Broad definition (Wikipedia baby! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/book.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bigwink.gif) ) : Collective indivisible Soul, of which all individual souls or identities are included. The experience of this underlying reality of the indivisible "I am" state of the Over-soul is said to be veiled from the human mind by sanskaras, or impressions, acquired over the course of evolution and reincarnation. Such past impressions form a kind of sheath between the Over-soul and its true identity, as they give rise to the tendency of identification with the gross differentiated body.

Since i am not learned in Eastern philosophy, nor in Emerson's Oversoul theory, and because i figure not many people on this forum are, i thought it might be more appropriate to provide a general definition and follow it up with some questions. I am only well versed in my own ideas; which sound pretty ambiguous when i try to define them. So instead of "owning" the material, which i have no claim to (*sigh* there is no origional thought in the world) I thought this might be a fun way to share and broaden my scope on the subject.

Hopefully, this will start some serious discussion:

Question number 1: What is the natural evolution of thought leading up to this particular revelation, and can it be considered "ascension" or progress in making such a realization?

Homo Sapiens are self-realizing creatures, even our name implies it; one of our early childhood developments is recognition of one's
own reflection; the first question anyone ever asks is "who am i?

Question number 2: Does the Source realize itself?

I think so; and i also think that this self-realization is confirmed and complimented by (if not a result of) the existence of intelligent
life.

Question number 3: How or Why did the Source birth individual conscious...and what is useful about private experience?

Is individual experience simply another dimension of the Everything? It it impossible to have one and not the other?

Question number 4: Is the Source a process or an entity? Is it a process becoming an entity? Is it both?

Question number 5: If it is a process what triggered it?

(Assuming there is either a catalyst or an origin) What is the X factor?

Question number 6: If it is an entity what motivates it?