Ok, fellas. Let's all just simmer down for a minute.
7starmantis, I did not ignore your "clearification" of the Greek used in the aforementioned passages. I simply did not have enough time last night to respond in a satisfactory manner, so I decided to put if off until today.
Now, for the sake of argument, let us compare a few different translations of the same passages (1 Corinthians 2:14-15).
"The
unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; they are foolishness to him; he cannot recognize them, because they are
spiritually discerned. But the
believer discerns all things."
(your translation)
"But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man."
(
The Holy Bible: Red Letter Edition, Authorized King James Version, World Bible Publishers)
"The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment."
(
The Holy Bible: New International Version, Zondervan Publishing House)
"The Psychic does not receive the things of the spirit of God; they are foolishness to him; he cannot recognize them, because they are Pneumatically discerned, but the Pneumatic discerns all things."
(Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy,
The Jesus Mysteries: Was the "Original Jesus" a Pagan God?, Three Rivers Press)
"
Psychics don't grasp things which concern the consciousness of God. They seem like foolishness to them, because they are
pneumatically discerned.
Pneumatics, however, understand everything."
(Timothy Freke & Peter Gandy,
Jesus and the Lost Goddess: The Secret Teachings of the Original Christians, Harmony Books)
Now, it seems to me that every one of these translations have subtle little differences that variegate the meaning of the text. Even Freke and Gandy's two translations vary somewhat from one another (although, admittedly, not as much as the other translations do).
Which, then, should we interpret
psuchikos to mean? 'Unbeliever'? 'Natural man'? 'Man without the Spirit'? While similar in a vague sense, these three translations are hardly mutually inclusive of one another. Or, perhaps we should look to some other meaning not yet mentioned??
Of course, Freke and Gandy keep things simpler by giving us a direct English transliteration (our English
psyche is derived from the Greek
psuche), but this doesn't alleviate matters when a shared meaning or interpretation of the terminology is not understood. This, then, pertains to the relevance of just what
psuche and
psuchikos, as well as
pneuma and
pneumatikos, actually mean within a Hellenistic context.
Interestingly enough,
psuche is usually translated as 'soul' or 'life' throughout the Bible. It is roughly equivalent to the Hebrew word
nephesh. By contrast,
pneuma is never translated as 'soul' (as 7starmantis intimated in a previous post), but instead translates to 'spirit', 'breath', or 'wind'. The Hebrew equivalent to this word is
ru'ach.
Freke and Gandy (in
Jesus and the Lost Goddess) felt it best to transliterate
psuche into the English
psyche (which is typically defined as 'mind' or 'self'), apparently seeing the two words as having an equivalent meaning within a Hellenistic context:
"[
Psyche] is traditionally translated as 'soul', although, as the ancient word 'psyche' has come into common usage since the advent of psychology, it is probably less misleading to leave the term untranslated. In relationship to the outer body, we experience the psyche/soul as our 'inner self'. For the Gnostics, it is a deeper level of our identity than the body."
Ironically enough, the Hebrew and Aramaic terminology (
nephesh and
naphsha, respectively) also have a similar meaning as to what Freke and Gandy have described. Neil Douglas-Klotz (in
The Hidden Gospel) writes:
"[...] I mentioned the Semitic notion of the subconscious self, called
naphsha in Aramaic and
nephesh in Hebrew. In fact, these terms point to a range of ideas and images having to do with difference faces of what we usually call the soul or the individual self."
Also:
"This subject has been made more confusing than necessary by the fact that the usual New Testament translations do not translate the word
naphsha (or its Greek equivalent) consistently. In one case, we find it translated 'soul', in another 'self', and in still another 'life'. All told,
naphsha is used more than two hundred times in the Gospels."
Back to Freke and Gandy's explanation:
"But when [the Gnostics] talk on a deeper level about how things
are subjectively, the psyche or soul is conceived of as an ongoing
event witnessed by Consciousness. It is the totality of our experience, which includes the experience of the body. This turns inside-out the notion that the psyche somehow inhabits the body. As Plotinus teaches, 'The psyche is not in the body, rather the body is in the psyche.'"
