Proclus“Every soul is an incorporeal substance and separable from body.
Every soul is indestructible and imperishable.
Every soul is at once, a principle of life and a living thing.
Every soul is self-animated (or has life in its own right)“
Soul is Immortal
The human soul is immortal and eternal. It was not created and can never be destroyed.
The soul is what connects the immaterial realm of Gods and spirits to the material realm of matter and bodies.
It is the will of the Gods to show themselves in the world through the “pure and immaculate lives of the souls.”* This is why the soul descends into a body for many lifetimes.
“‘The soul is firmly fixed in men through the aither.’
‘And as we breathe in the air we reap the divine soul.’
‘And the soul is immortal and unaging, and is from Jupiter.’
‘Of all things the soul is immortal, but the bodies are subject to death.’ ”
Orpheus
The Three Parts of the Soul
The soul is a microcosm of the Divine Cosmos. It too exists in three parts. The logical, the honorable and appetitive.
Logical
It has the logical element which has the highest place in the soul. Our logical or rational soul is the part that thinks and reasons. We should aspire to have the logical part of our soul rule over the other parts because only the rational soul can understand reason. The other parts of the soul are powerful but they also lack any sense. They contain instincts that are essential to our life but they can lead us to do foolish things if they are not ruled by the logical part.
Honorable
The honorable part of our soul is the part that seeks greatness. The honorable is not motivated by reason but neither is it motivated by pleasure. When a person sets off to defend their country, they are not motivated by pleasure, nor are they motivated by reason. They are moved by the spirited part of the soul that seeks honor and what is right. This part of the soul is an intuitive conscience, your heart, so to speak. This part is essential to our completeness as a person but it can also lead us astray. Many people have followed their “heart” only to lead themselves into ruin because they didn’t think things through.
Appetitive
Lastly, is the appetitive part of the soul. This lowest part of soul attends to the functions of the body. It is what moves us to eat, sleep, breathe and procreate. It is the animal instinct. It’s function is to keep our bodies alive and in good order but like the honorable, it has no reasoning capacity. This is why you may find yourself conflicted over eating another cookie, procrastinating about working out or struggling to quit smoking. The appetitive soul wants to eat anything it can to prevent famine, even if food is abundant. It doesn’t want to work out because that uses energy it is trying to preserve. If the body is addicted, it is the job of the appetitive soul to feed the addiction to keep things in balance.
The appetitive soul is amazing and we would be dead without it but we must remember its proper place as subordinate to the honorable and the logical. If we don’t keep the parts of the soul in the correct hierarchy, we become disordered, unhealthy and foolish.
*Iambichus, De Anima