soteriology

Ladder Of Love

Diotima's staged ascent from love of beautiful bodies → beautiful souls → beautiful pursuits → beautiful knowledge → Beauty itself; the canonical scala amoris that grounds Plotinus's On the Beautiful and Bruno's Eroici Furori — distinct from generic spiritual_ascent in that eros is the specific motive force.

192 passages · 8 traditions

renaissance_hermeticism76

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONh

“The primal idea of Pythagoras, which Bruno worked out to a more distinct development is this: numbers are the beginning of things; in other words numbers are the cause of the existence of material things; they are not final, but are always…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONj

“The body is in the soul, the soul is in the mind, the mind is in God. The life of the soul is the true life of the man. Of all his various faculties, that which rules all, that which exalts our nature, is Thought. By means of it we rise…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogued

“Some are called in vain to put in a ready appearance, and are chiefly those which proceed from the lower instincts, and which obey the reason either not at all, or very little; and forcing himself to prevent their actions and condemn those…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguef

“One thing is certain, that he who loves wisely in youth will in age not go astray. But derision is for those of mature age, into whose hands Love puts the alphabet. Cic. Tell me now why Fate is called blind and bad. Tans. Again, blind…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogueg

“"Steals it from me," he says of Jealousy, not simply in order that it may not be present to me; removing it from my eyesight, but in order that good may not be good, but an acute evil; sweet, not sweet, but an agonized longing; while the he…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguea

“. Tansillo. Now begins the enthusiast to display the affections and uncover the wounds which are for a sign in his body, and in substance or essence in his soul, and he says thus: 9. Of Love the standard-bearer I; My hopes are ice, and g…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguec

“I can very well conceive, from what you have said, the condition of that heroic enthusiast, who says, "My hopes are ice and my desires are glowing," because he is not in the temperance of mediocrity, but, in the excess of contradictions, hi…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguea

“. Tansillo . There are several varieties of enthusiasts, which may all be reduced to two kinds. While some only display blindness, stupidity, and irrational impetuosity, which tend towards savage madness, others by divine abstraction bec…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogueb

“It is not a fury of black bile which sends him drifting outside of judgment, reason, and acts of prudence, and tossed by the discordant tempest, like those who, having violated certain laws of the divine Adrastia, are condemned to be scourg…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogued

“In this disposition, I believe, was the Nolano when he said: 14. Woe's me! my fury forces me To union with the bad within, And makes it seem a love supreme and good. Wearied, my soul cares nought That I opposing counsels entertain, And w…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguee

“Others esteem him unhappy through this appearance of an evil destiny, as being condemned to these pangs, for he will never cease from acknowledging the obligation he is under to love, nor cease from rendering thanks to him because he has pr…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogueh

“In which generation finding themselves once more through the changes which permutably succeed, they return again to the superior forms. Cic . So that they mean, that souls are impelled by the necessity of fate, and have no proper counsel…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguea

“. Tansillo . Thus is described the discourse of heroic love, in all which tends to its own object, which is the highest good; and heroic intellect, which devotes itself to the study of its own object, which is the primal verity, or absolu…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogued

“To be infinite, it must be infinitely pursued with that form of pursuit which is not incited physically, but metaphysically, and is not from imperfect to perfect, but goes circulating through the grades of perfection to arrive at that infin…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguee

“She dispatches the armed thoughts, which, solicited and urged by disagreement with the inferior nature, are sent to recall the heart. The soul instructs them how they should conduct themselves, so that, being allured and attracted by the o…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguef

“Hence it follows that not less do we desire to see things unknown and unseen than those known and seen. And from this it does not follow that the desire does not proceed from cognition, and that we desire something that is not known; but I…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogueg

“Behold me, miserable one, deprived of heart, abandoned of thoughts, left by hope, I, who had fixed my all in them. Nothing is left to me but the sense of my poverty, my unhappiness and misery; why does not this too leave me? Why does not…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogueh

“Heaven the second gift denies, To him who does the first despise. With these and similar reasons the soul, taking part with the weakest, seeks to recall the thoughts to the care of the body. And these, although late, come and show themsel…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogueg

“This special human intelligence which influences all individuals is like the moon, which partakes of no other species but that one alone which always renews itself by the transmutation caused in it by the sun, which is the primal and univer…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguej

“So also is the hemisphere of this earth ever equally irradiated, although from the watery surfaces she from time to time sends her splendours unequally to the moon,—which like innumerable other stars we consider as another earth—in the same…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogueo

“For love, while it is finite, contented, and fixed in a certain measure, is not in the form of the species of divine beauty, but as it goes on with ever higher aspirations, it may be said to verge towards the infinite. Cic. . How is brea…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogueq

“Nec Veneris fructu caret is, qui vitat amorem, Sed potius, quæ sunt, sine poena, commoda sumit. Cic. What is meant by the meridian of the heart? Tans. That part or region of the will which is highest and most exalted, and where it becom…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguer

“But it is not so, if you consider well, for it cannot be that in one instant, which is an atom or point, love persists or endures; therefore one must of necessity understand the instant in another signification. And for the sake of getting…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogues

“Exemption I am sure you would not claim, Being subject to the common influence; Shining on earth as do the stars in heaven. Your sov'reign beauty, ladies, our austerity Cannot depreciate, nor would do so, For we have not in view a superhum…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | PREFACE

“. The second part of "The Heroic Enthusiasts" which I am now sending to the press is on the same subject as the first, namely the struggles of the soul in its upward progress towards purification and freedom, and the author makes use of low…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogueb

“This is precisely the humour of a furious lover, though the same may be said of nearly all mortals who are seriously affected in any way. We cannot say that this accords with all conditions in a general way, but only with those mortals who…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogueg

“Wherefore not only can we never discourse about things divine, but we cannot even think of them without detracting from, rather than adding to the glory of them; so that the best thing to be done with regard to them is, that man, in the pre…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogueh

“If one aspires to the supreme splendour, let him retire as much as he can, from union and support, into himself (Di sorte che non sia simile a molti, per che son molti; e non sia nemico di molti per che son dissimili), so that he be not lik…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguej

“So that the continual movement of one part supposes and carries with it the movement of the whole, in such a way that the attraction of the posterior parts is consequent upon the repulsion of the anterior parts; thus the movement of the sup…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguek

“Equally, to be heard by the Divine, is precisely to listen to it, and to be favoured by it, is the same as to offer to it; for from the one immoveable and the same, proceed thoughts uncertain and certain, desires ardent and appeased, and re…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguel

“Besides which, because he does not believe that all which is not, could not be, he prays the divine light, that by its beauty, which ought not to be entirely concealed, at least according to the capacity of whoever beholds it, and by his lo…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguen

“So much so that whatsoever you might add thereto would appear to me superfluous. IX. Ces. Let us see what is here represented by those two radiating arrows upon a target around which is written: Vicit instans. Mar. The continual strugg…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogueo

“Because those lights which made present the illuminating, acting intellect and sun of intelligence found easy ingress through his eyes; that of Truth (the intellect of Truth?) through the door of the intellectual faculty; that of Goodness (…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguep

“Well do I remember having seen it expressed in the sonnet. But let us read it first. 50. Eager to find the much desired food, The eagle towards the sky spreads out his wings And warns of his approach both bird and beast, The third flight…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguer

“But where the entire affection is all turned towards God, that is towards the Idea of Ideas, from the light of intelligible things, the mind becomes exalted to the super-essential unity, and, all love, all one, it feels itself no longer sol…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguee

“Now, it must be said that the outcome of the mind is that alone which is always by it desired, sought for, and embraced, and that which is more enjoyed than anything else, with which it is filled, comforted and becomes better,—that is Truth…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogueb

“And more than that, they are equal to the ocean, not because they do pour, but because these two springing streams can pour such, and so much, that compared with them the Nile would appear a tiny stream divided into seven streamlets.[T] [T]…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguec

“First, because such an impediment cannot exist in action, if (equally?) violent opposition is not put into action;[U] second, because in so far as the waters are actually in the eyes, they can give passage to the heat as to the light; for,…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogued

“Why rather stay a pilgrim here below Than open through the air and us a way? No spark of fire from that heart Goes out through the wide atmosphere. Body of dust and ashes is not seen, Nor water-laden smoke ascends on high. All is contain…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguee

“This alone I will not leave (unsaid) that it is not without reason that the affection of the heart is said to be the infinite sea by the apprehension of the eyes.[X] For the object of the mind being infinite, and no definite object being pr…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguef

“Here the eyes imprint upon the heart, that is upon the intelligence, and rouse in the will an infinite torment of love, where there is no pain because nothing is sought which is not obtained; but it is happiness, because that which is there…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguea

“. Interlocutors : Severing. Minutolo. Sev. You will see the origin of the nine blind men, who state nine reasons and special causes of their blindness, and yet they all agree in one general reason and one common enthusiasm.[AB] [AB] May…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogueb

“By her finally, they were treated in such a manner that, blind and homeless, with great labour having ploughed the seas, passed over rivers, overcome mountains, traversed plains for the space of ten years, and at the end of which time havin…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguec

