The Soul Cluster: Reconsideration of a Millennia Old Concept

Author: Frecska Ede   Móró Levente   Wesselman Hank  

Publisher: Routledge Ltd

ISSN: 0260-4027

Source: World Futures: The Journal of General Evolution, Vol.67, Iss.2, 2011-01, pp. : 132-153

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Abstract

The article presents a comparative analysis of the theories on conceptions of soul in indigenous and early European traditions. The focal point of the study is the observation that the concept of soul is noticeably complex in aboriginal cultures, and its plural—especially tripartite—nature is the rule rather than the exception. Another observation is that the described pluralism, the number of soul components, and their attributes go through speculative changes as the tradition moves away of tribal origins, which have the shamanic state of consciousness as experiential source of knowledge instead of scholarly theorization. A three-network model of human experience is drawn to support the tripartition cum trilocation concept of soul.