Soul
The soul, in many mythological, religious, philosophical, and psychological traditions, is the incorporeal and, in many conceptions, immortal essence of a person, living thing, or object. According to some religions (including the Abrahamic religions in most of their forms), souls—or at least immortal souls capable of union with the divine—belong only to human beings. For example, the Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas attributed "soul" (anima) to all organisms but taught that only human souls are immortal. Other religions (most notably Jainism) teach that all biological organisms have souls, and others further still that even non-biological entities (such as rivers and mountains) possess souls. This latter belief is called animism. Anima mundi and the Dharmic Ātman are concepts of a "world soul."
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Famous quotes containing the word soul:
“Thou loving soul with that unlovely face,
Thou foulest offspring of the fairest race,
Cease to lament: had Nature meant him kind,
She’d not have made him lame, but struck him blind.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“The Soul unto itself
Is an imperial friend—
Or the most agonizing Spy—
An Enemy—could send—”
—Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
“Your soul ... is a dark forest. But the trees are of a particular species, they are genealogical trees.”
—Marcel Proust (1871–1922)