I’ve got some nice questions for you all:
What’s the difference between the soul, mind and spirit?
Are they connected, and if so, how?
Can they be reduced to chemical signals inside the brain?
And how does consciousness fit in all this?
Could the soul play a role in LDing?
Please share your opinions on them 
The spirit is not a single entity… it’s more of a field… Everything has a spirit… because the spirit is everything. The soul is the unique expression of the spirit. It lives in the temple (a body) And the mind is the gateway between both spirit and soul. The soul strives towards immanance while the spirit strives towards transcendence.
So if one can reach a balance where the soul, mind, and spirit are connected… the infinite divinity of the spirit can manifest through the soul. The key is to open up the gateway… to open up your mind. Of course under scientific physical observation… we can just name all the chemicals involved and drain the magic out of it… but think about it… these chemicals… whether we have names and labels for them or not… doesn’t change what they are or what they do.
What is magic? Is it simply something that can’t be explained? Why is it that the majority of people categorize magic into just illusions of mind… or the unexplainable… when magic is really the awe inspiring, connection to the spirit… Music is magic… Sex in magic… Drugs, Nature, People… all of these things can be a catalyst to “chemical” reactions inside your brain… these “chemicals” cause REAL emotions…
The connotaion of the word “chemical” drains conciousness… it drains the magic out of what it really is… It all has to do with being told what life is… instead of finding out for yourself. Science has “informed” us what chemicals do what… what mixtures cause what reactions… In fact… science has even found ways to artificially create spiritual experiences by use of these chemicals. Does that take the magic away from the experience? Does it make it less real? What is real then?
You can compare a person living life… to a person reading a book. It all comes down to the person to get as much as he/she can out of the book. The author can lay down the most beautiful anatomies of language and communication… but if the reader’s mind (gateway) is partially shut… they will not see the full picture… They will see colors that lack vibrant energies… they will starve their souls from the nurishment needed from the spirit… In life… not seeing the full picture… is not seeing the magic that is all around us. In the laughter, the sorrow, the love, and even hate. The world is full of magic… Life has many colors of magic… the polarized black and white magic is all most people see… “this is good, this is bad” But as one begins to repair the broken gates… recover from the invasion on one’s holy temple… one can witness every color at once… a flood of divine conciousness pumping through every nerve and sense.
Conciousness is breaking all the blockages… it is the opening and connection of everything. Your soul, mind, spirit.
DeyBwah
We do not see things the way they are. We see things as we are.
-Anais Nin
We are not human beings on a spiritual journey. We are spiritual beings on a human journey.
-Stephen R. Covey
Since the one thing we can say about fundamental matter is that it is vibrating, and since all vibration is technically sound, then it is not unreasonable to suggest that the universe is music, and should be percieved as such.
-Joachim Ernst-Berendt
those who know me will probably know what i will say.
I think there is no such thing as a soul or spirit, depending on your definition.
I think the soul was just developed to give humanity a sense of longevity and also a reason to do ‘good’.
And i don’t really distinguish between a spirit and a soul. What is the difference?
I also see nothing wrong with the scientific explanation of life. And it just seems that you are giving chemical processes the name of magic when they are just chemical processes. Unless you are talking about the laws of the universe and how there are laws but there is really no reason why there are these laws, why do opposites attract?, why does space exist? i’m talking about the fundamental questions for which there is no answer (other than a religious one)
To me…
Impressive post DeyBwah! 
I agree with most things you say. Correct me if I’m wrong: you seem to prefer a magical mind instead of a rational one, right? Do you mean magical or mystical? Because that’s a HUGE difference. When we all would have a magical mind, then our mind would be brought back to the level it had when shamans, wizards and myths ruled the world. This magical mind sees everything alive around himself and connects itself to the whole. But it is a véry primitive form of consciousness, because its principles are based upon the distorted visions of drugged shamans. I don’t deny there may be some essential wisdom hidden in these visions, but it’s surely not comparable to the much more evolved and sofisticated mystical mind.
I think we can never return to our magical mind because that lies behind us. We must move on to more mystical levels, levels that the general public hasn’t reached so far. This mystical consciousness will then be able to break all the blockages. IMO ofcourse 
Alex, you remind me of my brother 
A skeptic… The neutral position for most skeptics is to require proof of something’s authenticity… That can cause friction for upward energy… Requiring proof is lacking faith… not in a religion or “a” god, just faith in life, in reality. I can tell with ease that your mind has been “informed” by your response to the chemicals… it was like you were describing something so distant… It was a dull analyzation… opposed to a philosopher’s astonished observation… We will have to talk more my friend!
