A question for all religions about soul-body relationship?

These are from askmoses.com (great source of information on Judaism):

What is a soul? The dictionary defines it as the “spiritual part of a human being that is believed to continue to exist after the body dies.” In Judaism, the soul is regarded as a “piece of the Infinite,” which, through life, gathers experiences, emotions and thoughts that remain in her memory.

Life is lived to its fullest when the body and soul are in harmony. Judaism views basic needs as manifestations of the soul. Desires for meaning, intimacy and comfort are not ignored or repressed, but expressed in a soulful context and with balance. This is one reason the Torah, G-d’s blueprint for living, focuses on physical actions. It is not a penal code; rather it is a formula for the soul to harness the powers of the body to fulfill her mission on earth.

Humans are born pure. “Very good” is the way the Torah describes the creation of humanity (Genesis 1:31). The soul was, is and always will be a Divine property. Though at times we may obscure this purity, we all eventually return to that state. At death, the physical elements of the body return to their source, while the soul returns to her Source. “The dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to G-d Who bestowed it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Jewish mysticism explains where, when and how this reunion takes place.

The harmony between body and soul during life determines the soul’s experiences after life. If a soul is balanced and fulfilled, it enters a state of Gan Eden (paradise), where the soul is reunited with her Source, devoid of ego, hurt and resentment. For people who are in touch with their soul, death is not at all painful. The Zohar teaches that when a soul leaves her body, the Shechinah appears, and the soul goes out in joy and love to greet Her.

If, during her stay on earth, the soul has become entrenched and immersed in materialism, the Shechinah departs, and the soul begins the process alone. Part of this process is the realization that the body has been fooling the soul all along.

“A person is measured,” the Talmud says, “by his own reckoning.” The body and soul are in a relationship and a person chooses which one will guide the decisions of life. Ultimately, all souls will experience a reunion, both with their loved ones, and with the Source from which every soul came. The only difference is how each soul will arrive.

Some times a soul may even return to earth for a second round, depending on whether her unique talents and attributes will be needed by a new generation, but that’s another subject for another time.

Does the phrase “the rich get richer” come from Jewish sources?

I don’t know where the phrase originates but there is a similar quote in the Talmud, namely, “poverty pursues the poor” (Bava Kama 92a).

The context for this quote relates to the biblical command to bring one’s first fruits to the Temple as a gift. The Talmud tells us that the rich would bring their fruits in gold and silver containers, while the poor would bring theirs in baskets of woven willow. The rich had no intention of giving the containers and so received them back. The poor had no intention of keeping their cheap baskets and so did not bother to take them back. To this phenomenon was applied the phrase: “poverty pursues the poor.”

Once we’re on the topic there is a beautiful Chassidic insight here:

If you look it at from a philosophical perspective, the difference between the poor and the rich in this case is that the poor man’s container loses its identity as an independent being and is nullified by its contents, the fruits. So since the fruits are a gift, the container assumes the same status.

The rich man’s fancy container, however, retains its own identity, and is not subsumed by the identity of the fruits.

Metaphorically, the first fruits are compared to the soul, which is the choicest and “first” of G-d’s creations. G-d places this soul into a container, the body. But he leaves it in our hands to define the relationship between body and soul. We can choose like the rich to treat our bodies, our containers, as if they were independent of its contents, the soul. We can live our bodily lives in dissonance from our true selves, our souls. We can obscure the spiritual yearning of our souls with the pursuit of gold and silver.

Such a container is rejected by the Temple and is returned to its owner.

Or we can emulate the poor. Our bodies can become nullified to their contents, the soul. They can become conduits, servants, tools for the soul to live a life of meaning, truth and goodness.

Such a container is worthy of remaining within the Holy Temple of G-d.

