Soul, Mind and Body by Jayanthinathan

Chapter – 5: Views on Soul by Heraclitus, a Greek Philosopher

So far: The basic characteristics of soul, mind and body were narrated. Soul’s rebirth was proved beyond doubt by the story of Shanthi Devi, which has been well documented and vetted. On the basis of rebirth of the soul of Shanthi Devi, various aspects of the soul were discussed. Then the views of three pre-Socratics’ Greek Philosophers viz. Thales, Anaximander and Anaxemenes were brought in. Thales viewed soul as water and magnet, Anaximander as Infinite and Anaxemenes as air. Now, let us elaborate on Heraclitus’s theory on Soul.

Heraclitus lived like Buddha, was critical like Nakkeerar (Chief Ancient Tamil Poet of Chola King) and thought like Adi Sankara.

Like Buddha, Heraclitus abandoned his riches in favor of his brother and wandered the mountains making his diet of grass and herbs.

Like Nakkeerar, he criticized the Greek Philosophers Hesiod and Pythagoras as frauds though learned and Epic poets Homer and Archilochus as fools deserved to be beaten.

Like Adi Sankara, he propounded his theory stating that ‘all things come out of the One and the One comes out of all things’ similar to Advaita theory. The theory of Heraclitus is known as ‘Logos’. Heraclitus was of the firm opinion that the world is governed by the Logos and so the only wisdom in humans is understanding the Logos.

Heraclitus claimed to know everything and was proud of his only book titled ‘On the Nature of the Universe’. But his writings are very obscure in nature to understand and hence he was called a ‘Riddler’. When he was invited by the King to come to his court to explain his writings, he refused by stating: ‘All men upon earth hold aloof from truth and justice, while, by reason of wicked folly, they devote themselves to avarice and thirst for popularity.’
He was a meloncholy man and it was presumed that he could not complete his book. He is nicknamed as a dark or weeping philosopher.

He had married a wealthy lady who had also made to surrender all her wealth before her marriage and had a son and a daughter who had also been taught to live a namodic life. He lost his vision and treated himself with a liniment of cow manure and baking in the sun, believing that this would cure him. After 24 hours of treatment at the age of 60, he died.

In spite of all these negative aspects, Heraclitus along with Parmenides another Greek philosopher, is probably the most significant philosopher of ancient Greece until Socrates and Plato; in fact, Heraclitus's philosophy is perhaps even more fundamental in the formation of the European mind than any other thinker in European history, including Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.

When Socrates was asked to comment on Heraclitus' book, Socrates replied:"What I understand is splendid; and I think what I don't understand is so too - but it would take a Delian diver to get to the bottom of it."

Obama Barack had got elected on one word – Change. Actually, the theory of change was first propounded by Heraclitus. His famous quote is:One thing in this universe which is permanent is Change. According to him, everything is in a state of flux or change and all beings are going and not remaining at all. To illustrate this theory of the state of flux, Heraclitus brought the simile of river and its flow of water. One could not step into the same water twice, but Heraclitus confirmed that inspite of its flow or change, the wolrd is one unified whole like the river which is constant, yet contains this perpetual change like its water.

‘Enough of Heraclitus and let us have his views on Soul’ - you seem to murmur. Sensing your mood, let me not delay any further.

Soul, according to Heraclitus, is the mixture of fire and water. You know that Fire and Water are opposite to each other and that one is capable of bringing end to the other. But, his Logos is: All Beings are by themselves opposites and all things come into being by conflict of opposites, and the sum of things ("the whole") flows like a stream. This is something like positive and negative being coming together for any existence. According to him, Fire is primordial source of matter.

Fire is the most complete emobodiment of the process of Becoming out of which all things, including even Soul, grow by way of a quasi condensation. But this primordial fire is in itself that divine rational process, the harmony of which constitutes the law of the universe.

Further, Heraclitus explains that things which are put together are both whole and not whole, brought together and taken apart, in harmony and out of harmony and that one thing arises from all things, and all things arise from one thing. This is one example of Heraclitus’s obscure passages for your consumption!

Soul, which is generated out of fire, has a limitless dimension: If you went in search of it, you would not find the boundaries of the soul.

He had also classified soul into dry and wet and even cultured and uncultured. For these, his views are: ‘Drunkenness damages the soul by causing it to be moist, while a virtuous life keeps the soul dry and intelligent. Souls seem to be able to survive death and to fare according to their character.’

Opposites are not for opposing things, but they are there only to conform to the everlasting rational formula of unity, which is called logos. If there are no opposites, then there will be no life left in the universe. This is the fulcrum meaning of the following quotes of Heraclitus: “Day and night, up and down, living and dying, heating and cooling – such pairings of apparent opposites all conform to the everlastingly rational formula (logos) that unity consists of opposites; remove day, and night goes too, just as a river will lose its identity if it ceases to flow.”

From the foregoing, we have known the main idea of Soul as expounded by Heraclitus,who is called a weeping philosopher.

In our next month issue, we will be writing about the views of Democritus, who is called a laughing philosopher.