Thoughts about souls

[Frisk]

I was wondering about the supposed ability of souls to coexist with other souls in the same body. "Real world" religions that include a belief in reincarnation do not have that - it is always "one soul, one body", as far as I know.

 

It is an interesting idea - and maybe some religion has come up with it as an explanation for multiple personality disorders, but as I said, I have not heard of that. The closest thing I can think of is the Body Thetan concept in Scientology - which basically involves unwanted extra "souls" attaching themselves to a human "meat body" - and those body thetans are in a sense damaged because of past events - perhaps similar to the "fractured" souls of PE.

 

I don't know, perhaps there will be soul-related quests, artifacts to heal fractured souls, necromancers seeking to capture "excess" souls from bodies and so on.

 

However...I just hope that nobody reaches the conclusion that the "multiple souls" idea in PE is secret Scientology propaganda, because that could create a significant negative reaction, at least in many European countries.

[fortuntek]

The original Greek concept where our idea of the "soul" comes from is actually a lot more sophisticated than is it's usually creditedfor. Now I'm no expert, but I do know that the soul is not traditionally as simple as a manifestation of one's personality, essence, "you"-ness or whatever the case may be. (Let's try to refrain from consulting Wikipedia and other search engines, people; they're woefully inadequate for such topics unfortunately )

 

As far as I'm aware, to the ancient Greeks the "soul" was a purely metaphysical form, essentially a concept, and not a material thing. Most people these days think of the idea of a soul as some sort of immortal individuality (thanks to the Christians hijacking the term) but originally the soul could inhabit just about anything; people, objects, movements, ideas... in this way, having two souls in one body makes sense at least a little bit. I'm not sure what the official canon for souls will be in P:E, but I hope it's something more along these lines, personally (at least insofar as it is more mysterious and intriguing than a simple "this is the incorporeal you, enjoy!").

 

 

edit: Though I suppose souls will have to have some material aspect in this setting, to make sense of how they travel from one body to another after death?

Edited October 23, 2012 by fortuntek

[Lysen]

This is even more complicated. I think that ancient Greeks borrowed the idea of the soul from Egyptians, just like everything else. And in Egyptian mythology, there were seven souls in one human body (or something like that).

[mokona]

And in Egyptian mythology, there were seven souls in one human body (or something like that).

I believe the original post meant that there aren't multiple competing souls OF THE SAME TYPE. For Egyptians, this would mean seven souls but not one person with two Ka at the same time.

[Amyrantha]

I think Egyptian Kings often claimed to have multiple Ka, but I'm not sure if this is really relevant to the discussion.

[fortuntek]

Do we know anything about the nature of souls in P:E yet? Hints, things mentioned that anyone picked up in interviews or anything?

 

I suspect that souls will be rather "fantasized" rather than philosophical or even religious in origin for the P:E setting... basically existing as an unexplained phenomena that mystifies people and intrigues scholars. I'm fond of having some mystery to it, but I can't help but wanting to know a bit more

[Amentep]

This is even more complicated. I think that ancient Greeks borrowed the idea of the soul from Egyptians, just like everything else. And in Egyptian mythology, there were seven souls in one human body (or something like that).

 

The Khat (body) contained the Ka (vital energy, life force, spirit double of the body) the Ba (wisdom, soul) and the Swt (shadow of the physical body). The Ren (true name) is essentially the definition of who the person is (as Ptah defined the universe by defining its names).

 

As a person lived their Ab (heart) collected the good and bad (the moral awareness of Ma'at). When they died the Ka left the body; the funeral preparers would open the mouth to allow the Ba to leave. The Khat and Swt were entombed with items (and known collectively as the Khaibit); food offerings were made to keep this form of the person happy. The Ab went to be judged in the afterlife and if found to have a heart lighter than the feather of Ma'at would cause the Ka and Ba to be joined (Akh) in the immortal spiritual body (Sahu). Note that all of these things could be happening at the same time for the person; their Khaibit could be pestering the family over a lack of offerings while the Sahu gazed out from the heavens and so forth and the Ba might also be hanging out with Ra in his barge.

 

Since it was brought up, Egyptian Kings claimed to have a "royal Ka" which was different from a normal Ka but I don't believe they had two Kas, just a different one.*

 

But as others point out, these aspects or souls were all parts of a singular individual and not two people in one body.

 

Some native american tribes have a concept of "two-spirit" which is how people who wear clothes and do work of the opposite gender are defined. They're often seen as innately mystical but I'm not sure that's really what they're going for here either. So we'll probably have to wait for more information.

 

*I'm not an expert, so this is stuff filtered through my readings and understandings. I wouldn't cite me for an academic article on this.

[eimatshya]

I seem to remember reading about cultures that believe that twins share a soul. Sort of the opposite of two souls in one body, I suppose.

[fortuntek]

I seem to remember reading about cultures that believe that twins share a soul. Sort of the opposite of two souls in one body, I suppose.

 

Yes, another common cultural idea (again, popularized by the ancient Greeks mythology, but also specifically Plato in his Symposium.) It's written as a series of dialogues where each chapter features a speech by a different prominent intellectual as they all sit around and drink lol. I believe Plato wrote of the idea as coming from Aristophenes if I recall correctly, where he talks about souls forming as a whole and splitting upon creation, and the nature of love is the search for the lost half, or something to that effect. While I'd like to say that I remember that from the top of my head, it just so happens that I am even now procrastinating from writing a paper on that very book, which is lying open on my computer desk at this moment haha. Although I think Plato's more famous pupil Aristotle is more responsible for truly popularizing that idea and expanding on it which is where we get our contemporary idea of soul mates IIRC.

 

While I'm not overly fond of hazy ideals of souls and soul mates in the real world, I think it can help create a foundation for the fiction of this sort of world and I'm looking forward to hearing what the writers come up with!

 

 

edit: Oops! I totally misread your post, I thought you were talking of two people sharing the same soul; sorry!

Edited October 23, 2012 by fortuntek