What is the Difference Between the Soul and Spirit?

[Omni]

I'd love to hear people's view on the difference in definitions between these two words. Especially if any sources like Buddha or Osho commented about such.

I was recently given meanings by a telepathic source I will explain. Essentially it's subjective so there may not be a right or wrong way to see these words. This is how they were explained to me:

Soul: Immortal metaphysical energy that is includes the focal point of consciousness. There cannot be consciousness without a soul in my view.

Spirit: The attributes of the soul. Kind of like how people say "She has spirit". The 'character' of the soul.

I personally just use the word soul and that includes attributes of the soul. Before this I don't remember really using the word spirit as something we have other than things like "Hunter Pence has spirit"..

The telepathic source(identified as an anonymous ET) said his race would see the words as explained as their top definitions. I got the feeling this ET was from a race not very advanced past ours(although they have had global first contact and the start of their golden ages).

How do you see the words defined?

[Becky]

Hi Omni, in a nutshell this is my understanding aswell.

[Swan]

Personally, spirit is my connection to source. Soul, not quite sure to be honest.

[Lifebringer]

Spirit encased in the soul, the soul encased in the form.

[Cobus]

Omni

Soul is the vehicle (Sanskrit = vahan) for Spirit, as Personality (Mind, Emotions and Physical) is the vehicle for Soul.

According to esoteric Budhist tradition, the Soul Unit is the chalice and container of the consciousness and is resident on the middle plane of the mental sub-plane (third of the lower three worlds) of the Cosmic Physical Plane, where also the division lies between higher and lower mind.

The Spirit is resident in the Monadic sub-plane of the Cosmic Physical Plane, which is the third world beyond the mental, in other words the sixth world from the counting from lowest upwards.

[Chuck]

Good question Omniverse.

I like your answer and I will add that I believe that Spirit is everything that the Soul has experienced. So perhaps what Christians call Holy Spirit is the result of everything that is in your potential to experience… or the sum total of all human souls experience.

[Skyhaven]

I see the spirit as the 'substance' that fuels the soul which I see as the individuated self. Why I believe this to be true? Because I think I know what its like to be cut off from spirit. When I was younger I had to go through severe major depressions, which I see as a state where one is cut off from spirit to some degree.

Scientists say that the neurons aren't firing probably in that state, and that's the cause of it, but I believe that to be false, because the brain acts like a receiver of spirit. The neurons aren't firing because something is not flowing on a spiritual level. Neurons not firing probably is only a symptom.

The feeling of living without is indescribable and totally unbearable, but when it comes back then one really knows how loving and truly fulfilling spirit is.

[Daozen]

Steve Gamble's "Shopping for Spirit" articles go into this in detail. They're all free PDFs. I think the OP is correct.

[DarMar]

SOUL, a point where connection between higher self and body is manifested. Usually humans touching SOIL with bare foot are able to manifest SOUL very easily.
than SOUL is connection with earth and all other animals.
Thats why you get to wear rubber shoes so electromagnetic connection could not be well established. And your SOUL is divided.

Spiral spine spirit can not develop when SOUL has no connection with source and other SOULS.
Spirit travels through spine antena to tip point brain, spirit is name for electromagnetic consciousness.

Thats why they often say spirits live in tv and exorcist movie did that theme well..in fact it can live in any device which is able to accumulate SPIRIT, thats how they re-accumulate SPIRITS of earth into life over and over again.
Human body is very complex but in general form you can look at it as a battery. You can fill yourself walking barefoot + sun gazing will add to currencies happening.

SOUL, SPIRIT and BODY looked as SEPARATE beings making one is WHAT THEY WANT PEOPLE TO LEARN.. to learn more about dividing... divide.. divide...

it is not that people generally are afraid of heights, it is distance from ground AND THEIR CALL TO FAST JUMP BACK TO IT... in fear of loosing ground...
because without grounding you constantly fall into rabbit hole.

so SOUL and SPIRIT are names which got many meanings in order to confuse and redirect. It has nothing with entites of "higher self" because if that would be the truth we would be "low self" now.. AND THAT my friends are also what they want you to think
that you are low scum not understanding and deserving anything in constant search.
who they offer two polarities of the same, none is what one actually needs..

