By A.M. Kent

“The soul becomes dyed with the colour of its thoughts.” Marcus Aurelius, Meditations.

With the causation of consciousness briefly laid as a foundation, along with a flourishing of sensations as by-products. I now would like to move onto the temperament, or nature, of the soul. If it is to act as an ultimate observer, then, without adding a humanistic bias or perception as much as possible, what is the souls nature other than an infinite catalyst? I shall discuss a few possibilities, and throughout this evaluation a temporary, yet more plausible conclusion shall hopefully arrive.

The Soul posits consciousness through its reactions, and our sensations of existence are the moving, as we perceive it linearly, through the gaze of the soul as an ultimate observer. It is clear already that for this to be the case, the soul must be many dimensions above what we perceive. Time is often thought of as fifth dimensional, where it would be akin to a physical object more so than a passing hand that ages us. I believe the soul transcends even time, due to the fact that it is the catalyst for an infinitely expanding reaction of all matters. So, with this logic, the soul is at the very least sixth dimensional.

My first hypothesis is that the soul does not have a nature or temperament that we would define in terms of the human spirit, instead, it could be neutral as if it were a mirror reflecting back whatever we throw at it. If this was the case it could account for the infinite nature of the cosmos, and it would also imply that the soul itself was conscious, as it would observe itself, thus creating its own reaction. This is a hypothesis that I favour, as it plays to not only the self-refectory nature of the human condition, but also matter in general. Take quantum entanglement, where matter is inexorably linked with utter disregard to the potential vast expanse of distance that separates them, in a seemingly infinite cosmic soup. Such a thing reminds me of Jung’s theory on the collective unconsciousness, and my own in Void Around Sunlight (although I am no Carl Jung!).

Can the souls temperament evolve? I believe it must, in order to maintain its top down structure, it must be the singularity that nature evolves towards. Seen as what exists is infinite, so much so that even energy cannot escape, hence the law of conservation. The soul must outpace infinity. Is it possible that the infinite expansionary reaction of the cosmos itself is some kind of information transference so that the soul can evolve its form ? If this were the case, then it would act much more like a hive mind or Boltzmann Brain than this notion of an ethereal antagonist that observes matter. Additionally, if the soul is like a mirror, causing its own metamorphosis, then that would mean that it is comprised of something, be it matter, energy, or otherwise. It seems the theory of a self-reflecting soul brings many questions up, however, this does not necessarily make it a bad thing.

The soul as a catalyst for an ever growing infinite must exist in a hierarchal structure that is akin to absolutism. It must be a sovereignty to the nature of all, it is a creator but its intentions, if it has any at all, are unclear. The intentions may be what separates it from traditional notions of deities and God-heads. Is there a purpose to this mass creation, or is it simply the by-product of its own existence? When thinking about the span of a humans life, if one is to consider something beyond, then all we can do is attribute it the virtue of patience. If so, and if this is in any way relevant, then whatever the soul is, it has the virtue of patience. This is anthropomorphic in nature, and an argument for anthropomorphism merely being a point on a spectrum of reactionary matter, thus validating and dismissing itself at the same time, could be made. However, this falls back on the idea of the soul being above time, and if so then patience is not something needed as the past, present and future exist all at once from its perception.

It seems at the very least, that the soul is complying with this internal combustion of all that is. It is neither resisting or advocating. Ideas around the death of the universe additionally need to be investigated, such as heat death or time merely deteriorating, or maybe an eternal return ? If this is the case then it could be said that the soul will inevitably make a martyr out of itself. If the soul causes its own suicide, then its being is finite, even if it is vastly beyond our comprehensions of what finite is. This also implies that their is another form of ‘time’ that lingers even over the absolutism’s head. Perhaps a can of worms has truly been opened!