By Thomas J. Hoffman, St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, TX
In the wee hours of December 30th, 2005, I was laying
in bed thinking about our panel. I was thinking since we were
going to dedicate it to Vine that I’d bring a couple of viewgraphs
(or powerpoint slides) in his honor. Then a memory intruded itself
on my thoughts. My dad was driving me somewhere (I was 14 years
old) and he turned to me and asked: “Do you know what I want
most out of life?” I thought for a second, all too brief a second,
and responded, “To make as much money as you can.” I saw the
disappointment in his face. It’s not that he didn’t work hard
and try to make money, he did – and he was quite successful; he
had to be with us six kids. He said, “no, that’s not it. What
I want most out of life is to save my immortal soul.” It was
then that his going to mass every day of the week began to make
some sense to me and fit with the rest of his life.
I think that’s an appropriate story to start my comments on our panel
on the soul and the afterlife.
My comments are meant to basically to summarize the Western European
perspective on the soul and the afterlife. I have gathered information
from several traditions, and have compiled them here. In preparing
my comments I discovered several things: First, we have to go
back to the Greeks to find the roots for western views of these
subjects; second, we have to look at the Judaic tradition in order
to understand the Christian tradition; third, it would be incomplete
to examine the soul and the afterlife, without also examining
the notion of reincarnation. So what I shall do today, is examine
the notions of the soul, the afterlife, and reincarnation from
the Greek, Jewish, and Christian points of view. For the Greeks
I shall talk of both Plato and Aristotle; I then trace their influences
on the Jewish community. Then I shall speak both of traditional
Christianity and a relatively contemporary version (for the last
200 years or so) known as “New Thought” Christianity. To bridge
to the American Indian views on these topics I shall give a handout
on contemporary Indians opinions, and I shall close with a few
comments from Vine Deloria’s recent writings on the soul, the
afterlife, and reincarnation.
The Soul
Plato:
Plato saw the Soul as immortal, pure, separate from body. The soul
is the essence of man’s being. It is immortal. We read in the
10th book of The Republic:
“Are you not aware, I said, that the soul of man is immortal and
imperishable? He looked at me in astonishment, and said: No,
by heaven: And are you really prepared to maintain this? Yes,
I said, I ought to be, and you too --there is no difficulty in
proving it…. …the souls must always be the same, for if none
be destroyed they will not diminish in number. Neither will
they increase, for the increase of the immortal natures must come
from something mortal, and all things would thus end in immortality.”
Aristotle:
Aristotle saw the soul as co-extensive with
body; it is the essence of the body. The soul dies with the body.
Emilio Ribes-Iñesta (2004, 55-56) has these
comments with regard to Aristotle and the soul:
Psychology as a natural science can be traced back to the foundational
writings of Aristotle in De Anima (1908-1952, English translation).
Aristotle included psychology in his biological treatises. Biology
and psychology dealt with the study of the soul. The soul, according
to Aristotle, was not a distinctive substance. It was always the
soul of a particular body and could not be separated from it.
There was no soul without body. The soul was a predicate of a
special kind of body—living bodies, capable of self-nutrition,
growth, and corruption. The faculties of the soul were conceived
as the potencies of a living organism, given its organization
or form, and the soul was nothing other than these potencies becoming
act, given certain objects affecting the organism. The soul consisted
of the acting functions of a living body in relation to another
body. Because of this the soul was said to be the entelechy (or
definition and essence) of such a body.
Jewish
Among the Jewish community, one can distinguish between the early
Jews, the Jews who followed Plato, and the Jews who followed Aristotle.
Early Judaism
The early Jews conceived of the soul
as a spirit within the body. A metaphor that was used quite often
in the Hebrew scriptures for spirit was breath, or breeze.
According to Kohler,
Broyd, and Blau in their article on the soul in the Jewish Encyclopedia
on-line:
The Mosaic account
of the creation of man speaks of a spirit or breath with which
he was endowed by his Creator (Gen. ii. 7); but this spirit was
conceived of asinseparably connected, if not wholly identified,
with the life-blood (ib. ix. 4; Lev. xvii.11) the body is in a
state of perfect purity (Ber. 10a; Mek. 43b), and is destined
to return pure to its heavenly abode.
