Soul or No Soul--That is the Question

I saw this image on one of my favorite blogs. It inspired me to do a little armchair internet research regarding a question that's been on my mind.

Do we have a soul inspiring us and leading us to intuit certain matters? Does our soul, if we have one, act independent of our brain to inspire us and answer burning questions? Do we 'feel' in our heart that certain things are true because of our soul? Or is the brain the only organ at work sending messages to the rest of our body; prompting us to feel a 'burning in our bosom' or have that 'gut feeling'?

When we have a strong emotional response to something we can have a physical reaction occurring in our heart or our stomach. It can literally feel like a broken heart or a happy heart or a 'gut feeling'. Are these feelings based on memories of our experiences throughout life? Memories stored in our brain and recalled by our brain? Or perhaps it is an external force (like God) influencing our soul (spirit).

Then I think about personality types and how different people react to these feelings. Some people run away from danger, some people run towards it. Some people follow rules even if they don't agree with them and others break rules just because they can. There are a number of personalities reacting in a number of ways in between these extreme examples; but, is our personality a result of our brain or our soul?

If there is a soul does it affect my brain which in turn affects everything else? What's bigger my brain or my soul? Is my brain my soul? Is my soul simply a figment of my imagination, or my brain?

I'm sure my musings seem elementary to those who have studied the brain and know how the body works. I apologize for my simplistic approach to this question. 

I have always been a very emotionally based person. I have spent the better part of my life feeling my way through most situations. I credit myself for having very strong intuitions prompting me to reach out to others and act in ways seeming, at least to me, to be rather prophetic. 

I've grown up contributing these promptings to something I understood to be my soul. Taking it further into my religious background; I always thought my intuition was my soul, or my spirit, listening to the promptings of something outside of myself; like God or the Holy Ghost.

It is usually more important to me to 'feel' things are right or wrong; true or false; good or bad. Rather than, to 'know' things are right or wrong; true or false; good or bad. There are exceptions to this; for example, taking an exam at school or working with data at work. These situations, for me, are an effort; however, I have become pretty good at thinking and knowing because society demands it. 

Knowing and recalling details or intellectual information does not come easy to me; however, making decisions and taking action based on my intuition is like second nature to me.

Perhaps intuitive and emotionally based people have, over time, developed pathways and areas of their brain that can intuit, or are extra sensitive to, certain physical energies around us. Maybe we are born with certain areas of our brain more developed than other areas. Intellectual, or more pragmatic, people have exercised, or developed, other areas of the brain.

And where does personality come in? Helen Fisher, one of my favorite anthropologists, is an expert on personality types and how personality plays into who and why we love. I think her personality types are very suitable across the board; affecting everything in our lives not just love. I've posted about Helen Fisher and personality types before. Doctor Fisher clearly attributes our personalities to our brain and the chemicals in our body interacting with our brain.


Ergo, If our intuition is a function of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex then perhaps there is no soul. And if our personality is attributed to our brain and the chemicals interacting with certain areas of our brain then, again, perhaps there is no soul.

I guess what I have come out of this brief internet study with is that our brain is a superpower and I want to learn more about the brain, my brain. I want to learn how to use this superpower to help myself and others.

It's weird isn't it? I want to use my brain to learn more about my brain so that I can improve my brain and then use my brain in a more efficient way to help myself and others.