You might have to meditate on this to see. Your Soul is your mind, will and emotions. Your Body is all your physical parts connected to the world that can be proven are here with the rest of us. I can reason the Soul is not tangible. You can not put a thought in a container can you? You can not touch a thought with your hand, can you? You can write a thought and it would appear on the physical piece of paper with your hand and pen but the thought itself is invisible yet real to you. You and you alone are aware of this until it becomes physical when you relate it to the world by words or written expression. You wonder, "What the relationship between the Soul and the Body is?" So your soul uses your brain as a medium to relay the thought to your body via nerves and such. In this instance, you log onto Y/A and type the question. Then decide with your Soul I have given you the best answer. ;) One is with the use of the Soul the other with the Body. This is an example of the relationship between the Soul and Body. With the Soul we contact the intellectual realm (unseen). With the Body we contact the physical realm (seen). edit: Animals do. Anything that can process thought and make choices has a soul. They might operate different but they all have a soul. Welcome to the world of the Soul conscience. Those are the basics! I think you got it.

I suggest you to read one book from OSHO

"I teach RELIGIOUSNESS not religion"

will be so much help for your essay compare to all holly books I ever read…

Bg 15.8 P The Yoga of the Supreme Person

Here the living entity is described as isvara, the controller of his own body. If he likes, he can change his body to a higher grade, and if he likes he can move to a lower class. Minute independence is there. The change his body undergoes depends upon him. At the time of death, the consciousness he has created will carry him on to the next type of body. If he has made his consciousness like that of a cat or dog, he is sure to change to a cat's or dog's body. And, if he has fixed his consciousness on godly consciousness, he will be transferred to Krsnaloka in the spiritual world and will associate with Krsna. It is a false claim that after the annihilation of this body everything is finished. The individual soul is transmigrating from one body to another, and his present body and present activities are the background of his next body. One gets a different body according to karma, and he has to quit this body in due course. It is stated here that the subtle body, which carries the conception of the next body, develops another body in the next life. This process of transmigrating from one body to another and struggling while in the body is called karsati or struggle for existence.

SB 4.29.64 P Talks Between Narada and King Pracinabarhi

In dreams we sometimes see things that we have never experienced in the present body. Sometimes in dreams we think that we are flying in the sky, although we have no experience of flying. This means that once in a previous life, either as a demigod or astronaut, we flew in the sky. The impression is there in the stockpile of the mind, and it suddenly expresses itself. It is like fermentation taking place in the depths of water, which sometimes manifests itself in bubbles on the water's surface. Sometimes we dream of coming to a place we have never known or experienced in this lifetime, but this is proof that in a past life we experienced this. The impression is kept within the mind and sometimes becomes manifest either in dream or in thought. The conclusion is that the mind is the storehouse of various thoughts and experiences undergone during our past lives. Thus there is a chain of continuation from one life to another, from previous lives to this life, and from this life to future lives. This is also sometimes proved by saying that a man is a born poet, a born scientist or a born devotee. If, like Maharaja Ambarisa, we think of Krsna constantly in this life (sa vai manah krsna-padaravindayoh), we will certainly be transferred to the kingdom of God at the time of death. Even if our attempt to be Krsna conscious is not complete, our Krsna consciousness will continue in the next life. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (6.41):

prapya punya-krtam lokan

usitva sasvatih samah

sucinam srimatam gehe

yoga-bhrasto 'bhijayate

"The unsuccessful yogi, after many, many years of enjoyment on the planets of the pious living entities, is born into a family of righteous people, or into a family of rich aristocracy."

If we rigidly follow the principles of meditation on Krsna, there is no doubt that in our next life we will be transferred to Krsnaloka, Goloka Vrndavana.

SB 4.29.66 Talks Between Narada and King Pracinabarhi

O King, all good fortune unto you! The mind is the cause of the living entity's attaining a certain type of body in accordance with his association with material nature. According to one's mental composition, one can understand what the living entity was in his past life as well as what kind of body he will have in the future. Thus the mind indicates the past and future bodies.

PURPORT

The mind is the index of information about one's past and future lives. If a man is a devotee of the Lord, he cultivated devotional service in his previous life. Similarly, if one's mind is criminal, he was criminal in his last life. In the same way, according to the mind, we can understand what will happen in a future life.