21 GRAMS OF MY TOTAL WEIGHT IS REALLY MY SOUL ??

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      "Soul, a moving river. Body, the riverbed” - Rumi



Concepts about soul is never new to human kind. From ancestral period onwards myths and fantasies have be passed down to generations after generations. Different places; different terms and believes. Good and bad souls, evil spirits, soulmates – are few to name among them. But one thing is sure, how much so ever someone deny that human being is bounded to his/her soul, these believes had been a part of our existance and culture, till now. 

That is why even when someone says they are not a fan of horror movies, they still show some interest. In the bottom of their heart they know that somewhere these myths can be true, because just like a fire is born from a small spark, a folk-story can never be a mirage. Then all these point out the existance of souls clearly, isn’t it?

The same interest might have piqued Duncan MacDougall, physician who was reported as the ‘head of a research society’ during his time – early 20th century. His life-story is itself a mysterious one to the world due to the lack of records and valid details regarding him, other than few information such as: he was born in 1866 and worked at Haverhill, Massachusetts as a physician

Many of us might be knowing how the term ‘soul’ and ‘Mr. MacDougall’ are connected. To make it more meaningful, “21 grams experiment” is necessary,

because he was the one to answer an all-time question that rises in our mind- ‘if soul exist within us, how much does it weigh?’ According to Mr. MacDougall, the answer is simple. It’s just 21 grams!! But the contradictions arose after that was quite complex. How is it possible to weigh something when no one can at least identify its existance???

MacDougall studied his hypothesis on 6 patients so that the exhaustion and muscular movements helps to detect even small changes at the time of their death. However, only 4 of them were successfully tested using his whole set-up or scales as per the requirements. Other two tests was a failure due to some external hindrance and other factors. On the test on first patient, MacDougall and his colleagues noted ¾ of an ounce was lost at the moment of death. That is, 21.3 grams was lost. Even though other tests results were showing similar results, one of the body gained weight after sometime, while two others lost weight again after a particular period of time – where explanations are not found. 

Here, the thought on the concept of ‘souls having weight’ gained attention widely. Other researchers succeeded in pointing out many drawbacks in his study, but no definite reason was given for what Mr. MacDougall asked through his 21 grams experiment where he pre-examined many pros and cons such as respiration and fecal loss – “if not for the soul, what can be the reason for the sudden loss of weight?”  

Many philosophers lived their life seeking soul. For them, it was calmness and enlightenment. For others, it is everything that a human need in his life. Apart from philosophy, science who search reasons also is always intrigued about the concept of soul. When explanation and reasoning was beyond our reach, the concept was turned to a part of myth, religious and culture. 

Maybe the advanced scientific world could expose the concept put forward by MacDougall. It is still absurd how much the knowledge on a soul can benefit human life. Then again, such discoveries turned out to be powerful weapon for the scientific world. 

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