I.

Introduction

The period of the Greek philosophy was divided into three major parts, namely,
the pre-Socratics (before Socrates), the Greek triumvirate (Socrates, Plato,
Aristotle), and the Hellenists (Sophists and Stoics). All of them were called the
“Sophos”, a Greek term which means, “wise”. As wise men, they departed from
the mythological practices (demythologization) and employed rational inquiry into
the nature of things and the world. They were even called as proto-scientists.

The Pre-Socratic Sophos banked on concrete realities instead of mythical

ideas to support their sophisticated questions about all sorts of things especially about
the natural processes and the origins and essence of life. These concrete realities refer
to the cosmic elements of water, earth, fire and air.

In the context of the Pre-Socratic Sophos, rational inquiry and discussion

about these elements were associated with the world rather than with man. The
human person, as a microcosm, was regarded as a miniature cosmos whose physical
body is composed of these four elements that permeate the whole of God’s creation.

The discussion about these four elements in this lesson might sound
elementary but basic in the study of the human person. The following are the
significant points which hopefully give us the interest of the succeeding discussion.
They are as follows:

1. To have an inherent awareness that these four elements are intrinsic to the
existence of the human person young and old alike. No human being is denied of
these four elements;

2. To value these elements as elements of life and survival not only for the human
person but for the whole of creation for without them life could not exist.

3. To motivate a more clear understanding of mutual relationship between the

human person and nature. Whatever we do to nature, we do to ourselves.

4. To appreciate the metaphysical realities of permanence and change in the life of

man and of nature.

5. To redirect our emphasis from the physical aspect of these elements to the aspect
of psychology and spirituality.
 These four classical elements were independently proposed by early Pre-
Socratic Sophos: water (Thales), air (Anaximenes), earth (Xenophanes), and fire
(Heraclitus).

II. Learning Objectives:

At the end of this lesson, the students are expected to:

1. Enumerate the Pre-Socratic Sophos with their respective doctrines;

2. Explain and relate each of four cosmic elements with aspects of psychology in
the human person;
3. Write and perform a play with the theme related to the lesson.

III. Review of Philosophical Insights

1. Thales: Water (624-546 B.C.)

Thales is known to be the first major philosopher. His philosophy was

centered to the doctrine that “water” is the origin of all things. “The principle of
all things is water; all comes from water, and to water all returns.” Most of
the earth’s surface consists of water; there is much more water than there is land.
“As oceans are very wide and there are numerous to be found on earth, oceans
store most of the earth’s water. This is apparently 97% of the total amount of
water on earth, 2% of which is frozen.”

In man, most of his human body is made up of water (H2O) with cells
consisting of 65-90% water by weight. Human brains are 75% water. Human
bones are 25% water. Human blood is 83% water. Water exists within all our
organs and it is transported throughout our body to assist physical functions.

Water is a human necessity; without food, a person can survive for weeks.
Without water, the odds of surviving more than a few days are very slim.
Boeckner outlines some several purposes of water within the human body. It
maintains body temperature, transports nutrients, aids in digestion, lubricates
organs, flushes out toxins, and metabolize fat.
2. Anaximene: Air (550-526 B.C.)

Anaximenes was the third in the succession of the early Greek

philosophers. His philosophy was centered on the doctrine that “air” is the source
of all things. In his account of natural change, Anaximenes believes that water,
earth and fire are all products of air. He said:

:[Air] differs in essence in accordance with its rarity or density. When it is

thinned it becomes fire, when it is condensed it becomes wind, then cloud, when
still more condensed it becomes water, then earth, then stones. Everything else
comes from these”.

This account explains to us how air is a part in the successive change of

matter by rarefaction and condensation. Rarefaction or rarity is correlated with
heat, as in fire, while condensation or density is correlated with coldness, as in
water. “Anaximenes provides a crude kind of empirical support by appealing to a
simple experiment: if one blow on one’s hand with the mouth relaxed, the air is
hot; if one blows with pursed lips, the air is cold.

Anaximenes shares with Thales the thought that the first principle is not a
simple matter but is divine, eternal, self-moving, and the cause of all other
motion. The fact that air and breath can be used interchangeably, we may
conclude that whatever has breath has divinity; that one spirit or air gave life to all
sentinent beings including man himself.

