The worlds of Phaedo and the occult

Worlds of Phaedo and the Occult we are imprisoned in the body, like an oyster in his shell. The Socrates of Plato, Phaedrus what is purification but... The release of the soul from the chains of the body?" The Socrates of Plato, Phaedo (Free Dictionary)

The central thesis of this paper is the meaning of the Platonic concepts of the forms and particulars as they relate to an understanding of the occult. The difference between the Forms and Particulars, it will be argued, is equivalent to the difference between the unknown and the known or the strange and the familiar. The occult will be viewed as the knowledge of the unknown. This view of the forms and particulars will be applied using Freudian and Jungian theoretical perspectives and will be applied to an analysis of Christabel by Coleridge, the Blair Witch Project, and the Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe.

Platonic forms and particulars

In his philosophy Plato distinguishes between the world of reality and the world of illusion. The world of reality and timeless truth is that of the forms. The word of illusion refers to the world of particulars and everyday experience. We exist during our lifetimes in this world of the senses or the world of particulars. For Plato and Socrates, death is the escape from the imprisonment of the world of particulars which is the reason why Socrates in the Phaedo states that he welcomes death. He believes that the soul will continue after death and the knowledge that he seeks as a philosopher will be encountered in the death state.

This distinction or dualism between the spiritual forms of reality and the particulars of the sensible world was a crucial development in modern thought and philosophy. It has also been one of the foundations of the study of the occult. The term occult, as will be discussed, is essentially the study of the unseen world or worlds. In essence, the theory of forms can be expressed as the real word which exists above or transcendent to the world of ordinary sense experience. The world of forms is that world which is "subject neither to generation nor to decay." (Wisest is he who knows he knows not) in Plato's view mankind is trapped in this word of sense experience and cannot see the true reality.".. 'we are imprisoned in the body, like an oyster in his shell.' The Socrates of Plato, Phaedrus." (Free Dictionary)

Furthermore the forms of reality inform or underpin the world of life and the senses. The Platonic forms are the non-sensible and the unseen which are the very sources of the visible and familiar world. One of the most accessible descriptions of the relationship between the forms and the particulars is in the famous cave allegory. In this allegory all humanity lives in a cave with the forms or ideal reality outside the cave. Living in the cave humanity is aware only of the shadows of the forms as they continually reflect themselves on the cave walls. We therefore never see the true nature of ourselves or reality but only reflections or fleeting glimpses of the truth.

In the perceptual world the particular objects we see around us bear only a dim resemblance to the more ultimately real forms of Plato's intelligible world: it is as if we are seeing shadows of cut-out shapes on the walls of a cave, which are mere representations of the reality outside the cave, illuminated by the sun. (WordiQ)

This relates to the distinction made in the Republic between "to horaton (the visible realm) and to noeton (the intelligible realm)." (Rezendes, P.) in the Phaedo Plato describes life as a cycle of opposites which are in a cycle of recurrence. On this basis he states that it logically follows that life and death are intertwined in the cycle of opposites and that life follows from death just as death follows at the end of life.

Plato argues by analogy, death must come from life and life from death. (Phaedo 71c-d) That is, people who are dead are just people who were alive but then experienced the transition we call dying, and people who are alive are just people who were among the dead but then experienced the transition we call being born. This suggests a perpetual recycling of human souls from the realm of the living to the realm of the dead and back. (Plato: Immortality and the Forms)

1.1. The occult

One of the central points in the Phaedo and in many other works by Plato is that the forms are essentially unknown, or a mystery.

When one who is fresh from the mystery, and saw much of the vision, behold a godlike face or bodily form that truly expresses beauty, first there comes upon him a shuddering and a measure of that awe which the vision inspired, and then reverence as at the sight of a god. (Christian Churches of God)

The forms are also unknowable if we use the ordinary methods of knowledge provided by sense experience. Understanding the forms therefore requires occult or specialized knowledge. This in turn leads to an understanding of the word occult in relation to the forms. Occult or occultism comes from the Latin occulere which means to hide. The word refers to secret or hidden knowledge. (Croxon, R. The Piatkus Dictionary) Being strange to our normal senses forms can only be apprehended and known therefore through occult knowledge. In other words, the occult refers to the unknown forms and foundations of reality; and a study of the occult is a study of the invisible or hidden world.

