Jed: “I would like to understand (I am sincere) what is meant by the word ‘soul.’ I would like for this to be a question you could ask sincerely when you are a person who has no religion and doesn’t know the meaning. I think it’s intended to mean ‘my whole self,’ but I know what my whole self comprises (I think) and I’m still not sure of this word. It seems to always mean something other than whatever you know that you are. ‘My absent self,’ for instance. The soul is both absent and crucial. It’s the part of me that’s missing but that justifies whatever is here. So then the meaning of the soul is that we’ve failed.”