I don't buy any sort of "higher"/"lower" distinction. I also don't know how literal you are about "souls," but I don't buy that there literally is anything like a soul, either. As for "essences," on my view the "essence" of any type term, F, is simply what some individual requires, via their personal concept of F, to name some particular, x, an F.Nick_A wrote: ↑Sun Jan 24, 2021 6:24 pm The human collective soul or essence is dual natured. Its lower parts arise from the earth while its higher parts descend from above causing the contradictions we all experience. Plato describes our situation in the chariot allegory. As of now, our lower parts are dominant so don't realize we are in Plato's cave.
Becoming human is the process of remembering (anamnesis) our higher origin.
I'm an atheist and a physicalist (a "materialist" if you like).