Aristotle, and some 1,500 years later Aquinas, would call the vegetative soul the most basic aspect of the living hierarchy, with Plato too before them attributing the ‘appetitive’ aspect of the tripartite soul to the vegetative principle. Iamblichus the Neoplatonist would say as well that the vegetative lies at the minimal extreme of life. The … Continue reading What to Make of the Flowers
Meditation
Man the Animal
Science and the materialists say we’re apes. Traditional teachings say the same, to a point. This shouldn’t be an observation that alarms anyone, though of course it’s a common tendency to desire to be special and view oneself as somehow separated from the animal; and we are, ideally. Part of what sets us apart from … Continue reading Man the Animal
Breath, Word, Language
"The mouth is the beginning of all speech,a support to wisdom and a comfort to the wise,and a prosperity and trust to every earl."~ Old English Rune Poem. ᚨ In many cultures it is a shared perspective that all is symbol, an expression and reflection of principles which exist above it in a Law of … Continue reading Breath, Word, Language