Another important aspect is that while knowledge of the forms is hidden it can be known or discovered. "The nous in man is able to penetrate into the region of noumena, the true source of wisdom." (Wisest is he who knows he knows not)

Plato also believed that in knowledge of oneself was a prerequisite for understanding the true nature of reality. This view relates to the Jungian analysis of the unconscious that will form part of this study. He also believed that, in order to know the Truth about all things, man must start by knowing himself. He taught that self-knowledge is based upon the conviction that man is an immortal entity, a soul which is a spark of the Universal World-Soul. This soul, he said, is entombed in a body, and evolves through the process of Reincarnation. In the Republic Plato makes much of the distinction between to horaton (the visible realm) and to noeton (the intelligible realm). (Rezendes, P.)

3. Critical Perspective

The critical perspective that will form the foundation of the following analysis is the view that the forms relate to the unknown or mysterious as opposed to the familiar. These opposites relate to the differences between the forms and particulars as discussed in the section above.

Sigmund Fried, the mentor of Karl Jung, developed his theory of the Uncanny in a paper written in 1919, which strongly supports the view of the Platonic forms as the mysterious and the unknown. Freud defines the "uncanny" in terms of the German word unheimlich, which means simultaneously "homely" or familiar, and strange. In other words, for Freud the uncanny is both part of the ordinary world and the unseen world.

The 'uncanny' or unheimlich is described by Freud as an especial kind of fear. It refers to 'everything that ought to have remained secret and which has not come to light'. In a Homeless Concept Shapes of the Uncanny in Twentieth-Century Theory and Culture, Anneleen Masschelein outlines the problematic issues surrounding the concept of the uncanny. Freud's paper was written in response to a paper by German psychologist Ernst Jentsch (1906). Jentch's paper hypothesized that "the essential factor responsible for the production of uncanny feelings is intellectual uncertainty, those doubts and confusions that are liable to arise when we come across something completely unfamiliar in a foreign ("alien") environment." (Masschelein: A homeless concept) Freud proceeded to develop the concept of the uncanny by using the secondary and contradictory meanings of the term, which are "concealed; "kept from sight," and "withheld from others." He suggests an alternative to the idea of the uncanny as a reaction to only the unknown by suggesting that "the uncanny is in reality nothing new or alien, but something which is familiar and old-established in the mind and which has become alienated from it only through the process of repression." Or as he puts it a little later on, "[T]he unheimlich is what was once Heimlich - "familiar"; the prefix 'un' is the token of repression."(ibid)

The concepts of the alien and strange form the centre of the Uncanny and relate to this study as an expression of the strange and unfamiliar. Jung also extends the theoretical framework with the idea of the archetypal unconscious which can also be related to the unseen and strange. The archetypes and the symbols that are hidden in the Jungian unconsciousness refer to the Platonic forms which are also hidden and unseen in the light of the ordinary. It is only through occult understanding that the forms and the archetypal images and symbols can be interpreted.

Here we see that the term unconsciousness is very similar to the Platonic ideals and forms. Another aspect that will form part of the theoretical perspective of this study is the concept of transformation. In order to understand the occult and its relationship to the forms, a process of transformation has to take place. In Platonic terms this transformation is a radical change in life, morality and ethics; while for Jung it is transformation in terms of the deeper understanding of the relation of the unconscious to the conscious mind.

Transformation also has related occult meaning and symbols such as fire. Fire is an age-old indication of change of perception and consciousness. This also refers to Jungian concepts such as the shadow. There are many other points of reference and similarity between the Jungian concepts and Plato. For example, the idea of recollection in Plato also relates to the concept of 'remembering' through psychoanalysis in the theory of Jung

Since we really do have knowledge of these supra-sensible realities, knowledge that we cannot possibly have obtained through any bodily experience, Plato argued, it follows that this knowledge must be a form of recollection and that our souls must have been acquainted with the Forms prior to our births. But in that case, the existence of our mortal bodies cannot be essential to the existence of our souls -- before birth or after death -- and we are therefore immortal. (Plato: Immortality and the Forms)

4. Analysis of the Blair Witch Project and the Fall of the House of Usher and Christabel

In terms of the critical perspective outlined above, the film the Blair Witch Project refers to the unknown that suddenly appears in a very ordinary setting. The film is calculated to express the fear of the unknown and is essentially about the encounter with the shadow world that is usually kept from common view. There is an effective use made of the metaphor of darkness to enforce the sense of alien and threatening strangeness. There are many symbols used in relating to occult knowledge - including the stick men which are related to ancient runes. "The "merkstave" rune means "dark stick" and implies a "dark" meaning." (Runes, Alphabet of Mystery)

