Human wisdom and material philosophy have had considerable difficulty in defining and locating the human "soul." Many of the ancient philosophers believed, as do many of our modern ones, that the soul perished with the body; others that it lasted for a time and then became nothing. As to its localization, Aristotle placed it in the heart; Empedocles in the pericardium; Zeno thought it was a breathing fire; Aristoxenus declared it was a harmony; Democritus that it resulted from a "fortuitous concourse of atoms"; Xenocrates and Pythagoras defined it as "a self-moving member"; Plato called it "Reason, Passion, and the Desires." Our modern materialists are more apt to locate it in the brain.
No wonder their researches have been fruitless! Not until philosophy learns what is the Soul of the universe will it be able to solve the vexed problem.
