1. Does the soul exist? How can we connect to our soul? How can we go beyond body and mind?
The concept of soul as a concept does not exist. There’s no proven evidence that it exists. The thing which is termed soul is consciousness. Soul is nothing, many say we live because we have soul but in wide understanding we live because the neurons in our brain are functioning, the life sustenance as a whole is somewhat confusing, but if you say there’s some soul or energy then that is wrong. Soul should be understood in terms of consciousness rather than as some energy which when it leaves our body, we are dead. So, we can say there’s no soul rather some bodily mechanism through which we live and when this mechanism somehow fails then we are dead. So, if there’s no soul we can’t connect to it. Coming to third part of your question, which is the real thing, how can we go beyond body and mind. For this we will have to understand the body and mind. What is mind? Mind or brain is a very complex part of human body which is yet to be understood properly in terms of how it works and what parts exactly do what things. We can easily go beyond body but not beyond mind. Actually, we don’t need to go beyond mind, going beyond mind is like going beyond a horizontal valley, means there won’t be anything beyond that, there will only be darkness. We need to understand our brain; we need to see it as we see other people. When we see other person, we can easily tell what wrong are they doing, or whatever they are doing, but when it comes to our own self, we are not able to separate it. Take the example, we see every day, some people of a religion are able to find loopholes in other religion so easily. Like a Hindu can easily say that how can Prophet fly on a white horse or go to moon? The Muslim can say how can there be different gods, as if they are not gods but an organization with different gods for different purposes? The thing which we can do is observe our brain from a second person perspective and doing things which we feel good for that person. It is right that brain is such a complex organ that it controls our body actions, sometimes so tightly that we regret after doing that act. Understanding mind requires meditation or looking into inner self so deeply that we can form the second person perspective.
2. Does God exist? If yes, then how to feel it?
God does not exist as we see in our daily life. Means how we assume that there is someone in the universe watching us, or having bodily forms. God should be understood simply as nature and nothing beyond that. The nature in which we live, you may call it God or nature.
3. How can we move forward beyond our own thoughts or beliefs?
Just after we are born, we are assigned a sex, and society treats us accordingly. It teaches us things which are already in norm. We learn from it; our thoughts and beliefs are shaped by it. Different societies give us different thoughts and beliefs. If we are born in a Hindu family, we believe that only it is correct based on the intensity of religiosity, or born in another religion, we believe that it is correct. Simply saying, the society is one of the factors shaping our thoughts and beliefs. I myself was not deeply very religious but I was not atheist also. During my preparation days I got familiar with some new ideas, where I learnt to question the things. And after that I found the real thing which is not accepting things which doesn’t satisfy the rationality questions. Become rational, just question the things you are doing, if you find satisfying answer to your questions, do the things, if don’t find don’t do it. Like when you question, is there God and you don’t find any clarity, and then worshipping is just a waste of time. Isn’t? Like if there’s no one listening to us then why should we worship? To go beyond your thoughts and beliefs, question and also read some philosophers, because our mind has been so ingrained into worldly things that sometimes our illogical things get accepted by us naturally. Reading them will give your mind another angle to look at things and then you can question more and move beyond your body and mind.
4. Which thoughts are good and which are bad, what beliefs are right and what are wrong?
You need to understand one thing; thoughts and beliefs are subjective things. Some thoughts and beliefs may be good and correct in one place and bad and wrong in other place respectively. Take the example of cousin marriages, in Islam it is allowed so it is right for them but wrong for others. Or say communities where it is practiced normally, they don’t find any fault in it but others find fault in it, even though scientifically it is bad because genetic issues occur more likely, but by thought and belief of those practicing it, it is not bad or wrong. So, the real testimony is questioning it, and trying to find scientific answer first and then moving on to philosophy. Most things which happen around us which need questioning have already been answered by science. When we talk about thoughts, then the first question is what is thought? Thought is something shaped by the prevalent ideology and societal conditioning, they may or may not have rational backing. They may be experimental or may not be, and in that case needs arguments and counter arguments to understand better. What do you mean by belief? Belief in common parlance is something followed upon blindly, beliefs are not always bad, take for example you have not seen atoms, but you believe because your science text book says, but the things is that it has been experimented. Let’s talk about the beliefs on which our society highly depends, it is belief in God or superstitions. They are bad because it gives humans a chance to transfer their failures or success on someone else. Beliefs may not be harming the society but they may be wrong, because they may give wrong message to the society. We humans are highly inspired by celebrities, and we see it in our everyday life, now just think if a celebrity is doing something illogical then many people also follow it blindly. The superstitions which take so much lives are bad, but which tie the society into believing someone is watching them from above and hence they don’t do bad things may seem good, because normal humans don’t question and if questioned, they get angry, and I have experienced it a lot, even though I don’t say much to them. I asked a simple question to someone, what will be your reaction if a transgender is born to you, and they went mad on me, remember it is not an imaginative thing, it is a social reality.
