{"id":7363,"date":"2005-03-22T20:51:57","date_gmt":"2005-03-23T03:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2005\/03\/22\/a-question-of-metaphysics.html"},"modified":"2005-03-22T20:51:57","modified_gmt":"2005-03-23T03:51:57","slug":"a_question_of_m","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/03\/22\/a_question_of_m.html","title":{"rendered":"A Question of Metaphysics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Premise<\/u>: The soul exists, the spiritual (arguably primary) expression of Who We Are. <\/em> (If you aren’t willing to accept the premise, might as well skip on to the next post.)<\/p>\n

There is clearly some connection, positing a soul (which I’ll stop caveating at this point, see above), between the soul and the personality we exhibit. I can imagine a system of metaphysics in which this isn’t the case, but let’s not.<\/p>\n

In a traditional Christian cosmology (which is not necessarily, in this case, what I believe in, but never mind that), the soul is eternal, but, presumably, is of a different nature between, say, infants (or fetuses) and adults. Again, there’s a sense that as the mind <\/em>progresses in development, so the soul <\/em>grows in some way, too.<\/p>\n

(If you go in for more of a reincarnational viewpoint, this connection works better, since you can have a soul that is related to the personality, but not necessarily tied to it, which is one of the reasons I lean that way in bull sessions on the subject, while realizing that I have no better idea of what’s actually going on than anyone else does.)<\/p>\n

The Terri Schiavo case brings with it questions here, though, too. Presumably (see premise, above), Terri has a soul.<\/p>\n

So, what’s going on with it, right now, working under the presumption that her mind has been essentially destroyed? If the mind is the expression of the soul via physical means (the brain\/body), and the mind has been wiped out, we assume the soul is not, in turn, damaged.<\/p>\n

Again, traditional view of the soul would have it that it still exists, a reflection of who she was, then, at the time her brain was so severely damaged. But what’s it doing? Does it know what’s going on. Is it lurking, ghost-like, over the proceedings? Is it trapped, silent and self-aware, in that immobile body? Or is it dormant, quiet, cut off until after death somehow brings us (back?) to awareness of the comic stuff we catch only glimpses of?<\/p>\n

What does that imply in the Schiavo case, if anything? If the state of her soul is not in danger, does the decision by the courts, one way or the other, make any difference? Of course, we can’t measure or perceive the soul,<\/em> so we use the biological proxy of life <\/em>as our value (as well we should, since otherwise one can simply wish away any human horror by noting that souls weren’t actually harmed). But if the folks so eager to interfere in the Schiavo case really believe in her immortal soul, how does their perception of it affect or motivate their actions (we’ll make the further unprovable assumption that they are acting out of moral concerns, which some would consider as unlikely a premise as that at the top of this post).<\/p>\n

And how, to extend the hypothesis, does that differ from the state of soul in our own bodies? Does it exist, awareness-wise, independently of us? Or does it rest dormant within us, unaware? What does that mean, and what implications does that have in our spiritual growth? As our mind fails, barely, or perceptably, or totally, with age, disease, or accident, we all face to varying degrees what Terri Schiavo faces. How does our perception of the soul, and our Purpose, and what the afterlife is like, affect how we want ourselves (or others) to be treated in those circumstances?<\/p>\n

Drink several beers. Discuss.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Premise: The soul exists, the spiritual (arguably primary) expression of Who We Are. (If you aren’t willing to accept the premise, might as well skip on to the next post.)…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":49439,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/01\/30\/rt-zachweiner-maybe-we-should-be-more-upset-that-ghostbusters-is-about-people-who-take-lost-souls-and-basically-put-them-in-a-soul-landfill.html","url_meta":{"origin":7363,"position":0},"title":"RT @ZachWeiner Maybe we should be more upset that Ghostbusters is about people who take lost souls and basically put them in a soul-landfill.","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 30-Jan-15 5:19pm","format":false,"excerpt":"RT @ZachWeiner Maybe we should be more upset that Ghostbusters is about people who take lost souls and basically put them in a soul-landfill. View on Twitter","rel":"","context":"In "~Tweets"","block_context":{"text":"~Tweets","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/tweets"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4402,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/09\/09\/keeping_up_with.html","url_meta":{"origin":7363,"position":1},"title":"Keeping up with the Testerfolk","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 9-Sep-03 2:14pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Hah. My soul is worth more than Doyce's. He was offered a piddling \u00a36,885. I, on the other hand, have a quote here for \u00a332,586. Only 13% of people have...","rel":"","context":"In "Personality Tests"","block_context":{"text":"Personality Tests","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/personal\/personality-tests"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38664,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/07\/b5-rewatch-1-02-soul-hunter.html","url_meta":{"origin":7363,"position":2},"title":"B5 Rewatch: 1×02 “Soul Hunter”","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 7-Sep-13 11:07am","format":false,"excerpt":"A somewhat by-the-numbers monster-of-the-week -- though with a great monster, and laying the groundwork for all sorts of juicy future story arc threads.W. Morgan Sheppard as the Soul Hunter is brilliant. I mean, he'd be sort of scary enough as is, given his role, but his ritualistic line delivery and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4646,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/07\/26\/bt03_body_and_s.html","url_meta":{"origin":7363,"position":3},"title":"BT03 – Body and Soul","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 26-Jul-03 7:54pm","format":false,"excerpt":"One of Chris Claremonts favorite catch phrases (to the point of cliche). Soul is recharged from getting Kitten to bed. Now for Margie to recharge the body with some crock-potted...","rel":"","context":"In "Blogathon"","block_context":{"text":"Blogathon","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/blogathon"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":38580,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2013\/08\/27\/creating-a-life-that-reflects-your-values-and-satisfies-your-soul-quot.html","url_meta":{"origin":7363,"position":4},"title":""Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul …&quot…","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 27-Aug-13 8:11pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul ...\"'... is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":556,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2001\/09\/19\/oh_that_picture.html","url_meta":{"origin":7363,"position":5},"title":"Oh, that picture!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 19-Sep-01 9:44pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Got it working, obviously. FrontPage Extensions. 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