CHAPTER II

HEREVER we direct our attention in the
physical or spiritual worlds, we are likely to encounter an apparent paradox, and it should, there- fore, cause us no surprise that in considering the Soul we immediately find such a state of affairs existing.
We are accustomed to the idea that man is not a simple being; that he is composed of body and soul, or even of body, soul and spirit, though there appears to be considerable looseness in the way these two latter terms are used.
We also admit that the soul is the principal part of man ; is, in fact, the man himself, leaving on one side for the moment the differentiation between soul and spirit. But we find it difficult to grasp that the soul is at once indivisible and divisible ; that it is both one and yet possessing parts.
Nevertheless this hypothesis underlies the teaching of the Egyptians, Hebrews and Greeks, whom we are principally considering, and we are compelled to form some coherent view of the divisions of the soul if we are to follow the writings wherein we propose to look for our clues.
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It will perhaps be simpler to consider first some of the Qabalistic ideas concerning the Soul, for they possess a quite definite terminology which is missing in many of the others. ‘This will furnish us with a standard of comparison and of correspondence that should be distinctly useful.
According to the Zohar, the Soul was divided into three parts, of which the highest was termed Neshamah, corresponding to the intellectual world; the second Ruach, the seat of good and evil, corresponding to the moral world; and the third, Nephesch, the animal life and desires, corresponding to the material world of sense.
Now Neshamah was itself divided into three parts, for, as the highest part of the soul, it represented what was termed the Supernal Triad, composed of the first three Sephiroth or Emanations.
It is here necessary to digress for a moment to explain that the system of the Qabalah postulates the existence of ten Sephiroth—which may be regarded either as Emanations from, or the Highest Abstract Ideas of, God—conformed into four Worlds called Atziluth, Briah, Yetzirah and Assiah, which are respectively Archetypal or pure Deity, Creative, Formative and Material. The first Sephira comprises the first World, that of Atziluth, the next two that of Briah, the next six that of Yetzirah, and the last that of Assiah.
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The Supernal Triad, therefore, mentioned above, being composed of the first three Sephiroth, embraces the first two Worlds, and the three divisions of Neshamah, which are called Yechidah, Chiah and Neshamah respectively, are referred, the first to Atziluth and the next two to Briah.
The first of these conveys, therefore, the illimitable and transcendental idea of the Great Absolute and Incomprehensible One in the Soul. This is linked by Chiah, which suggests the idea of Essential Being, with Neshamah, and these two represent together Wisdom and Understanding, the higher governing, creative idea, the aspiration to the Ineffable One in the Soul.
Neshamah in turn links these Supernals with the Ruach, a word which means Spirit, and is here the Mind, the Reasoning Power, that which possesses the knowledge of good and of evil. It is to be noted carefully that this is the rational or discursive mind, and not the higher mind, which is represented by Neshamah.
Lastly we have the Nephesch, which is that power in the Soul which represents the passions and physical appetites.
The Zohar, Part II, fol. 94b, tells us that at birth man receives the Animal Soul (Nephesch), and if he is worthy, the Ruach or Intellectual Spirit. Lastly, if he is still more worthy, Neshamah, the Soul emanating from the Celestial Throne (by which is meant the
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Briatic World). We need not, however, enter into a consideration of the possibility of man without the Ruach, or his nature, but will make the justifiable assumption that for all practical purposes man, accord- ing to the Qabalah, consists of Body, Nephesch and Ruach, that is Body, Soul and Spirit.
Among the Greeks Plato also makes a triple division, as does Plotinus, though others, as for example the Pythagorean Philolaus, give four.
