Sir: There is a long standing tradition among men that ought to be examined and discussed with a view to unraveling its truth or otherwise. Immediately someone dies, everyone around the dead pays condolence visit and prays for the soul of the dead to rest in peace while some also pray for the repose of the soul. No one seems to bother finding out if actually human beings have souls and or whether souls die and rest as soon as someone dies.

According to the dictionary, the soul is described as “the spiritual and immaterial part of human beings and animal which is immortal.” The inclusion of animals as having souls makes the entire concept a bit complicated because in most religions, animals are subjected to man who uses them as food. If animals are now said to have souls just like man, does man have the right to kill a soulful being like him? Does the soul in slaughtered animals die or live on? If soul is said to be immortal, is it right to wish the soul of the dead to rest in peace?

To begin with, the existence of soul is a matter of faith, philosophy and religion as it has no definite scientific proof. In Science, all manners of consciousness whether in man or animal are viewed as a product of the brain and man himself is even viewed also as higher animal.

On the other hand, most spiritual traditions believe that soul is non-physical essence, an enduring self beyond the body though with no definitive evidence to prove or disprove either perspective. Since soul therefore belongs to the spiritual essence, many religions and philosophy posit the soul as the non-physical core of a person surviving death and distinct from the body.

Soul is seen as metaphysical reality beyond the scope of natural experiments and since there is no empirical evidence of the existence of soul, the import therefore is that the belief in soul may just be another bogus human imagination and nothing more. Again, another proof of man’s lack of proper understanding about his belief about the so-called soul is in the prayer offered to the dead. By praying that the soul of the dead rest in peace when soul is supposed to be immortal suggests complete confusion about the quality of the so-called soul. How is a soul which is believed never to die expected to rest in peace at the same time?

It goes without a saying therefore that like many other human conceptions most of which may be discovered to be fake in the long run, the whole idea of soul may just be another creation of the human mind existing only within the realm of fantasy and imaginations without any reality to it whatsoever. Why should anyone even be surprised at this when man, having seen what happens to the dead with his own eyes, would still adopt the phrase: “rest in peace”  when it was certain and he knows fully well that the dead only “rot in  peace”? So, who knows whether the idea of soul is just one of those human conceptions aimed at creating an eternal obscurity about himself.

Jide Oyewusi is coordinator of Ethics Watch International Nigeria.