Breathing soul

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Breath soul or breath soul is a term used in many cultures to denote the idea that the breath as the seat of life force (hence the term breath of life , see psyche ) also indicates the soul or is even identical to what is the human soul was viewed. In India there are correspondences in the terms Atman and Prana , in China there is the Hun soul and Qi .

The term breath soul corresponds more to the ethnological and religious studies terminology, the term breath soul describes in some cultures and religions only a partial aspect of the soul besides the free soul , which corresponds to the shadow as the “second self” . The term breath soul is also often used in connection with esoteric practices.

background

As is often the case with the derivation of very old ideas that have been handed down for a long time, there is also something speculative about the origins of the concept of the breathing soul. The following explanations are not meant to be a simple equation such as B. Breath soul = to understand breath of wind, but clarify the world of experience in which terms such as breath soul or breath soul are originally vivid, in this sense become sensual.

The origin of the idea of ​​the breathing soul is obviously explained by the fact that animal as well as human life shows itself through the constant activity of breathing. At the same time, breathing is linked to the invisible and therefore originally difficult to understand sound formation. Breathing is also linked to giving sounds with phonetic signs and then speaking in language, which is connected with ideas . It is still obvious to bring breath and wind ( ancient Greek ἄνεμος and Latin animus ) together.

The notion that is widespread among many primitive peoples that the souls of ancestors or other spirits express themselves in the whispers and whispers of the wind - which also has the power to move leaves and trees in an elusive because invisible way - is probably one of its causes to have. Perhaps under the impression of these experiences the idea of ​​a wandering of the breath soul through the idea of ​​a connection between human breath - air / wind - animal breath arises . The experience of odors, which are also elusive and apparently associated with the air, may also have given rise to further ideas such as an escape of an evil spirit from the body of the (rotting) corpse.

It seems possible that the practice of burning and smoke sacrifice, which is widespread in numerous ancient cultures, is generally based on the idea that the smoke (air / wind) rising from the burning of the sacrifice carries the essence of life within itself and towards the gods. For the culture of the classical Maya , the connection between breath soul and burnt offering is assumed on the basis of various traditions, practices and observations.

Mention should also be made of the opinion that the last breath, the last breath at death is understood as the escape of life force or a soul and that this indicates the end of life, that with the first breath, the entry of the breath or the soul into the Body begins at birth.

The idea of ​​the breath soul is also based on the terms breath and breath of life . In Latin, anima has the double meaning "soul" and "breath". In the Judeo-Christian tradition, the term rua (c) h encompasses a similar range of terms , and in the further course of the Old Testament there are considerations as to whether the breath of life of humans and animals might not have the same fate.

See also

literature

  • Hans-Peter Hasenfratz: The soul. Introduction to a basic religious phenomenon . Theological Publishing House, Zurich 1986, ISBN 3-290-11567-4 .
  • Hermann Hochegger: The ideas of “soul” and the dead spirit among African peoples. In: Anthropos 60, 1965, ISSN  0003-5572 , pp. 273-339.
  • Jill Leslie McKeever Furst: The natural history of the soul in ancient Mexico. Yale University Press, New Haven CT et al. 1995, ISBN 0-300-06225-7 .
  • Ivar Paulson : Soul concepts and belief in death of the Permian and Volga-Finnish peoples. In: Numen 11, No. 3, 1964, ISSN  0029-5973 , pp. 212-242.
  • Marielene Putscher: Pneuma, Spiritus, Geist. Concepts of the drive of life in their historical changes . Steiner, Wiesbaden 1974 (Habil. Med. Faculty Cologne 1970 with a list of sources from approx. 600 BC - 1700 AD)
  • Franz Rüsche: The soul pneuma. His development from the breath soul to the spirit soul. A contribution to the history of the ancient pneuma theory. Schöningh, Paderborn 1933 ( studies on the history and culture of antiquity 18, 3, ZDB -ID 510174-8 ).
  • Karl Andreas Taube : The gods of the classical Maya . In: Nikolai Grube (Ed.): Maya. God kings in the rainforest . Könemann, Cologne 2000, ISBN 3-8290-1564-X , pp. 263-278.

Individual evidence

  1. Taube, Karl: The gods of the classical Maya . In: Nikolai Grube (Ed.): Maya. God kings in the rainforest. Cologne 2000, pp. 263-278, pp. 271-272
  2. Zurich Bible , Ecclesiastes 3/16: “Man has no preference over animals. For all go to one place, all of them are made of dust, and all of them become dust again. Who knows whether the breath of human children rises or the breath of animals descends to earth? "