On Wisdom: From Socrates (vegetarian) in “Phaedo” by Plato (vegetarian), Part 1 of 2

Today, it is an honor to present excerpts from “Phaedo” by Plato (vegetarian), where Socrates (vegetarian) explains to Cebes (vegetarian) and Simmias (vegetarian) that our soul is Divine and we should keep our soul true, pure, and unattached to this bodily life, so as to be able to return to the Divine after our physical existence.

“‘Does not the soul, then, when in [the state of excellence, purity and invisability], depart to that which resembles itself, the invisible, the Divine, immortal and wise? And on its arrival there, is it not its lot to be happy, free from error, ignorance, fears, wild passions, and all the other evils to which human nature is subject; and, as is said of the initiated, does it not in truth pass the rest of its time with the gods? Must we affirm that it is so, Cebes, or otherwise?’ ‘So, by Jupiter!’ said Cebes.

‘But, I think, if it departs from the body polluted and impure, as having constantly held communion with the body, and having served and loved it, and been bewitched by it, through desires and pleasures, so as to think that there is nothing real except what is corporeal, which one can touch and see, and drink and eat, and employ for sensual purposes; but what is dark and invisible to the eyes, which is intellectual and apprehended by philosophy, having been accustomed to hate, fear, and shun this, do you think that a soul thus affected can depart from the body by itself, and uncontaminated?’ ‘By no means whatever,’ he replied. ‘But I think it will be impressed with that which is corporeal, which the […] interaction and communion of the body, through constant association and great attention, have made natural to it.’ ‘Certainly.’ ‘We must think, my dear Cebes, that this is ponderous and heavy, earthly and visible, by possessing which such a soul is weighed down, and drawn again into the visible world through dread of the invisible and of Hades, wandering, as it is said, among monuments and tombs, about which, indeed, certain shadowy phantoms of souls have been seen, being such images as those souls produced which have not departed pure from the body, but which partake of the visible; on which account, also, they are visible.’ […]

‘Wherefore, Cebes, they who care at all for their soul, and do not spend their lives in the culture of their bodies, despising all these, proceed not in the same way with them, as being ignorant whither they are going, but, being convinced that they ought not to act contrary to philosophy, but in accordance with the freedom and purification she affords, they give themselves up to her direction, following her wherever she leads.[…]’”