[Kryztian]

I would add a third item to the list,to clarify the concepts: "Body"

"Body" - the physical vessel, with a limited lifetime that grows and ages.

"Spirit" - the energy body that existed before and after the body was created. Like the body, it can be damaged and can heal and regenerate. It usually inhabits the same space as the body, but there can be separation and misalignment.

"Soul" - the part of you beyond space and time that is eternal.

[TraineeHuman]

In Vedanta, there's traditionally a strong distinction drawn between Soul and Nature. But one of the difficulties of trying to define what soul is is that to draw a sharp distinction like that is to miss all the ways in which Soul and Nature are similar.

Going even further in that direction, the Buddha took great pains to emphasize that the soul isn't at all a noun-like or object-like type of "thing". It's not really a "something", and certainly not fully definable. Zen Buddhism emphasizes that indefinability even more.

Also, the soul is seen as going through much transformation,and so at a given time it may be at a certain level of development among many such levels, and its quality and essence will vary hugely according to what level it is at.

In Vedanta "the Divine Soul" means either Source or else someone who has realized Source. Such an individual will also have been through having their Oversoul replace or be united with their soul, and their Oversoul in turn united with their Superconsciousness, and that in turn united with Source or the Divine Mind.

The oldest Vedantic writings spoke of five degrees of being: the physical, the emotional, the mental, the ideal or intuitive, and the spiritual or beatific. The soul actually and simultaneously dwells at all of these levels, even if right now we might be conscious only of the physical level, say.

[yelik]

This is my take from the top of my head, body, soul and spirit?

The real person inside our body is spirit which typically has religious connotations, Holy Spirit.

Our soul is often related to our minds, imagination, will, emotions, intuition and psychic abilities

From a scientific point of view our mind is a complex set of electro-chemical reactions influenced by our DNA (contains our memories) and life experiences. In other words a powerful, aware, and self learning type of electro-magnetic computer.

Our soul must be connected to spirit which again is in the form of electro-magnetic energy that resides just outside of the body and is likely immortal; near death experience indicates this.

However the elites can, with the help of ET capture our soul through technology and re-insert it into another body.

At the end of the day everything in our universe relates to energy. How it reacts and manifests itself can be influenced by what we imagine, think and do, this helps to create our reality. We can change this if we wish since we have been gifted with the ability to control energy with our minds.

Unfortunately the psychopathic elites with damaged spirit and souls, cannot help themselves but to weaponise everything, hence the criminal and inhuman mind control experiments we so often hear about today

[betoobig]

I do believe body, spirit and soul are one... Or should be... There we go
Love

[ghostrider]

The soul is temporary , the spirit is eternal and never dies or sleeps in the deepest sleep ...

[Chester]

I would imagine we each need to define these for ourselves.

My current definitions are...

Spirit is the energetic urge to live. To experience.

Soul is the container of the essences of experiences and from which my current world view emanates.

The Spirit is the "I am" as in "what I am"

The Soul is "who I am" in each now moment.

The Spirit moves as "a unique spark of the Divine Source" or "ground of being."

The Soul is the experience by experience reflection of my individuated self and is my primal uniqueness.

[GarethBKK]

Thank you. A great thread.

I'm not the man I used to be. Whenever I look back to when I was 10, 20, 30, 40, I can see clearly that I wasn't the same person at any stage. And now, I'm a different person again. In fact, I don't even feel like the same person who started reading this thread some 15 minutes ago and has now finished it. And yet, deep down, there is this awareness that there is a 'me' who has been unchanging, and forever in peace. I can't physically locate that 'me', but it's always there. How shall I label it? me/Me, self/Self, self/Higher-Self, self/OverSelf, awareness, Soul? Do I need to label it as if it were a thing or a concept? Or, shall I simply allow it to be, and be grateful?