We will take the Platonic system as being, probably, the most widely known and most often quoted. He gives the Nous or higher mind; the phren or thumos, the lower mind, including, according to some, the psychic nature; and the epithumia, comprising the emotional nature and the animal desires, appetites and passions. ‘The faculties of the lower and higher minds he sub-divides into four, two to each. To the lower he allots Eikasia, the perception of images, and Pistis, faith and a sort of psychic groping after truth. To the higher he refers Dianoia, or philosophic reasoning, and Noesis, or direct cognition. The first two are amalgamated under the heading of Doxa, opinion or mostly illusory knowledge, while the other two are classed as Gnosis or Episteme, wisdom or true knowledge.
The first of the two sub-divisions of Doxa includes the whole of that body of knowledge which we term the inductive, physical sciences, these being concerned 20
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exclusively with the observation and investigation of the phenomena of the material universe. The second embraces the numerous forms of dogmatic creeds and beliefs summed up as a rule as exoteric religion.
Of the two grades of Gnosis, the first refers to those more speculative aspects of philosophy, wherein an attempt is made to arrive at a knowledge of first principles by means of pure reasoning, while the second grade implies the power of the mind directly to apprehend the truth without going through any intermediate process of reasoning.
Comparing this system with that of the Qabalah, we observe that the Nous corresponds with the Neshamah, the Phren with the Ruach and the Epithumia with the Nephesch.
Regarding the allocation of the four faculties of the lower and higher minds, the reader may feel a little doubtful as to the allocation of the philosophical reason to the higher mind or Nous, which, from its very name, is definitely associated with the noetic or epistemonic faculty of direct perception of the truth ; but such questions are, after all, of relatively small importance.
Similar to the ideas we have outlined above are the following passages from Abammon’s reply to Porphyry (lamblichos de Mysteriis) when alluding to the Her- metic concepts. He says: “‘ For man, as these writings affirm, has two souls. The one is from the First
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Intelligence, and is participant of the power of the Creator, but the other is given from the revolutions of the worlds of the sky, to which the God-beholding soul returns. ... But the Soul that is in its higher mental quality from the world of Intelligence, is superior to the movement of the world of generated existence, and through this there takes place both the unbinding of fate and the upward progress to the gods of the World of Mind.
“The Theurgic discipline, so far as it conducts upward to the Unbegotten, is made complete by a life of this kind.... For the soul has a principle of its own leading around to the realm of Intelligence, and not only standing aloof from things of the world of generated existence, but also joining it to that which is, even to the divine nature . . . (and) there is another principle of the soul which is superior to the whole realm of nature and generated existence. By it we can be united to the gods, rise above the estab- lished order of the world, and likewise participate in the life eternal and in the energy of the gods of the highest heaven. ‘Through this principle we are able to set ourselves free.”
Here, however, to make comparison with the Qabalistic ideas, we find allusion to the Ruach, to the Neshamah, and to a higher principle still, presumably the Yechidah. For the Ruach, as we have seen, cor- responds to the Yetziratic or formative World, here 22
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alluded to as the “ worlds of the sky,’ while Neshamah is the idea of wisdom and understanding, which, in our quotation, is “the higher mental quality from the world of Intelligence.”” But Abammon goes on to say that there is another principle beyond this, by which we participate in the eternal life and energy of the gods.
In conclusion, and as further illustrating the enormous importance attaching to the higher portion of the soul, the Neshamah, the Nous or the Mind, the following extracts are of interest, and it would perhaps be as well to point out here and now that none of these quotations is chosen merely to illustrate the point immediately under consideration, but all have their bearing on the telestic work.
The Zohar, Part I, fol. 246 (La Kabbale, Franck) says: ‘‘Come and see. Thought is the principle of all that is; but it is at first Unknown and shut up in itself. When the Thought begins to develop itself forth, it arrives at that degree where it becomes Spirit. Arrived at this estate it takes the name of Intelligence, and is no longer as before it was, shut up in itself. The Spirit, in its turn, develops itself in the bosom of the mystery with which it is surrounded ; and there proceeds a voice which is the reunion of the celestial choirs, a voice that rolls forth in distinct utterance articulate, for It comes from the Mind.”
In the Divine Poemander of Hermes Trismegistus,