One of the three biggest lies (or misconceptions, depending on who promotes it and why) ever perpetrated on humankind is the idea that body and soul are separate "realities," and that the metaphysical half of the equation is the "real" reality while the physical half is temporary, inferior, and less significant. This has tremendous consequences for psychology and physics, but I will leave that to those more qualified than I to address. I will limit my remarks today to religion.
The insistance on this dualism has led to religious authoritarianism on the one hand and avoidance of social ethics on the other. Hierarchical religious authorities have claimed control over our "eternal souls" and literally tried to scare the hell out of people while controlling their lives and resources. They have minimized the importance of this life, this world, and our responsibility for creation and one another while claiming that the only important reality is the life to come, life after death. They have advocated an ethic of individualism and personal morality and denied the shared joy of community and responsibility that is our true nature.
"Soul" is only a description of a characteristic or function of who we are. It has no independent existence apart from the total entity that is us. The ancient Hebrews had admirable insight when they wrote in Genesis that "God" breathed into the shaped "form" and man became nephesh, living soul. They knew that we are a whole and as such we came from, share in, and return to the oneness that is. If you asked me to describe or define "God," which I can not begin to do, I would only begin by saying that God is one, the oneness of all, and that it is a great mystery that we are in the oneness.
So what does this suggest for us? Humility. Refusal to be dogmatic. Silence. I stand in awe and yearn to love and be loved.
Oh, the other two lies are the right to private property and capitalism as the only legitimate economic system for human progress.
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