Human Person as Embodied

Spirit
The concept of Transcendence involves the
belief that humans are embodied spirits.
Meaning we are consisted of both a physical
body and a soul, which is the non-physical part.
Think of our soul as an organ that is part of the
body but is not as physical as the heart. It is invisible as one would say. Belief of the existence of the
soul states that since it is non-physical, it cannot age nor can it die. As Plato states; “-body is material
hence, it is mutable and destructible. On the other hand, the soul is immortal; hence it is immutable and
indestructible.” Religions all over the world also support this belief by saying that our physical forms are
mere shells that our souls house. Hinduism believes that the soul reincarnates in a cycle where it
involves taking a form of a human or animal depending on its Karma. Christianity also approves in the
existence of the spirit, believing that someday we will all die and wither physically and our souls will
reside in heaven where it belongs.

But all of this is based purely on philosophical realizations and millennia-old religious doctrines. Science
has not yet proven these beliefs to be valid. As far as we know… when a body dies, it rots on the earth.
Answers may soon come to light as our progressing technology may help in uncovering the truth. In the
far future humans will eventually come to that stage and break the stigma. But let us count on them for
that, for now we can think of the possibilities that the soul is real.

It all starts and ends with the human brain, that is responsible for our ideas, arguments, and reasoning.
This may also apply to the idea of Transcendence, because philosophies are ideas and concepts thought
by a person or a group of individuals. What part of our bodies allows us to think, it’s none other than our
brains. The brain has vast and mysterious capabilities. Believing that we have not yet unlocked its fullest
potential, it is immeasurable and is still unknown. In addition to this are the emergence (or distinction)
of brain disorders that allows people experiencing it to think and adapt the outside world differently
from the rest of us. This makes me hypothesize if is it really our souls that are in control of us? Or is it
our brains that give us the idea and the command to believe such beliefs in the beginning?

But realizing this can come with a downfall. Not only because my mere knowledge of the human minds’
capacity is just the stem and I have not yet found the turnip beneath it. Other than that, let us think of
the possibility that the future minds uncovering the truth about the concept of souls as an idea created
by the minds that was fabricated by the earliest brains in history. Changes in data and retaliation from
the firm believers will also be a problem. It is more dangerous that we thought it will be, says Paul
Bloom in his essay “The Soul is not Real”. In addition to that, the human race may find itself thinking of
the bigger challenge upon its discovery; even our position in the ecosystem will be questioned. As
Patrick Lee and Robert P. George suggest, in their journal “First Things”, if science proves that human
activities, abstract reasoning and free will are all created by brain processes, seemingly the superiority of
human beings from other living organisms will be considered null. This will result to greater questions of
whether or not shall we continue to treat animals as animals. What if there will come a time when a
dolphin starts to understand human behaviors more than it can now, or start communicating to us in a
different way other than our established language? We can obviously not consider it as a human being
because of its species, but can we consider it as human in mind?

The human race’s perception as an embodied spirit will also change. As Bloom says, the thought of the
afterlife will disappear and we will soon think what will really happen after death.