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How do you imagine souls? (metaphorically speaking)


poppy
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Whenever I'm visualizing people and I want to avoiding judging based on appearance,  I kind of think of them as spots of light, floating at about head height.

 

FOR EXAMPLE, I just saw a pic of that Canadian Prime Minister.  He is ridiculously good looking.  But, morally / intellectually that doesn't matter at all. So I see his words and just light.

 

Everyone gets the same light- pretty and unattractive alike.

 

What do you visualize?
Or am I just weird?

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Agreeing with the others.  IME, when people say "soul" they usually mean "personality" or something like that, even though they think they're talking about something else.

 

If you want to avoid judging based on appearance, maybe try getting most of your news from the radio.  It works for me, anyway.

 

Edited by Miss Mousie
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I don't believe in an actual physical soul so I don't imagine them as anything, but I use the word as an expression. To me it means the essence of who a person is, deep down. It's the you in you. 

 

 

ETA: When I was growing up Catholic I imagined them as kind of a shadowy, featureless ghost that left the body when a person died. I'm pretty sure I saw it somewhere (a tv show? book? movie? I have no idea) and that's where I got the image. It didn't really change as I got older. It just went away when I let go of my religious beliefs.

Edited by Lady Florida.
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Whenever I'm visualizing people and I want to avoiding judging based on appearance,  I kind of think of them as spots of light, floating at about head height.

 

FOR EXAMPLE, I just saw a pic of that Canadian Prime Minister.  He is ridiculously good looking.  But, morally / intellectually that doesn't matter at all. So I see his words and just light.

 

Everyone gets the same light- pretty and unattractive alike.

 

What do you visualize?

Or am I just weird?

Have you been smoking the poppies again?

 

:laugh:   I'm just teasing.

 

Seriously, I think that's interesting.  I don't see people as light.  I'm not very visual, but know people who are.   I'd be more likely to describe them in a paragraph.   I know we have a soul and I know it takes off at the moment of death. 

 

 

Edited by TranquilMind
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Agreeing with the others. IME, when people say "soul" they usually mean "personality" or something like that, even though they think they're talking about something else.

 

If you want to avoid judging based on appearance, maybe try getting most of your news from the radio. It works for me, anyway.

I often use it to avoid judging my SIL (who is very brand / appearance oriented) . Thankfully she's not in the news!

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Whenever I'm visualizing people and I want to avoiding judging based on appearance,  I kind of think of them as spots of light, floating at about head height.

 

FOR EXAMPLE, I just saw a pic of that Canadian Prime Minister.  He is ridiculously good looking.  But, morally / intellectually that doesn't matter at all. So I see his words and just light.

 

Everyone gets the same light- pretty and unattractive alike.

 

What do you visualize?

Or am I just weird?

That is interesting. If I was imagining everyone looking like the same ball of light, I'd probably get confused. I'd have to differentiate them somehow.

 

Also, this is off topic but am I the only person on earth who doesn't find the Canadian Prime Minister attractive? I keep hearing how dreamy he is but I actually don't find him to be good looking at all.  

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That is interesting. If I was imagining everyone looking like the same ball of light, I'd probably get confused. I'd have to differentiate them somehow.

 

Also, this is off topic but am I the only person on earth who doesn't find the Canadian Prime Minister attractive? I keep hearing how dreamy he is but I actually don't find him to be good looking at all.

Me neither.

On many levels.

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Interesting question. I guess I don't visualize them, as I don't think of them as a physical being, but rather the sum of the parts that makes up everything aside from the physical mechanical body. Rather the essence of all things human including their personality and their gifts.

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That is interesting. If I was imagining everyone looking like the same ball of light, I'd probably get confused. I'd have to differentiate them somehow.

 

Also, this is off topic but am I the only person on earth who doesn't find the Canadian Prime Minister attractive? I keep hearing how dreamy he is but I actually don't find him to be good looking at all.

I don't find him attractive either. But I never got that people thought JFK or Bill Clinton attractive either. Apparently power can overwrite many physical flaws for some people.

 

ETA- to insert Bill, as I realize we need to specify which Clinton these days. Also add to the list John Kennedy Jr. I just don't get it.

Edited by texasmom33
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C.S. Lewis said, "You don't have a soul. You ARE a soul. You have a body."  And that's how I like to think of people...but it's not something I can picture and I don't consider that a useful exercise anyway.  No matter how much we say we "see" others as the same light, energy, etc. that changes when the person does something we find despicable.  Their "light" changes based on how WE see them and it becomes just another form of judgment, IMO.

 

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I very much do believe in souls.

