From: ata@hfsi.uucp (John Ata - FSO)
Subject: Re: Soul
Organization: HFS, Inc., McLean VA
Date: Fri, 2 Oct 1992 22:14:54 GMT

In article <14065.2acbd78f@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu> hjort@ohstpy.mps.ohio-state.edu writes:

>> No, it is the expression of the soul's effect that is damaged.
>> Let me give you an example.  You know that it is the brain which
>> is behind the movement of our limbs.  The brain sends a nerual
>> message for a muscle to contract and the arm moves up.  Now what
>> happens when the nerves which connects the muscle to the arm is
>> cut?  No more arm movements.  Does this mean that the brain is
>> damaged?  No, the brain is not damaged although the vehicle it
>> used to control the body's limbs is.  Therefore, the expression of
>> the brain is nullified.  In much the same way, the soul uses the
>> brain through the mind as a vehicle by which intellect and
>> reasoning ability is expressed.  A stroke or other such illness
>> stifles this expression, but the soul has not been damaged by this
>> physical failure in any way.
>>
>So in other words, when someone suffers from a stroke, he (the soul)
>is still fully capable, and in fact, does reason properly. Its just
>the brian damage that is replacing his resoned responses with garbage.
>
>For example, suppose someone suffers from memory loss due to damage to 
>the brain. They are asked a question concerning a lost memory. Is the
>damaged brain able to recognize that the question refers to the lost
>memory, and then restate the problem before passing it on the the soul so
>that it appears to the soul a question about a memory that soul doesn't
>have (i.e. Dou you remember when California sunk benieth the waves?
>ofcouse not.). Or perhaps the brian only modifies the output so that
>the verbal response is "I don't remember" even thou the soul responded
>correctly. This would also require the brian conspire to keep the knowledge
>of what the body responed with secret from the soul, so the soul doesn't
>try to correct the faulty output.
>
>Assigning either of these duties to the brain would imply that the brain
>has massive data processing ability that only manifests itself when
>damaged. This doesn't seem feasable to me. The other possibility is to
>assume that memories are stored in the brain rather than in the soul,
>which brings us to the question: when we die, do we lose all our memories?
>IF the answer is yes, I don't think the soul after seperation from the
>body can justifiably be called the same "person" as when it was connected
>to the memories of life.
>
>Prehaps you can refine this soul concept to show how it is still the
>thing that really is a person, or will you say that the soul is the
>piece that survives death, and the actual individual ceases to exist
>upon death.
>
>thanks for your time.
>>>
>>>Mark Schnitzius 
>> -- 

Mark, you ask many good questions.  I probably can't answer all
your questions and a lot of what I say is all IMHO or what I
believe.  It is possible to have "two" levels of memory.  For
example, if I get struck by a car and get amnesia, I might forget
my identity and everything about my life up to this point.  So we
say that the memory is gone at one level.  On the other hand, if
my memory happens to return intact, then it is obvious that my
memory "loss" was just an illusion to my consiousness, that it was
there all along, but was hidden.  I envision the soul to be much
the same way.  I believe that the soul, when it was created by
God, knew God.  God was in soul's memory with everything good that
comes from Him.  Now, when the soul was infused into the body,
this knowledge or memory of God was hidden since from the physical
standpoint, no such knowledge had been gathered by the brain which
is where our consciousness now interfaces. Think of it as
temporary amnesia.  After death, I believe that we are cognizent
not only of our prenatal memory of God but all the lifetime
memories we have accumulated.  It is then that the first judgement
takes place with everything unveiled and unhidden.

If my belief is correct, then we will all have intimate knowledge of 
exactly how the soul operates one day! :)
-- 
John G. Ata - Technical Consultant | Internet:  ata@hfsi.com
HFS, Inc.		  VA20     |     UUCP:  uunet!hfsi!ata
7900 Westpark Drive	 MS:601	   |    Voice:	(703) 827-6810
McLean, VA  22102	           |      FAX:	(703) 827-3729
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