>
> Thomas:
>
> To me the discussion of a soul, is not so much an effect thing as it is a
> structure thing. We have a body, we have a brain, we have (most of us) two
> arms, two legs, etc. We have a soul - or we don't. It is a piece of our
> makeup as beings or not. I choose to believe we have one. As one teacher I
> worked with for several years said, (paraphrased) "What you believe is
> unimportant for the fact that you are conversing with me is proof."
>
Proof of what?
>From medi-biological research it is obvious,
that what we call consciousness, or self-awareness,
is a physiological property of our brain, even if we
cannot quite map all the functions and capacities as yet.
The stuff associated in religion with some supernormal
essence doesn't have any evidence whatsoever.
The question is - do we, as human beings, really need
work in the protestant work-ethic sense, or in any other
defined sense.
The stigmatised unemployed ususally still brings up the family,
cooks, tidies the room, does DIY, gardening, sport, etc.
All of these activites also exist as paid employment.
Work in this respect has two parts: - culturally/socially expected
- individually enjoyed
The fact is, that given the resources, education
and stimuli/motivation, everyone is able to find activity
that they enjoy doing and can be considered as work.
You do not need a soul to enjoy work.
It is part of our human social living, that we
like to be seen as "useful", "important", "clever", etc,
all of which qualities at present are measured by the
money earned, and not by work done to the worker's or the
community's satisfaction. Obviously, we want a society
where these functions of work are syncronised and
not forcefully separated.
Eva
> I also don't think a soul is there for the purpose of providing a nice or
> nasty feeling, rather I see the soul as that part of us that does not
> incarnate, that is eternal, that exists for purposes that are beyond our
> ken. In fact I would reframe these statements and state that a soul has us
> and that we are a temporary part of an eternal being that is providing us
> with a life to experience in and giving us the individual attributes that it
> - the soul - finds value in. This does not make us lesser, for in my truth,
> we are one but have different aspects and different realities to experience
> in.
>
> Bob:
> >
> > Does work serve a purpose to the soul? Is that the same as asking does
> > work make us feel good? For many having work (job - is that the same?),
> > which generates an income, is accompanied by feelings of well-being. But
> > work can also be very trying (testing our patience and adherence to
> > values) and that surely is serving a purpose to the soul.
>
> Thomas:
>
> Again in the most general of terms, I don't think we in our limited aspect
> as humans and temporal have any concept of the purposes of the soul. As
> another teacher put it, "you are the fingertip of your soul". In other
> words we have a relationship to our soul similar to the fingertip to the
> whole body. The fingertip can feel and do certain things and it provides
> information that is used by more complex parts of our body but for the
> fingertip to understand the liver, the central nervous system, language and
> belief are not the role it has in the body. That is not to denigrate our
> role, just as the fingertip, by sensing heat might prevent serious damage to
> the whole body, so perhaps the human and his experiences may provide
> valuable information to the soul.
> >
> > Or, perhaps work is simply being gainfully employed (contributing to
> > society), paid or not, and that also is probably a source of good
> > feelings.
> >
> > While it may be true in some circles that "work in the sense of "paid
> > work" has become more valuable than personal growth" it begs the
> > question "Are there circumstances when "paid work" and personal growth
> > are synonomous?" This probably depends on how one defines "personal
> > growth" - growth in professional skills, growth in the range of one's
> > talents, growth in one's world knowledge, etc.
> >
> > But, regardless of that issue, where has soul gone?
>
> Thomas:
>
> The soul has gone nowhere. It still exists, though perhaps not noticed by
> our frentic culture which is obsessed with the comforts of the body and the
> goals of our society. That's ok. The soul will survive our neglect.
> >
> > If "the psyche (is that the same as soul?) may use work to set up
> > situations in which the important work which is the learnings of values,
> > choices and the development of talents, may take place" then it appears
> > that the soul can seek its own purpose in work!
>
> Today - Fathers Day, I find myself having a number of experiences that are
> impacting me deeply. First, because of the economics of employment and the
> need to have money in our society, my ex-wife has had to relocate to
> California and somewhat of a financial necessity, we have had to let my
> oldest daughter (12) go with her while I and my youngest daughter have moved
> in with my mother who is beginning to experience Alzheimers and my Aunt who
> has Diabetes and they both require my support. So, I find my family being
> rearranged by circumstances.
>
> My brother, who is a United Church minister, today focused his sermon around
> Father's Day and my daughter asked to be allowed to read something to the
> congregation about Father's. It was very flattering and nicely done. I'm
> proud of her. My brother chose as the sermon the story of the return of the
> Prodigal Son but renamed the story as The Loving Father and he took a new
> viewpoint on the story that the Prodigal son was welcomed back because the
> Father was a loving father and within the context of love is the concept of
> forgiveness.
>
> But the real impact re Father's day came from none of those somewhat
> predictable experiences. Rather the one that touches my heart was in the
> morning paper in which a reporter told of some Albanian refugees coming down
> out of the hills to their village, weak from hunger and with almost no water
> for seven days. The NATO soldiers told the refugees that there were still
> Serbs around and to be careful and not go to a certain area of town. But
> there was the need for food and water for the group and four older men, I
> assume of grandfather age volunteered to go into this area to find help for
> the group. All four were shot dead by a Serbian sniper. To me, these were
> Fathers. That they put there personal safety behind the needs of family and
> group and risked and in this case lost their lives was - sacrifice is too
> tame and misused word for their act of responsibility assumed and acted on.
>
> It is always said with sadness, the event in which the last soldier in a
> conflict dies, often minutes and hours before peace is declared. For these
> four, to have died when the conflict was resolved seems especially poignant
> to me and the circumstances under which they died, reflect to me the highest
> heroism. My point in all this is to try and show, from my point of view,
> the irrelevancies of work as an aspect of learning. The events in each of
> our lives are fraught with lessons. What we pay attention to and what we
> value in the West is - to me - so very superficial against the values of
> life. Your comments about work are part of what we value as a culture.
> They are not what I value as a human being.
>
> Respectfully,
>
> Thomas Lunde
> >
> > Nothing is simple. Complexity seems to be the name of the game. We have
> > a situation here analogous to that of the fluttering of a butterfly's
> > wings in China precipitating a tornado in Oklahoma: RH poses a brief
> > question which generates a whirlwind of responses.
> >
> > Must be a good question.
> >
> > --
> > http://publish.uwo.ca/~mcdaniel/
> >
>
