HERACLEITUS - MIND

<BODY> <CENTER><FONT SIZE=5><B><FONT SIZE=6>HERACLEITUS</FONT><BR> THE RIDDLER</B></FONT></CENTER><P> <FONT SIZE=4><B>Mind over Matter</B></FONT><P> The death of Heracleitus is perhaps philosophy's saddest case of the failure of theory to work in practice. Heracleitus identified fire as the principle element of nature and creation. The human soul, as part of the world soul (<A HREF="../t03/g028.html" TARGET="_top">Logos</A>), was man's fiery part and had to be protected from its opposite, moisture, which dampened the fires while asleep and in excess caused madness. It can only be regarded as tragic irony that he should suffer from dropsy, a condition in which water accumulates in the body. He died in his desperate attempts to draw the moisture out through heat by plastering himself with dung.<P> <BLOCKQUOTE>"For souls it is death to become water, for water death to become earth; but from earth water comes into being, from water soul."<P> (B36 Quoted in Clement "Miscellanies" VI ii 17.1-2)</BLOCKQUOTE> <BR clear=left><BR> <HR width=100%> <A HREF="http://www.creatorix.com.au"><IMG SRC="../creatorix.gif" WIDTH="85" HEIGHT="40" BORDER="0" ALT="Creatorix" align=right></A> </BODY>