My Soul

About the Book

I find that trying to discover facts about the soul is like trying to solve a very complex murder. Sorting out the misinformation and false leads requires extensive time and dedication. Add to the problem, the large number of humans who: 1) have accepted/promoted misinformation, 2) have little or no knowledge of the soul and, 3) do not care to learn about the soul. I assume category 3 will not be reading this book. I have always been eager to learn more truths, truths that are arrived at through scientific fact and those that can be logically deduced using critical thinking.

The effort required to write a book certainly requires a motivation far beyond "just for fun". Authors write books for myriad reasons. Some write for monetary gain, some to display literary skills, and some in hope of awards. Books are written for different reasons - to inform, to teach, for pleasure reading, to update the domain of knowledge, etc. Books may be fiction and/or nonfiction. The aim of this book is to document my thoughts on the soul and maybe inspire more work on this mystical subject. The availability and quantity of knowledge about the soul does increase over time. Additionally, we humans become more adept in new analysis techniques as we progress in our knowledge. We also learn to challenge the status quo of long held beliefs that are not based on either fact or good logical thinking. The soul, not being a thing of matter, requires an inordinate amount of logical thinking.

In spite of all of the theories put forth by scientists, philosophers, theologians, and others who have started religions, there are ways to reason and think logically about the human soul. I believe we can safely say scientifically that something made of matter cannot originate from a source of nothing. Likewise, we can rest with great certainty in the fact that two plus two equals four. I mention these facts here to demonstrate that there are scientific facts related to the soul that no one can dispute and there are many disputable facts as well. We can go on with the opposite of dark is light, etc. As we take this search for facts further, we find there are many shades of grey between the two end games. The trick is to be able to sort out the grey area so that it makes logical sense. Thus, in most cases, logic and indisputable evidence teaches us certain facts. Much of the indisputable evidence I have discovered about the soul is based on sorting out the grey. Some facts remain unresolved and some facts may be beyond resolution forever. The first step in looking for the soul leads us to look for the existence of a God the recognized source of the soul. Like the soul, there are also a number of things credited to God that we will never know. I will make an effort to point out these anomalies in the text as we proceed.

Again, the primary motivating factor for my writing this book is to record what I have discovered in my lifetime search for facts about the components of the soul and how I believe the soul works in life and death. This subject crosses many disciplines and fields of study: religion, philosophy, human anatomy, metaphysical, physics, astrology, astronomy, archeology, and others. The task is formidable, however, a review of the great thinkers, many different authors, philosophers, scientists, and others along with observations and thoughts of my own on nature and my life experiences, lead me to believe that drawing all of the pertinent evidence together may reveal some answers to many age-old questions that I had. In addition, maybe it will answer a question or two for you the reader and, at the same time, add to the domain of knowledge about the soul. I do not claim to answer all of the questions that can be raised, but maybe I can shed some light on previously unanswered questions and open the door to the thought processes that will inspire others to pursue this topic to a better conclusion.

Is there a soul? What is a soul made of? Where does it reside in life and death? Is a soul useful? What is its final destination? These are questions I found very difficult for me to understand due to the plethora of misinformation on the subject and forces that try to sway one away from the truth. Maybe you have also experienced similar events in your life. I hope you will find some answers and proofs in this book that will satisfy your questions about the soul. I found some answers in nature, some in science, and some in my environment. And some I deduced from logical thinking. I found other answers in works of various well-known experts. Now let us look at a few of my experiences that formed the basis of my knowledge on the soul.

I attended a military school in Charleston for my last 3 years of high school. The school required that you attend church every Sunday. However, you could attend any church you wanted to attend. I visited every denomination I could find, including many Catholic ones because my girlfriend at the time was Catholic. My objective was to check each churchÕs beliefs on such things as life after death, the soul, and the resurrection. By the way, Charleston is loaded with different church denominations.

Another rich source of research and input for this book resulted from my lifestyle and time spent in military chapels all over the world. I attended Protestant church services on military installations for over fifty years (still doing it) on a weekly basis. During this time, I belonged to various religious organizations such as Protestant Men of the Chapel. This provided a rich source of different approaches and beliefs by various religious sects and individual ministers. As anyone who has been in the military knows, chaplains come from many various religions and move every 2 or 3 years, in some cases more often, sometimes, thankfully. You get a constant input of new faces, you also get a variety of religious denominations within the Protestant faith each with its own notions of their own, and a variety of religious views based on the respective chaplain. Usually each new chaplain has a different view and or idea on almost any subject, which is certainly understandable for I, too, have my opinion of the truth. However, I do not preach each Sunday to a gathering of naive attendees. Unfortunately, many people do not understand that what they are hearing is only the opinion of the preacher and may or may not be true. All too often, these people accept as the truth what is often misinformation in my judgment. At any rate, this material can provide the student of the soul a broad overview of basics about the soul and you can choose what you feel comfortable believing.

I have read the great philosophers and scientists from Socrates to Einstein as well as a number of modern contemporaries. I have studied the theories and laws developed by the great scientists. I have done specific research on the soul, observed nature relationships to the cosmos, conducted my own scientific experiments, and experienced lifeÕs many learning opportunities from nature, as you will discover in this book. I was always surrounded by people who were wise, well educated, and could perform many talented acts - people who were also willing to teach me - always the student - all I wanted to know. You can see from my background data that there is not much that I have not done except write a book. That is about to change. In this book, I try to bring all of the experiences I have had, and what I have learned together, point out some of the misinformation and outright prejudice that I have observed in many areas, and provide an open minded reader some answers to questions that have puzzled me and, over an extended period of time, the most brilliant minds of mankind. My mission will be complete if by chance I can at least present a different view, stir someone on to find a better answer, or convince another soul th

About the Author

The author grew up during the great depression on a very large cotton plantation (had our own cotton gin) in the lower part of South Carolina. There were at least five additional families housed and fully employed on the farm. Most of the compensation provided the families came in the form of free housing, food, a small plot to grow their own garden food, free medical support, and if it happened, free burial, plus all workers got a small monetary fee to buy clothes and other necessities. It may not have been plush, but no one was hungry, everyone had clothes, and all had shelter. The family land had belonged to my great, great, great-grandfather (motherÕs side), it had been subdivided by family deaths several times, and my grandfather (motherÕs side) had the larger portion to include the old home place and grandpa still actively farmed cotton on his portion and ruled with an iron hand as only an old practical German could. The part where I grew up was the largest parcel, about 20,000 acres, and contained the original house where my great grandfather lived and the newer house that my grandfather along with only one master carpenter built after he married my grandmother in 1892.