At what point, if any, does the soul leave the body?

The Tibetan Book of the Dead is what you need ,this is a document that gives instructions on how to guide a soul through the various levels of death into the afterlife.

It is said to reveal a vast knowledge,of this very thing

All funeral rituals are designed to let the newly dead know they are dead,and they must join the afterlife

Failure to properly communicate their death to the dead results in stuck spirits they are the ones that haunt our houses and so on

Siberian Shamans believe the haunting after life of a person is about three hundred years

certain Buddhist monks are capable of ,mummifying themselves to death and creating a place for their souls to reside in this world. They do this to perform a specific act of protection of some sacred place

A Tibetan monk did this and made himself a little shrine to live in overlooking his favorite valley,it was this area that he dedicated himself to protecting,apparently in all of Tibet his valley is still safe


the way I understand it ,there is no moment of soul leaving body but a gradual knowledge that the body not capable of housing the soul any longer


I guess in one sense the soul doesn't leave the body it's the other way around


At least that's what I heard

reply to post by they see ALL


About "cool stories involving dead people's fingernails/hair growing"...
Just stories. The skin dries and recedes, giving the appearance of growth. I know, high ick factor.

Me personally, I don't put much stock in the existance of souls.

Originally posted by invisiblewomanthe way I understand it ,there is no moment of soul leaving body but a gradual knowledge that the body is not capable of housing the soul any longer

absolutely brilliant. Ill shut up now.

As I dont believe the soul is "in" the body, but rather the body is "in" the soul, there is then no point that the soul "leaves" the body.

I think they soul is a more expansive entity which lets a part or piece of itself identify with the body throughout the waking state. When the body is sleeping, the soul is much less identified. When the body dies it releases its identification entirely.

As an analogy: We use a computer, but that doesnt mean we are inside the computer.

Please dont ask me why I think this way.

does that mean you don't want to talk about this anymore ? Cause I have yet to explain the multiversal existence of all that is!

Darn! I could on like this for days

Originally posted by invisiblewoman
does that mean you don't want to talk about this anymore ?

It means Im too lazy to explain myself.

reply to post by Skyfloating


Skyfloating ! you're killing me !
you started a post but you're to lazy to talk about it

silly Skyfloating!

maybe you will have more ambition tomorrow?

reply to post by invisiblewoman


OK, we can talk a little. I was just browsing through ATS and found it interesting how this whole talk of the soul actually presupposes a soul inside the body, as in, somehow "trapped" or "enclosed" or something...however, this is just another "viewpoint" or way to see it.

Yes scientist just said they found out the universe is virtural reality, maybe its like in game you get killed no lifes left so you die. have to put another dollar in to play. Hey I'm not kidding, I wonder if we are all in some virtural reality machine somewhere, we are totally bored so we come here to feel alive.

[edit on 23-11-2008 by googolplex]

reply to post by Skyfloating


In the holographic universe you exist in all times and your WHOLE existence is transmitted everywhere

So the we we recognize is far from being all there is and body as we seem to understand it is as you say ,NOT where we are,it's just another ASPECT manifestation of us ,maybe it's only an appendage like a finger or hair

the hologram is the real you and it contains all the information that is you

and everything and everyone is one

Hi There,

theyseeALL:

At what point, if any, does the soul leave the body?

Of course, I don't have an answer to this question, but I believe I can make a few speculative and interesting observations...

Setting aside all and any connotations with anything linking soul with religion, let us ask a simple question...does the 'soul' exist? Can we provide a plausible definition by which we can accept that it does, in terms finite or infinite?

When you awake in the morning, somewhat tired and weary from sleep, you awaken to your self-identity...that which you know and feel sentiently to be you. You are re-connected to your own proprioceptive (inner-body) data and memories. Part of this daily re-cognition of 'your' self is the perception of your own mind/consciousness. It matters not at the moment the means by which mind/consciousness is generated, by accepting Descartes mode of self-analysis, we sentiently agree "Je pense, donc je suis" (I think, therefore I am). However, we must note that Descartes famous quote does not necessarily deliver a overwhelming proof analysis of the soul, per se, but that it provides proof positive that 'something' is (in terms we understand) thinking. Whatever that 'something' is...is still somewhat debatable.

