Souls, Truth, and the Interconnected World

The modern world is highly interconnected. The truth of this statement can be seen in the way that America’s war with Iraq has affected the economies and politics in every major country. However, it is easy to assume that it is only with modern inventions, such as the airplane or telephone, that this interconnection occurred. This assumption would be false, but is an easy one to make. One place in history that we see cross-culture influence is in the utopian ideas of Judeo-Christians and the Greco-Romans. Even the terms, Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman imply an intermingling of ideas, but the influence of two different thought structures on each other is much more dramatic than the one seen between successive empires. It is difficult to analyze both the Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman ideals of a utopia in conjunction. Both groups were full of subsections that argued about basic doctrines, which leads to an interesting quandary when discussing fundamental ideals between the two – which subsection do you argue your point for? In a longer analysis it would be helpful to discuss several of the subsections, but in this case the analysis will be restricted to the mainstream Christianity and Platonic philosophy.

One of the most common ideas in both cultures is the idea of the soul as being an important part of the quest for a utopia. In Platonic philosophy, the importance of the soul is seen in the idea of perfect forms. According to Plato, everything that is seen in the world is merely “a concrete expression of a more fundamental Idea.” (Tarnas 6) In a simplified analogy, this Idea (also known as a form) is like a perfect picture in an artists mind. It is beautiful, clear, and without faults. The concrete expression is the physical painting produced by the artist. While it still resembles the image in the artist mind, it is not the same image, but rather it has faults and is constrained by the tools available. An important difference to remember between the analogy and Plato’s forms is that the forms have an actually state of existence, or being and are not just conceptualizations of the mind and are therefore superior in all ways to their physical expressions. The soul is integral to this world of forms because it dwelled there before the body physically came into being, but lost the knowledge during the birthing process. (Schoepflin 4-8-04) In order to reach a utopia, the soul must rediscover the forms and a person must accept the truth of the forms. (Tarnas 12)

Christian tradition regarding souls is similar; however it finds its roots not in the world of Ideas and forms but in the figure of Jesus. In the Judeo-Christian story of creation, God took dirt and breathed life into it, thus creating man. From this process man was given a soul. In order to reach utopia or heaven as it is known as in Christianity, a person must accept the teachings of Jesus, the human form of God. The place of the soul comes in as an example of the Greco-Roman influence. In order to convert the people, Christians adapted some of the symbolisms and stories of the so-called pagan society in order to relate better to them. The soul became a more prominent part of Christian doctrine, in response to the Socratic and Platonic philosophies that addressed the soul. (Tarnas 113)

A main difference between the two traditions is interestingly a problem that develops within the discussion of the similarities. While the Christians believed that faith in Jesus and an acceptance of his teachings was crucial for a utopia to be formed, Platonic philosophy placed its emphasis on the search for the truth. Plato’s search for the truth is an outpouring of his belief that there are perfect forms. Since the forms have been forgotten, only a search for the true nature of the forms will enable a philosopher to understand them. This true nature can not be seen in the nominal world, but only by contemplating the forms and looking inward. (Tarnas 8) These teachings are a continuance of Plato’s teacher, Socrates’, directive to live an examined life.

The introspective nature of these philosophies is very different from the Christian directive to turn to Jesus. While Christians recognized that truth had its place, their doctrine places a high emphasis on faith in Jesus over the personal search for truth. Once again however, the interdependence of Judeo-Christians and the Greco-Romans is shown in the continuing usage of the framework of Plato’s forms, despite rejecting its importance. (Tarnas 107-108) Even though the Christians used Platonic thought patterns, the importance remained on the faith given by the church, rather than independent thought. It is important to realize that in a world of interdependence; even those things that are shared can lead to more differences. Ignorance helps no one, but in understanding the way that cultures have interacted in the past we may perhaps alleviate some of the ignorance of our own time.