"For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" (Matthew 16:26)
To me, that sentence just doesn't make any sense. I was raised in a religious family, and the definition for the soul was something in you, the lives on after you die. If that were so, "loses his own soul" would be a silly thing to say, at best. It would infer that God will strike successful business people down, or something strange like that.
But that could not have been what the Bible said. That was what it was translated to say.
The word soul did not exist in Biblical times. The word soul, originated in 970 AD from the word sawol, centuries after Mathew was written.
If the Bible's translation had said:
"For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own life?"like it should have, it would make sense, even to a small child.
The word "soul", in the sense we use it today, did not exist in Hebrew or Aramaic, It existed in
Greek. Ancient Greeks typically referred to the soul as
psyche (as in modern English
psychology). Aristotle's works in
Latin translation, used the word
anima (as in
animated), which also means "breath". In the
New Testament, the original Greek word used is "Psyche" which in Ancient and Modern Greek means soul.
Plato, drawing on the words of his teacher
Socrates, considered the soul as the
essence of a person. He considered this essence as an incorporeal, eternal occupant of our being, the determines how we behave. As bodies die the soul is continually reborn in subsequent bodies. The Platonic soul had three parts:
1. the
logos (
mind, nous,
ego, or
reason)
2. the
thymos (
emotion,
superego, or
spiritedness)
3. the
pathos (
appetitive,
id, or
carnal)
The logos was the charioteer, directing the horses balance of appetite and spirit. It allows for
logic to prevail, and for the optimisation of balance.
The thymos comprises our emotional motive, that which drives us to acts of bravery and glory. If left unchecked, it leads to
hubris -- the most fatal of all flaws in the Greek view.
The pathos equates to the appetite that drives humankind to seek out its basic bodily needs. When the passion controls us, it drives us to
hedonism in all forms. In the Ancient Greek view, this is the basal and most feral state.
This site was written for Las Vegas, then LouisVille. Now, it seems to be about anywhere. In these phlogs, you'll see a lot of my personal notes and pictures. I like to post my observations here to remember life and celebrate it. I'm not religious. I don't pray for good fortune. I'm ecstatically grateful for the gift of life and I think our time should be remembered and not taken for granted. I'm not a writer. I think pictures tell stories so much better than words. I love just about everything in this life, and, I guess that would have to include you. So, if you've seen me, don't be surprised if your picture is in here somewhere. Of all the critters, people are absolutely the most interesting. 
Ahhhhh...I'm glad to hear it. That makes Nevada the toughest state in the US on smoking.
We were picking up Dustin and Jennifer when Sonny called. He said the water heater had busted.
Blue Man Group will play live on the start line. Blue Man Group will perform the Star Spangled Banner in the signature style that has brought them to international prominence against a spectacular display of pre-dawn fireworks. Immediately after Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman fires the starter pistol, Blue Man Group will entertain and energize with a special performance for the field of up to 20,000 runners, walkers and wheelchair athletes as they run the electrifying neon corridor of the world famous Las Vegas Strip.
