The Soul

Definitions:

The Soul: Synonym for consciousness. Consciousness can be difficult to pronounce and spell, and "soul" is a commonly understood term that conveys a similar meaning. Thus, they now mean the same thing.
Qualia: Data input, encompassing both data about the external world and the internal system.
Emotion: That which tells the system how to act. Feelings are part of human emotions, yet are not a necessary part of it.
To Think: The process of finding patterns in data, thereby transforming it into information.
Memory: The ability to store information, which can then be accessed at a later time.
Intelligence: The ability to verify the logic behind a pattern, leading to understanding.
Imagination: The ability to combine known information into new information, i.e., the capacity to create.
Sentience: Also known as awareness. It is the perception of a “moment in time”.

Understanding Our Soul:

To understand our soul, we need to understand life on this planet. The most basic organisms, single-celled entities, possessed only qualia and emotion. At this early stage, emotion functioned more like built-in instructions, where the system received data and acted accordingly.

Life could have continued in this simple state until its destruction, but due to the law of complexity, diversity and complexity increased. Life developed brains, which brought with them the ability to think and, whether due to inevitability or pure chance, to memorize.

As systems grew more complex, their qualia increased. This necessitated more complex instructions for action, thus enhancing emotion. Systems needed a more efficient way to deal with information, and so intelligence arose.

With the ability to understand information, some systems developed the ability to create new information, thereby gaining imagination.

Sentience is more complex; a moment in time cannot be measured, because every measurement needs time. It is our specific experience of existence, dictated by the world we live in, that causes us to perceive it. I, therefore, hypothesize that sentience arises when the pattern formed by qualia, emotion, thinking, intelligence, and imagination reaches a certain level of complexity.

Once the system has reached sentience, it can be said to have a soul.

Complexity can always increase, and so some systems, mostly humans, have reached a level of sentience known as self-awareness. They are not only aware of the world around them but also of their own existence within it.