Plato's Tripartite Soul Reimagined Again...
The beauty of the internet is that you are constantly learning from your errors.
~VAAV Date: Heaven ● Fire (Soul) ● Knowledge ● Sincerity ● Plan
In February, I posted an article on “The Will to Reign in Our Passions” where I discussed how our will or passions is the driving force in our lives, and I stated that we should “keep our passions in due bounds” so that excessive desires don’t lead us to destructive consequences. In that article, I stated that it was our “Thumos that we must deliberately steer to align with the ability to reason, as opposed to letting it succumb to our appetites, or our Eros.”
In a way, I was wrong.
Transliteration and modern day biases led me to interpret that the term Thumos was the generic term for passion. This is not the case. As it turns out, the generic and neutral term for the passions, in both the latin and greek, and it is the word Orexis. After some additional research, there are other words that mean specific types of passion. Rational passions, defined by the Stoics as Joy, Wishing (Intent), and Caution, are defined as Boulêsis. Irrational passions, which the Stoics defined as Distress, Fear, Lust, and Delight, are defined as Thumos.
When viewed in this context, the question becomes what direction do we want to align our passions (Orexis)? Do we command Logos by adopting Boulêsis (Rational Passions), or do we allow ourselves to continue to be enslaved by Thumos (Irrational Passions)?
I put it in this context because there are many in mystical and mundane circles who discuss the importance of finding our True Will. I don’t claim any knowledge of the specifics on these audiences, but from a philosophical view, I believe one must mentally reign in both our upper and lower selves to serve our true will. One that we must master, and the other who we don’t allow to enslave us.
I’ve updated the original diagram below to show the difference.
Happy to answer any questions you may have on this particular post and how it relates to the VAAV. You can also leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on this topic or the VAAV system. Thank you. 𓁟
Thank you for your support in this endeavor. If you’d like to support me in this work, I would really appreciate a cup of coffee.
Thank you Barbara @be11277, for the comment and question. I do believe in will as alignment with the universe or Nature as how Stoic physics hints at a immanent pantheism.
Unfortunately due to our poor interpretation of philosophy in antiquity, words like "Eros", as like many others, have multiple meanings and get loss in translation in the modern day.
I would like to clarify that in my previous article on the Soul, it was stated that Reason cannot command, but rather, must serve the Will. Likewise, our appetites (one interpretation of Eros) must also serve our Will, and not rule over it.
I love your work on the soul’s architecture. And I’d also love to offer a spark beyond discipline and separation. What if there is a subtler call — Eros, as Sophia’s longing, mediating what reason cannot command?
Thelema speaks not of will as effort, but as alignment—entrusting oneself to the "erotic" unfolding of the cosmos, to Eros as the anonymous process Plato hinted at, where "the Good" draws us, silently, back home.
True Will, then, is not forged, but remembered. Not imposed, but revealed through lived experience — "in Good and in Bad"...