There is an emphasis on the individual, who at death will leave the mortal body behind, ascending back to heaven, the true home of the soul. A devaluation of all that is earthly and material runs through the entire text. Since humans don’t belong on earth, death is viewed positively, as a release to “true life.” The text lacks any myth of the soul’s fall into the lower world and its imprisonment in the body, but we know the details of such from works like Plato’s Timaeus.
