Most people believe that when our physical lives are over, our unexplainable consciousness (or soul) continues to exist in spiritual form. Although little is known about the soul, we assume it is not part of the physical body and exists in the brain. After all, we know, having your appendix out, losing a limb, or any other part of your body doesn’t change the conscious you. So, if the soul is not part of the physical body, can we also assume it is not part of the physical brain? If so, we can better understand what the soul is by eliminating what it’s not.

Physical attributes of the brain make up a big part of who we are. Without the physical chemicals of estrogen or testosterone, the soul would not experience sexuality, and without dopamine, the soul would not feel happiness or sadness. The list goes on, and by the time you eliminate all the brain’s physical attributes, what’s left is not much more than basic consciousness.

If the physical brain makes up such a large part of who we are, except for basic consciousness, is it possible that the same type of basic consciousness in humans is no different from that of animals? How would human consciousness present if limited to the physical parameters of a given animal’s brain?

In trying to apply this theory to all life. How do plants and living organisms without a brain fit in? This leads to the theory. What if all living cells have a tiny amount of localised consciousness? The physical properties of brain cells being different, allowing for a better transmission and combination of their consciousness. What we feel as the single consciousness of our soul could actually be made up of the collective consciousness of billions of individual brain cells. Small amounts of localized consciousness in all the other living cells in our bodies could be similar to that in plants. This would explain how a cut heals or what determines the location of a new branch on the limb of a tree.

After ruling out what the soul is not, the question remains. What is basic consciousness/soul? Still a mystery, possibly part of an unknown energy or entity whose only evidence of existence is when it manifests at various degrees in all life?

Dave Lister

listerlogic.com