| Ours – Fallen Souls Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
fall of the soul had been advocated by Socrates in Phaedrus (a book attributed to Plato but originating in all likelihood from earlier Socratic writers). In the beginning, said Socrates, all human souls had been circulating in the company of the heavenly gods. But then had come the moment of the fall from Heaven to Earth. Just before that moment, the souls had been shown a ‘spectacular vision’ and had been able to gaze for a moment at ‘sacred revealed objects that were perfect, and simple, and unshakeable and blissful’. But this heavenly glory had been lost. Upon their fall from Heaven, the souls had become imprisoned inside Earth-born bodies and many, in time, had forgotten their celestial origins, remaining only dimly aware of the perfect objects which they had once glimpsed there. In accordance with these ideas, the human being was envisioned as comprising an immortal soul trapped inside a mortal body (hence the saying that the body was a tomb, soma sema). The body, for its part, ‘participated’ in the ideal of its heavenly Form, but its share of the ideal fell short of the original, as did the share of all material things on Earth. Thus the body was prone to corruption, decay and death. The soul, on the other hand, had received a full share of the heavenly Forms, and was thus pure and immortal by birthright. Moreover, since the soul had originated in Heaven, it belonged in Heaven. The life of a man on Earth, said Plato, was no life at all because the Earth was an inferior, ever-changing copy of the heavenly ‘world of Forms’; it was a snare for mankind. True life, and true reality, said Plato, existed only in Heaven. Therefore, the purpose of a man’s life was to recognise the spiritual nature of his being and its fallen condition, and take all necessary steps to ensure the return of his soul to its birthplace in Heaven (as opposed to the usual fate of reincarnation on Earth). |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.