Nevertheless, we can allow ourselves freedom to speculate. In a nutshell, the way I personally view soul and spirit (and I use the term spirit for want of a better term, and also without any religious connotation), is to use an analogy...: if spirit is the canvas, then soul is the image that appears on the canvas...the painter of which, are the life experiences we undergo. Following this scenario, spirit develops a 'soul-of-self' out of the life experiences as the body matures to adulthood and into old age, up to death; and thus, souls do exist in finite terms that we can accept.

The soul (of self) is not separate from spirit, but is spirit moulded and 'flavoured' (instead of 'shaped') by the life experiences, and for soul to continue a post-mortem consciousness, requires that spirit remains both cohesive and energised by some means, and that all memories remain equally cohesive and retrievable after the death of the physical body.

Is there a mechanism which we can speculate that provides a understanding as to how spirit is formed and how it becomes conscious? Surprisingly, the answer is yes, but again, it is speculation on my part; and is quite a 'natural' not supernatural process. Unfortunately, we have to assume a couple of principles that are not currently verifiable, as our technology is not yet sensitive enough for such verification.

Basically, spirit is nothing more than primary energy, and is formed into a 'energised' entity in the womb. All the physical materials that come together to make a child, hold within them, already in-situ as it were, primary energy. It is this that is shaped by the natural process of gestation into a conscious (spirit) entity, and from birth onwards, the entity is shaped by life itself. The mechanism by which consciousness is imbued into the entity is described by the correspondence of quanta with each other.

When quanta interface with each other, they do so by their surrounding fields (like two magnets correspond through their magnetic fields). As they correspond, they exchange energy which invoke higher-energy states in both of them, and is represented by the creation of a 'resonance' that lasts only as long as the interaction between them. This is the mechanism of consciousness, for it is this resonance that we proprioceptively perceive as consciousness/mind. It is important to note that we do not have a mind that is conscious, but a conscious we perceive as mind. Thus, spirit is conscious by this mechanism...quanta in the very material structure of our bodies, are corresponding with each other, exchanging energies and raising resonances that imbue a condition of consciousness in us.

Our consciousness is multilayered through frequency and wavelength, but held within a finite spectrum due to the filtering aspects of the physical materials in which it manifests. The reason why spirit remains cohesive is due to the accumulation of memory...assimilated resonanes of life experiences which 'flavour spirit with a 'soul-of-self'. Another analogy we can use is...if spirit is the actor, then soul-of-self is the character and personality it becomes through life. Memory holds spirit in cohesion, and when physical death occurs, a wider expansion in consciousness occurs because the filtering of the denser physical materials are no longer apparent. External radiations, ie light and sound, impinge upon the cohesive structure of spirit and bring it into instant consciousness by the mechanism already discussed...which may speculatively explain how NDE'ers are able to 'see' and 'hear' during their experience?

As regards to the point at which spirit disconnects from the debser physical structure of the body...I would posit that it occurs when correspondence between the structure of spirit and that of the body is fully inhibited. Indeed, Slawinski has even studied the moment of death in organisms such as molluscs and mice, and has recorded the emittance of something called necrotic radiation...the so-called 'light-shout'; although, there does not seem to be anything to tie any particular frequency of the EM spectrum with the coding and encoding of spirit, and therefore to tie the 'light-shout' with spirit.

Hope these speculations prove interesting...

Best wishes

Originally posted by Skyfloating
As I dont believe the soul is "in" the body, but rather the body is "in" the soul, there is then no point that the soul "leaves" the body.

