In a message dated 1/1/2010 1:14:14 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes: Lawrence: >The Oversoul isn't God.... Emerson (who coined the word Oversoul) wrote: "That Unity, that OVER-SOUL, within every man's particular being is contained and made with all other; ---- I haven't been following this thread too closely. But hey, this is a good polemic. When my mother opens her mouth and says words like "very" or, never mind, "too", I KNOW she is in one of her negative moods. I have very SELDOM heard someone used "too" positively: "You're too f-cking nice", perhaps or "Too true". "Very", to me, is equally 'negative': "Her dress was _very_nice". Now, 'over' possibly has 'negative' connotations too. She overindulged him He overestimated her. He's an overman (Nietzsche) Emerson: "That Unity, that OVER-SOUL, within every man's particular being is contained and made with all other." Philosophers have forever tried to annhiliate the pre-Platonic myth that the soul is immortal. "Immoral, maybe -- writes Aristotle -- but immortal? Bullshit!" In Aspects of Reason Grice admits that the soul _is_ possibly immortal: "Hey, you cut the head of a chicken, and she keeps on running for a while: if that's not a proof that the soul is immortal, I don't know what is" -- googlebooks. But the _over-soul_, sic hyphenated too? Give me a break! Cheers, J. L. Speranza The Swimming-Pool Library The Villa Speranza Bordighera ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html