 

But, i lack the imagination to visualize them. It's like picturing o2. It's there, but I can't see it :)

 

But I know I have this private part of me that no one can touch, see or influence. It's beneficial to remember everyone else does, too.

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ETA: and I really don't have an issue "judging" people based on what they do and how they act.  I have no problem judging BIL as being a major butt when he pitched a royal 48 yr old's tantrum over dropping all the work we were doing at FIL's house getting ready for an estate sale so he could go back home to watch a football game.  He ended up leaving SIL there with us, as she's IN TEARS, to finish working so he could go back to his out and plop his butt on the couch and watch football. 

 

I agree.  By judging, I don't mean judging a person's actions, ideas, etc. as good/bad, moral or not, useful or not or any of that.  It seemed that the OP was trying to use this exercise of visualizing souls as a way of helping her to see all people as worthy of dignity even IF she doesn't like everything they do.  (Maybe I am reading more into it--highly possible.  lol)  Of course, it's easy to see a man you see as handsome as having a nice light. :P  But visualizing people's souls is only a useful exercise if it affects how you think of human beings and treat them when the rubber meets the road.  So, Trudeau and Trump certainly don't ACT or believe the same, but are they both worthy of dignity as human beings because of this visualization?  Does this enable you to disagree and even act against things you think are wrong without vilifying another human or resorting to ad hominem attack even in your own head?  Do criminals get the same light as others?  And on and on.

 

And yes.  BIL, major butt.  :(

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I think Justin Trudeau is cute....but part of his cuteness is what he does/how he acts which makes him cuter.  Plus, we're talking comparing to world leaders.  I mean Justin easily outranks Drumpf and Putin.  I never got JFK (Sr or Jr) as cute.... nor Clinton, although everybody I knew who met Clinton IRL said he was super engaging and likable.  

 

Heck, if you look at all the past Canadian PMs... he's definitely top three, if not number one.  :P

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On an individual level, I don't because I have personality/colour synethsesia which kind of blocks that idea. On the level of the Universe, I imagine each soul (meaning the aliveness) as threads in a tapestry.

 

 

 

 

Edited because it was too early in the morning and I left out half a sentence or something. Anyway, I definitely wasn't making sense when I came back and read it later.

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I agree.  By judging, I don't mean judging a person's actions, ideas, etc. as good/bad, moral or not, useful or not or any of that.  It seemed that the OP was trying to use this exercise of visualizing souls as a way of helping her to see all people as worthy of dignity even IF she doesn't like everything they do.  (Maybe I am reading more into it--highly possible.  lol)  Of course, it's easy to see a man you see as handsome as having a nice light. :p  But visualizing people's souls is only a useful exercise if it affects how you think of human beings and treat them when the rubber meets the road.  So, Trudeau and Trump certainly don't ACT or believe the same, but are they both worthy of dignity as human beings because of this visualization?  Does this enable you to disagree and even act against things you think are wrong without vilifying another human or resorting to ad hominem attack even in your own head?  Do criminals get the same light as others?  And on and on.

 

And yes.  BIL, major butt.   :(

 

You are giving me too much credit.  I'm just trying to avoid reacting to my triggers (people who spend a lot of money on appearance, people who have really gross teeth, a few others). Plus avoiding the innate human tendency to like attractive people more than unattractive people.

 

Completely unrelated to behavior. I have *no* problem judging folks for their behavior!!

 

This thread has taught me that this isn't something most folks do; which is  a bit of a surprise to me, but probably shouldn't be.

 

Thanks to all who weighed in.

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I read a creation story written by a friend of a friend a few years ago. In his story, Adam and Eve were spirits whipping around the galaxy until the Fall. Then God zipped them into physical bodies and grounded them on earth. I just love the idea of stuffing a soul in skin....I'm sure it was a tight fit.

 

The other is that heart light--like E.T.  The essential glow of a person.

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That is interesting. If I was imagining everyone looking like the same ball of light, I'd probably get confused. I'd have to differentiate them somehow.

 

Also, this is off topic but am I the only person on earth who doesn't find the Canadian Prime Minister attractive? I keep hearing how dreamy he is but I actually don't find him to be good looking at all.  

 

No, he doesn't do anything for me.  Not my type, but mostly I find his manner really unattractive.  I can see that he's someone many people would find attractive though, and he's a lot younger than a lot of national leaders.

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My "automatic" picture of a soul is a sort of shadowy thing, which I am pretty sure came from a tv show I saw as a kid.

 

If I am being more careful in my thinking, I don't think souls are physical, they are more like a sort of blueprint, so that's kind of how I picture them.

