What you mention here is why I have always been dissatisfied with traditional dualism. It doesn't make sense that our souls are male or female, or even human for that matter. In traditional dualism if I were to take my soul and put into a grasshopper I should still find female humans attractive. But that doesn't seem right, I should have grasshopper thoughts, not human thoughts. How could I even operate a grasshopper without grasshopper thoughts? So the model I have been using for thinking is what I would call emergent dualism. Where our consciousness is an emergent property of our bodies and our soul. When the body dies, the emergent consciousness collapses and the soul leaves. When the soul finds a new body it enters it and a new consciousness emerges containing the properties of the original soul and the new body.
Last edited by Sansanoy; 02-18-2016 at 08:51 PM.
Hi sansanoy
In Buddhist belief systems your soul, if you like, is your awareness, that is what travels from one life to another. Buddhists always say 'treat all beings as your mother' as they believe in the infinite cycle of existence all beings have at one point or another have actually been your mother.
Co emergent dualism arises naturally when we are linked to the form of your next life. You never actually go anywhere you are continuously arising in your body , which you have a very strong connection to that is a lot harder to grasp. Where you appear to turn up is dictated by karma.
Last edited by Longeyes; 02-19-2016 at 08:30 AM.