Douglas-Klotz is in agreement concerning the Semitic equivalents:
"In an ancient Semitic sense, one does not 'have' or 'possess' a soul: one
is a soul. Further, [...] the soul has different aspects. [...], the soul-self is really a continuum that connects the 'heavenly' or vibrational aspect of being with the 'earthly' or particular aspect."
The ancient philosopher Plato (who had a substantial influence on the Pauline authors) is even more elaborate here:
"Whereas God made the psyche in origin and excellence prior to and older than the body, to be ruler and mistress, of whom the body was to be the subject." (
Timaeus, 34b-c)
"[...] psyche is prior to body, body secondary and derivative, psyche governing in the real order of things and body being subject to governance." (
Laws, 896c-e)
"Now when the Creator had framed the soul according to his will, he formed within her the corporeal universe, and brought the two together, and united them centre to centre. The soul, interfused everywhere from the centre to the cirumference of heaven, of which also she is the external development, herself turning in herself, began a divine beginning of never ceasing and rational life enduring throughout all time. The body of heaven is visible, but the soul is invisible, and partakes of reason and harmony, and being made by the best of intellectual and everlasting natures, is the best of things created." (
Timaeus, 36e)
I think we've established a fairly pervasive string of ideas in the Hellenistic world concerning
psuche,
nephesh,
naphsha,
psyche, or 'soul'. Let's move on to
pneuma. Freke and Gandy write:
"At the center is our essential identity, which the ancients called
pneuma or
nous.
Pneuma is usually translated 'spirit', but today this word has become all but meaningless.
Nous is traditionally translated 'intellect', but this is misleading as we now associate the word 'intellect' purely with rational thought, whereas
nous is the witness of all experiences, whatever their quality. Plotinus describes
nous as 'a knowing principle'. It is that in us which knows. It is the subject of every experience, which each one of us calls 'I'. It is the sense of
being in every human being. It is who we
are. A more appropriate modern translation for both
pneuma and
nous is 'Consciousness'."
They continue:
"There is nothing more obvious than the fact that we are conscious of experiences. Our essential identity is the experiencer,
nous, spirit, Consciousness. The flow of experience which Consciousness witnesses is the psyche or soul. For the Gnostics, therefore, our fundamental condition could be described as Consciousness aware of experience,
nous aware of
psyche, spirit aware of soul."
Also:
"From the point of view of the centre, we are Consciousness experiencing psyche, which, at the circumference, includes the body in the form of sensations. The psyche-body is what we
appear to be. Consciousness is what we
are."
Plato speaks of this Consciousness himself:
"The region of which I speak is the abode of that reality with which true knowledge is concerned. A reality without colour or shape, but utterly real, apprehensible only by Consciousness, which is the pilot of the psyche." (
Phaedrus, 247c-d)
The Jewish philosopher Philo Judaeus, who had a direct influence on many of the New Testamental authors, also speaks of this Consciousness in relation to why Adam assigned names to all of God's creatures but couldn't name himself:
"The mind (
nous) which is in each of us is capable of apprehending other objects, but is incapable of knowing itself [...] It is likely then, that Adam, that is the Mind (
nous), though he names and apprehends other things, gives no name to himself, since he is ignorant of himself and his own nature."
Now, to turn to the Semitic equivalents again, Douglas-Klotz writes:
"In both Hebrew and Aramaic, the same word --
ruha in Aramaic,
ruach in Hebrew -- must stand for several English words: spirit, wind, air, and breath."
He continues:
"From the perspective of Sacred Unity, my breath is connected to the air we all breathe. It participates in the wind and in the atmosphere that surrounds the whole planet. This atmosphere then connects to the ineffable spirit-breath that pervades the seen and unseen worlds."
This ties directly with the conception of God described in John 4:24 (NIV): "God is spirit."
The
following article at Wikipedia also summarizes the conception of
logos,
pneuma, and
nous developed by Philo Judaeus.
In summation,
psuche does not correspond exclusively with "natural or sensual" qualities (although it may include them), nor does
pneuma correspond with the "soul" (at least not how most would recognize the term).
Laterz.
