Soul Eaten
by Stacey Kathleen Wenkel

Do humans have souls? The question is a burning one for some and for others it doesn't matter anymore than, "If nothing sticks to Teflon®, how do they make it stick to the pan?"

The concept of a soul, of having one, of what happens to it over the course of a lifetime is tied closely with religion and spirituality. The issue of religion, of spirituality, provides two ways of answering this question: one can believe the Bible, as fact rather than fiction; or one can believe in evolution as fact, rather than fiction. While the two concepts aren't mutually exclusive, they would bring about two different viewpoints.

From the biblical perspective, humans had religion from the time of their creation. God created Adam and Eve in His own image, making them spiritual--if not religious--beings. They believed in their creator because their existence was proof that such a being existed. There was no room for doubt. Even after the serpent made its way into Eden, they retained their souls because it was their souls that were put in jeopardy by giving in to temptation.

Looking at the question from a biblical perspective, then, humans were created with souls, and they still have them. Their actions define how their soul is weighted for the after life. This is the easy answer to the question of "Do humans have souls?" For people who need to believe that humans have souls, this is probably the right answer, certainly the easiest answer.

For the people who question, however, this answer isn't enough. If a person believes that humans evolved over time, rather than springing forth from dust, the easy answer isn't the right place to stop questioning. If a person believes that having a soul is intertwined with religion and spirituality, and that a Supreme Being didn't create humans in Zir own image, then there must be a different explanation.

Looking at the question from this perspective, humans probably didn't start out with souls because the concept of religion, of spirituality wasn't available when humans first evolved. Humans were like animals, acting to survive with no inner questioning, no, "Is killing this <person/animal/plant/microorganism> right or wrong?" or, "Will I go to <insert appropriate afterlife experience here> if I do this?" Humans weren't capable of asking these questions because the concepts weren't present.

As humans evolved, the notion of right and wrong became more ingrained in their social structures. Killing for the sake of killing was Wrong, killing in defense was forgivable, and not killing was Right. As the notion of Right and Wrong became more focused, there had to be a reason for the dichotomy. If an action was Wrong, what would happen? Punishment on earth wasn't enough because some people would never be caught, so the gods were given the chance to punish these people in the after life.

So humans have gone through centuries and centuries of wondering if what they do will affect them in the afterlife. In short, they've worried about their souls. Recently, people have questioned religion more and more, the concept of an afterlife--a single place for the soul to rest for all time--has become twisted, distorted, changed, and ignored as more people question beliefs that have been evolving and solidifying since before the Romans took the Greek pantheon and made it their own.

People have stopped considering how their actions will affect other people and have started worrying about how everything effects them. The world has become very egocentric, a place where a person does Good Things not because they are Good Things, but because doing them will show the person in a positive light. Action for the sake of action, for the sake of how it reflects on "me" shows a distinct lack of soul.

The evolution of humans brought souls with them, but at the present, politics and image and ego gnaw at whatever soul a person might have had once until little remains. Many legends were formed ages ago, filled with nightmarish creatures that feasted on the souls of humans, but it seems that humans have become their own soul eaters.