Page 95 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 13

mental illness perceived as a conflict and a rup- that learning philosophy itself would not make
ture between the different parts of the psyche. a person, and the main path must be in practice
It must be treated through the philosophy and in corrective action, which means doing deeds
knowledge of the truths of being by means of a of the desired nature, so that the actions will
Platonic dialogue. leave their mark on the soul.
His most famous student, Aristotle (384-322 He also believed that the correct mapping of
BCE), wrote the „first book of psychology“ („On the middle path exists in the mitzvot of the To-
the soul“), in which he classified all being into rah, which aim to bring man into balance in
matter and form, and saw the human soul as all aspects of his soul… and the list is endless
the „form“ of man. The animals of the creatures about ideas, theories, books and techniques
are in the form of a pyramid, in which the hu- about psychology and its individual or collec-
man soul stands above the animal mind, which tive application.
stands above the plant‘s vegetative personality. And it takes me to remember, and it takes me
In Aristotle‘s opinion there is a sixth sense, the to remember and compare, (perhaps in a more
„common sense,“ which is the sense that pro- dynamic thinking) the book of James when he
cesses all stimuli which are transmitted from says, „As the body without the spirit is dead, so
the five senses into significant information. Ari- faith without deeds is dead“ But the truth is that
stotle saw in the middle way that man adopts referring to the „Scriptures“ we can see both
„middle“ mental qualities that move away from in the old and new testament a „phrase“ that
the extreme manifestations of traits. The best encapsulates the monotheistic essence of Juda-
that the ethical person must adopt through his ism: „Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the
personal education. LORD is one“ (Hebrew: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל
Maimonides (1138-1204), one of the greatest ‚הוה אֱלֹהֵינוּ‘ הוה אֶחָֽד:), found in Deute-
Jewish poskim (Jewish legal authority ), a philo- ronomy 6: 4.
sopher and physician, stated in his introduction Observant Jews consider this word (Shema Is-
to Tractate Avot, that the human soul is a uni- rael) to be the most important part of the pray-
tary entity, and only has different manifestati- er service in Judaism.
ons, and therefore the vitality of the human soul And the most observant of them all, who could
spreads over the entire human body. He belie- really fulfill all the writing, reminds us on
ved that man‘s biological power is different from Matthew 22:37: „‘Love the Lord your God with
the biological forces of animals, and he believed all your heart and with all your soul and with all
that man was born as a smooth, but willing to your mind“
accept certain tendencies, influenced in his opi- I hope that we will be able to make this text, like
nions and actions mainly by his friends and the Him, every day in order to balance body and
customs of his people. He argued, against Plato, soul, and to illuminate its light through us.

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