Table of contents hide 1 Anthropology according to Plato 2 The soul according to Plato 3 The Myth of the Chariot or Winged Chariot 4 The transmigration of souls by Plato 5 The beauty of the divine 6 By way of conclusion
Maybe now we have forgotten and we are left with what interests us, but the parents of democracy and philosophy, the great Greek thinkers, were also spiritual . Among them, we find Plato, one of the most famous, who promulgated interesting theories about the transmigration of souls .
In this sense, I would like to propose today an exciting journey through the world of the souls of Plato. We will discover how this famous philosopher talked about this subject more than 2000 years ago . I think it is important not to forget it, since many of his teachings remain perfectly valid today.
Anthropology according to Plato
Before entering directly into the world of transmigration of souls according to the Greek philosopher, let's remember his conception of man and anthropology.
For Plato, man has two parts, body and soul :
On the one hand we have the human soul, which is immortal . This belongs to the world of Ideas and comes from an accidental union between body and soul, something that was later opposed by his most famous disciple, Aristotle.
Then we have the body, which is the one who imprisons the soul . Hence, Plato considers our physical part as something negative . Let us not forget that for the philosopher, our physicist does not allow transcending and raising his full potential to the soul, full of light and beauty.
The soul according to Plato
In addition, Plato divided the soul into three parts . Moreover, it even located them in various areas of the human body, as we see below:
On the one hand we find the rational soul, which is the intelligent and immortal . This is the thought, which we logically find in our head.
The second part is the irascible soul, which is mortal and therefore passionate . We locate it in the thorax and it is related to our feelings, more mundane and bodily.
Finally we discover the third part in the concupiscible soul . This is deadly, but also instinctive. It is found in the abdomen and is related to human impulses.
According to Plato, the soul is the essence of our body . It gives life to our physical self, which would otherwise be nothing more than an empty shell.
For the philosopher, the soul has its own life totally immortal, immutable, eternal and without any subjection to change . This is because it comes from the World of Ideas, which is more light, unethical and unintelligible . That is, it comes from a truly real place.
However, upon accidentally falling into the Sensitive World, he almost completely forgets his previous existence . Hence the dual vision of the human being that this magnificent classical thinker had.
The Myth of the Float or Winged Car
Before explaining the transmigration of souls, it is necessary to explain what is the Myth of the Float or Winged Car . This philosopher was very given to expose his theories with examples, magnificent detail to better understand his way of thinking.
In the case of the Winged Wagon, we find a beautiful float, which symbolizes the rational soul . It walks along a path that simulates the World of Ideas. This carriage is pulled by two horses. One is beautiful and white, which equals the irascible soul. The other is black, and relates to the concupiscible soul. And finally, the car is commanded by a driver, who would be in this case the ruler of the rational soul.
In the middle of the road, the horses get wild, which would be an accident that represents the fall of the soul of the World of Ideas to the Sensitive World . And this is where body and soul come together almost by chance.
In this situation, the soul, pure and beautiful, full of light, is dirtied by the body, tied to human passions . Desire and irascibility join rationality in a process that makes the soul forget its most luminous past world .
Then, we can find that for Plain, each of the three parts of the soul is related to a type of citizen:
The ruler is the rational soul . It must be wise and temperate, with large doses of prudence.
The warrior guardian is the irascible part of the soul, the strongest part.
Finally , we have the producers and artisans, who are the concupiscibles . These belong to the most moderate part of the soul.
However, as we said, these theories fell into a certain oblivion after the preeminence of Arist Arteles, the most advanced student of Plato. However, this faithful follower had a different way of understanding the immortality and duality of the soul as well as the accident that caused it to join the body.
The transmigration of souls by Plato
Plato believed strongly in the transmigration of souls . According to the philosopher, all human beings have reminiscences that our soul possessed before reincarnating in a human body.
The philosopher believed that the majestic was a clear example of this. With the right questions, any interlocutor could get the truth that exists within a person . It is precisely due to the memories that reverberate in our soul due to its previous passage through the World of Ideas. Thus, even a slave could demonstrate great knowledge if the interrogation was correct .
If human beings are perceptive, it is because our soul is not perishable . There is still the apprehension of the essence, which shows us the immortality of it.
Therefore, and always speaking according to the Greek philosopher, life is nothing more than a preparation for death . For this reason, to die is not really an end, but an end, since it frees the soul from the physical body, and it separates again and meets its essence.
The beauty of the divine
It seems that Plato somehow defends everything human. For him, the divine is beautiful, wise and good . So, whatever is under that nature, everything is beautiful, and feeds on beauty to be winged and ascend.
Meanwhile, the human is perishable, shameful, bad and ends up being consumed . Hence, only our soul, immortal and perennial, is really valuable. Find your freedom when you shed your body and can walk again through the World of Ideas.
In conclusion
This is the theory that Plato wielded about the transmigration of souls . Eternal, beautiful, rational and almost divine. However, falls out of favor by a simple accident. they were introduced into a human body as a preparation to go through life and return to its ideal plane of existence again.
It is curious that the philosopher says that there are reminiscences of the soul in every human being. Even having forgotten its splendid past, something good can be taken out of every person as long as the right questions are asked. Does it mean that an individual, even with a deplorable attitude, could be worthy and wise? Would it be achieved if he has the necessary teacher who knows how to find those remains of his rational and wise soul?
Whatever the theory of the transmigration of the souls of Plato, it is clear that he was a wise man of great spirituality . We can believe in their teachings or not, but they are worth considering. From his extensive knowledge of human nature, wonderful lessons capable of illuminating our soul, spirit and reason can be extracted today.
By Pedro, editor of the White Brotherhood
