INCORPOREALITY, state of existing without a body or material form. What it means to exist without being made of matter and whether such things can be said to exist at all have been topics of debate in natural philosophy, science, metaphysics, and religion from the ancient world to the present day.
Such debates revolve around questions such as: What is the soul made of? How, exactly, is the soul connected to the body? What is the nature of air, fire, light, shadow, energy, thought, will, and vitality? Can the soul be corrupted by things that happen to the body? Do you have a body in the afterlife, and if so, what is it made of? How do gods or spirits manifest themselves in the world? What does it mean for an incorporeal god to take mortal form? How are messages passed between the physical and spirit worlds? What is the nature of ghosts? What happens during astral projection? Where do you go when you dream? Is there an ultimate, unchanging cosmic reality? Is the physical world an illusion? Do numbers, shapes, colors, laws of nature, and mathematical formulas exist in a metaphysical sense? Do concepts like Love, Justice, Logic, Truth, Infinity, and Nothingness exist? Is the mind distinct from the body or is consciousness an entirely material, neurochemical process? How do we distinguish between products of the mind and aspects of the world, and how much of the world is really a product of our minds?