Mystic 
I prefer a mystical mind indeed! I usually use the word magic, because to the majority of people… it makes them think of illusions and untruths… Your post really gave me a vivid screenplay of shamans and mythical magic… I do agree with you of the difference in magical and mystical minds… I supposed mystical is the balance between magical (excessive crown chakra) and rational (deficient crown chakra) minds. It’s a healthy resonance. 
DeyBwah
Authority relieves us of the responsiblity of independent action.
-StarHawk
And the day came when the need to remain closed became more painful than the risk to open.
-Anonymous
The least initial deviation from truth is multiplied later a thousandfold.
-Aristotle
Yes that’s a nice way to put it. Thesis combined with antithesis gives a synthesis which integrates and transcends the meaning of the two original concepts 
Btw I love your quotes. They contain so much truth 
I think that having faith in something there is no truth for is like living a lie, so you could say i have faith in life (but i feel the sentence is incomplete, what does it mean to have faith in life?).
And yes my description is dull, but why does it have to be anything more?
Different beliefs may vary, but generally the soul and spirit are described similarly. They both represent the unapparent link to what people like to pretend is the ‘rest’ of life. You know, all that wonderful stuff we can’t see, but simply must exist, if only to bring some significance into our lives. You can define them any way you like, because nothing we can observe will ever contradict you.
The mind is our consciousness from its own subjective viewpoint and encompasses every thought and feeling we have. The difference here is that we can observe the mind. How it exists, what causes it to change, how our behavior directly and exclusively results of its present state (chemically) – even how it came to be, to an extent.
To my way of thinking, what we can readily examine satisfactorily explains all aspects of our behavior without the need to reach into the barrel of faith. Is that a skeptical viewpoint, or a logical one?
Both I guess
Alex: good points. But you hinted at something in your answer that has been giving me a great cause for thought lately…
As you say, Western Science only describes the workings of the Universe. It investigates matter and the physical laws that govern its behaviour. The problem I see with it is this: science demands an explanation for every action, which means that ultimately science will NEVER get to the bottom of our Universe. If it finds a new law, it surely must explain why that law acts the way it does. The day it reaches a point where it can say “there is nothing smaller than this particle and there is no explanation for its behaviour” then, well thats an unscientific conclusion.
Now, to my mind clearly there is much, much more to our Universe than we can even begin to imagine at this point (just look at the questions string theory is raising). The thought that we are just lumps of meat within this impossibly complex Universe… it doesnt seem right to me. Things like Near Death Experiences, maybe the best way to look at them is to use Ockham’s Razor: brain cheimcals may do this or that but at the end of the day the guy LEVITATED OUT OF HIS BODY…
Also, check out Celia Green’s book ‘Out of Body Experiences’. It has many case studies of people having spontaneous OoBE’s, including a dentists who watched himself perform an operation from outside his body… that to me would illustrate the difference between mind and body excellently.
I try to remain skeptical but I’m finding it harder and harder with time.
Agh I am so torn between DeyBwah’s beautiful musings and Alex’s cold, hard rationality!
The East and the West… I believe one day a solution will be found in the middle. String theory, which I mentioned, is waking science up to the idea that there are multiple dimensions. Maybe eastern philosophies and techniques can help science explore these.
It would be nice wouldnt it. Would make the moon landings seem like truly a small step for mankind.
My guess is that the mind and soul are the same thing and that the soul is “you” not some mystical concept. The soul may also be some point that you may later reach in spiritual progression but you would still have the same conscious awareness but not the same personality.
I think it’s logically impossible to scientifically explain the mind in any way whether if it’s a material or immaterial position especially with chemical signals in the brain. Brain signals can be observed but does nothing to describe something as phenomenal as the mind. Nothing physical can scientifically account for the mind because it can’t be measured or observed from the 3rd person (which is needed with the scientific method) and the mind is like nothing we know as material.
With the physical it explains functions and structure but neither of these can be applied to be mind. Some might argue that the mind arises from the brain because mental states can be affected by physical means. This is an absurd argument because it’s concluding that A and B are the same just because A can have an effect on B. So we can never physically explain something as phenomenal as the mind. The brain could be a kind of filter that limits what we can experience to the physical and stimulating parts of it could unlock things beyond our current perception and here are a few articles and that:
soultravel.nu/2003/030918-hu … /index.asp
astralpulse.com/articles/oth … les_34.htm
I’m not sure if the soul does play a role in ld’s or if it’s all brain based but I find this to be a good possibility because you can have such a conscious experience without sensory input from your physical body.