Soul is the immaterial essence that defines individuality and its humanity. The soul is considered the principle that gives life.
Alma comes from the Latin anima and from the Greek psyché, which means ‘human soul’, and, in that sense, soul is synonymous with psyche, ‘vital breath’ and self (the self), but it is also synonymous with individual, person or inhabitant.
According to theology (the study of God), the soul is a part of the individual that contains a divine portion and is believed to survive the death of the body.
Alma is also used to refer to:
- the vital force of something, such as the soul of the project;
- the energy or passion with which something is done, such as, for example, scored the goal with a soul; or
- A person who drives and inspires something or someone, for example, Paul was the soul of the group.
- Latinisms as alma materto refer to the University.
The soul is also used as a synonym for ghost or spirit, for example, when it refers to a soul in sorrow it indicates a soul without a body that goes round lost and without rest.
Soulmate
The expression soul mate is used to refer to the encounter, generally in a loving sense, of two people who have an essence so similar that they look like twins, therefore they understand and act in a similar way.
Soul in philosophy
The relationship between body and soul has been one of the most recurring themes in history in spiritual and philosophical terms. The ancient Greeks, for example, considered the soul as the motor principle of the body and despite being independent, it necessarily requires the substance of the body for the creation of an individual.
Christianity takes this idea from the soul of the ancient Greeks thanks to the dissemination of St. Augustine who made the analogy of the “soul that rides the body.”
The ancient Greeks had other currents that defined the soul:
- Epicureanism: they affirm that the soul is made of atoms like the rest of the body, and both soul and body are mortal.
- Platonic: they believe in the immortality of the soul as an immaterial and incorporeal substance that is related to the gods but is linked to the world of change and being.
- Aristotle: he also believed in the immortality of the soul as an inseparable form of the body.
Soul in religions
The concept of soul varies with ideologies and with the passage of time. The concept of the soul as a duality is characteristic of Eastern religions.
The ancient Egyptians, for example, believed in a dual soul where, on the one hand, there is the ka or respite, which stays close to the body when it dies, and the ba, which is defined as the spirit that travels to the kingdom of the dead when separated from the body.
Chinese Taoism also defines two types of souls that live in a body. Po , lower and more sensitive ying soul that disappears with death, and hun, yang soul that survives death and constitutes the principle of worship towards ancestors.
Hinduism, on the other hand, believes in a universal and eternal soul called atman, which means breath and soul; and an individual soul called jiva or jiva-atman, that despite belonging to atman is locked in an earthly body from birth. Jiva passes to another existence determined by karma when the body dies.
Buddhism, on the other hand, states that the belief in the existence of an individual and eternal soul, which is part of a universal and persistent self is a mere illusion.
ALMA project
ALMA, whose acronym stands for Atacama Large Millimeter / submillimeter Array, is the largest astronomical project that exists and consists of 66 independent antennas that, thanks to its design and technology, can be grouped to simulate a giant telescope.
The ALMA project antennas are located in the Chajnantor plain, 5,000 meters high at the northern end of the Republic of Chile.