Among Talmudic scholars, “the Rabbis hold
that the body is not the prison of the soul, but, on the contrary,
its medium of development and improvement” (Kohler, Broyd, and
Blau).
Platonic Jews
Jews who follow Plato’s philosophy of course
focus on the immortality of the soul. Not only do souls persist
after life, they existed before birth.
An explicit statement of the
doctrine of the preexistence of the soul is found in theApocrypha:
"All souls are prepared before the foundation of the world"
(Slavonic Book of Enoch, xxiii. 5); and according to II Esd. iv.
35 et seq. the number of the righteous who are to come into the
world is foreordained from the beginning. All souls are, therefore,
preexistent, although the number of those which are to become
incorporated is not determined at the very first (Kohler, Broyd,
and Blau).
Plato saw the material
plane as corrupt and corrupting. Hence, his Jewish followers
felt: “as a divine being the soul aspires to be freed from its
bodily fetters and to return to the heavenly spheres whence it
came” (Kohler, Broyd, and Blau).
Aristotlian Jews
Jews who follow Aristotlian philosophy see
the soul as dying when the body dies. There is no immorality
involved.
As each soul, constituting the form of the body, is indissolubly
united with it and has no individual existence, so the soul of
man and its various faculties constitute with the body a concrete,
inseparable unit. With the death of the body, therefore, the soul
with all its faculties, including the rational, ceases to exist
(Kohler, Broyd, and Blau).
Catholic/Christian
There are many groupings in the Christian tradition,
so I will focus primarily on the Catholic tradition (since it
is both the oldest Christian group, and the one I am most familiar
with). In the Catholic/Christian tradition, the soul is immortal.
Here is a definition according to the recently revised (2000)
Catholic catechism’s glossary:
SOUL:The spiritual principle of human beings.
The soul is the subject of human consciousness and freedom; soul
and body together form one unique human nature. Each human soul
is individual and immortal, immediately created by God. The soul
does not die with the body, from which it is separated by death,
and with which it will be reunited in the final resurrection.
New Thought Christian
A relatively new movement within the Christian tradition is a grouping
of churches, called “New Thought” churches. Although Christian
by self-definition, these churches have a very different read
on many religious issues that are distinct from many “mainline”
Christian viewpoints. Emmet Fox was a very influential religious
figure in the New Thought movement during the 20th
century, and his writings will be used here to represent this
tradition. Regarding the soul, Fox (1940) wrote the following:
It may surprise you to be told that you have no only the physical
body that you know about—the thing that you see when you look
into the glass—but a second body which is none the less substantial
because you cannot see it, and that this body is made of ether.
This statement may surprise you, but it is true. The etheric
body is the same shape as your physical body, but it is slightly
larger and it interpenetrates the physical body as air fills a
sponge. It does not surround it but interpenetrates it. It may
help you to think of it as a replica of the physical body in ether.
The Afterlife
Plato
In The Republic, Plato tells the story of the afterlife, the Myth
of Er. He describes how after death, those who lived good lives
go up a path where they experience good and pleasurable things,
and those who lived bad lives go down a path where they experience
negative punishments. They spend the next 1000 years in either
this pleasurable, or negative environment. After the 1000 years,
they move to another stage (unless they were so bad in this life.
Then they remain in the punishing depths).
Jewish
There is no afterlife for the Aristotlian Jews. For the traditional
and Platonic Jews there is an afterlife. Some Jews speak of Sheol,
a shadowy sort of place and existence.
According to Hirsh (2006):
Sheol is underneath the earth (Isa. vii. 11, lvii. 9; Ezek. xxxi.
14; Ps. lxxxvi. 13; Ecclus. [Sirach] li. 6; comp. Enoch, xvii.
