Between Heaven and Earth: The Human Being in Porphyry’s Conception

For Porphyry, the human being is a compound of soul, its divine and immortal part, which represents the essence of man, and body, its perishable part, that is only the im-age of the soul, its headquarters and sensitive instrument. Man can achieve happiness only by a spiritual life, according to its nature, a life free of physical needs as much as it is possible. The methods used in this sense imply the weakening of the link between mind and body. In this way the soul of man returns to the sky, meaning the sphere of God, which is its native country.