LogFAQs > #975546382

Lokarin posted...

Ya, it's just that it annoys me when a magic system basically comes down to 'umm, just think really hard'

That's generally what you get with a "soft" system, where the writer doesn't really care about the mechanics because magic is a means to an end to tell a story, not an end in and of itself.

If you want "harder" magic systems, you should look into stuff like Brandon Sanderson's books, where it often feels like he cares more about how the magic works than he does about the story itself.



NeoSioType posted...

Soul has a lot of overlap with the mind minus the surviving death bit. We regard consciousness as the person in the body but that's how we think of soul too in the modern era, not just some animate supernatural force that makes things living. If the soul isn't consciousness then how does modern era reconcile and decide what's the person between the two?

It's arguably an extension of the difference between "mind" and "brain" in modern psychology (especially once you start bringing things like biochemistry into the mix). Where there's overlap but also differences.

If you want to really think about it in a complex way, look at how the ancient Egyptians used to break things down:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_conception_of_the_soul


And there's actually a more simplified version of that in this game/setting:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummy:_The_Resurrection


You might also want to look into how various other Eastern religions view the concept of the soul. For example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%80tman_(Hinduism)


Essentially, while a lot of people (especially in the modern West) think of the "soul" as just being your personality/sense of identity, other cultures would argue that's more the function of your mind, while your soul is more of an animating force and that doesn't necessarily retain your "consciousness" or identity in the afterlife (ie, you're not YOU in Heaven, at least not as you currently exist). It's an aspect of your "higher self" that makes you what you are more than who you are.

Or to kind of sum all of that up, your soul isn't YOU, but it's the part of you that makes you special. And potentially the part of you that continues to exist beyond your physical death and death of the self - which might be why in religions that assume reincarnation occurs you're not reborn as the exact same person with the same memories and personality (which are more part of your "mind"), even if your soul does benefit from the fundamental lessons learned and karma gained/lost in any given life. In some sense then, your ego/mind would effectively be the resulting fusion of your soul impressing itself upon your physical body's neurochemistry. Three distinct aspects, all interconnected and interdependent.

(Or to put it all into a more Cognitive Psychology-based metaphor, if your "brain" is the computer hardware and your "mind" is the program you're running on it, then your "soul" is the person sitting at the keyboard manipulating it all.)

From that perspective your soul is your connection to the primordial forces of the universe, which is why it's key to manipulating reality via "magic" (and thus why any creature or creation without a soul would be unable to do so).

Then you'd also have to ask just what HAS a soul - most Western Judeo-Christian influenced philosophy would say that only humans have souls (so no, sorry, your dog doesn't go to Heaven), whereas Eastern philosophy tends to fall more on the side that all living things have some form of soul (and that they may transmigrate - so today's turtle might be tomorrow's king... or vice-versa).