 

If I am trying to avoid thinking negatively about someone, I usually try and think of them as being, at their core, imprinted by Christ,  or having the divine light, so I sort of visualize that as a light in them, a bit like the OP I think.

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That is interesting. If I was imagining everyone looking like the same ball of light, I'd probably get confused. I'd have to differentiate them somehow.

 

Also, this is off topic but am I the only person on earth who doesn't find the Canadian Prime Minister attractive? I keep hearing how dreamy he is but I actually don't find him to be good looking at all.  

 

I think there is an attractive kindness to him.

 

I don't really know how "dreamy," I think he is but I think there is something very genuine and kind about him and that is quite a nice trait in a leader.

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Trees are smart, and also related to us. Can you tell I'm reading The Hidden Life of Trees ? Give me a tree over a soul any day. Maybe I'll try imagining people sprouting from the tops of their heads.

 

I agree trees are smart and related to us but I don't think sprouting from the top of head would be a pleasant experience. :lol:

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Trees are smart, and also related to us. Can you tell I'm reading The Hidden Life of Trees ? Give me a tree over a soul any day. Maybe I'll try imagining people sprouting from the tops of their heads.

:) 

 

 

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Probably not, no. I'll just stick with the self talk.

 

I love trees. About as much as I love birds. I have met two trees I felt strongly related to. Sadly, one of them has been cut down. 

 

 

That would make me sad

 

What sort of trees?

 

Certain species of trees have a great deal of meaning to some.

Edited by Slartibartfast
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Trees are smart, and also related to us. Can you tell I'm reading The Hidden Life of Trees ? Give me a tree over a soul any day. Maybe I'll try imagining people sprouting from the tops of their heads.

I just started this book last night! I'm drifting between ... Is this guy slightly insane and - wow trees are awesome and - what do you eat if you decide plants are kind of conscious being!

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Hm.

 

I am Native so this answer would be lengthy and complicated. I do not believe only people have souls.

 

I'm a conservative Christian, and I don't believe only people have souls, either. 

 

But what is inanimate? Trees are not inanimate.

 

I would use the word spirit

 

I believe the soul and the spirit are two different things. I don't believe trees have souls, but I confess I've never thought about whether they might have spirits of their own.

 

Trees are smart, and also related to us. Can you tell I'm reading The Hidden Life of Trees ? Give me a tree over a soul any day. Maybe I'll try imagining people sprouting from the tops of their heads.

 

Too interesting, because I am currently reading The Elephant Whisperer and the author writes:

 

"Our guest lodge on Thula Thula is about two miles from our house in a grove of indigenous acacias and hardwoods that have been here for centuries. Here in this ancient woodland, the acacia tree not only understands it's under attack when browsed by antelope or giraffe, it quickly injects tannin into its leaves making them taste bitter. The tree then quickly releases a scent, a pheromone, into the air to warn other acacias in the area of the potential danger. [This is not strictly correct; see Corraleno's correction below.] These neighboring trees receive the warning and immediately start producing tannin themselves in anticipation of an attack."

 

OP, in regard to your original question, I was going to say that I don't visualize souls, but then I realized the first image that springs to mind is a small, slightly elongated sphere, very dark in the center but lighter towards the edges. Weird, I know. :)    

 

I believe the soul is the essence of who we are, the part of us that remains after physical death. 

Edited by MercyA
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Not too long ago I learned the concept of souls comes from the same cognitive process that give us Theory of Mind skills and the ability to think about, remember, and plan around others without them being present (the idea of "disembodied minds"). One example given to show this is an instinctual thought pattern was a puppet show for 4 year old subjects that featured an alligator puppet that ate a bird puppet. Or mouse. I forget. Anyway, the alligator ate the bird-or-mouse. The children were then asked questions like, Is the bird still alive?

No.

Does the bird need food or toys in the alligator?

No.

Does the bird till think about things?

Yes.

 

Arguably, this shows that we have an innate "attachment" to the minds of others, and death throws this off, thus the idea of the mind living beyond death. It all makes sense to me, but now I can't help but to think of South Park's Lemmiwinks. It's awful, but it still makes me giggle.

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Interesting.  You made me think.  I think I don't visualize people when I think of them.  I am probably not that visual a person.  Maybe that is why I don't recognize people out of context until I have seen them 2-3 times.  I tend to represent people in my mind as thoughts.  These thoughts are not visual or sounds or anything, though their name might be a sound.  The thoughts might be dots?  I don't know if it is their soul I am thinking.  Don't you have to feel (emotionally) a soul?  Maybe I should try and get in touch more with that feeling of feeling others' souls.

