randomturtle: To clarify, what is soul? I have no definition of it myself, so when you folks talk about it, I really can't even grasp what you are talking about. Care to offer a definition for my benefit? Is it what you see as the origins of consciousness? Or something different? Peace, Love, and Bicycles, Turtle
Well, see, that is exactly it. You really do ask a key question and even if I answer, is everyone going to know what I mean? When anybody (and there are obviously many) talks about "soul" do they even know really what they mean; as much as they would for the gross level body, that originated within a mother when inseminated?
Before I go on, as real- and here and now and "in your face" and within your awareness and, if I throw a rock at it you will be upset- as the gross level body (such as the one typing these words) is, the Subtle Body-that's the Soul-is more Real. I would venture that most people are not even adequately aware of their gross level body in all it's glorious reality and wonder. So, so much less the Subtle or Causal body.
So that is the first level of definition I will offer for now: the Soul is the Subtle Body or any Subtle level Form you inhabit either before birth and/or after death or that, at the very least, is above and beyond-or deeper and wider-than the gross level body. The soul and the Subtle level is where consciousness is during dreaming sleep, but we can also be aware of (and even in many astonishing ways) while awake.
(And the relation of this to dreams is a whole other vast, complicated and mysterious subject in itself that I am not convinced we really know and understand all that much about.)
Lastly, no, by this or any semi-accurate definition (or at least by the definitions offered by Ken-which constitute a generality of all of the world's great Wisdom Traditions and so at the very least one we should at least attempt to agree on while speaking on the forums) the soul is actually not the seat of the origins of consciousness. You have to still go Deeper/Higher to the Causal body, the Causal Witness and then finally to simply Spirit as Consciousness as Such.
The Buddha said there was "no soul" because he had transcended it. This has been gravely misinterpreted in the west and led to a spirituality pretty equivalent to Flatland where, yeah, it's just my body and my mind and if I just adopt a few thoughts and some language I am enlightened and know what I am talking about. (How free and open.)
Also, while there is something Higher than the soul, at the very least the Witness (which can Witness the Soul and so is not the Soul) this does not by any meaningful understanding of spirituality mean we can just forget about the soul and talk about how it is "an illusion" and "doesn't exist." Again, a grave misunderstanding.
Okay, so in conclusion:
The Soul is th subtle Body or any Subtle Level Form we inhabit before birth or after death as well as right now.
all for now.
Tim
"With whom or with what are you in communion at this moment?"
. . ."I?" he replied, almost mechanically. "Why not with anyone or anything."
"You must be a marvel . . . if you are able to continue in that state for long."
-Constantin Stanislavsky