A few days ago, I was invited to a dinner with a professor, a graduate student, and two undergrads, all from the university that I used to attend. Our topic of conversation, while we devoured some of the best thai food I've had in ages, was this: What is the relationship of the flesh to the soul?

Now, normally this would turn into something of a religious debate of some sort, but our goal was to steer away from that as best we could or, at the very least, keep religion from governing the talk. We succeeded, but where we went and what we determined (or rather what we didn't determine) was fascinating. Hell, the discussion itself was fascinating, and so it is my hope to attempt to create something similar here to see what you lot believe.

Divided into teams, of a sort, during the initial conversation, my group (myself and the token grad student), began by examining common phrases. We began with the following cliches:

- "The eyes are the window to the soul" wondering, 'if the eyes were said to be the window to the soul, what then was the flesh'? My companion and I reasoned that that made it some sort of container (though he nay-sayed that word, preferring the word vessel instead, for it introduced the idea of giving into the equation, bringing to the table the idea that to have a soul is to give of it/yourself in some way, and that the flesh, as a vessel, held what was to be given). I found this idea/concept to be particularly appealing as one who is looking to pursue a career as a professor at some juncture, finding that, in both the act of teaching and the act of learning, you give of yourself, whether it be to another or to your passion for x.

- Those who abuse animals or commit terrible atrocities are often said to have no soul.

- When you find the person you were meant to be with you are said to have found you soul mate.

These last two cliches/concepts we took to create the idea that the soul is tied somehow to the human capacity to kindness, that it is a thing born of kindness, perhaps.

The other group introduced the idea that the flesh might be a sort of projection of the soul, and the idea that the flesh served to limit the soul (whatever the soul might be) in so far as the soul could go only as far as the flesh would allow (bringing us back to the idea of it being a container or vessel).

I am now setting these ideas down as a jumping-off point / kick-starter for a discussion on the relationship of the flesh to the soul, as any good discussion needs a starting point. I am truly curious to hear what the lot of you either a) think about the concepts/ideas introduced above or b)would like to put on the table/discuss, and, of course, how you all feel/what you all think about the age old question: 'what is the soul?'