I think they soul is a more expansive entity which lets a part or piece of itself identify with the body throughout the waking state. When the body is sleeping, the soul is much less identified. When the body dies it releases its identification entirely.

As an analogy: We use a computer, but that doesnt mean we are inside the computer.

Please dont ask me why I think this way.

When the computer dies, the person behind it can finally get off the internet! ahhh reality at last!

Thanks to all of you who replied to my post. You have given me much to think through.

Originally posted by invisiblewoman
the way I understand it ,there is no moment of soul leaving body but a gradual knowledge that the body not capable of housing the soul any longer

-Invisiblewoman, when I read this, I had one of those deep feelings of relief moments. You know what I mean. It lasts just a second, but is composed of absolute peace and as soon as it's gone, you try over and over to get it back, but can't.

I think I'll wait three days.

I would have to assume your soul leaves your body when you die. Energy cannot be destroyed so "you" still exist somewhere, somehow, always.

Originally posted by juveous

Originally posted by Skyfloating
As an analogy: We use a computer, but that doesnt mean we are inside the computer.

Please dont ask me why I think this way.

When the computer dies, the person behind it can finally get off the internet!

ahhh reality at last!

This is so hilarious and yet at the same time so scarily close to the truth it's not even funny!

2nd line

reply to post by they see ALL


It can depend on whether or not the individual leaves the body instantly or over a long period of time.

If a person begins the slow process, they will begin to disassociate with their body before they actually leave. They will say things such as, "Her legs are beautiful" when looking at their legs.

When the soul leaves, it also depends on the level of awareness. But for the most part it is within seconds of the the heart stopping and the final breath.

reply to post by they see ALL


A long time ago, roughly 25 or so years ago, I read an article that when the soul leaves the body, the body gets lighter. The weight difference according to the article depended on how good of a person you were. The doctors had people who were ready to die on a scale and when the soul left, it could be as little as 1/8oz to 3lbs!
The control subjects were dogs whom they say have no souls...no weight change occured there. Which is a real shame since my dog Ranger would have made a great human and was smarter than most too!

reply to post by they see ALL
How quickly you leave your body at death depends on how eager or afraid you are.

You can leap towards the light, delightedly exploring the next phase of your adventure,
you can let yourself be drawn into the all-understanding embrace of the great spirit,
you can let your identification with people or places in this plane bind you to them, so you stay in the one place, or follow a particular person,
you can cling like mad to the remains of your body, believing that is you.

And for all I know, there might be many other possibilities.
The important thing is that it comes down to your own free will.

As for what the soul is,
there is one energy which is the sea our material universe floats in.
We live in this energy, we are this energy.
Our ego is aware of this energy within us, identifying with it, calling it our soul.
This energy can be held onto over thousands of incarnations, and on journeys through other planes.
This is the "me" which each of us know.

Some people broaden their awareness, and realise their "me" is not confined within their bodies, their soul extends outwards, with no clear boundary.

"Enlightenment" is the awareness that there is only one "me", an incredible soul energy of which we all are manifestations.


However enlightenment is not necessarily the goal.
You are this energy. You constructed this game.
It's up to you to decide what you want to put into it,
what You want to achieve by playing it out.

Originally posted by Aislin
The question of when the soul leaves the body is of interest to me.
Different cultures or religions have a specific time you must wait before burying or cremating a body. Since I have decided to be cremated when I die, I am now wondering if I should wait a certain time period before having this done. What does everyone think?

Well a lot of that stems from lockjaw and other illnesses that can mimic death more than whether the soul is still around. Lockjaw was a HUGE concern in the Victorian era, bells on graves and cemetery watchmen etc...

I recall after the huge quake in Iran a few years ago, Muslim law requires a fast burial (no doubt due to the heat) but they were buring thousands of bodies in mass graves and at least a few started moving as prayers were said over them (one can only imagine how many didn't wake up until after the burial).

I use this analogy , the body is the hardware the soul is the software.