Note: This is the introduction to a novel I started, and quickly abandoned, titled Soul Searching. It was supposed to be a memoir told in noir style that dealt with a person finding himself, "soul searching" if you will, while literally searching for souls. Living with a novelist as I do now, I can see that the main cause of my derailment was not going in with a general outline in mind. I was also afraid to let anyone read it, but I am trying to overcome that fear--that's where you come in. So, in all of it's rough draft glory, here is the introduction to Soul Searching:
There is a theory that the human soul is a physical thing which can be verified by the weight a person loses when he dies. This is an exciting idea for those who want to put the debate of whether or not the soul exists to rest. Of course it is merely a theory since scientists are unable to consistently prove this weight loss. By nature science is a field based on answering questions rather than producing them. The theory that a soul has mass produces questions both basically and fundamentally unanswerable. But the easiest question to answer remains the most imposing obstacle in the path of proving that the soul exists. How much does the soul weigh?
If someone had the answer, the theory would be fact, but where science fails is that if the answer is “I don’t know” the truth remains unfound. After all, we can only prove what we know. Fortunately, I do not need hard evidence to know the human soul exists—though I do have it.
Call me a grave robber if you want, but someday you may be thanking me, or someone like me. I will admit that I physically steal from the dead, but spiritually, I set them free. So I am patient with those who don’t understand viewing me as nothing more than a petty criminal. I would not expect a world that bases its beliefs upon that which it can observe physically to have a grasp on what I do. In the simplest terms I am a Soul Searcher. Beyond that, the explanation becomes a muddied puddle that can make people question what they know, or think they know. I encourage such people to read no further as what follows will surely challenge the way people think.
However, before those readers run for cover, let it be known that in all of my experiences I have never sexually violated a corpse. I understand that in this world such actions are frowned upon, and furthermore it is not something that I am into. I have crossed paths with plenty of necrophiles in my time, and those perverts make me sick. It seems to me that necrophilia is a lot of risk and effort put into some glorified masturbation. Anyway, I respect the bodies and families of the souls I save, and fucking dead bodies doesn’t fit into that line of thinking.
That is not to say that I haven’t wrecked a handful of corpses in my day. Sometimes it can be difficult to find the path a soul takes out of the body. Sometimes I have to go in and dig a soul out either because it is trapped or because it is afraid to come out.
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