In terms of the theoretical perspective in this study, the film expresses a sense of wonder and mystery and hints at a much larger and more mysterious undercurrent to reality than is normally given to us in ordinary life or in the world of 'particulars'. The central character, Heather, also at times suggests a metaphorical relationship with the idea of the forms of reality which, as Jung and Freud suggest, are both unseen by the ordinary eye but nevertheless always present. This can be seen when Heather can neither open nor close her eyes to escape the reality of the fear that is confronting her. This implies that the reality of the experience or of the Blair Witch has transcended ordinary experience and Heather is confronted with the realization that she in the presence of something beyond the world of particulars. Her experience is one of fear because of the alien quality of the encounter. The film is successful mainly because it retains the mastery of the encounter with the supernatural. It is this sense of mystery which goes to the heart of the occult experience and which relates to the understanding of the forms as the unknown. All three of the works under discussion succeed in retaining this essential sense of mystery and the unknown.

The idea of the "nameless dread' in the Blair Witch Project is also a feature of many of Edgar Allen Poe's short stories and novels. His work is similar to another writer in the horror genre, HP Lovecraft, whose stories often contained "... The idea that an 'ancient evil' can hang around as some non-specific force which compels susceptible people." (ForteanTimes)

Common to both the Blair Witch Project and the Fall of the House of Usher is the sense of confrontation with something that is beyond the normal. Also common to both is a sense of fear and extreme tension in the encounter with the other.

This relates to another and very important aspect of the occult sciences, which also can be found in the Platonic theories; namely that the human being, in order to understand the experience of the forms, must go though a radical transformation process which often means the dissolution and even the destruction of the old personality or ego. Jung mentions this aspect on numerous occasions as the necessary dissolution of the old ego. It is referred to in Plato as follows.

To the philosopher, the body is "a disturbing element, hindering the soul from the acquisition of knowledge..." what is purification but...the release of the soul from the chains of the body?" The Socrates of Plato, Phaedo. (WordiQ)

Transformation has many occult symbols related to it. One of the most pertinent and common is the symbol of fire. Fire "burns" away the old perceptions and views of reality and also suggests the extreme nature of a change in perception that is needed to perceive and understand the forms, or the unknown. This is referred to in the Phaedo as a form of purification,

In the Phaedo, the man who wishes to attain to knowledge of reality must seek to purify himself: by reason alone, eliminating the senses. The individual, by philosophy, attempts to live a life only really attainable after death. Purity is only obtainable on separation from the enslavement of the body. For it cannot be that the impure attain the pure (67A).

Christian Churches of God)

We encounter something of this element in the short story "The Fall of the House of Usher." The story opens with many of the elements that have already been discussed. The writer goes to great lengths so create a mood and atmosphere of mystery and the unknown.

A looked upon the scene before me -- upon the mere house, and the simple landscape features of the domain -- upon the bleak walls -- upon the vacant eye-like windows -- upon a few rank sedges -- and upon a few white trunks of decayed trees -- with an utter depression of soul which I can compare to no earthly sensation more properly than to the after-dream of the reveler upon opium -- the bitter lapse into every-day life -- the hideous dropping off of the veil. (Edgar Allan Poe: The Fall of the House of Usher)

Notice that the author refers to the fact that what he experiences when viewing the house is something which he cannot compare to any "earthly sensation." (ibid) There is a sense in which the house contains unseen knowledge. This mood and sense of mystery and even awe is sustained throughout the story. The central theme of the story is dissolution and fragmentation of the human psyche. This is strongly related to the idea of chaos in the Jungian shadow world and, in occult terms, the destruction of the body or sensible world so that a new body or occult body can be formed.

The Fall of the House of Usher" can be interpreted as "a detailed account of the derangement and dissipation of an individual's personality." The house itself becomes the "symbolic embodiment of this individual." The fissure or the crack in the decaying mansion, noted by the narrator near the beginning of the story, represents "an irreconcilable fracture in the individual's personality." Roderick represents the mind or the intellect, while the portion of personality that we refer to as the senses (hearing, seeing, touching, tasting and smelling) is represented by Madeline.... The house (a symbol of a now deranged individual) crumbles into the "deep and dank tarn," as the narrator flees in terror for his own sanity."

Womack, M.)

The theories of Jung are also very appropriate to this short story." In his later work, Jung was convinced that the archetypes are psychoid, that is, "they shape matter (nature) as well as mind (psyche)"... In other words, archetypes are elemental forces which play a vital role in the creation of the world and of the human mind itself. The ancients called them elemental spirits. (Archetypes as Defined by Carl Jung) October 9, 2004.

In this story the house itself is sentient - it has a life of its own and seems to control or at least influence the human figures who reside within it. This again refers to the Jungian theory of the shadow