Pretzel of Metempsychosis

The pretzel is my entry for something I am participating in called the indexcardaday challenge hosted on instagram or bluesky. I am trying to find ways of combining my various projects.

If you are have joined the Ulysses in 80 group and have done the suggested reading for today you came across the term metempsychosis or the transmigration of souls. The term most likely refers to a myth or story (MYTHOS means story in Greek) Socrates tells in the Republic, the Myth of Er. I have read done some close reading of Plato, including the Republic and I thought I would spend a few minutes exploring what this story is and what it might mean. I am, by no means, a classicist or Plato scholar.

Most of the Republic is written in dialogue form, but sometimes Socrates spends a good amount of time telling a story instead. In this case, the story is about a soldier named ER who has died, seen the afterlife and come back to share what he heard. This story can be described in five steps:

1. Souls (PSUCHE which is sometimes translated mind, remember that in ancient Athens people had little understanding of the brain) are judged and either punished by being sent upward to some sort of heaven or being sent down to the underworld or Hades.
2. This punishment or reward lasts for 1000 years. Before returning and choosing a new life. (Here it is important to ask the extent to which Plato believed humans actually were fully able to make their own choices.)
3. This choice happens at something called the Wheel of Necessity and participants can select among a number of different animals and humans for their next life. These choices are based on the soul’s past life and past experiences. (Plato was a big believer in the importance of virtue or moral excellence which would lead to long term happiness or EUDAIMONIA). Souls can make good or bad choices and enjoy their new life or suffer the consequences.
4. Fate and his three daughters Lachesis, Clotho, and Atropos who spin and cut thread in some sort of spinning and weaving metaphor seem to be guiding/determining this choice. I personally am confused about the interaction of choice and the fates and Plato does not make this less confusing.
5. Before returning, each soul drinks from the River Lethe or River of Forgetfulness, thus being unaware of their past lives. Er is able to describe what he saw because he has not drunk from the river.

How might all this relate to Joyce mentioning the term metempsychosis, even met him pike hoses, several times in Ulysses is the question worth asking. 

First, it should perhaps be noted that Bloom is a rather earthy man and not an effete academic. 

Second, one often gets the impression that Joyce just liked how the word sounded in the same way that the American television host David Letterman named his production company Worldwide Pants because he thought the word pants sounded funny and thought it would be great if the phrase “worldwide pants” could be repeated at the end of each show. Perhaps the idea of repeating the phrase just seemed fun.

I would suggest a couple more serious thoughts about how metempsychosis might apply to understanding the rest of Joyce’s Ulysses. I would be curious to hear other people’s opinions of these three ideas:

1. There is the idea of recurrence and repetition. At some sort of authorial level, Joyce must have lived this day in Dublin from 1904 over and over as he wrote and edited the novel. And, as I said, he repeats the term metempsychosis several times.
2. There is certainly much to be said about memory. While Ulysses takes place in one day, it seems to have frequent references to past experiences, past conversations, people who are no longer alive and to memory more broadly
3. I have less confidence in this idea, but there is the idea of wisdom, beauty, truth, and virtue in Plato. In ancient Athens, Plato and many other writers were obsessed with beauty, an inherent good that needs no defense, and wisdom (SOPHIA) the most beautiful thing of all. To what extent are Bloom and Deadalus interested in these sorts of virtues is a question I have for the group.

A word or two about the difficulty of interpreting Plato.

KHALEPA TA KALA is a phrase used a couple of times in Plato’s work, including the Republic. It translates as difficult things require hard work. This is a useful phrase to remember when thinking about Plato and when thinking about James Joyce’s Ulysses. KHALEPA TA KALA.

One important point that needs to be kept in mind when reading and trying to understand Plato is irony. It is often difficult to know what Plato really meant. Most of Plato’s work is dialogues (ELENCHUS) in which Socrates is the main character in a dialogue. Should one assume that Socrates’ ideas are Plato’s ideas — maybe, maybe not. And because much of the work is in dialogue it is not unusual for the characters to finish discussing a topic with no obvious conclusion.

A second point is to bear in mind that Plato did not have the same set of ideas throughout his work. He changed and developed his ideas through time. Scholars generally divide his work into three periods: early, middle, and late. By the time you come to the Laws, his last and longest dialogue, Socrates no longer appears.

A third and final point is to suggest that understanding Plato’s myths or stories requires different ways of thinking than the way one might understand his dialogues. The myth of Er is one of several myths found in Plato’s work.