The concept of what our ‘beings’ consist of has been an ageless debate. As civilisation has progressed society has developed a sense of ‘being’ founded in source elements of ancient theology. Based on these views it is a widely held belief that a person has a distinct soul and spirit separate from the body.

As these concepts were first postured thousands of years ago, without the insight of modern science, it is a revealing experience to revisit these core tenets in the context of how they were originally conceived.

As an example I will talk to the perspective of the Ancient Greeks. In Ancient Greece the soul was synonymous with the spirit and standardly thought and spoken of as the distinguishing mark of living things, as something that is the subject of emotional states and that is responsible for planning and practical thinking, and also as the bearer of such virtues as courage and justice.

I contend that this early ideology was simply an early attempt to classify what is now fundamentally now known to be the human mind. This is understandable as the mind would have seemed to be an ethereal form in the context of limited information on the physiology of the brain and body. In fact, Aristotle is known to have thought that the heart was the location of intelligence and that the brain was some sort of radiator.

I would argue that all conceptualisation of the soul, religion and Gods, was actually a practical attempt to express the dynamics or aspects of the mind in the context of daily life and experience in Ancient Greece; an early iteration of psychology.

If we accept the above premise then it would seem logical to conclude that the contemporary concept of a distinct soul and spirit is fundamentally flawed. The issue for modern society is to realise this perspective and acknowledge that logically it must be true. That truth being that the soul or spirit do not exist as separate forms but are constructs of the mind.

Once we accept this truth we can free ourselves from mental constructs and focus on the utility of the mind. I postulate that most, if not all, current philosophy regarding the soul or spirit can be transposed to the ‘mind’. As a perspective experiment contemplate this in the context of other religions and theology. Literally replace the word and meaning of soul or spirit with the word mind.

This would also seem to better align theology with science. I don’t think you would have much serious debate over whether your mind exists in reality.

This does not diminish our sense of self but instead brings it into focus. Would not being aware that the mind is our soul bring us closer to our true selves? You can thus have a close active relationship with your ‘soul’ and a better understanding of who you are.