soul n
1. the immaterial part of a person; the actuating cause of an individual life [syn: psyche]
2. a human being; "there was too much for one person to do" [syn: person, individual, someone, somebody, mortal, human]
3. deep feeling or emotion [syn: soulfulness]
4. the human embodiment of something; "the soul of honor"
5. a secular form of gospel that was a major Black musical genre in the 1960s and 1970s; "soul was politically significant during the Civil Rights movement"

Soul \Soul\, a. Sole. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Soul \Soul\, a. Sole. [Obs.] --Chaucer.

Many philosophies and religions say that a soul is the part of a living human being which is supernatural and lives after death. It cannot be discovered by science, because it cannot be tested in any controlled way. Many different opinions exist as to what happens to personal experience after death. Most atheists say that there is no such thing as a soul, and that the body is the only part of a person.

In popular culture, soul usually means deep feeling and commitment. It is in this sense that the word appears in the term soul music. However that music was also influenced by gospel music which was religious.

One common idea C. S. Lewis had about souls that is easy to express, is that a person is a soul, and has a body. The soul is the "I" in "I exist" that feels and lives life. What people call the mind could be part of the soul: one soul started this article, other souls have edited it, and another soul is reading it. This view, however, implies that the human body is a possession, and seems to devalue bodies that do not have souls as defined or understood by the speaker (some people say that animals, heretics, and people of another religion do not have souls). Like most uses of the verb to be, there is an ideology in these simple words.

• Memphis soul bassist 'Duck' Dunn dies - CNN
  (CNN)-- Donald "Duck" Dunn, the bass player who laid the musical floor beneath soul legends like Booker T. and the MGs, Sam and Dave and Otis Redding, has died at age 70, his family announced Sunday. Dunn was part of the house band at Memphis ... Read more on this news related to 'Soul'
• 5 Soul-Thoughts for a Radiant Life - Huffington Post
  What are the moment-to-moment thoughts we are projecting every day? From the soul's perspective, there is no more practical question than this, since the way we are thinking and feeling all the time forms our spiritual relationship with the world. Read more on this news related to 'Soul'
• Soul Survivor: The Lost Recordings and Magic Touch of Robert Hosea Williams - Washington City Paper
  It’s not rare for musicians to begin their careers in the garage and end them in the pawnshop. For recording engineer Robert Hosea Williams, it was just the opposite. He began his life’s work picking up used gear, and finished it by ... Read more on this news related to 'Soul'