6, "toward the setting of the sun"); hence it is designated
as (Deut. xxxii. 22; Ps. lxxxvi. 13) or (Ps. lxxxviii. 7; Lam.
iii. 55; Ezek. xxvi. 20, xxxii. 24). It is very deep (Prov. ix.
18; Isa. lvii. 9); and it marks the point at the greatest possible
distance from heaven (Job xi. 8; Amos ix. 2; Ps. cxxxix. 8).
Beyond the notion of sheol, among the Jewish community, there is
also the issue of the resurrection of the dead. “Belief in the
eventual resurrection of the dead is a fundamental belief of traditional
Judaism. It was a belief that distinguished the Pharisees (intellectual
ancestors of Rabbinical Judaism) from the Sadducees. The Sadducees
rejected the concept, because it is not explicitly mentioned in
the Torah. The Pharisees found the concept implied in certain
verses (Rich, 1999).”
According to Rich (1999), there are several possiblities in the afterlife.
Some few may go immediately to Heaven (Gan Eden , or Olam Ha-Ba),
most others may need some purification for wrongs done. This
takes place in gehenna, a place of punishment. Most will only
stay in gehenna for 12 months, after which they will go on to
Olam Ha-Ba. A few, who were so bad may either stay in gehenna,
or be ultimately destroyed.
Catholic/Christian
After this life, according to the Catholic tradition, one shall go
to heaven, hell, or purgatory. Purgatory is only a temporary
stage during which any impurities are purged before one can go
to heaven. The Catholic catechism (2000) defines these states
in the following way:
HEAVEN: Eternal life with God; communion of life
and love with the Trinity and all the blessed. Heaven is the state
of supreme and definitive happiness, the goal of the deepest longings
of humanity (1023).
HELL: The state of definitive self-exclusion
from communion with God and the blessed, reserved for those who
refuse by their own free choice to believe and be converted from
sin, even to the end of their lives (1033).
PURGATORY: A state of final purification after death
and before entrance into heaven for those who died in God's friendship,
but were only imperfectly purified; a final cleansing of human
imperfection before one is able to enter the joy of heaven (1031;
cf. 1472).
New Thought Christian
Life after death, according to Fox (1940) is life like this one,
on the next plane. Our experience seems like we are in a physical
body, but we are whole, with no disease. We continue to learn
lessons on the next plane. “You will go to the sort of place,
and be among the sort of people for whom you have prepared yourself
by your habitual thinking and your mode of living while on this
earth” (p. 202). “There is, however, one extremely important
difference – on the other side your thoughts are demonstrated
immediately (p. 203).
Heaven is an ultimate goal, but it may take multiple experiences
of learning on multiple planes to reach:
You do not “meet God” on the next plane any more than you do on this
plane. He is fully present on the next plane just as He is on
this plane; but there as here, He is to be contacted only in one’s
own consciousness by some form of prayer or spiritual treatment.
Heaven is that perfect state of consciousness in which one is
in full realization of the Divine Presence. In that consciousness
there is no limitation, or evil, or decay of any kind. When one
attains to that condition he has finished with etheric he has
finished with etheric planes just as surely as he has finished
with the plane of physical matter. If you can reach to that level
of consciousness while still in this world (and a few have succeeded
in doing so), you do not “die” or go across to the etheric planes
at all; you go straight to Heaven from this earth. Moses did
this, and Enoch, and Elijah, and a few others (p. 205).
Reincarnation
Plato
After 1000 years of either punishment or pleasure, people come to
look upon the “spindle of necessity”. They cast lots to see when
they shall return to the earthly plane. They are able to look
at sample lives (human and animal alike), and choose one to live
upon their return to the earthly plane.
Jewish
In the Jewish community, some believe in reincarnation. According
to Tracey Rich (1999):
There are some mystical schools of thought that believe resurrection
is not a one-time event, but is an ongoing process. The souls
of the righteous are reborn in to continue the ongoing process
of tikkun olam, mending of the world. Some sources indicate that
reincarnation is a routine process, while others indicate that
it only occurs in unusual circumstances, where the soul left unfinished
business behind. Belief in reincarnation is also one way to explain
the traditional Jewish belief that every Jewish soul in history
was present at Sinai and agreed to the covenant with G-d. (Another
explanation: that the soul exists before the body, and these unborn
souls were present in some form at Sinai).
