User blog comment:Zathronas/Speculative Author - RWBY Relativity/@comment-7622429-20160225135902

I have my own theory, but I don't know how well it's backed up, so here goes:

I believe that the Soul is indeed the connective tissue, as you've outlined here, Zathronas, though there are distinctions. Monty, bless his being, once said that Dust is akin to Materia from FFVII. If anyone can find the actual quote anywhere, feel free to reply to my comment. With that in mind, let's get on with the meat of this theory.

If Dust is akin to Materia, then perhaps the planet of Remnant itself has a Soul, so to speak, with that Soul being represented by Dust. If that's the case, what about the planet's local wildlife, or the Grimm? In Taoist principles, existence is about balance, supported by biological and physics-based evidence. So why did I bring that stuff up, anyways?

Well, see, I think that, if Dust is Remnant's soul, perhaps its inhabitants' own souls are merely an extension of that, seeing as how Humanity came from Dust. Their being is merely a complex biological expression of Dust/Remnant's soul. So, in effect, mining Dust is akin to mining the planet's soul, which is bound to cause issues down the road without practicing balance. And how do the Grimm figure into this equation, you may wonder?

Once again, we come to the issue of balance: Grimm may perhaps be the planet's natural response to an influx of Dust-manifested beings. Perhaps human beings were a mistake in the evolution of species on the planet, consuming more of Remnant's Dust/soul than they gave back, and the Grimm manifested as a response, similar to antibodies, beings whom were not born of Dust as others, and thus could continually be produced to combat the threat of Humanity.