Souls

thumb|Depiction of the soul leaving the body at the moment of death: The Grave (poem)|The Grave, illustrated by [[William Blake, engraved by Luigi Schiavonetti, 1808]]

immaterial being

Introspection is the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies on the observation of one's mental state, while in a spiritual context it may refer to the examination of one's soul. Introspection is closely related to human self-reflection and self-discovery and is contrasted with external observation.

ancient Egyptian religious concept

short epitaph or idiomatic expression wishing eternal rest and peace to someone who has died

A soulmate is a person with whom one feels a deep or natural affinity. This connection is often associated with love, romance, intimacy, sexuality, spirituality, or compatibility, and may also involve trust and comfort.

thumb|300px|, by Ephraim Moses Lilien|Ephraim Moshe Lilien (1874–1925). In Jewish mythology, a '''''' (; , from the Hebrew verb , meaning 'adhere' or 'cling') is a malicious possessing spirit believed to be the dislocated soul of a dead person. It supposedly leaves the host body once it has accomplished its goal, sometimes after being exorcised.

In philosophy and theology, metempsychosis () is the transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death. The term is derived from ancient Greek philosophy, and has been recontextualized by modern philosophers such as Arthur Schopenhauer, Kurt Gödel, Mircea Eliade, and Magdalena Villaba; otherwise, the word "transmigration" is more appropriate. The word plays a prominent role in James Joyce's Ulysses and is also associated with Nietzsche. Another term sometimes used synonymously is palingenesis.

Jiva (, IAST: '), also referred as Jivātman', is a living being or any entity imbued with a life force in Hinduism and Jainism. The word itself originates from the Sanskrit verb-root jīv, which translates as 'to breathe' or 'to live'. The jiva, as a metaphysical entity, has been described in various scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads. Each subschool of Vedanta describes the role of the jiva with the other metaphysical entities in varying capacities. The closest translation into English and Abrahamic philosophies would be the soul.

Treatise by Aristotle

In ancient Roman religion, the Manes (, , ) or Di Manes are chthonic deities sometimes thought to represent souls of deceased loved ones. They were associated with the Lares, Lemures, Genii, and Di Penates as deities (di) that pertained to domestic, local, and personal cult. They belonged broadly to the category of di inferi, "those who dwell below", the undifferentiated collective of divine dead. The Manes were honored during the Parentalia and Feralia in February.

doctrine that the soul is not naturally immortal

Pneuma () is an ancient Greek word for "breath", and in a religious context for "spirit". It has various technical meanings for medical writers and philosophers of classical antiquity, particularly in regard to physiology, and is also used in Greek translations of ruach רוח in the Hebrew Bible, and in the Greek New Testament.

thumb|268x268px|God resting after creation – Christ depicted as the creator of the world prior to his incarnation as Jesus, [[Byzantine mosaic in Monreale, Sicily.]]

religious motif

supernatural beings in ancient Egyptian religion

in Christian eschatology, Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell, the four last stages of the soul in life and the afterlife, often commended as a collective topic for pious meditation

The Japanese word refers to the spirit of a kami or the soul of a dead person. It is composed of two characters, the first of which, , is simply an honorific. The second, means "spirit". The character pair , also read , is used exclusively to refer to a ''kami's spirit. Significantly, the term is a synonym of shintai, the object which in a Shinto shrine houses the enshrined kami''.

A sin-eater is a person who consumes a ritual meal in order to spiritually take on the sins of a deceased person. The food was believed to absorb the sins of a recently dead person, thus absolving the soul of the person.

In Scientology beliefs, the concept of the thetan () is the spiritual being or self that constitutes the true identity of a person, and is distinct from the body and mind it inhabits and controls. Scientology teaches that a thetan is immortal, has lived through many past lives, does not cease to exist at body-death, and is typically reincarnated into a new body. Scientology also teaches that a thetan can temporarily separate from the body in a process known as "exteriorization". The concept forms the basis of Scientology’s understanding of consciousness, personal identity, and spiritual develo

1907 pseudo-scientific study by Duncan MacDougall

literary work

In Christian theology, Traducianism is a doctrine about the origin of the soul holding that this immaterial aspect is transmitted through natural generation along with the body, the material aspect of human beings. That is, human propagation is of the whole being, both material and immaterial aspects: an individual's soul is derived from the soul of one or both parents. This implies that only the soul of Adam was created directly by God (with Eve's substance, material and immaterial, being taken from out of Adam), in contrast with the idea of creationism of the soul, which holds that all souls

types of souls in Chinese philosophy

souls of the dead, as well as the name of the underworld

doctrine that God creates a soul for each body that is generated, as opposed to pre-existing before birth or being generated during conception

soul in Jainism

thumb|400px|The initial stages of human embryonic development.

The Sluagh (, ; ; English: 'host, army, crowd'), or Sluagh na marbh ('host of the dead'), were the hosts of the unforgiven dead in Irish and Scottish folklore. In the words of British folklorist Lewis Spence, "In the Western Isles of Scotland the Sluagh, or fairy host, was regarded as composed of the souls of the dead flying through the air, and the feast of the dead at Hallowe'en was likewise the festival of the fairies." Usually taking a crescent form, similar to a flight of grey birds, they were said to be able to approach and pick up a person from any direction and then transport them far

spirit or soul in Judaic and Christian philosophy and theology

range of beliefs that a person has two or more kinds of souls

individual characteristics attributed to a soul

In Nazi ideology, the race-soul, race soul or racial soul () is a mystical racial psyche greater than any individual member of the German race. The race-soul was variously believed to be the source of such things as justice and poetry; non-Aryan and mixed races were believed to lack these qualities.