Seriously, What is a Soul?
We say that all living things have souls.
I have often heard that we must keep our souls pure and clean so that we may enter heaven after our death. That our physical bodies do not matter much since the soul is what will live on forever.
I have to say, our soul is the most complicated and mysterious concept that I have ever come across.
I took a quick look at its meaning to try and understand.
A soul is an immaterial essence, animating principle, or actuating cause of an individual life
So is that it? The “soul” is a little ball of energy? Is that the only thing keeping us alive with an identity?
I needed more answers than that.
Why do we have souls?
Ancient Egyptian mythology has a simple explanation for this.
At the time of creation, the creator god Atum stood on the pyramidal mound and created the cosmos. Atum was able to do this action due to the power of heka. Heka translates as magic, and all creation was imbued with this magic.
We were imbued with magic through the creation of the world. That’s what our souls are.
But that’s only a part of the entire ideology that Ancient Egyptians had regarding the soul.
The soul was not just one thing but constituted multiple different entities. This was not constant. Many new ideas and concepts regarding the nature of the soul existed in different periods of Ancient Egypt.
Here they are-
Khat
The khat was the physical body. It was what we had in the earthly world and what connected us to it once we passed on to other worlds. It’s mainly why Egyptians preserved and mummified their dead.
This was necessary cause where else would our soul live while we were on this planet and come back to if it ever felt like it (it's pretty good reasoning if you think about it, I would want to come back just for a bit). This is why the tombs were filled with many pretty and personal things.
Sechem
It means either ‘life-form’ or ‘power’. There is not a lot of information on it but it refers to the vital life energy of an individual which gives them the power to control their surroundings.
(Not exactly sure what it means but it feels like they are referring to the confidence that one gains which will improve their outlook and eventually their life)
Ren
The ren was the secret name of an individual that was given to them at birth. Their name was essentially their identity. After their death, their name was what would live forever in the earthly realm.
(The names of pharaohs that we have like Tutankhamun and Cleopatra-that’s what the Egyptians were talking about)
The ren was the name by which the gods knew a person’s soul. Names had magical powers in Ancient Egypt which is why the Ancient Egyptians had more than one name (I have an article on that, do check it out to understand more about the power of names!)
Hence, they took care to safeguard their names as their essence would have been destroyed if their name was erased from the mundane world.
Sheut/Khaibit
The sheut means the ‘shadow’ of the person. Supposedly, it existed independently and was separated from the body. The shadow was a symbol of comfort and protection as it chose to be with the khat. Like with the ren, you did not want your shadow to be damaged or destroyed.
Sah/Sahu
The sahu was the spiritual body. It’s exactly like the khat, it's the spiritual manifestation of it that rises after death and travels to the Afterlife.
Other than that, there is no other information about it.
Ka
The ka translates as ‘vital essence’ or ‘life force’. The Egyptians believed the ka was the person’s double (like their image or their astral self? It’s a bit confusing).
It could move freely outside the body. It sustained and guided the sahu in the afterlife. Even with its freedom, the ka always returned to the khat as it was its home, even after death.
But it required sustenance, so food and drinks were placed as offerings in the tomb.
Ba
The ba refers to the individual’s personality. The closest translation we have of the ba is ‘soul’. As personalities are, it was unique to each person. It was portrayed as a human-headed bird that could travel between the heavens and the earth. It helped the ka in reuniting with the body every night.
Ib/Ab
The ib was the ‘spiritual heart’ (the physical one was known as hat). It was the source of good and evil for the individual. It defined their character and was the record of all their thoughts and deeds.
When the souls were judged in the court of Osiris (god of the Underworld), the ib was placed against the feather of truth on the scales of maat (order). If it was lighter than the feather, the soul could go to paradise. If not, their heart was consumed by Ammut and their soul was destroyed.
(on that fun note, let's move on to the next one!)
Akh
The akh was the immortal self of a person. It translates to ‘the shining one’ or ‘intelligence’. It is said that the ba and the ka united together to form the akh.
The akh, after formation, would live for eternity in heaven. An akh was only allowed to individuals whose souls were worthy because they were good people in life.
All these were, however, bound together inseparably, and the welfare of any single one of them concerned the welfare of all. For the well-being of the spiritual parts it was necessary to preserve from decay the natural body*
I like this ideology that the Egyptians followed as they didn’t assume that it was just one thing but attributed the idea of one’s soul to multiple different aspects. It showed that we needed to value every part of ourselves for the important journey after death.
Learning about the different entities comprising the ‘soul’ was interesting and a step outside the usual jargon that we know about the supernatural aspect of our body.
*This reference is taken from the Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) in the section The Doctrine of Eternal Life:
