This discussion comes off of a discussion of back and forth between me and a wolf were, as he doesn't want to be called A therian. Apparently there's a difference.

Anyway his claim was that he had a wolf soul and took pride in saying he didn't have a human soul, only a human shell he lived in. So I challenged with how did he know he had a wolf soul. He said because that's what he was before being a human. I asked if just being a wolf in a past life made his soul a wolf, then wouldn't it stand that in this life his soul would also be human? He said it didn't make sense and I said just put human in place of wolf. That if in his past he were human, wouldn't it stand that he'd have a human soul, if that's what he was basing it off of, and if this life he were a wolf, then wouldn't it be that he only lived in a wolf shell. He said he had a wolf soul because he did soul searching and realized it was a wolf. I told him to forget the shells of wolf form took in a past life or human in this life. What about his soul was wolf like? We have the instincts and feelings, but in the end, that isn't a form. It's a blob, so therefore what of the spirit of a wolf is he reminded of in his self. Overall he just refused to answer my questions any further on how he knew his soul was definitely a wolf, other than that he just was, cause of the fact that he soul searched and in past life he was wolf and may be in next life and somewhat this present one. Completely negating the fact that if he could have a wolf soul just cause he was a wolf in a past life and not a human soul, only cause he had a wolf soul in a past life and lived in a human 'shell' in this one. *Takes a deep breath*

Which led to my thoughts on how one knows what is the makeup of their soul. For those who have soul searched and found the absolute truths within themselves or those who might know what makes up their souls, what do you think? I know my soul for one. I am tiger, panther, wolf and human, but I also know those aren't the only defining factors of what makes up my soul. Those are parts of my soul, but not the entire soul.

Instead of answering like I usually do first, I'll see what others responses are, considering they may all reflect mine. ^_^

Either what makes up your soul personally or what do you think is a defining factor in what goes into your blob of a soul?

yes, I used the word blob for a soul, as most are depicted as balls of white stuff.

I don't believe in absolute truths .. and I doubt my soul is a blob of white stuff. More likely a chaotic soup of lessons, experiences, impressions, memories, connections, emotions, ...

Soul searching is about discovering oneself since our souls are the representation of our inner, subconscious and past selves in my opinion. If your wolf were discussion partner discovered a wolf, that's good for him. As long as he's happy with it, it's all good. It's narrowminded of him to believe soul searching ever grants absolute truths and can reach a final simple conclusion ... but then again narrowmindedness only tends to hurt others that are more openminded.

I usually let them live in their partial truths ... unless they give an indication of being open for new ideas. This guy obviously doesn't.

Well, my "soul" is an angel squished into this body in place of a soul, so there's that. As for what a soul is...(the rough draft):

My belief is that a soul is energy. The energy that will eventually make up a soul has always existed, but a soul is energy in a specific configuration, so a soul doesn't become a soul until it is given form-destined for a vessel of somekind. Patterned or woven (for lack of better words) into a soul that fits with X type of body. Of course, energy beings are essentially a different variety of energy...they aren't made up of the same "stuff" that makes up the souls of energy beings, but a sentient form of energy that does not require a physical form at all (which is a whole other concept to go into a whole other theory in a whole other thread). It seems to me that we energy beings are not *entirely* different in substance from the soul of a physical being, but many of our energies are much much older than those of physical beings, so perhaps the energy at the time was simply different. I don't think our energies are entirely different, but different in some key aspect, be it the pattern, or a different signature of energy.

Once incarnated, a soul may become "aware" much like otherkin awakenings, if so it stays whole...one energy. Otherwise, when a person dies it returns to the cosmic energy to be scooped out to new physical forms as they come along and are patterned. However, the new soul, while patterned into X type, would also retain that fragment of the last soul(s) that are in it. Thus, a soul that is not aware can be broken up and pieces of it can end up in multiple bodies, which is why people sometimes remember the same past life as the same being. However, aware souls remain intact which is why you come up with people who have had one or a few vivid past existances. So aware souls basically stay the same, while unaware souls go on to be broken up and mixed with whatever other soul fragments are in the cosmic energy stew.

That explains why some people feel like they've had more than one life or why some people have old souls.

Hmm, this does fill in a few gaps and fits in with my soul spark idea .. I'm sure I mentioned that somewhere around here. Interesting food for thought.

Yeah very interesting

Personally I think that guy is being a bit narrow minded in his way of seeing souls and stuff. I think a soul contains a lot of different stuff, your past lives or life, your purpose on this realm etc..and nothing is absolute because its all a continuous learning process...i don't think anyone can definitively say that they know everything there is to know about themselves and their soul

Good Point BR nobody has all the answers