A soul is for life...

...and not just for christmas.

Its a topic that has interested me for many years. The idea of a soul; a spiritual aspect to a persons existance.
I'm not a religious man but I am a spiritual man.; I believe in souls.
I have no proof of course but I believe because the I want to believe. Its a choice. Free will , if you like.
The ability to suspend dis-belief and to embrace to concept of souls.

I have read in recent years, several books by John O'Donohue. An interesting lad who passed away this year, quite young, in his fifties.
He wrote a few books on the soul. Anam Cara was one.

I have a little story which I always find helps me come to terms with the idea of souls.

When my second lad, Thomas, was born, he was 16 weeks and 3 days premature. In the context of a 40 week pregnancy, this is the equivilant of "half-baked".
My wife at the time was semi-comatose in the labour ward, docters and nurses were commiserating with me about being "still young enough to have another go" and so on. My son (I did'nt know he was a son at that stage) was lying on a small table at the end of the room alone. Still born, whilst not unknown, was still rare enough.
After about 3 or 4 minutes during a quite lull , there was a very small sound, like a cats meow.
A nurse next to Thomas looked down and let out a call for an incubator immediatly.
The child was alive but struggling badly, trying to breath, which is pretty hard when your lungs are only 40% formed.
The Assistant Master of the hospiatl approached me urgently and said to the child is 4 months premature, will have major respitory problems, possable massive brain damage and probably physical deformity.

We can start to attempt resusitation or we can make him comfortable and leave him be.

At 3 O'Clock in the morning with my wife semi concious, I had to make a decision that would affect me for the rest of my life.

Do everything neccasary to save him, was my answer.

I spent most of my evenings afterwards, sitting on a chair beside his incubator willing him to live. I did'nt pray because i'm not the praying type. I was convinced that if I sat there and concentrated on him, I could will him to live.
That was in December 1994. He was due to born in April 1995.
By March 1995, I was in such a bad state that I had a complete physical breakdown from sheer exhaustion.
Twice the life support machine was turned off and twice he kept on fighting. It was a year before we could breath easy. After six months we got him home but he slept with an alarm strapped to his chest that would start beeping if he stopped breathing at night. It was a year before we started sleeping at night.

Thomas was at The Lovebox gig with me tonight, and starts second year next thursday. A very smart boy with a very slight limp from cerebral palsy but otherwise a normal kid.

In that same ward in intensive care there were kids born 2 or 4 weeks premature but did not survive.

When I asked the doctors about this they explained that technology allows them to save children at an earlier premature age but they have no idea why some make it and some dont.

The nurses have their own theories. They talk about some kids "fight" for it and some kids dont. There is no scientific explanation for these things yet.

Did I impart a peice of my soul to help my child live? I think I did, but of course, I cant prove it.

That's an inspiring story, Johnny and I'm sure that Thomas knows he is as lucky to have you as you are to have him, Lovebox and all.

I don't know if you imparted a piece of your soul to make him live, (just mistyped 'love' for live there...) but it's not genetics and it's not nurturing, or conditioning or education that makes a man decide not to "make him comfortable and leave him be."

Thank you for sharing that story, Johnny and I wish you both the very best. The idea of the soul is indeed an interesting one. Never read O'Donoghue but the obits were interesting and I must look up Anam Cara anyway.

Re "leave him be", I have unfortunately heard of this remark much too often in the Irish health service. I know of a number of individuals with Spina Bifida, now holding down jobs and driving cars, whose parents were told the same thing when they were born. And believe me, it is still said in hospitals today.

I don't believe in souls in a religious way, but I believe in Soul, and you've got plenty Johnny. However did the PDs get you

I've been in premature babies wards a bit, and its hard to imagine how small and vulnerable they are, and how hard an environment it must be for them. I'm sure your baby was aware of you being there, and it helped. There have been experiments showing that a sheepskin rug, or a teddy, can help baby animals and humans develop. Your being there, and the confidence you had in your baby would have pressured and inspired the nurses and doctors to do everything they could.

Here's to you, and Thomas, and to everyone who won't give up on a good thing.

Thank you, people, for the kind words.
On the subject of the soul, it appears that 90% of the population of the planet believe in some form of afterlife and God(s).

A lot of humans have this very strong sense of spirit. Why is that, I wonder?

I have often said in the past that mans greatest invention is God. God fills in all the blanks and unknowns in our lives. Al the unexplained things are generally attributed to God or Gods Will.
This does not wash with me. I'm a sceptic in the idea that (a) God can control nature in that fashion.

What I do beleive is that within every concious being there is another strand of life that we have not yet quantified. This life force or soul is what we have yet to measure, if measure is even the correct word. Maybe "acknowledge" is appropriate.

For example, the work of Hypnotherapy is widely used in todays society. I myself used it 8 years ago when on the 1st of August 2000 (Liberation Day) I went to my first session.
I have not drunk alcohol nor smoked a cigerette since that day to this. I was a bottle of Red a day and dozen pints at the weekend and 20 fags a day man.
Somehow , and I still dont know how, I stopped drinking and smoking on that very first session.

Our science has conquered the physical world and we consider ourselves masters of the universe to the point that many will catagorically state that God or the Soul do not exist.

Hypnotists were circus performers a century ago.

Who knows what we will unveil in a century from now.

