The concept of the soul

As an avowed atheist, do I believe in the concept of the soul and an afterlife? The brief, immediate answer, is "no." Perhaps it should be, I don't think so. I guess it might depend upon how one defines a soul. I quoted this early definition previously on this blog, but let me quote it again for starters:
"It is a thin unsubstantial human image, in its nature a sort of vapour, film, or shadow; the cause of life and thought in the individual it animates, independently possessing the personal consciousness and volition of its corporeal owner; past or present; capable of leaving the body far behind, to flash swiftly from place to place; mostly impalpable and invisible, yet also manifesting physical power, and especially appearing to men waking or asleep as a phantom separate from the body of which it bears the likeness; continuing to exist and appear to men after the death of that body; able to enter into, possess, and act in the bodies of other men, of animals, and even of things." (Sir Edward Burnett Tylor 1903, quoted in Langness, The Study of Culture, 2005:27).

One is tempted to add, able to leap tall buildings at a single bound. I have often wondered if Sir Edward meant this to be a definition that all people, including Western-Europeans, believed in, or if he meant that only "primitive" peoples believed this way. I suspect the latter, but I do not know what Sir Edward thought a "civilized" soul might be like. I confess I do not know either. I guess that is my problem.

If one believes in the concept of a soul, then one also has to be concerned about what happens to it upon the death of its corporeal body. That means one must have some conception of an afterlife. These two beliefs obviously go hand in hand, unless you believe the soul just disappears at death. But if you believed that, there would be little point in having a soul in the first place. Of course you could believe it moved about in dreams and affected life until people die and it then just vanishes. I don't know of any culture on earth that believes that. No, if you believe in souls you must also believe they go somewhere at death. Do I believe they go to "heaven" where they join the angels and sit around on clouds playing harps? No, I don't believe that. Do I believe that if you are bad during your lifetime your soul descends into purgatory where it is tortured to eternity? No, I don't believe that. Do I believe that if you are a martyr and go to heaven (or paradise, somewhere like that) there will be 72 virgins waiting for you? No, I don't believe that. Do I believe that when you die your soul goes to "The Happy Hunting Ground" where buffalo abound? No, I don't believe that either. Do I believe that when you die your soul goes to "Frenonua," which the New Guinea Highlanders assured me was somewhere out there beyond the horizon where you lived life much the same as while alive, raising lots of pigs, marrying, and having children? No. Finally, do I believe, as many peoples do, that the soul after death becomes a ghost and hangs around pestering the living in one way or another? Alas, I don't believe that as I simply do not believe in ghosts.

I guess my most basic problem is that I just don't believe in supernatural beings of any kind, unless, perhaps like Freud, they might be mental projections of parental figures or some such thing. You know, if your parents are nurturant and good to you, you will have beliefs in positive and helpful nurturant deities, whereas if your parents or parental surrogates are mean and punishing, your perception of the deities will be as punishing figures that have to be constantly placated with prayers or gifts or something. If I believed in this approach to the supernatural it would be a confession that supernatural beings are not real but, rather, just figments of the human psyche. Thus, as I don't know what to believe, I don't believe in any of it. The best I can do, following some American Indians, is to believe in The Great Mystery. This exceedingly general view of things supernatural seems to do me just fine. I don't exactly worship The Great Mystery, but I certainly stand in awe of it.

Lewis Henry Morgan once said of religion:

"The growth of religious ideas is environed with such intrinsic difficulties that it may never receive a perfectly satisfactory exposition. Religion deals so largely with the imaginative and emotional nature, and consequently with such uncertain elements of knowledge, that all primitive religions are grotesque and to some extent unintelligible." (Lewis Henry Morgan, Ancient Society 1877:5).

If you strike out the adjective "primitive" this quotation pretty well expresses my view of all organized religion.

Whatever bitterness and cynicysm I might have has nothing to do with believing in souls or supernaturals. It has everything to do with observing human behavior for more than seventy years. The current world events certainly do nothing to make me believe that human nature is anything to be pleased or happy about. Abel Posse once said that humans were put on earth simply to mortify the animals. It seems to me he might well be right.

If Dennis Kucinich were not 5' 4" tall and a vegan he might well someday be President. He is far better than any other Democratic candidate and could probably be trusted to do what he says he will do, not something you can count on from the rest of the field. Go Dennis!

LKBIQ:
"You have no right at the cannon's mouth to impose on an unwilling people your Declaration of Independence and your Constitution and your notions of freedom and notions of what is good."
George Frisbie Hoar, Republican of Massachusetts, during the Philippine-American war.