The Eye of the Creature

‘Soul’ is still a word that we use quite often. If, for instance, I were to say, I’m sick to my soul’, you’d likely know exactly what I mean. I would not have to explain myself as a manic-depressive with bi-polar tendencies, or such like. Likewise, if I were to say that something brings joy to my soul, then again my meaning is immediately clear. But if someone were to ask, ‘what exactly is your soul?’ Well, things start to get a lot more complicated! Some will not believe in her at all. Others will maybe have a religious interpretation. But then, this will likely be somewhat vague. For instance, a question that might arise is, can there be souls without bodies? Or do we really mean spirit when we say soul? Okay then, what exactly is spirit? Delving back into the history of our understanding of soul doesn’t usually help us too much. That is, apart from one reference from Aristotle. ‘If the eye were a creature’, he said, ‘then seeing would be its soul’. So he was saying something along the lines of – it’s our activity in the world that makes the difference – delivers our essence, so to speak – and not some other-worldly add-on. If you know your Aristotle, then you’ll know that this is typical of him. No need for supernatural explanations, when Earthly explanations will suffice. I take from this – and maybe stretching Aristotle somewhat – that soul could be described as mind plus body plus action in the world. These three things can be considered separately, and indeed, they so often are thought of separately. The danger in doing so however is that we lose something along the way. To get to the essence of who we are we need to consider all three together. In doing so it can simply be said that soul is what emerges when mind, body and manner of being are considered together. Emergence is a key word here. There’s a whole lot of emergence going on! From formlessness emerges form – that’s probably the most basic. Today we may say something like – from the quantum void, particles emerge. Then from particles, elements. The elements have properties that their constituents lack by themselves. From elements, chemical compounds – and again, properties emerge that are lacking in individual elements. Then, from chemicals – life. From life – consciousness. From consciousness – self-awareness. It’s difficult to avoid the reality of this cascade of ever-increasing wonders. But oddly, today, all this emergence is downplayed, to say the least. We can speculate on further emergence. There may be wider circles of emergence – eco-systems, the bio-sphere – having an influence on the lower levels. Downwards causation, as it were, as well as upwards emergence. But this idea seems very rare nowadays – rarer even than a few decades ago. Perhaps the reason is that – lurking amongst all the wonder – there are some awkward questions. Arguably, the big three are: Why something rather than nothing? (Or, really, why form rather than formlessness?) What makes something alive? And, what makes something conscious? I’ve read whole books on science – even whole books on biology – where these questions are never addressed. Is it just me, or do they not just seem like the obvious questions? So why the apparent embarrassment? Maybe it’s that we get the feeling such questions are going to lead to metaphysical answers rather than practical, scientific ones. And maybe the metaphysics will lead into spirituality! Best not go there, if you’re looking for a career in science! So – SILENCE! But I think that’s where our idea of mind plus body plus way of being in the world can help. Remember, no need for the supernatural here! No top-down causality, if that’s what upsets you so much. No – just emergence, from the bottom up. We could go on with our emergence into eco-systems, societies and cultures – all of which have their disciplines in science. Things almost become respectable again! But – perhaps more to the point – what’s this mind-body-way of being idea telling us about the way we live our lives? Well, nothing so very mysterious, I’d hazard. Just simple things that we’ve kind of always known. Body and mind are deeply connected – that’s one thing. The body – and especially the heart – has a much deeper perception of what’s really going on than the mind. But then, a mind that is troubled by regrets, shame, abuse and depression can have a deadening and hazardous impact on the body. Where we live and who we live with has a huge impact on both mind and body – and especially whether or not we live amidst – or have easy access to – wild nature. What a benefit it is to health and happiness to have nature at our door! So the relations we have with those around us and with our immediate physical surroundings – by way of family, friends, work, education and play – have an enormous impact on our mental and physical well-being. If we find ourselves powerless, in one way or another, with regard to these things, then we are diminished as people. If, by contrast, we are empowered to act with generosity, compassion and creativity in our relationships and our work – and see this reflected in our physical surroundings – then we are built up in every respect. Well, all of this seems just simple and obvious. I’d hazard to suggest that the more we learn of biology, psychology, sociology, ecology and neuroscience then the more these simple truths will be backed up by science. We can take things further and speak of the ‘interbeing’ of all things. But then we are off into the underlying paradoxes that shape our world – form and formlessness – the One and the Many – infinity and eternity – and all the rest. These things are questions that perhaps will never be solved, but they are great and bold things to think about, for those with the hunger to search. For the rest of us – I’d suggest – we need little more than mind plus body plus way of being in order to make a little more sense of the world – the Aristotelian soul. There’s another way into this though. One that is perhaps a more circuitous route, but one that is perhaps so much right under our noses that we don’t even notice it. In the spirit of Aristotle, who we are as ensouled beings is deeply within ourselves. I explore this further route in – ‘Things, Somethings and Someones.’