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Article: Our eternal self, whatever it is The soul may be immortal, says Alain de Botton, but its nature and meaning have changed over the centuries
- Article from:
- The Sunday Telegraph London
- Article date:
- February 15, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2004 The Sunday Telegraph London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Imagining the Soul:
A History
by Rosalie Osmond
Sutton, pounds 18.99, 246 pp
pounds 16.99 ( pounds 2.25 p&p) 0870 155 7222
THIS HISTORY of the soul begins by reminding us what a let-down
our bodies are: they fall apart sooner than they should, they only
live once and they're wracked by a series of unhealthy passions and
desires. It's as a way of compensating for many of our frailties -
Rosalie Osmond suggests - that people have throughout time been so
drawn to the concept of a soul.
As traditionally understood, the soul is something that is both
within us and yet superior to us, a repository for the most precious
(or in some accounts "divine") aspects of us. The soul survives when
the rest ...