Catholic/Christian
Although I know some Catholics who say they believe in reincarnation,
officially, the Catholic church does not recognize reincarnation.
Most mainstream Christian churches likewise disavow the existence
of reincarnation.
New Thought Christian
Among New Thought Christians there are a variety
of positions on reincarnation, some believe in it, others do not,
and others take no stance one way or the other. Fox does think
reincarnation is a reality. According to Fox (1940) we learn
to live on the etheric planes after our earthly death, only to
return (in about 500 years) to continue to develop mentally and
spiritually.
Why is Reincarnation necessary? Why should life have to develop
in that particular way? The reason is this: We are here on the
earth planet to learn certain lessons. We are here to develop
spiritually. We are here to acquire full understanding and control
over our mentality; and this cannot be done in one lifetime (p.
234).
American Indian approaches
Before closing with a few comments regarding Vine Deloria, the soul,
afterlife, and reincarnation, I’d like to point out some results
of survey research here in the United States. According to the
chart below, American Indians have been more likely on average
(78%) than the general population (71%) in the U.S., to believe
in an afterlife for each year from 1973 – 2004 (with the exception
of 1989).
Chart Showing Native Beliefs in Afterlife Compared to General US Population
In the Summer of 2005, after a conversation we had at Bellingham
at the Bob Thomas conference, Vine sent me a copy of a manuscript
he had been working on for some time. It is not yet published,
but it certainly should be. I thought it would be appropriate
to read from his most recent words on the questions this panel
dedicated to his memory is addressing. The following quotations
are from Vine Deloria, Jr., Jungian Psychology and the Sioux
traditions:
Soul
With regard to the soul, Vine wrote: “the Sioux had a belief that
they were souls temporarily using a body rather than bodies producing
a soul.” (Ch. 8, p. 11)
Afterlife
Vine does not address the afterlife directly.
At one point, however he quotes William Powers in discussing a
healing ceremony:
The generational aspects of Yuwipi are made more consistent by the
fact that all Yuwipi spirits, human and animal, are actually spirits
of those who once lived on the earth. Hence the Oglala feel the
sense of continuity between the living and non-living, and their
belief that the spirit world is simply an extension of the earthly
world is reinforced (Ch. 6, p. 9).
Reincarnation
Finally, regarding reincarnation, Vine writes:
Not much is known of the Sioux belief in reincarnation
… Specific souls could return by incarnating in a new body but
the possible identification of who had been reincarnated was not
a subject for speculation as a rule. Twins were believed to have
been compatible souls who had enjoyed close attachments in a previous
life and now had great affinity for one another (Ch. 8, p. 11).
I’ll now leave it to my colleagues to
more fully elaborate on the notions of the soul and the afterlife
in the American Indian community.
References
Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second
Edition. (2000). “Glossary and Index Analyticus.” Washington, D.C.: United
States Catholic Conference, Inc.
F.M. Cornford, trans., (1951). The Republic of Plato. New
York: Oxford University Press.
Vine Deloria, Jr. (unpublished manuscript). Jungian Psychology
and the Sioux traditions.
Emmet Fox. (1940). Power Through Constructive
Thinking. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Emil G. Hirsh (2006). “Sheol.” Jewish
Encyclopedia.com. < http://tinyurl.com/rkzwl >
Kaufmann Kohler, Issac Broyd, Ludwig Blau
(2006). “Soul.” Jewish Encyclopedia.com. http://tinyurl.com/htg7z
Emilio Ribes-Iñesta. (2004). “Behavior
is abstraction, not ostension: conceptual and historical remarks
on the nature of psychology.” Behavior and Philosophy,
32, 55-68.
Tracey R Rich. (1999). “Olam Ha-Ba: The Afterlife.” Judaism 101.
http://www.jewfaq.org/olamhaba.htm