Soul Studies

Description

Nicholas Hedlund:

"The emergence of “soul studies” as a formal academic field, as proposed by Chatlos (2025), represents a bold and transformative initiative to explore the depths of human interiority. Chatlos’s FOS articulates a secular view of the soul as the spiritual core of the human being, situated at the intersection of personal (self-worth), interpersonal (dignity), and transcendent (creative forces) dimensions. This multidimensional approach integrates empirical science, philosophical inquiry, and theological reflection. As Chatlos (2025, 18) states: the FOS identifies the experience of the creative forces/creative openings with experiences that are similar to what would normally be included with the word soul: a moral truth-force core; agape love of self, others, life, and the “divine”; and faith as an action related to courage rather than as a belief. Science, including psychology, has avoided, if not denied, the reality of the soul and currently has no place for its study or understanding . . . If soul is recognized as a functional reality associated with a specific set of experiences, then there must be a location in scientific discipline for soul studies.

While physicalism and proponents of New Atheism (e.g., Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, and Dan Dennett) argue that the notion of the soul represents pre-modern, pre-rational dogma incompatible with secular rationality (Harris 2014), visionary realism challenges this claim. Visionary realism provides the philosophical foundation necessary to legitimize this emerging field, addressing its ontological, epistemological, and methodological bases. Once the limitations of neo-Kantian empirical realism and the flat ontology of Humean actualism are exposed, the necessity of a depthstratified ontology becomes clear (Bhaskar [1975] 2008). From this expanded epistemological perspective, an inquiry into the soul as a transfactual, causally efficacious structure becomes fully coherent with modern scientific rationality and procedural rationality criteria (Habermas 1984).

Through Chatlos’s FOS and clinical research, rich first-person empirical data has been gathered, demonstrating significant phenomenological consistency in experiences linked to the soul. Positive psychospiritual transformations observed in patients undergoing Chatlos’s cognitive behavioral therapy-based spiritual interventions—often sparked by mystical “oceanic feelings” of oneness— illustrate the soul’s functional reality and crucial role in human wellbeing. Soul studies, as envisioned within visionary realism, occupies a nested position within a broader science of spiritual experience, itself nested within the overarching science of interiority. While the science of interiority broadly investigates phenomena like consciousness, ethics, and culture, soul studies specifically explores deeper transcendent dimensions of human existence. It focuses on the ontology of the soul, dynamics of spiritual growth, and the ethical, relational, and contemplative practices that nurture it. Consistent with Popperian science, soul studies remains open to falsification, viewing any scientific conceptualization of the soul as provisional and fallible. A central task of soul studies is to clearly articulate the ontology of the soul by synthesizing diverse intellectual and spiritual traditions within a naturalistic yet non-physicalist framework. Visionary realism affirms that the soul is neither merely subjective nor a mythic metaphorical, but rather an emergent and causally efficacious reality. Drawing on critical realism’s depth ontology, the soul can be understood as a structural mediator between the empirical, actual, and real (and meta-real) dimensions of existence—the supervenient causal force of order that governs the morphological trajectory of an embodied human personality. In this way, we could say, resonant with Chatlos, that the soul is the mediator of the transpersonal unseen order (the real) and the personal order of (actual) seen (empirical) events. Steiner’s ([1923] 2009a) spiritual science enriches this ontology by emphasizing subtle faculties—imagination, intuition, and inspiration—that enable the soul to mediate between sensory and spiritual worlds. Wilber’s (1995, 2000) integral theory further positions the soul within a developmental cosmology, identifying its evolution through prepersonal, personal, and transpersonal stages. Bhaskar’s meta-reality deepens this understanding by characterizing the soul as the authentic core of individual being, inherently linked to the ground state and facilitating transformative unity with transpersonal reality.

Together, these perspectives allow visionary realism to articulate the soul as a multidimensional entity that actively shapes human thought, emotion, behavior, and community through its alignment with transcendent realities like love, truth, and faith (Chatlos 2025). This multidimensional ontology provides soul studies with a robust foundation for scientific inquiry into the deeper structures of human experience.

Methodologically, soul studies would mirror the multi-modal empiricism outlined earlier, but with special attention to soul-specific data. First-person approaches might involve intensive journaling of inner experiences or training in contemplative techniques to observe soul dynamics (e.g., “dark night of the soul” experiences or moments of epiphany). Second-person approaches could compare insights across spiritual direction sessions or group dialogues about purpose and calling, highlighting how the soul’s expression is mediated through relationships and culture. Third-person approaches could include longitudinal studies on how profound spiritual experiences alter a person’s values, health, or community engagement. In all cases, visionary realism’s influence ensures soul studies remains scientifically legitimate without stripping away the profundity of its subject. The field would maintain academic rigor (clear concepts, evidence standards) while still engaging with phenomena of love, virtue, and transcendence that are often left to theology alone."

(https://doi.org/10.16995/zygon.19049)

More information

• Chatlos, John. 2025. Spiritual Experience: Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Implications. Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 59 (4): 949–81. https://doi.org/10.16995/zygon.17372.