"What is a Soul?" By Fergio
Following a study on the nature of Essence and the Soul, by Fergio, the former High Arcanist. This document resurfaced in recent years, circulating through Dinlirys by a mysterious organization named only as "The Abbey".
Who are you? Not a name. Names are just the wire and string props of logic that separate us from what we have been, and what we can be again. Who are you beyond that? Not your flesh, for it has been shown that after death, the soul may linger still, as a Ghost or a Shade, who is in nearly all ways the same being. However, where in that tangled network of energy is what gives you identity? Is it possible to truly know yourself? One of the Arcane Conservatory's pinnacle studies which I piloted sampled the Runic Composition of nineteen beings of various ancestry before and after death. By taking a wide sample of beings, and repeating the study on them immediately following ones death, we discovered a significantly lower portion of certain Runes within them. Most notably, Thought. Thought leaving a body once it dies seems sensible to the layman, but to one whose eyes have been forever opened by the lens of the Runic Script, it is clear that there was a "physical" something that left the body upon death. I repeated this study in a controversial fashion, the details of which I will not disclose here. The main difference was that instead of analyzing only the body of the dead humanoid, I analyzed it as well as the ghost of the sentient being. The Runes less present within the dead corpse were the exact ones greatly present within the Ghost, in nearly the exact amounts. One noteable difference was a higher overall concentration of the Entropy and Living Earth Runes within the body, a complete lack of these Runes within the Ghost. The body had a significantly low concentration of the Source Rune, and the Ghost comprised a significant amount. This leaves the clear answer that a living man has 'something' within him that departs upon death, a mind that persists, a soul... An energy. Scholars and cleric debate upon whether or not there is an afterlife, despite the fact that we possess no certifiable proof towards either argument. Nonetheless, having proved the fact that the Ghosts seen are simply the Souls and minds of living beings separated from their no longer functional body, I have an answer for the Conservatory. These 'Souls' are pure Source, pure energy. This 'Soul' uses Source, known commonly by hunters of the Ephemeral Beings of the Twilight as Essence, to create action. Motion. Life. All movement and life is built on energy, the Soul itself included. The truth of the matter is that the Soul is nothing but a mass of energy. Then what are you? It is well known to the learned that the mind utilizes the Torfield, the Center of Thought when dreaming, however, there is an acute difference between the exact moment of thought in a single instant, and the entire mind and being. I am confident that most sentients believe that they are more than what they are thinking at any given time, let alone the sum of potential action that they could achieve. The true self is the compromise between the Memories within the body, and the Thought within the soul. This is shown by the fact that Ghosts have greater and greater trouble recalling details about their life the more decayed their body becomes. The soul is the sum of all Thought, in a single moment. The soul is alive like the body, and will continue to be so after death, reacting and changing to every moment. There is a reason ephemeral beings do not hold grudges. However, there remains one question to be asked, if Ghosts are souls without bodies, beings of pure Essence and capable of thought the same way we are.
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