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Too interesting, because I am currently reading The Elephant Whisperer and the author writes:

 

"Our guest lodge on Thula Thula is about two miles from our house in a grove of indigenous acacias and hardwoods that have been here for centuries. Here in this ancient woodland, the acacia tree not only understands it's under attack when browsed by antelope or giraffe, it quickly injects tannin into its leaves making them taste bitter. The tree then quickly releases a scent, a pheromone, into the air to warn other acacias in the area of the potential danger. These neighboring trees receive the warning and immediately start producing tannin themselves in anticipation of an attack.

 

Now a tree has no brain or central nervous system. So what is making these complex decisions? Or more pertinently - why? Why would a seemingly insentient tree care enough about its neighbors' safety to go to all that trouble to protect it? Without a brain how does it even know it has family or neighbors to protect?"

 

Actually, they aren't trying to warn other trees, the volatile gases that are emitted by the damaged leaves are the plant's way of signaling it's own other leaves. Experiments have shown that if you cover or isolate the damaged leaves, or blow the gases from the damaged leaves away from the plant, the other leaves on the same plant will not respond. The fact that the leaves on other trees or plants nearby react in the same way is more a function of chemical eavesdropping than intentional "warning signals."

 

I just finished reading What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses by biologist Daniel Chamowitz, and he describes the experiments that demonstrated this. 

 

I do love trees, though! 

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Actually, they aren't trying to warn other trees, the volatile gases that are emitted by the damaged leaves are the plant's way of signaling it's own other leaves. Experiments have shown that if you cover or isolate the damaged leaves, or blow the gases from the damaged leaves away from the plant, the other leaves on the same plant will not respond. The fact that the leaves on other trees or plants nearby react in the same way is more a function of chemical eavesdropping than intentional "warning signals."

 

I just finished reading What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses by biologist Daniel Chamowitz, and he describes the experiments that demonstrated this. 

 

I do love trees, though! 

 

Sure, that makes sense. I don't think the author was attempting to be strictly scientific, but I found it fascinating. The snippet I quoted was in the midst of a section about animals' seemingly intuitive ability to sense danger. 

 

Thanks for the correction! Very interesting.  :)

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Way different since I started watching Supernatural.  :lol:

 

 

Seriously, I think a soul is the essence of a person, not as they appear physically, but as they are. It does help me to try and see the beauty in everyone regardless of physical difference. I think our soul can affect our physical being, such as posture and especially in the eyes. I sometimes look at athletes and dancers (of which I am neither) and see how they have crafted their body to be used in its full essence, whereas some people aren't taught about body language and how to project their body, like squaring your posture and walking confidently into a room of strangers when you're really scared to death. 

 

I personally find my own physical body awkward. My arms and legs are too short for my torso. I don't feel like my physical appearance captures what I feel like inside. I figure I'm not alone in that and try to not judge, because there is a lot of our bodies we just get and can't change. I also think some of it can be subtle, like body language to determine your normally peppy friend is in a bad mood or depressed. 

 

 

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Noylt exactly the same thing, but I remember seeing an icon like this one when I was very little, with the Holy Spirit represented as a dove. But to me the dove looked exactly like a plane with trails of exhaust coming out the back. So for a very long term I thought planes were just the Holy Spirit flying high above me.  :laugh: 

Theophany
http://blogs.ancientfaith.com/glory2godforallthings/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2011/01/theophany.jpg

Contrails:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Sq_contrails_ybbn.jpg/220px-Sq_contrails_ybbn.jpg

 

Edited to fix picture

Edited by Alexigail
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Same as when one decides that animals are conscious beings?

 

Respect and gratitude.

 

Yeah, that's my thought.  Also - for me it really speaks to our interdependance - nothing living is really a totally independant being from other beings, and the living world isn't really independant from the non-living world. And those are not independent from the laws and relationships that order nature. It's a big web of connections, and we need to be aware of them in order to function in a healthy and ordered and ethical way.

 

Theologically, as a Christian,  I see this reflected in the idea of the communion of saints and the story of the Fall.

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That is interesting. If I was imagining everyone looking like the same ball of light, I'd probably get confused. I'd have to differentiate them somehow.

 

Also, this is off topic but am I the only person on earth who doesn't find the Canadian Prime Minister attractive? I keep hearing how dreamy he is but I actually don't find him to be good looking at all.

I always feel the same way about JFK... I mean he's OK and all, but not all that. I think it's just how the media decides to describe male politicians who don't look like trolls. Lol

 

Sent from my Z988 using Tapatalk

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