5. Many spiritual people say nothing is good and bad, everyone should live by consciousness, then how should we live our life.
They are right when they say that nothing is good or bad, I have already explained this in earlier answers, where I have highlighted that things can be good for someone and bad for others, they are grey zone areas. Life should be lived on one’s own conditions, but keep in mind there’s no free will, free will does not exist. Life should be lived purposefully, not chasing the usual things which the whole world mindlessly chases, but saying this doesn’t mean the you go on wondering, because when you go on wondering then for eating and having a shelter, you will depend on someone else, and the problem here is that if you want every person to be free then feeding on their money is not a good way. I remember the scriptures where it is written that even if you live in Grihastha Ashram then also you can live purposefully. So live as it is but remain conscious of how you are living, don’t get engulfed in the melodrama of the society.
6. I have heard that life has no purpose, if we have to just live then what should we do?
This question is again an extension of your above asked question. Life definitely has purpose but the hardest thing is to find it. Look if you think that it has no purpose and just kill yourself, then you may get engulfed in some other verse, if supposedly it exists. I have an article on it, titled Life Multiverse and the Illusion of Peace , read it to get more insights. This is really a question which we all wonder but don’t get the answer.
7. There’s nothing in love life, didn’t felt that deepness. Need something deep, soul level connection, not something attraction based.
Understanding love is not easy, when we are filled with surface level love examples. What you call soul level connection is quite ambiguous. If you want soul level connection then first understand yourself, it may or may not be possible that you get what you want, you must be ready to be just you may be for whole life. When you think that you want someone to love you and that too that deeply it creates so much expectation that it may not be fulfilled by the person. So, the answer is to love and understand yourself rather than wanting others. Yeah, try to put efforts when you get someone who seems to be of your energy level, things may get fruitful, even if it is just friendship.
8. Don’t know if soul exist or not, never felt it. If everything is the play of mind then I should leave it and live life as others.
You won’t get anything even if get to know if soul exists or not? Supposedly you get to know that soul exists, what will you do? You will be doing the same things which you are doing right now. Many believe that soul exists, do they do something extra for the soul? No. Even if these are the result of brain’s functions, then also living like sheep is not a good thing. Most people are living mindlessly, and if you continue to live like them then are you using your mind? Mind is very powerful, so use it purposefully, to live a life dignified by your own thoughts. J S Mill had said, “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be a Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, is of a different opinion, it is only because they only know their own side of the question.” If you have once gained consciousness, it is highly impossible to live life just like others, and forcing yourself to live like the crowd is utter disregard to your own self.
9. I want full peace, joy and love in abundance. I want a direction, but I can’t feel them because of these thoughts.
The thoughts which you have are normal, it’s the society which is abnormal. The rationality thing in which we question before doing things should have been the norm but it became rare because people stopped the courage to ask questions and those who ask are termed mental sometimes. I have already reiterated that being less happy and joyful is worthy than being fool and feeling all the joy.
10. After having so many questions I don’t understand what should I do? Are my thoughts and beliefs wrong, if yes then please correct it, and if no then tell me.
I have already explained many things; you are nowhere wrong. Had you been wrong if you hadn’t asked these questions, not having the courage to feel and examine things is wrong. Just do your things rationally and try to delve deeper into your inner self, maybe you find peace there, and that peace will be worth it, once you have felt that peace, you will find the outer world’s peace and joy to be unworthy of.
11. Because of these things sometimes I lose trust on myself, because there are no one around me who thinks like this, they are living as it is.
Crowd doesn’t have mind, they don’t think different. Questioning them will make you feel sad. I myself have felt that sadness because I asked some questions to someone and they labelled me mad. But this doesn’t stop me from asking questions, maybe I won’t ask questions to that person but to someone else and before that to myself. You should trust your oneself, if you can’t trust your own self, you will not be able to delve deeper into yourself and the peace will be kilometres away from you.
12. I get stress, anxiety and overthinking sometimes. Do you think by seeing these questions which I have asked that I have some mental problem.
Stress, anxiety and overthinking are the long-term partners of people like us who think a lot. But it should be dealt smartly, just accept the things as it is without being involved in it. You may have to attend someone’s wedding, even though you feel that it is useless. Go, attend it, enjoy the moment but don’t lose yourself. It’s like living between the walls and feeling free.
13. Is there universe? I feel that a bit, like I find that theory true where what we think gets done. Do I need to change my thoughts or do I need to do some other thing?
Universe is real, there’s no argument on it. Yeah, the thing about which you are talking is called manifestation, some say it’s real some don’t believe on it. Your thoughts are pure, they need more such questions and their answers, try to question as many things as possible. We all must strive towards excellence. And in this path, we need to change our thoughts but always towards a higher level. Never ever should we go to a level on which the crowd is living.
14. And everyone says, know yourself, find yourself. How to do this.
It is the most difficult question. I can’t even think of how to know myself. If I get the answer to this question, I will surely update this questionnaire. Knowing yourself seems much harder than knowing others.
