The Soul in Plato

1 The Soul in Plato. Understanding the nature of our soul is important because philosophy is the study of how to remove the soul from the body, (Phaedo 65a). The practice which maintains this is wisdom, therefore the philosopher is a lover of wisdom. Socrates says the soul consists of three parts: Worker, Ruler, and Guardian, frequently through analogy he changes their names, but the relationship is consistent. For example, in one analogy he refers to a multiheaded beast, a little man, and lion. He says the multiheaded beast just does what it wants and makes and ape out of the lion and the little man starved of intelligence becomes weaker. Let’s put a practical illustration of this to the test: Suppose we are an overweight person and on the table is delicious cream cake, the multiheaded beast part of our soul takes charge and eats the cream cake, but soon becomes hungry and demands the lion who is our guardian fetches more cakes. Reason is trampled on by the beast and the little man starved of reason and the body gets more obese. Allow me to introduce you to the model of the pranic body from the Upanishads. Pranic Body Udana Vyana harmonises and regulates the body prana Samana Apana Prana is life force; without prana we would be dead. Around the body there are five types of pranas. They are all individual parts of the Great Prana - the cosmic Prana. (Capital P). These pranas look after our daily bodily functions, very briefly: - Edited and revised 15-5-24 mainly the Phaedrus addition page 4 2 • • • • • Udana controls the upper limbs arms and head (sense organs), importantly it controls speech. prana (lowercase p) is the chief of pranas, and it takes care of our heart, but it is surrounded by the other pranas. Samana looks after the digestive organs, fire in the belly. Apana gets what it deserves it is responsible for taking care of all the waste products. Vyana is distributed throughout the body and gives us balance and coordination. The heart rules everything, without our heart we would not function, however, you can see for information it is reliant on the accuracy of the other pranas telling it the truth of the physical world. If we use the analogy of a tank driver cocooned in the body of a tank. With no access to the outside, the chief prana is reliant for his information from the others. But he has no experience of the outside world, what ever the others tell him (the senses) his interpretation is always going to be subjective conjecture, knee jerk reactions. He is the heart is serving the others, he receives information he has no experience to understand, he reacts to it and issues orders to the others - pumping them into action, - a tank of fools, the blind leading the blind - a recipe for total disorder, and in our world, there are billions of these tanks. The analogy perfectly explains what governs our persona. The chief prana must stop listening to the sense impressions and internalise, “These fools are beguiling me I’m the chief they have forgot their father the Great Prana”. In simplicity the yogi through meditation turns the chief prana around and raises the other pranas till they become a homogeneous whole then suddenly there is no difference with the cosmic Prana thus like a drop of water it dissolves into the cosmic Prana - The yogi like the philosopher as separated the united pranas from the body and becomes one with the cosmic intellect. What does Socrates say about the soul? "And does not the purification consist in this which has been mentioned long ago in our discourse, in separating, so far as possible, the soul from the body and teaching the soul the habit of collecting and bringing itself together from all parts of the body, and living, so far as it can, both now and here- after, alone by itself, freed from the body as from fetters?" Phaedo 67c All this information suggests if Prana is life force and Being is life force they must be the same. Being (capital B) is a triad of power (vitality), intellect, and Being: Worker, ruler, and guardian. Being (father) Intellect (Son) Power (vitality).(Mother) Edited and revised 15-5-24 mainly the Phaedrus addition page 4 3 Created beings come into being and pass away, but the real Being (capital B) is the eternal father. Socrates in the Republic gives a further analogy of the soul triad: Appetitive, Spirited, and Rational. When these three mind their own business i.e., when they do their proper jobs then the soul becomes just. Republic 443d. A just soul is when these three do their proper jobs i.e. the appetitive part does not behave like a multiheaded beast and make ape out of the lion, allowing reason to prevail, Republic 588b. Relationships are constant, for illustration purposes names change. We are going to change the names of the three soul components to what they are in the Timaeus (35): - Other, Mixture, and Same. The Other is that which is always coming into being and passing away i.e., creation. The Same is that which always “Is” i.e., eternal. When Timaeus uses the analogy of the Other and the Same he says it is very difficult to bring them together, but when they are joined suddenly the