guest
Does the soul know when its body is going to die?
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Michael_David
Guest
“Does the Soul know when it’s Body is going to die?”
Depends?
I had an aunt that 3 days before she passes, had a gleam in her eye’s and was giving her kin all sorts of her keepsakes. I will never forget that look in her eye’s.
My Uncle had talked to me on the phone and said he was tired and going to take a nap. We had a good chat, light-hearted. He never woke up.
My mom too, for a week she was going through things we gave her and was giving them back, mostly very aged pictures when we were much younger, reminiscing on the old-times. She had an aneurysm and dropped at the kitchen sink.
And my Grandpa, he wanted to see all us grandkids one Sunday after Church… we went and had a swell time that afternoon. Monday he dropped from a heart attack shortly after getting out of bed.
All seemed to know something, and was very peaceful and almost like they did not want us to worry back here.
I’ll let you decide…
Depends?
I had an aunt that 3 days before she passes, had a gleam in her eye’s and was giving her kin all sorts of her keepsakes. I will never forget that look in her eye’s.
My Uncle had talked to me on the phone and said he was tired and going to take a nap. We had a good chat, light-hearted. He never woke up.
My mom too, for a week she was going through things we gave her and was giving them back, mostly very aged pictures when we were much younger, reminiscing on the old-times. She had an aneurysm and dropped at the kitchen sink.
And my Grandpa, he wanted to see all us grandkids one Sunday after Church… we went and had a swell time that afternoon. Monday he dropped from a heart attack shortly after getting out of bed.
All seemed to know something, and was very peaceful and almost like they did not want us to worry back here.
I’ll let you decide…
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JDaniel
Guest
In Catholicism, the soul is not considered a separate entity. The soul is “form”. At the point of conception, “primary matter”, sort of a hunk of undifferentiated, formless gob of matter is given “form” by God. These are combined into an entirely new human creature that is both body and soul. God creates a brand new form, or animating principal, and uses it to “actualize” primary matter.
Catholicism borrowed the basic concept from Aristotle’s concept from “motion” in all things. Everything we know is in motion, in its broadest meaning. “Motion”, in the broadest sense, includes, but is not limited to, physical movement of a thing from one place to another, the “growth” of a baby, the “aging” of an adult, the “germination” of a seed. It is what differentiates us from one another. It includes everything about each one of us “particularly.”
Thus, the soul does not reside in a particular “place” in the body, it is inclusive all places in it. And the “brain” is part of the soul. It is the center of reason. It is that (near) “perfect computer” that runs all of the “systems” of the body while simultaneously handling large numbers of problems, and large numbers of variables, sorting and sifting them, juxtaposing them into ideas, evaluating them, storing them, with sound, color, tactile, smell, and taste with perfection (or at least, near perfection). And, it uses less than one-third of its size to do all of these things and do them faster than they can be articulated or written. So, the brain, or mind, is a useful tool of the soul. But, it’s not “the soul”.
While our souls may well be privy to when or where we will die, that is apparently not knowledge that it is willing to present to us – for obvious reasons.
Dan
“The Catholic Church is the only thing which saves a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age.”
-G.K. Chesterton
Catholicism borrowed the basic concept from Aristotle’s concept from “motion” in all things. Everything we know is in motion, in its broadest meaning. “Motion”, in the broadest sense, includes, but is not limited to, physical movement of a thing from one place to another, the “growth” of a baby, the “aging” of an adult, the “germination” of a seed. It is what differentiates us from one another. It includes everything about each one of us “particularly.”
Thus, the soul does not reside in a particular “place” in the body, it is inclusive all places in it. And the “brain” is part of the soul. It is the center of reason. It is that (near) “perfect computer” that runs all of the “systems” of the body while simultaneously handling large numbers of problems, and large numbers of variables, sorting and sifting them, juxtaposing them into ideas, evaluating them, storing them, with sound, color, tactile, smell, and taste with perfection (or at least, near perfection). And, it uses less than one-third of its size to do all of these things and do them faster than they can be articulated or written. So, the brain, or mind, is a useful tool of the soul. But, it’s not “the soul”.
While our souls may well be privy to when or where we will die, that is apparently not knowledge that it is willing to present to us – for obvious reasons.
Dan
“The Catholic Church is the only thing which saves a man from the degrading slavery of being a child of his age.”
-G.K. Chesterton
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JimG
Guest
The soul is not an ‘inhabitant’ of the body. Body and soul together are a human being, a human person, a unity, not a resident alien controlling the actions of a bodily machine.Does the soul know when its body is going to die?
So the question is really meaningless. Can one have a pre-cognition of death? Perhaps. That would be an intuition of the intellect, which is a faculty of the soul, or it could just be a guess.
In any case, the soul is not distinct from the body. The only time it exists as a separate entity is when you are dead.
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crowonsnow
Guest
If the soul, a spirit, is the animating force in our bodies, then it is only possible for the body to die because it has been abandoned by the soul. Therefore, a body doesn’t die and then the soul departs. Rather, the soul departs which renders the body lifeless.
This is a strange belief because in the case of accidental death, the circumstances surrounding the death would need to have been orchestrated. Death, therefore, is an orchestrated event.
I agree though that the soul is a philosophical concept. It has no scientific basis.
This is a strange belief because in the case of accidental death, the circumstances surrounding the death would need to have been orchestrated. Death, therefore, is an orchestrated event.
I agree though that the soul is a philosophical concept. It has no scientific basis.
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JimG
Guest
No, the soul cannot “abandon” the body; rather the body can become so physically damaged, and biological functions so compromised, that it is no longer capable of being animated by a soul. The soul has no choice in the matter, and being immaterial, also has no choice except to continue existence as a bodiless entity once the body ceases to function. But it is incomplete without a body, as a human nature is comprised of both.If the soul, a spirit, is the animating force in our bodies, then it is only possible for the body to die because it has been abandoned by the soul.
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The_Prodigal
Guest
I tend to think of the body as the appearance of the soul.
If that notion contradicts Catholic teaching in any way, would someone please explain how?
If that notion contradicts Catholic teaching in any way, would someone please explain how?
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JZULLO
Guest
The body is for connecting to earthly things, the soul is our connection to God. Ask any mystic…
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crowonsnow
Guest
You’re saying a soul just hangs around a living body until it’s dead. I thought the belief was that the soul was the animating force itself.No, the soul cannot “abandon” the body; rather the body can become so physically damaged, and biological functions so compromised, that it is no longer capable of being animated by a soul.
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Verbum_Caro
Guest
crowonsnow,You’re saying a soul just hangs around a living body until it’s dead. I thought the belief was that the soul was the animating force itself.
What JimG is referring to is that the soul, which is the animating force of the body, *needs an intact body to animate. *At some point, because the body is material, it breaks down (entropy, you know!) and it is beyond the souls capacity to hold off this decay indefinitely. Once the material substance breaks down either due to old age, or trauma, or disease, the soul is incapable of animating it.
VC
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Abbadon
Guest
How do you all know so much about something that as many have stated, not been observed?
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crowonsnow
Guest
Then I might as well argue that our shadows are what animate us, and are the source of light itself.crowonsnow,
What JimG is referring to is that the soul, which is the animating force of the body, *needs an intact body to animate. *At some point, because the body is material, it breaks down (entropy, you know!) and it is beyond the souls capacity to hold off this decay indefinitely. Once the material substance breaks down either due to old age, or trauma, or disease, the soul is incapable of animating it.
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