Mark allaway’s theme study written report
Subject: the soul

The theme study i am studying will be on the human soul. I choose this theme study because I thought it has always been a interesting philosophical discussion. People discuss this because it is an interesting discussion to explore as the soul can be perceived as either a physical or metaphysical object. Metaphysical objects are interesting because they are not actual things, they are just ideas.
For example one of the great philosophers in our history Democritus said happiness resides not in possessions and not in gold, happiness dwells in the soul. This likens the soul to the metaphysical ideas of happiness.

My first book is the serpents shadow by rick riordan this book is a novel that follows two magicians of the house of life; the ancient Egyptian magicians, as they try to stop the embodiment of chaos apophis. When I read this book it was originally just because I enjoyed the book but as I read through it I began noticing a lot of references to the soul. I found the Egyptian ideas about the soul interesting because they are a lot different compared to ideas that any of the countries we live in now have.
The soul is split into five parts according to the ancient Egyptians, the first part being the ib or the heart. This is the part of the soul that controls your emotion, desires and impulses. This was interesting as I discovered this is the reason we associate the heart with these things, because of the beliefs of the ancient Egyptians. When an Egyptian dies their ib is weighed to see if they have done enough good deeds to deserve the afterlife. This also the reason we say the phrase to have a heavy heart when you’re guilty or upset.
The sheut or the shadow is everything that makes you you. It is the embodiment of your appearance and personality. This one was interesting to me because I found out that the Egyptians word for shadow,statue,portrait and appearance are exactly the same, sheut.
Then there is the ba, your personality
The ren, your name
And your ka, vital essence
My next was a book that I choose or rather the librarian chose for me, was flip. This book was originally to me a bit of a waste of time as it didn’t really seem to have anything to do with the soul, but as I read further into the book it became apparent that in fact the entire plot was based around the idea that the soul is the embodiment of your animal instincts, your ability to survive.
Book titles
Flip
The serpents shadow
Theme study: the human soul.