trinity is one, Timaeus 35b. Like above the three become a fourth – attainment of justice. Timaeus reasons it is not possible that two things can be joined without a third, the third part becomes the mean a mixture holding them together, (Timaeus31c). The Other The Same The Mixture/Bond/Mean We now need the analogy of the Divided Line from the Republic (509d): - Realm of the Visible or Physical Opinions Beliefs Realm of Intellected (noumenal) eternal. Understanding Knowing (Turning the Line vertical it becomes a pillar of cognitive development). Edited and revised 15-5-24 mainly the Phaedrus addition page 4 4 Timaeus says no two things can be joined without third, therefore the visible cannot be joined to the noumenal eternal without a mean, likewise opinion cannot be joined to belief and understanding joined knowing they all need means/transitions. Therefore, with the three means we now have seven stages of cognitive development. The terms differ, but the relationships are constant = Appetitive is the Other, Reason is the Same, and Spirited is the mean between the two - the Mixture. (The analogy in the Phaedrus is bad horse, the charioteer, and the good horse). • Corresponding with the Divided Line there are four afflictions of the soul, on the visible side sits opinion and belief, and on the intelligible side sits understanding and knowing. The Good or the One stands above and apart from the Divided Line. Republic 506+ to the end of book six. • The four afflictions correspond with the four unruly regimes of the Republic which Socrates says are all diseased states: - Tyranny, Democracy, Oligarchy, and Laconian. • Each of these afflictions is a soul made of three parts. • Depending upon the dominance of each affliction they make the fifth the whole outward persona. • Socrates says of the five regimes (types) of soul only one of these is just. Adding one of these regimes can be described in two ways - monarchy or when there are more than one - aristocracy (therefore aristocracy is many or multitude). Republic 445d. i • Aristocracy is our persona our arrogance to a greater or lesser degree: the many. This soul is a diseased state in disorder and discord. • In the Phaedrus Socrates says there are two kinds of madness, the human diseases i.e. the afflictions of the above unruly states. Then there is the philosopher’s madness which is a release from these customary habits. He divides the madness of the enlightened seer into four parts and ascribing them to gods: The prophetic power of Apollo, the mystic madness of Dionysius, the poetry of the muses, and Aphrodite with Eros. (Phaedrus 265 b). • The four regimes make the outer appearance – our Pan persona or the divine radiance of the just man. Perhaps you can see from the combination of three parts of soul, five regimes, and four afflictions and their means there is a possible multitude of aristocratic personality types. We are tank commanders with various combinations of souls that are in disorder and discord making us believe in our own opinions or that of others surrounding us. We are all aristocratic tank drivers the blind leading the blind with no experience of true reality just the opinions of the others. Socrates says the soul parts must do their proper jobs i.e., mind their Edited and revised 15-5-24 mainly the Phaedrus addition page 4 5 own business, stop the beast giving misleading information to the driver and the driver must stop serving the senses. By this he means drop our aristocratic arrogance. To repeat this in another way: - The four afflictions of soul on the Divided Line each contain three parts - Other, Same, and the Mixture. Each affliction along with the three means in turn must become just then the whole Line syncs, the whole Line becomes “just”. Like a series of switches, when they are all are connected correctly the circuit is complete the light bulb suddenly comes on, we attain enlightenment - justice - everyone doing their proper jobs. When the light comes on it creates the fifth the Monarchy a just state. But if for instance any one of the afflictions is still unjust the whole Line remains an unjust aristocratic state of one form or another. The numerous combinations make up the multitude of aristocratic regimes a mixture of Tyranny, Democracy, Oligarchy, and Laconian reflecting our personas. The father is Zeus who like Being is life force Cratylus 396a. A deeper reading of the Republic (Books eight and nine) will reveal each one of the four principal regimes is a son of Zeus, Hermes (Tyrant), Dionysius (Democracy - mob rule therefore he is lacerated), Ares with Aphrodite (Oligarchy), and Hephaestus (Laconian). ii The reader is Apollo who brings the scattered parts of Dionysus into a wholeness, Glaucon is Athena who cares for the heart. The gods are also the characters in the plot: • • • • • Hermes god of speech and speech makers- Adeimantus the sooth singer(sophist) – Udana prana. Our tank driver Mob rule Lacerated Dionysus – Isocrates/ Dionysus Socrates the master of life – chief prana. Socrates means the saviour of wisdom. Without this prana all the other pranas would be lost. Isocrates was the father of