But, wait!

In further stillness and silence, that 'me' that has always been is but a ripple in a vast ocean. Wow, everyone else is a ripple in that same ocean. Everything is that ocean! There is only one ocean! Should I label it 'ocean'? How about consciousness, all that is, the implicate order, spirit? What is this ocean anyway?

Oh... oh my... I have no words...

[sirdipswitch]

Soul is Source... the very life force within. Source is the glue that holds an Atom together. Take out the Source and the Atom will fall apart. Take the Source or the Soul out... and the body will fall apart. Dead as a door nail. cc.

We also have an Astral Body... that we can use to travel outside of the Physical Body. Soul stays with the body. You cannot remove the Soul from the body without death. Consciousness goes with the Astral, sub-conscious stays to maintain the physical body. When we go out of body Astrally, there will be a cord attatched between the two. Nope, ya can't break it, or get it tangled with stuff. And will always reel you right back to body like an extension cord. cc.

We also have a Spirit. An Immortal Spirit, that resides within each of us. It travels with the Astral, when we go out of body, in order to protech us from harm. If something should "bother" our physical body, it will jerk us back to it. We may also separate our Spirit... without our Astral form. Your Astral form will then be able to "animate' your physical body, to do whatever you wish to do, with your Spirit off playing somewhere else. Fun to do in grocery store. You can step out in spirit to go find something, while your body is still headed over to the Ice Cream cooler. chuckle chuckle.

This ain't rocket science folks. It has just been so complicated, over so many thousands of years by so many religions that it just boggles the mind. The whole purpose of religeon is to keep us confused and easier to control, so that we never learn who... or "what" we really are.

This body... is NOT... who we are. This body, is just a suit that we wear, to have "this" physical experience. We are Immortal Spirit Beings Of The Highest Order... and NOTHING can harm us. And THIS, is what "religions" are trying desparately to keep from us. TPTB, (YES BE. not were.) do NOT want us to know "what" we really are! And those who try to tell you differently... do NOT have your best interests at heart. nope. don't.

We are FAR more than "Lucy"... could even imagine. yep. uh-huh. are. ccc.

[seeker/reader]

Sirdipswitch,

Posted by sirdipswitch (here)
Soul is Source... the very life force within. Source is the glue that holds an Atom together. Take out the Source and the Atom will fall apart. Take the Source or the Soul out... and the body will fall apart. Dead as a door nail. cc.

We also have an Astral Body... that we can use to travel outside of the Physical Body. Soul stays with the body. You cannot remove the Soul from the body without death.

So are you saying that the Soul is strictly tied to the physical/material world and that it is what makes all matter solid? So essentially, the "god particle" that science is looking for is actually a Soul component that is in all physical matter? Is this correct Sirdipswitch?

Consciousness goes with the Astral, sub-conscious stays to maintain the physical body. When we go out of body Astrally, there will be a cord attatched between the two. Nope, ya can't break it, or get it tangled with stuff. And will always reel you right back to body like an extension cord. cc.

We also have a Spirit. An Immortal Spirit, that resides within each of us. It travels with the Astral, when we go out of body, in order to protech us from harm. If something should "bother" our physical body, it will jerk us back to it. We may also separate our Spirit... without our Astral form. Your Astral form will then be able to "animate' your physical body, to do whatever you wish to do, with your Spirit off playing somewhere else. Fun to do in grocery store. You can step out in spirit to go find something, while your body is still headed over to the Ice Cream cooler. chuckle chuckle.

This ain't rocket science folks. It has just been so complicated, over so many thousands of years by so many religions that it just boggles the mind. The whole purpose of religeon is to keep us confused and easier to control, so that we never learn who... or "what" we really are.

