ABSTRACT
In this first chapter, the author traces the founding myths, especially that of Psyche, who was both a spiritual (soul) and a material (body, brain) being. He then presents and discusses the works by the Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle on the side of the soul and by the Greek doctors Herophilos and Galen on the side of the brain. To add to this Greek approach, he describes the contemporary Indian approach regarding the psychology of meditation. Finally, he introduces the works of St Augustine as a Christian psychology, which marked the link between antiquity and the Middle Ages.