humanities and rhetoric which Socrates rejects in the Republic as unsuitable for the studies of real Being, Republic 521c+. These are the two Selves; the psychologists call anima and animus. Ares - Polemarchus warlord – samana prana. Hephaestus - Cephalus he made his wealth from manufacturing arms he is the Head – Apana prana that fell from heaven. Pan the son of Hermes this character is Thrasymachus the rash fighter – Vayana prana. The full combination is our body persona, we are Pan son of Hermes, but we are in disorder and disorderly motion. Our job is to turn on the light switches. Edited and revised 15-5-24 mainly the Phaedrus addition page 4 6 Republic unjust state. Phaedrus divine man Hermes Dionysus (scattered) Apollo Dionysus made whole Ares and Aphrodite Nine Muses Hephaestus Aphrodite and Eros We all contain the lacerated parts of Dionysus after the tyrants scatter him, but Athena in her wisdom kept the heart safe. When each affliction of the Line becomes totally just the soul is Dionysus a monad united with Zeus: - Cosmic Pan. That drop of water that is absorbed into the great ocean of Being. Poor old Hephaestus he’s the top man, but he spends is whole life wading in effluents instead of affluence – a complete mess. he should never have fallen for carnal Aphrodite. Each will receive exactly what they deserve nothing more or nothing less. In the tank the tyrant Adeimantus is the mouthpiece who bellows out the Isocratic opinion he is happy in his belief that when he dies is kind will recline in luxury of Hades, Republic 363c, but later Socrates says to Glaucon “shall we now discuss how some of gone from Hades to the heavens”, Republic 521c. The turning of the shell, turning the soul around. Hades is the third chakra Manipura the city of jewels for fools. The choice of Hercules – the path of virtue or vice, from the Phaedo there are two kinds of people who arrive in Hades, those arrive through compulsion because they are dead and those who arrive of their own volition, Phaedo 69d, (See also Katha Upanishad) Those who are dead have been beguiled by the others and lie in the mire, those who have rejected the cravings of the others pass through the gate of Vishnu (Hades) and pass through to the heavens. Edited and revised 15-5-24 mainly the Phaedrus addition page 4 7 The similarities are identical between Plato and the Tantric Upanishads. The chakras suit the Divided Line and indeed help us understand the Allegory of the Cave. On the diagram below you will see the first three chakras are earthly, the second three are heavenly and the seventh is out of body. However, within the teaching of the seventh is soma chakra (nectar chakra) which is positioned just under the dome of the skull, in Plato this is Cronus the pure intellect. Cronus disgorges his children and devours his children. Edited and revised 15-5-24 mainly the Phaedrus addition page 4 8 In the Phaedrus the successful charioteer reaches the arch of heaven ὑπουράνιον ἁψῖδα, from here the soul leaves the heavens via a circumvolution to the intelligible place νοητός τόπος (intellected) which is beyond the heavens - colourless, formless, and intangible, the plain of truth. see Phaedrus 247b. The united pranas (life force) leaves through the fontanel into the realm of everlasting truth. For a human being must understand a general conception formed by collecting into a unity by means second reason the many perceptions of the senses; and this is a recollection of those things which our soul once beheld, when it journeyed with Theo and, lifting its vision above the things which we now say exist, lifted into real Being. Socrates Phaedrus 249c. Heaven is a translation of Ouranos which Socrates says is the astronomers gaze which results in the pure clarity of our intellect. Cratylus 396c, Republic 528e and John 17; 1. In simplicity we are recollecting the scattered prana throughout our body parts back into a wholeness as it was in the beginning. John 1; 1. John 11; 52, and 17; 11. Socrates says the just man will seek the middle way between the two excesses, Republic 618 d-e, (the fallen mother and the fallen guardian) John 19 the crucifixion is staged at Gabatha of Golgotha the dome of the skull between two others. Crucifixion is a pun, like Jesus the just man of the Republic is crucified on a staurOson -pole, Republic 362. The stiff-necked yogi is fixed to the pole of the backbone. (The dharma). The crucifixion is the union (a yoga) of the Moon to the Sun, i.e., the Other and the Same which like Timaeus intimated is not easily accomplished. Thyrsus bearers are many the philosophers are few. The moon is not the light but a witness to the light. Oedipus killed his father married his mother. For anything else in all honesty, you must hum it yourself. AUM. i Obviously, there is a connection of the four afflictions of soul to the antiquated theory of four humours. Their descriptions in the text are in the opposite order, Hephaestus god of smiths and manufactures, Ares and Aphrodite victory lovers, lacerated Dionysus a drunken state, and Hermes the tyrant a winged drone. ii Edited and revised 15-5-24 mainly the Phaedrus addition page 4