“Hebrews
had no soul” …. until they learnt Greek.” Genesis
2:7 “And the
LORD (Yehowah) God (elohim)
formed man (to wit: adam, meaning red or ruddy,
masculine) of the dust of the ground (adamah,
feminine), and breathed into his nostrils the breath (nĕshamah, Greek: pneuma,
Latin: spiritus, from which the notion of
spirituality is derived), Sanskrit: prana) of life; and man (to
wit, a heap of red dust of the ground) became a living soul (i.e. nephesh).” The Hebrew word nephesh (meaning: body, dead or
alive) was falsely translated into Greek (in the Septuagint) as psyche (Greek myth has it that Psyche
was Cupid’s girlfriend) which, after the fantasist Plato played around with
it, became interpreted to mean (immortal) soul and which (plus the most un-Hebrew
life ever after) the religious fanatic Paul of Tarsus used as a sales gimmick
to great popular effect. In (textual) fact the transformation
via the Elohim’s breath was from a portion of the red or ruddy dust of the
ground (called the adam, and which is not a proper
name) to a living body.* In short, the ancient Hebrews found
their soul (or psyche) in deliberate mistranslation. Why they needed one is
still a mystery. After all, it was, and still is, for them, dust to dust,
meaning: recycling without residue, end of story. Gen 3:19 “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread,
till thou return unto the ground (i.e. adamah); for out of it (i.e. dust) wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return.” (No mention of a continuation
or comeback) * Some recently published Bibles, specifically German ones, have
upgraded the translation of nephesh to a
woolly ‘living being’. It’s a first step towards the truth that the adam never had a soul. For more data see my: The Adam& Eve Fan Club |