3. Xenophanes: Earth (570-478 B.C)

Xenophanes’ philosophy was centered on the doctrine that “earth” is the

fundamental element of the universe. “All things come from the earth, and in
earth all things end.” “He concluded that the Earth is very old and reasoned that
stratified rocks were laid down as layers of sediments on the ocean floor. Given
the thickness of the rocks, he concluded that the Earth is ancient.

The soil in the ground is a manifestation of the element earth. The food we
eat-i.e. the food that we will digest and convert into muscle, bone,blood,and other
body parts-is grown in and draws nutrients from the soil(earth). In
Anaximenes,the element of air is more of man soul that animatesthe human body.
In Xenohanes, the element of earth is more of man’s body. The earth and man’s
body are not two but one. Our human bodies and the earth from which we get our
food are closely connected with each other.
 4. Heraclitus: Fire (540-480 B.C.)

Heraclitus’ philosophy was centered on the doctrine of “ flux and fire”.

Flux means change or becoming. “All things flow, everything runs, as the waters
of a river, which seem to be the same but in reality are never the same, as they are
in a state of continuous flow”. Change for him is a permanent reality. “Everything
will be changed and it is only change that cannot be changed.” This explains that
nothing is the same now as it was before, and thus nothing what is now will be the
same tomorrow.

The process of becoming finds its origin in Fire. It is the origin of all
matter; through it things come into being and pass away. “Fire itself is the symbol
of permanent change because it transforms a substance into another substance
without being a substance in itself.

In man, body and soul originated from fire. The body is of itself rigid and
lifeless, an object of aversion when the soul has departed from it. The soul, on the
other hand, is divine fire preserved in its purest form. Like everything else in
nature, the soul is constantly changing. Each man has no individual soul of his
own, that each shared in a universal soul-fire.

5. Empedocles (490-430 B.C.)

Empedocles was the first philosopher who stated that there are four
primordial elements: water, air, earth, fire, in every material being. This is the
doctrine of tetrasomia. This was his major contribution to answer the dispute on
the primordial element among the early Greek philosophers.

The interaction of these four elements is influenced by the relationship

between the two great life energies of Love and Strife. “Love (harmony) is the
uniting force that attracts all things, thereby creating something new. Strife
(discord) is the dividing forces that separates and destroys things.

IV. The Elements and the Psychological Development of the Person

The individual psychological development of the human person is indeed

related to the presence of and relationship of the element of air, water, earth and fire.
Carl Jung associated these four cosmic elements with the four basic archetypes or
components of personality, namely, intuition(fire), sensation (earth), thinking (air)
and feeling (water).
 Tracy Marks describes a wide-ranging psychological look at water, air, earth,
and fire. The preceding table illustrates the correlation between these cosmic elements
and the personality of the human person.

Elements Strengths Weaknesses

Water Dissolution, union and Moodiness and

Transformation. Unpredictable highs and
Lows
Earth Stability and solidity; Resistance to change.
Sustains growth

Air Inventiveness Lack of emotion,

Originality and depression, lack of
Versatility connection with the higher
Self, overactive mind that
Blocks inner peace and
Harmony.

Fire Security, warmth of Lack of interest, egotistic,

Inspiration, self- excessive self-
Confidence. Without centeredness, self
Fire, there is no importance.
Radiance,no
Conviction, no
Expression.

V. Conclusion

The life journey has the past, the present and the future. The four cosmic
elements are something of the past that they never find importance in the present
human existence. By knowing these elements of the past, we may know what we are
in the present, and have that anticipation of what we may become in the future.

The study of these cosmic elements also points to us the concept of change
which is a common and pervasive quality in everyone’s lives that people do not
acknowledge it as anything that needs to be questioned.

One of the first groups of philosophers to address the idea of change, why it
happened and how it occurred was the pre-Socrates. Heraclitus who stated that since
everything changes, change is the only constant in life. With this concept, we think
of the two extreme positions in the life: “being” and “non-being”, as well as the
intermediary position of” becoming.”

Composed of the four elements, man and nature are bound to the life of
becoming. It is not nature that manipulates man but it is man that manipulates nature
by virtue of stewardship. Our unity with nature advances in us an obligation and a
responsibility to preserve nature and environment. By preserving nature, we are as
well preserving the sanctity of human generation. By changing nature, either for good
or for bad, we are as well changing man.