SoulPancake

@eclipsia Tersching!!!!!!!!!! Mirrors, my friend. It's all smoke and mirrors. Much Love.

Your soul is a mythological representation/personification of your intangible qualities.

I echo Hooflungpoo's explanation of compassion.

I am zeroing in on "where does compassion come from?" And I am going to throw into the conversation that perhaps it does not matter where it comes from. Perhaps what is more important is the results it achieves, and maybe also whether it tends to reproduce itself or wither on the vine. I propose that compassion is helpful to the extent that it inspires service that feels good to the doer of it, and unhelpful to the extent that it inspires despair, or service that is slavish. Compassion which makes the doer of helpful actions feel good might also inspire others to help and to feel good, and regardless of the source of this caring... it has a high value for us, yes?

I tend to take a Darwinian position on these sorts of questions. Humans evolved as social animals. It has always been beneficial for us to possess a certain amount of compassion toward others in our group (family/village/city), since teamwork is neccessary for us to live. Over time, as humans became more aware of our environment and the way the world works, some of us developed philosophies that accepted more people into our group--we became tolerant and eventually accepting of those who were different from us.

----Why are we compassionate for other living things? ----
if we have no compassion for other living things... we have no compassion for ourselves...
that's all i have to say about this

I don't think we have a soul, but I do believe in feelings and a conscience. I am really not sure where these come from, but I strongly believe it is the product of an evolutionary need. Children need mothers who love them, and we as a species have a greater chance of surviving in groups. I think that as man evolved, we don't really need the groups to survive any more. People live in a huge society, literally millions of people living together in relatively smaller areas, but you don't need any actual relationship with anybody to survive. You need a job to support yourself, but you don't have to feel anything particular for your boss. I think this is where the "love" feeling became more broad, as you can love your friends, your pet, your favourite tv show. It's a by-product of our evolutionary need to love.
And probably yes, most of love is triggered by certain chemicals being released in certain moments and a lot of others thing that happen in your body, but I hope someone with better knowledge of this will come along.
I hope I made at least some sense, this is a matter that truly fascinates me.