"Hey boss, where does the soul come from?" Ben asks out of the blue. I have melodramatic outbursts but he excels at Big Unanswerable Questions.
"Oh please, let me finish my morning tea," I groan. I haven't been sleeping well and this doesn't help.
"Where is it? Is it consciousness? I mean, I know scientists are trying to find the source of it in the brain but-"
"Mind and body reside within consciousness not the other way around,"
"Do I have a soul?" Ben asks. Wow, he's really in deep waters today.
" I don't know Ben, only you can determine that," I say automatically and realize that's the right answer.
I try to stop this line of discussion because like our debate about physics ( see Ben #1) it will just go in circles and it's too damn early in the day for this.
"Oh," he sounds disappointed.
"Actually no one really understands consciousness. The scientist think we're just a collection of genes like legos that can be rearranged into the perfect human, as if parents can order up one. People aren't born as blank slates, we come with personalities -a soul -and that can override a great deal of nature and nurture," I try to explain.
"I saw a lot of that in the nursery, where they wanted to create the perfect tree, flower or vegetables. They do that with people too?" Ben snorts in disgust at the meddling with the natural order.
"It called eugenics, to be Gods, to defy fate," I reply with equal disgust.
"Wasn't that the premise of Frankenstein?" Ben wonders.
"Yes, Doctor Frankenstein was the real monster, not his creation. It seems obvious now but Shelly showed how perverted the idea was at a time when Science discovered genetics and embraced the conceit," I point out.
"It didn't address the nature of the soul very well though," Ben isn't letting go of his argument.
"Hell no, scientists don't even acknowledge the soul, that's too philosophical for them. They don't even consider Reincarnation which would explain how seemingly normal people can sire a genius like Einstein or a mutant like Jeffery Dahmer. "
I shudder at the genetic crap shot that is life and we both fall into silent reflection.
3 comments:
I liked the ebb and flow of that entry .... I'm glad that Ben is there for you.
I’m waiting for the next discussion / I want to know
That does seem like the right answer.
Only the soul-haver can determine whether they have a soul.
I think our soul is the embodiment of our daily actions and reactions and the thing which is behind them.
[Glad I found you on KindTree today!]
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