Most people believe that they have a soul, but very few can explain what it is. It represents something internal and personal that is difficult to put into words. Throughout human history, the soul has been the prism through which humanity and human life have been viewed and explained. Socrates' appeal to his Athenian fellow citizens to care for their souls, along with the Christian message of salvation concerning the preservation of the soul, are essential foundations for the understanding of humanity in Western culture. In Buddhism and Islam, the fate of the soul plays an important role in this life and the next. Ole Martin Høystad has taken on the question of the meaning of the soul and attempts to clarify its deep, diffuse, mystical, and indelible aspects. His book traces its historical influence in the works of significant philosophers.