This body... is NOT... who we are. This body, is just a suit that we wear, to have "this" physical experience. We are Immortal Spirit Beings Of The Highest Order... and NOTHING can harm us. And THIS, is what "religions" are trying desparately to keep from us. TPTB, (YES BE. not were.) do NOT want us to know "what" we really are! And those who try to tell you differently... do NOT have your best interests at heart. nope. don't.

We are FAR more than "Lucy"... could even imagine. yep. uh-huh. are. ccc.

Great explanation Sirdipswitch. Thanks for sharing your KNOWLEDGE.

Seeker/Reader

[sirdipswitch]

Posted by seeker/reader (here)
Sirdipswitch,

Posted by sirdipswitch (here)
Soul is Source... the very life force within. Source is the glue that holds an Atom together. Take out the Source and the Atom will fall apart. Take the Source or the Soul out... and the body will fall apart. Dead as a door nail. cc.

We also have an Astral Body... that we can use to travel outside of the Physical Body. Soul stays with the body. You cannot remove the Soul from the body without death.

So are you saying that the Soul is strictly tied to the physical/material world and that it is what makes all matter solid? So essentially, the "god particle" that science is looking for is actually a Soul component that is in all physical matter? Is this correct Sirdipswitch?

Consciousness goes with the Astral, sub-conscious stays to maintain the physical body. When we go out of body Astrally, there will be a cord attatched between the two. Nope, ya can't break it, or get it tangled with stuff. And will always reel you right back to body like an extension cord. cc.

We also have a Spirit. An Immortal Spirit, that resides within each of us. It travels with the Astral, when we go out of body, in order to protech us from harm. If something should "bother" our physical body, it will jerk us back to it. We may also separate our Spirit... without our Astral form. Your Astral form will then be able to "animate' your physical body, to do whatever you wish to do, with your Spirit off playing somewhere else. Fun to do in grocery store. You can step out in spirit to go find something, while your body is still headed over to the Ice Cream cooler. chuckle chuckle.

This ain't rocket science folks. It has just been so complicated, over so many thousands of years by so many religions that it just boggles the mind. The whole purpose of religeon is to keep us confused and easier to control, so that we never learn who... or "what" we really are.

This body... is NOT... who we are. This body, is just a suit that we wear, to have "this" physical experience. We are Immortal Spirit Beings Of The Highest Order... and NOTHING can harm us. And THIS, is what "religions" are trying desparately to keep from us. TPTB, (YES BE. not were.) do NOT want us to know "what" we really are! And those who try to tell you differently... do NOT have your best interests at heart. nope. don't.

We are FAR more than "Lucy"... could even imagine. yep. uh-huh. are. ccc.

Great explanation Sirdipswitch. Thanks for sharing your KNOWLEDGE.

Seeker/Reader

With Source being the glue holding an Atom together, yes... Source makes everything solid. Because Source is in every single Atiom, of everything that exists, everything that exists... is Source. Plus, not knowing this, we don't tend to think... that everything we touch... everything... Source knows it. yep. Kiss someone... Source gets all warm and fuzzy, just as you do when you do it. Slug someone and Source feels their pain just as they do. Blow something up and Source feels the pain of that also. hmm. Source IS the Universe. Without Source nothing would exist.

Source? I borrowed the name from the Tibetan Buddas, that call it The Ever Unknowable Source Of All Creation. I just shortened it a bit. I don't like the term God, because it's just a man made name, that explains nothing about it. And yes, since Source is all that is, the Universe is also "solid", and not a hologram, as some try to make us believe. Ain't nothin inside me as just an illusion, it's all out there and just as solid as this rock we live on. The folks who claim that, just don't understand Source. Fact is, they don't understand much. cc.


Yer Welcome!! Thanx fer payin attention!!! ccc.

[GloriousPoetry]

When the soul completes its journey in the life of this fallen world it continues to marry spirit on a higher fold and fully realizing its own creative decor where heaven was always a body thy own lord bestowed......

A circle within a circle......the marriage of soul and spirit.....