
What is a soul? Throughout recorded history humans have wanted to know who they are. They have questioned and sought to know their true inner being.
Early Greek philosophers like Aristotle emphasized the importance of the phrase: Know Thyself.
Your soul is your true being or energy. It is your real intelligence, your innate qualities and tendencies that have been formed over eons of time.
This is who you are!
Soul, Inner Being, Energy, Life Force, Qi, The Real You, Spirit
Your spiritual being is referred to different words. It is known as the soul, life force, real you, qi, or energy.
In the diagram above, the soul is depicted as a halo above the stick person.
As we delve into “What is a soul?”, we reference material from the worlds of science and religions and philosophies. You will probably relate to various words used, based on your background.
When you connect more of your feeling and intellectual natures, you will discover truths from either of these perspectives. Many times these worlds of science and religion are saying the same thing, only using different words or coming from varying viewpoints.
You may have heard that you have a soul. Actually, you do not have a soul, you are a soul!
You are a Soul with a Body, not a Body with a Soul
What Is a Soul?: Eternal Energy or Spirit
Science has found that one of the laws of the universe is conservation of energy. You cannot create or destroy energy, you can only change its form.
Many religions say you are eternal and your soul continues on after physical death.
As a soul you are a free agent in the universe. This is provided, you truly understand that you are a soul with a body.
Living as a Soul with a Body: Quick Way to Discover
To get more from reading this, we can go from “what is a soul?” to making this question more personal: what is my soul. How can I get a feeling for the answer that rings true for me?
Many people have heard words like this before about being a spiritual being with a human body. They may agree with this, but what’s important is not just hearing the words, but:
Do you feel this way?
Are you living this way in your life?
Here is one quick way you can tell how much you are living as a soul in the physical world. Look at your last few days, or week.
- Do you have more days that are going well for you?
- Do you feel good more of the time?
- Are you doing what you feel you really want and need to be doing much of the day?
On the other hand have more of your days not been going well?
- Maybe you’re not enjoying yourself much.
- Have you felt frustrated often, or caught up in negative emotions or situations?
- Have you been with people that you haven’t enjoyed being with?
- Have you been spending too much of your time doing the things you need to do, in order to survive, or for others, but not what you really want to be doing?
If you are honest with yourself, and take time to answer these questions, you will get more of a feeling of being a soul.
Where do you stand with the answers? Go ahead and take a few minutes and look at your days. Note how they have been going.
You can use a piece of paper and list what you have been doing in recent days and how you feel about it. This can include your involvements at home, work, or wherever you have been spending your time.
When you are done, you will know where you are at. This can be a valuable exercise to know more about What is a Soul? It all starts with knowing yourself and how you are feeling. After all, the feelings are the language of the soul and spirit.
Evaluate Your Answers

The more days you are relaxed and enjoying yourself, feeling your good, kind loving being, this means you are living more as a soul with a body.
If there are more days where you have been stressed out, have not been enjoying yourself, you did not learn, or feel you got much for the investment of your time, then you are caught up too much in the physical world. You do not realize you are a soul on a deeper level.
Congratulate yourself on the times you are living your life as a soul and feeling good. Even if there were not many times, you can build on those pluses and have more of those experiences.
If there were difficult situations that came up, did you do something about it? Did you go for a solution, or possibly you left the situation. You did not let it throw you off? That is a plus.
If there are too many days that are not going well for you, you can make adjustments. You can clarify more “what is a soul?” and find ways to bring your true being out in you life.
If you have many days that you feel you are doing well, that is great! You can take time to appreciate and feel good about where you are at.
You may find ways to expand further as a soul with a body.
“What is a Soul?”: Its Connection to the Body
Silver Cord and Moving On
The connection between the soul and the physical body is called the silver cord. It is seen in the below diagram. Some religious people shave a spot on their head where the silver cord connects with their soul.
The soul feeds life energy through the silver cord into the physical body to keep the body alive. The soul is your real intelligence and the connection with the spiritual world.
The silver cord is referred to in the Bible: “Before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” Ecclesiastes 12:6-7
When a person passes on, they sever the silver cord. If they have clear understanding and awareness about their existence, they return home to God, the Universe, the All or whatever word you choose to call it.
If they do not have an understanding of why they are here on planet earth, they can continue on in a confused state after they leave their physical body.
They may have done well in their career, raising a family, or even been highly respected in their community, but they may not know who they really are as a soul and what they are here for.
They can be so attached to the things of planet earth that they stay and become earthbound. You can hear about people who die and stay around a loved one, are still in their house, or some other place. They did not understand that the material word was a means to an end and not an end in itself.
This state of mind is called limbo and is represented as the lines that are next to the stick man in the diagram here. These lines represent the different levels of consciousness.
The ovals below the stick figure shown here, represent confused energy.
You can sense this energy as negativity or depression. The key is to know this is not you. It is an outside energy you can sense. When you are relaxed, this lower level of energy does not stay around you.
Spirit Guides, Guardian Angels, or Inner Guidance
In the last picture above, the three ovals above the stick figure represent Guides or Angels. They have a higher energy and your nervous system can feel this as chills when they come around you.
You come here to planet earth with a team of angels to help you do your life’s work. You can learn to communicate consciously with your angels. You can tap into their assistance and experience a more rewarding life.
Your angels respect your free will. They will work with you, but not for you. If you want them to help you, they will. If you do not want their assistance, they will let you be.
When you sever the silver cord and leave your physical body, you return home. Your physical body is made up of the elements of planet earth. It changes form and returns to the earth.
The guardian angels are still with you when you sever the silver cord and return to the spiritual world. These angels appear as white lights and continue to assist you. They will help you understand your experiences on earth and evolve further as a soul.
Learn more…
Deeper Programs and e-Newsletter
The Real You: delve more into what is a soul, your inner guidance or guardian angels and a bigger picture of your existence. You can communicate clearly with your angels. You know for yourself the overall truth about you as a soul and how you fit into the overall scheme of things.
You are truly free and will experience inner peace and a sense of security when you connect consciously with your spiritual helpers.
Tools are available here to have a two-way communication with your angels. Know, that you know what is a soul. Clarify and live your inner dreams and desires that are part of the Real You.
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Learn more about life as a soul on Planet Earth and beyond in the
Life Mastery with the Angels Series: A Manual for the Real You
Go To Spiritual Being From What is a Soul
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