Hi Mr. Haydn, You may find the 1979 book "Search for the Soul" by master magician, Milbourne Christopher, of interest. Proof of the existence of soul is yet to be found. But there have been serious, and some not so serious efforts. There is nothing wrong with having boundless curiosity and hunches. With the Salk vaccine of 1955 we found a cure for polio. A personal computer is very common these days. Nothing wrong with taking a careful critical look even though science has been wrong many, many, times for over a hundred years.
Nature is full of surprises that are far beyond the imagination of the human mind.

Thank you for your suggestion, but I have actually looked at a lot of religious, scientific and philosophical works on the subject. My degree is in Philosophy, and my graduate work in Theology. The subject has been a lifelong interest. Did you think I took such a position out of laziness or lack of curiosity?

BTW, science is a method. It is never wrong.

Science is knowledge and you never know.

Mr.Haydn, Sometimes science is wrong. It used to be neandertals did not mate with modern men and they did not make toys for their children. Dinosaurs were slow moving cold blooded creatures that dragged their tails. Science is based on available evidence and social change. There were mismeasurements of female and negro skulls. When I was a child shoe stores had X-ray machines. The radium girls were female factory workers who contracted radiation poisoning from painting watch dials with self-luminous paint at the United States Radium Factory. Many soldiers died from the use of agent orange in Vietnam. The use of lead paint and asbestos was common. Not long before I was born there was only one galaxy, the milky way, and the earth was at its center. Science is a method invented and used by humans. Humans can always be wrong. Before there was higher criticism there were many mistaken ideas about Bible scripture. William Foxwell Albright's goal in near east archaeology was to prove the truth of the Bible. That is not the modern method. Today's near east archaeology is for the sake of good archaeology. When you did your graduate work in theology were you taught about the 5 great mass extinctions, the Burgess Shale, and the cold truth that evolution only presents variety? It has no goal or direction.

Theories can be wrong. That is what science does, is test theories. Some theories have been proven wrong, but science isn't wrong.

Science is the method of obtaining knowledge through developing a hypothesis or theory and then testing to verify or falsify. I am not sure what you are pointing out...archaeology and science cannot prove the existence of the soul, as it is not something that can be detected by our senses or instruments. Consciousness itself is hotly debated.

The problem with the Soul is that it is unverifiable. It doesn't even have a meaning. It cannot be demonstrated. There is no theory to support it, no experiment that can falsify it.

If you can suggest to me a single reason to believe that any soul exists separate from the body after death or before or in life, or could even tell me clearly what you even mean by "soul," I would be happy to hear your argument.

Hi Mr. Haydn, It is doubtful that consciousness can exist beyond a physical brain and death. But if the soul does exist I would say it was something that contains that individual's recognizable personality. I disagree with you that consciousness is hotly debated. You can see it an ant, a bird, a squirrel. We know elephants weep. Chimpanzees and humans can recognize a sense of self in a mirror. Many creatures protect their young and themselves from threats of danger. As a child you recognize it easily. These many creatures that inhabit the earth have a sense of life and being. Perhaps that is the soul. That it continues to go on after their death is doubtful but remains unknown. A sense of life and existence cannot be measured or weighed. It cannot be sealed in a bottle. Must it be sealed in a physical brain? When you look at a human skull you know this person knew they were once alive. Did you know some bacteria have a sense of smell?

None of which validates the existence of the soul.

"The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt with the heart." –Helen Keller

I find it odd that you doubt consciousness could survive, but the soul with a recognizable personality and memory could.

So what holds the memories, what kind of storage system without the brain? Some kind of ectoplasm? What evidence is there that such a thing as a soul exists? I mean, why posit it in the first place?

Because ghost stories?

Because Plato? Because Gnosticism?

I tend to believe the Biblical view that there is no immortal soul. The soul is the "breath" or "pneuma." When the body dies, the breath leaves and there is no person left.

The first Century Jews that believed in the importance of the afterlife, believed it would be a new creation by God: a "resurrection of the body." This meant the whole person--memory, personality, and body--would be re-created by God at some time in the future. The immortal soul is a Greek concept.

I am not saying any belief is wrong. I just say the idea of an immortal soul is uncomfortable for me, and goes against my personal beliefs.

It seems weird to me that some ectoplasmic goo or gas containing a whole person with a personality and memory somehow slips into the mother's body at conception and inhabits the new embryo, and then when the body dies it goes to live in some place with other ghosts.

Some people believe that ghosts are disembodied human spirits. I don't. My beliefs shouldn't bother anyone else. They are just the way I look at it. If you have some kind of argument for the existence of the immortal soul, I will listen, but it would take a lot to move my position.

If one eats a body that contains a memory then does the memory go up or down?

When the brain cells die, no more memory.

Gentlemen, I admit that you are right and I am wrong and let's close this discussion on the soul and get back to the philosophy of magic where we belong. We are way off track.

How are we off track if the discussion is on past lives (reincarnation)?

When one eats a carrot the body transforms it into energy and thought: of a rabbit but keep it under your hat.

What ever happened to J. Z . Knight and Ramtha?

I was Shirley MaClaine in a past life.

It is difficult for me to accept J. Z. Knight's teachings were once endorsed by Salma Hayek.

Only if a rabbit eats the carrot.

Well, there seems to be some interest here. I will then add to the mix.

1. There is no way to demonstrate there is something that lives on or exists after death.
2. Many people push it just to hear themselves talk, boost ego, dollar profit, etc.
3. Some are obsessed by what they believe and what others do not believe.

I am glad to see that Pop has invested time into this and is not just a passing entertainment.
Pop, do you believe in God?

So, here is more of my involvement with this.
I believe consciousness predates the physical universe.
I believe consciousness spawned the physical universe.
There is no way to prove this. However, I have attempted to develop a logical argument for it.
I began with the premise that consciousness existed before the physical, consciousness manifested the physical, and formed a line of thought to demonstrate how this might happen.

This is a massive undertaking. I used my experience with physics, of which I have a degree in, and attempted to develop this thread of logic.

A very strange thing happened. An explanation of Einstein's special theory of relativity emerged. Using consciousness as a starting point, I discovered a definition of mass and energy. Such definitions do not exist in current established physics or science. As these definitions were expanded or investigated, Einstein's E=mc^2 emerged using simple high school math. To me this is very significant.

Through magic I have encountered some Physicists at very high places. They will not listen. I have submitted papers to very high organizations. They just tell me I am silly.

There is a breed of people on planet earth that proceed undaunted by this kind of ridicule. Read the history of such people like Avogadro or Plank. Plank even doubted his own work which was not recognized until much later when it started explaining things. I guess I am just weird like those guys.

Anyway, I have produced a book that will hopefully have meaning after my death. It is titled, "New Age Quantum Physics." I sell it on amazon dot com. The new age term is not to refer to the new age folks and they seem to be really weird. New age means something that is beyond the traditional science awareness. The information is actually about old, old, old age stuff.

I do find it odd that I say that none of this be proven and people keep telling me that it cannot be proven.

Oh, by the way, is anyone aware the neutron was never discovered? A lot of people noticed that there was something missing in atomic structure. Someone coined the term neutron. As time passed, the name stuck and all the wizards of smart just accepted it as something real. Of course, more has been done with it recently but it is interesting. Also, are you aware that the understanding of molecules is about a hundred years old. Something that important is a very recent discovery. And did you know that the ether theory lasted for over 2000 years and just recently found false. Also isn't it interesting that the Higgs Boson depends upon some kind of field that permeates all of space. Sounds like another etheric field to me.

Have a nice day.

How advanced is your degree in physics?