The soul – in many traditional spiritual, philosophical, and psychological traditions – is the incorporeal and immortal essence of a person, living thing, or object. Some religions teach that all biological organisms have souls, and others further still that even non-biological entities (such as rivers and mountains) possess souls. This latter belief is called animism.Anima mundi and the Dharmic Ātman are concepts of a "world soul." Some religious thinkers, such as Thomas Aquinas, attribute souls to all organisms but teach that only human souls are immortal.

Soul can function as a synonym for spirit, mind or self; scientific works, in particular, often consider 'soul' as a synonym for 'mind'^{[citation needed]}.

The Modern English word soul derived from Old English sáwol, sáwel, first attested to in the 8th century poem Beowulf v. 2820 and in the Vespasian Psalter 77.50, and is cognate with other Germanic and Baltic terms for the same idea, including Gothic saiwala, Old High German sêula, sêla, Old Saxon sêola, Old Low Franconian sêla, sîla, Old Norse sála as well as Lithuanian siela. Further etymology of the Germanic word is uncertain. A more recent suggestion connects it with a root for "binding", Germanic *sailian (OE sēlian, OHG seilen), related to the notion of being "bound" in death, and the practice of ritually binding or restraining the corpse of the deceased in the grave to prevent his or her return as a ghost.

The English word spirit (from Latin spiritus "breath") has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body. The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness. The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap, as both contrast with body and both are understood as surviving the bodily death in religion and occultism, and "spirit" can also have the sense of "ghost", i.e. a manifestation of the spirit of a deceased person.

The term may also refer to any incorporeal or immaterial being, such as demons or deities, in Christianity specifically the Holy Spirit experienced by the disciples at Pentecost.

The English word spirit comes from the Latin spiritus, meaning "breath", but also "spirit, soul, courage, vigor", ultimately from a Proto-Indo-European *(s)peis. It is distinguished from Latin anima, "soul." In Greek, this distinction exists between pneuma (πνευμα), "breath, motile air, spirit," and psykhē (ψυχη), "soul."

Joyce Meyer (born Pauline Joyce Hutchison; June 4, 1943) is a Charismatic Christian author and speaker. Meyer and her husband Dave have four grown children, and live outside St. Louis, Missouri. Her ministry is headquartered in the St. Louis suburb of Fenton, Missouri.

Meyer was born Pauline Joyce Hutchison in south St. Louis in 1943. Her father went into the army to fight in World War II soon after she was born. She has said in interviews that he began sexually abusing her upon his return, and discusses this experience in her meetings.

A graduate of O'Fallon Technical High School in St. Louis, she married a part-time car salesman shortly after her senior year of high school. The marriage lasted for five years. She maintains that her husband frequently cheated on her and persuaded her to steal payroll checks from her employer. They used the money to go on a vacation to California. She states that she returned the money years later. After her divorce, Meyer frequented local bars before meeting Dave Meyer, an engineering draftsman. They were married on January 7, 1967.

John Paul Jackson is an author, teacher, conference speaker and founder of Streams Ministries International. Jackson often focuses on supernatural topics like dreams, visions, and dream interpretation as found in the Bible. He has developed a number of prophetic training courses. He is also a recurring guest on many shows that include The 700 Club, Sid Roth's It's Supernatural!, and Benny Hinn's This Is Your Day program, among others. He was a member of the controversial Kansas City Prophets, whose practice and doctrine came under fire in the 1980s and '90s. He is the founder of Streams Ministries International, a Christian group that deals especially with the practice known as prophecy. Jackson's career has spanned more than 20 years. He served as the senior pastor of two churches, and he has also served on the pastoral staff at the Vineyard Movement's Christian Fellowship in Anaheim, California (with John Wimber) and at the former Metro Christian Fellowship in Kansas City, Missouri (with Mike Bickle).