Johnny Keogh wrote:

I'm not a religious man but I am a spiritual man.; I believe in souls.
I have no proof of course but I believe because the I want to believe. Its a choice. Free will , if you like.
The ability to suspend dis-belief and to embrace to concept of souls.

I'm interested in your assertion that belief is a choice. I myself believe in God, but feel that I have no choice in the matter. Surely, as someone who doesn't follow God's teachings, I would choose not to believe in him. Unless it's a sunconscious thing. Or divine intervention, which would be messing with my free will.

Quote :

For example, the work of Hypnotherapy is widely used in todays society. I myself used it 8 years ago when on the 1st of August 2000 (Liberation Day) I went to my first session.
I have not drunk alcohol nor smoked a cigerette since that day to this. I was a bottle of Red a day and dozen pints at the weekend and 20 fags a day man.
Somehow , and I still dont know how, I stopped drinking and smoking on that very first session.

Our science has conquered the physical world and we consider ourselves masters of the universe to the point that many will catagorically state that God or the Soul do not exist.

I'm not sure that because hypnotherapy works for some people, it points to evidence that there is a soul - is that the point you're making, I'm not quite clear.

Soul is the essence of a person that is unquantifiable and indefinable. I don't think it answers to hypnotherapy or psychotherapy though it might make a person more amenable to any therapy. In the religious sense, it's what remains when everything else is gone and that's what it is for me. An individual doesn't have to be present for their soul to be present.

thank you for that story john.

your son is lucky to have you as a father.

i believe in souls. i also happen to believe in guardian angels.
(don't laugh).

i was hit head on by a car travelling at approx 60mph while i was on a bike. the kid in front of me was killed, my last memory of him was him flying past my ear while the car was coming towards me. i don't remember the colision, only thinking "oh God why here and now!" (i was abroad and knew that my parents hate flying!!!). i remember being somewhere where bright where i could only see about 2 feet in front of me (it was like being in a fog). then i found myself stumbling around on the side of the road holding my broken arm. there is no way in hell i should have survived that hit. i mean, head on, at 60mph which killed another cyclist!

i still cycle by the way!

Kate P wrote:

I'm not sure that because hypnotherapy works for some people, it points to evidence that there is a soul - is that the point you're making, I'm not quite clear.

The point was that there certain aspects of life that were considered hocus-pocus in the past like hypnotherapy but are now considered mainstream.

the same might be said for the theory of souls. In the future it may be possable to quantify the soul. To move the soul from the realm of faith into the realm of fact.

Who knows?

zakalwe wrote:

thank you for that story john.

your son is lucky to have you as a father.

i believe in souls. i also happen to believe in guardian angels.
(don't laugh).

i was hit head on by a car travelling at approx 60mph while i was on a bike. the kid in front of me was killed, my last memory of him was him flying past my ear while the car was coming towards me. i don't remember the colision, only thinking "oh God why here and now!" (i was abroad and knew that my parents hate flying!!!). i remember being somewhere where bright where i could only see about 2 feet in front of me (it was like being in a fog). then i found myself stumbling around on the side of the road holding my broken arm. there is no way in hell i should have survived that hit. i mean, head on, at 60mph which killed another cyclist!

i still cycle by the way!

Tahnks for the kind words.
That story is bloody amazing. There are many people who believe in angels or guardians. On this issue I'm not convinced but I would certainly not dismiss it out of hand. There is a very large body of work, particularly in Western Religions, on the influence of angels.
Has anyone studied it or have a deeper knowledge on the subject here?

Johnny Keogh wrote:

zakalwe wrote:

thank you for that story john.

your son is lucky to have you as a father.

i believe in souls. i also happen to believe in guardian angels.
(don't laugh).

i was hit head on by a car travelling at approx 60mph while i was on a bike. the kid in front of me was killed, my last memory of him was him flying past my ear while the car was coming towards me. i don't remember the colision, only thinking "oh God why here and now!" (i was abroad and knew that my parents hate flying!!!). i remember being somewhere where bright where i could only see about 2 feet in front of me (it was like being in a fog). then i found myself stumbling around on the side of the road holding my broken arm. there is no way in hell i should have survived that hit. i mean, head on, at 60mph which killed another cyclist!

i still cycle by the way!

Tahnks for the kind words.
That story is bloody amazing. There are many people who believe in angels or guardians. On this issue I'm not convinced but I would certainly not dismiss it out of hand. There is a very large body of work, particularly in Western Religions, on the influence of angels.
Has anyone studied it or have a deeper knowledge on the subject here?

i'm not sure if its a chubby baby with wings or a "stairway to heaven" type person, but something protected me then, there should be no way i survived that collision!

Quote :

Tahnks for the kind words.
That story is bloody amazing. There are many people who believe in angels or guardians. On this issue I'm not convinced but I would certainly not dismiss it out of hand. There is a very large body of work, particularly in Western Religions, on the influence of angels.
Has anyone studied it or have a deeper knowledge on the subject here?

Are you familiar with any of it, johnny?

I once had my angel cards read - it was part of lovely holistic treatments day run as a fundraiser by a friend of mine. I also had hot stone massage, reflexology and some other nice things done - it was that kind of day. But the card reading was extraordinary. In the last ten years I've properly cried twice and that was one occasion - I wept almost the whole way through. It was a very affirming experience and co-incidentally I plan to do it again fairly soon. I'll let you know how it goes....