http://www.thelemacoasttocoast.com/archives/38 Occultism Without Apologies Mon, 06 Oct 2008 13:10:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2.1 http://www.thelemacoasttocoast.com/archives/38#comment-7 shemmcadamson Mon, 13 Aug 2007 04:12:48 +0000 http://www.thelemacoasttocoast.com/archives/38#comment-7 The English forms for the two untranslated Greek terms are "psyche" and "pneuma". The English forms for the two untranslated Greek terms are “psyche” and “pneuma”.

]]> http://www.thelemacoasttocoast.com/archives/38#comment-6 shemmcadamson Mon, 13 Aug 2007 04:08:12 +0000 http://www.thelemacoasttocoast.com/archives/38#comment-6 A minor point of contention--what is life for but splitting hairs?--in re: a passing comment you make, John, regarding how "Jesus" might assert the existence of an immortal/immutable soul, compared to the Buddhist negation of such a spiritual quantum: you might want to check some sources. I have always understood that pre-Hellenic semitic thought made no distinction between soul and physical body; indeed, in the pre-Xtian period, there was no conception of the soul as separate and distinct from a living, physical body. The dualistic idea of a spirit animating or embodied in material form is Hellenic and derives from Plato. No Jew of 2 millenia ago would even have a language with which to conceive such a split of substance and essence. Indeed, there is no word in classical Hebrew for "soul" which would be the conceptual equivalent of the Greek "????." The Hebrew ??? (ruach)is more akin to the Greek "??????," which is synonymous with the Latin "spiritus" (wind or breath) and lacks the essential intentionality and self-awareness (Will) of "????." A minor point of contention–what is life for but splitting hairs?–in re: a passing comment you make, John, regarding how “Jesus” might assert the existence of an immortal/immutable soul, compared to the Buddhist negation of such a spiritual quantum: you might want to check some sources. I have always understood that pre-Hellenic semitic thought made no distinction between soul and physical body; indeed, in the pre-Xtian period, there was no conception of the soul as separate and distinct from a living, physical body. The dualistic idea of a spirit animating or embodied in material form is Hellenic and derives from Plato. No Jew of 2 millenia ago would even have a language with which to conceive such a split of substance and essence. Indeed, there is no word in classical Hebrew for “soul” which would be the conceptual equivalent of the Greek “????.”
The Hebrew ??? (ruach)is more akin to the Greek “??????,” which is synonymous with the Latin “spiritus” (wind or breath) and lacks the essential intentionality and self-awareness (Will) of “????.”

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