“Hence he cries: "O mountain of Parnassus, where I abide! Muses, with whom I converse! Fountain of Helicon, where I am nourished. Mountain, that affordest me a quiet dwelling-place! Muses, that inspire me with pro found doctrines. Fount…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguee

“What power or spell of herb or magic art Can tear thee from the centre of my heart, Since he, who with an ever-growing zest, Tormenting most, yet most does make me blest? How can I of this weight unburdened be, If pain the cure, and joy th…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialogued

“So that, finding himself thus ascending and descending, he feels within his soul the greatest dissension that is possible to be felt, and he remains in a state of confusion through this rebellion of the senses, which urge him thither where…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguee

“Herein he proves that his love is truly heroic; because he proposes to himself as the chief aim, not corporeal beauty, but rather the grace of the spirit, and the inclination of the affections in which, rather than in the beauty of the body…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguec

“Here he shows his love not to be like that of the butterfly, of the stag, and of the unicorn, who would flee away if they had knowledge of the fire, of the arrow, and of the snares, and who have no other sense than that of pleasure; but he…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguef

“Fitly, therefore, this rapture of heroic enthusiasm feeds on such "high emprise." For the object is infinite, and in action most simple, and our intellectual power cannot apprehend the infinite except in speech or in a certain manner of spe…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogueg

“Such over-boldness rarely grief escapes." "Fear not the utmost ruin then," I said, "Cleave confident the clouds and die content, That heaven has destined thee to such illustrious death." Cic . I understand when you say: "Enough that thou h…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogueb

“He forms intelligible conceptions in his own way and proportions them to his capacity, so that they are received according to the manner of the recipient. Tans. And does he hunt through the operation of the will, by the act of which he co…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguec

“Whence he says, "Come not back to me till thou art mine," and not unworthily may I say with that other— Thou has left me, oh, my heart, And thou, light of my eyes, art no more with me. Here he describes the death of the soul, which by the…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguei

“And amongst men the same thing is seen, according as some resemble one species of brute beast and some another: these having something of the quadruped, and those of birds, and, may be, some affinity, which I will not explain, but through w…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguej

“This I understand right well, and also that which you would infer about the principal intention; that is to say, that these are the degrees of the loves, of the affections, and of the enthusiasms, according to the degrees of greater and les…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguek

“Destiny, when, shall I that mountain mount, Which, blissful to the high gates bringing, bring, Where those rare beauties I shall counting, count, When he my pain with comfort comforting, Who my disjointed members joined, And leaves my dying…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguea

“. I. Cic . Now show me how I may be able for myself to consider the conditions of these enthusiasts, through that which appears in the order of the warfare here described. Tans . Behold how they carry the ensign of their affections or…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogued

“Be it far from me to make complaint of love, Love, without whom I will not happy be, And though through him these weary toils I bear. Yet what is given my will shall not reject. Be clear the sky or dark, burning or cold, To that one ph[oe…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguee

“The degrees of contemplation are like the degrees of light, which exist not at all in the darkness, slightly in shade, more in colours, according to their orders, from one opposite which is black to the other which is white; but more fully…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguef

“I understand it all; but what is the meaning of, "May I be happy in this governance and with these bonds, and may that light not cease?" Tans. He means, and he proves, that every sort of love, the greater its dominion and the surer its hol…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogueh

“That legend contains all the meaning of the thing in so far as it can be explained, for it means that he turns and is turned, that is to say movement present and accomplished. Cic. Excellent! And therefore those circles which so ill expl…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguei

“It seems to me, that it means that his particular intelligence is to the universal intelligence ever the same—that is to say, the one is ever illuminated by the other, over the whole hemisphere; notwithstanding that to the inferior powers,…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguel

“Here are shown the pains and troubles which beset love, principally love of a low kind, which is no other than the forge of Vulcan, that smith who makes the bolts of Jove which torment offending souls. For ill-ordered love has in itself th…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguen

“Of necessity, one is according to the sum of the other, seeing that where things are finite it may result in this, that it is more wise than beautiful or good, more good and beautiful than wise, more wise and good than powerful, and more po…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguec

“And I will say, because to me this pain Is dearer than all other pleasures are. Mar. In reference to this I told you that although one should be attached to corporeal and external beauty yet he may honourably and worthily be so attached;…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogued

“You see, Cesarino, how this enthusiast is justified in his anger against those who reproach him with being in captivity to a low beauty, to which he dedicates his vows, and attributes these forms, so that he is deaf to those voices which ca…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguem

“Thus everything has an impetus towards its beginning retrogressively, and progressively towards its end and perfection, as Empedocles well said, and from which sentence I think may be inferred that which the Nolan said in this octave: The s…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogueq

“Solomon calls it furtive waters. Samuel named it the whisper of a gentle wind. The which three significations show with what sweetness, gentleness, and astuteness, in seas, on earth, in sky, does this fellow come and tyrannize over the wh…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguea

“Maricondo. Here you see a flaming yoke enveloped in knots round which is written: Levius aura; which means that Divine love does not weigh down, nor carry his servant captive and enslaved to the lowest depths, but raises him, supports him…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguef

“[P] Number is, as the great writer (Balzac) thought, an Entity, and at the same time, a Breath emanating from what he called God, and what we call the ALL, the breath which alone could organize the physical Kosmos.—("The Secret Doctrine.")…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogueg

“The eyes, when they move (the heart), are dry, because they perform the office of a looking-glass, and of a representer; when they are moved, however, they become troubled and perturbed, because they perform the office of a diligent execute…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogueb

“The other follows, who says that he became blind through having been suddenly brought out of the darkness into a great light: accustomed to behold ordinary beauties, a celestial beauty was suddenly presented before his eyes—a sun-god—in thi…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogued

“Therefore, in the sistine he would have space made for him to pass; for if anybody should be touched by his fires he would become such that he would have no more feeling of the flames of hell, for their heat would be to him as cold snow. 6…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguee

“Thou sayest well that no natural impulse or power is without strong reason; it is in fact the same rule of nature which orders things. So far, it is a thing most true and most certain to well-disposed intellects, that the human soul, whate…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguea

“. Interlocutors : Laodomia. Giulia. Lao. Some other time, oh my sister, thou wilt hear what happened to those nine blind men, who were at first nine most beautiful and amorous youths, who being so inspired by the loveliness of your face…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguec

“Too long, too long our limbs Have wandered o'er the terrene globe, So that to us it seems As if the shrewd wild beast, With false and flattering hopes, Our bosoms has encumbered with her wiles. Wretched henceforth, we see, though late, the…”

◇The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialoguee

“"The sun is equal to thy chiefest nymph, By virtue of the everlasting laws, And pauses alternating, Amongst my stars she's equal to the sun." [AJ] Plato says that [Greek: Theos] is derived from the verb [Greek: Theein], to move, to run, as…”

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platonism64

◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1m

“And yet from these equals, although differing from the idea of equality, you conceived and attained that idea? Very true, he said. Which might be like, or might be unlike them? Yes. But that makes no difference; whenever from seeing one…”

◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1n

“For this is clear, that when we perceived something, either by the help of sight or hearing, or some other sense, there was no difficulty in receiving from this a conception of some other thing like or unlike which had been forgotten and wh…”

◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1|

“For any man, who is not devoid of natural feeling, has reason to fear, if he has no knowledge or proof of the soul's immortality. That is what I suppose you to say, Cebes, which I designedly repeat, in order that nothing may escape us, and…”

◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1

“I dare say that the simile is not perfect-for I am very far from admitting that he who contemplates existence through the medium of ideas, sees them only "through a glass darkly," any more than he who sees them in their working and effects.…”

◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1

“Very true, he said. Again, would you not be cautious of affirming that the addition of one to one, or the division of one, is the cause of two? And you would loudly asseverate that you know of no way in which anything comes into existence…”

◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1a

“PHAEDRUS 360 BC by Plato translated by Benjamin Jowett New York, C. Scribner's Sons, [1871] PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: SOCRATES; PHAEDRUS. Scene: Under a plane-tree, by the banks of the Ilissus. Socrates. My dear Phaedrus, whence come you…”

◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1b

“But when the lover of discourse begged that he would repeat the tale, he gave himself airs and said, "No I cannot," as if he were indisposed; although, if the hearer had refused, he would sooner or later have been compelled by him to listen…”

◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1d

“But the non-lover has no such tormenting recollections; he has never neglected his affairs or quarrelled with his relations; he has no troubles to add up or excuse to invent; and being well rid of all these evils, why should he not freely d…”

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neoplatonism25

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IIIb

“In addition also to these peculiarities, divine beauty, indeed, shines with an immense splendour as it were, fixes the spectators in astonishment, imparts a divine joy, presents itself to the view with ineffable symmetry, and is exempt from…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XII

“It is, necessary, however, to discuss these things particularly, and to show how they subsist, and what reason they possess. It is requisite, therefore, to understand that the universe is one animal; and that the parts in it are, indeed, se…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter V

“But why am I prolix about these particulars? For I have abundantly shown, in what has been before said, the transcendency of divine above human divination. It is better, therefore, in compliance with your request, “ to point out to you the…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIe

““The divine Iamblichus, however, doubts how the Gods are said to be allotted certain places according to definite times, as, by Plato in the Timæus, Minerva is said to have been first allotted the guardianship of Athens, and afterwards of S…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIm

“Thus, for instance, if the allotment of the soul was as far as to philosophy, the soul would be able, though it should not choose a philosophic but some other life, to energize in that life somewhat philosophically. There are also said to…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIn

“As, therefore, it is possible for the tyrannic life, when suddenly changed, to become aristocratic, through employing strenuous promptitude and a divine allotment, but the gradual ascent is from a tyrannic to a democratic, and from this to…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIo

“In the next place, departing from intellect, and descending into reasoning and dianoia, it no longer apprehended real beings by simple intuitions, but syllogistically and transitively, proceeding from one thing to another, from propositions…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIp

“It causes us, therefore, to pass through life in an irreprehensible manner; just as the internal prophetic mania contracts and elevates all the multiplied and many powers and lives of the soul to the one , in order that it may in a greater…”

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christian_mysticism17

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1c

“59 59 ὡς οὐκ ὄντος ἴχνους τῶν ἐπὶ τὴν κρυφίαν αὐτῆς ἀπειρίαν διεληλυθότων. Two interpretations of this passage are possible: (1) Those who have penetrated the hidden Depths cannot describe the Vision (cf. Dante, Par. xxxiii. 55–66) ; (2…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1m

“65 In the whole of this passage God is spoken of as at the same time Efficient, Formal and Final Cause of the soul’s activity. D. teaches that God is present in all things, but not equally in all. Cf. Intr., p. 14 66 Gen. i. 67 Three…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1c

“And the perfect Peace guards each several individuality unalloyed by Its providential gift of peace, keeping all things without internal or mutual discord or confusion, and establishing all things, in the power of unswerving stability, so a…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1f

“472 Contemplation, Act of Contemplation, and Object Contemplated are all united together, and so imply a fundamental Unity which exists ultimately in God. 473 Cf. p. 174, n. 3. 474 D.‘s paradox is the paradox of sanity. We must hold a…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1c

“The Good is beyond this distinction, for nothing (on the ultimate plane) is outside It. See Intr., p. 5. and Lifelessness an excess of Life and Its Mindless state is an excess of Wisdom, 252 252 This apparently profitless speculation rea…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1i

“an introversion 288 288 ἡ εἰς ἑαυτὴν εἴσοδος. from things without and the unified concentration 289 289 In souls being unified and simplified. See Intr., p. 25. of its spiritual powers—which gives it a kind of fixed revolution, and, tur…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1l

“Need is there to understand that in proper truth we do but use the elements and syllables and phrases and written terms and words as an aid to our senses; inasmuch as when our soul is moved by spiritual energies unto spiritual things, our s…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1m

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◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XV (part 3)

“Now if a merely negligible percentage of energy goes into the creation of the future by begetting, then the remainder must go into the creation of the future also, but in another way. We have in the physical world many cases in which the d…”

◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIX (part 7)

“In the reduction of your soul to its simplest self, its divine essence, you realize this union—this identity. But this sublime condition is not of permanent duration. It is only now and then that we can enjoy this elevation above the limi…”

◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 12)

“"The cause of all things is neither soul nor intellect; nor has it imagination, opinion, or reason, or intelligence; nor is it reason or intelligence; nor is it spoken or thought. It is neither number, nor order, nor magnitude, nor littlen…”

◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 19)

“The Sufi poets frequently lived the strange lives of hermits, anchorites and wanderers, at the same time singing of love, the beauty of women, the aroma of roses and wine. Jêlal eddîn describes as follows the communion of the soul with God…”

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◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | PROLOGUEb

“Knowest thou why thy mirror reflects not? Because the rust has not been scoured from its face. If it were purified from all rust and defilement, It would reflect the shining of the SUN Of GOD.6 O friends, ye have now heard this tale, Whic…”

◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY Ia

“The Prince and the Handmaid. A prince, while engaged on a hunting excursion, espied a fair maiden, and by promises of gold induced her to accompany him. After a time she fell sick, and the prince had her tended by divers physicians. As,…”

◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY II

“The Oilman and his Parrot. An oilman possessed a parrot which used to amuse him with its agreeable prattle, and to watch his shop when he went out. One day, when the parrot was alone in the shop, a cat upset one of the oil-jars. When the oi…”

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◆Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount | Section 1b

“For It doth will to be, and It is both Itself and most of all by reason of Itself. Indeed, all other things beside are just bacause of It; for the distinctive feature of the Good is "that it should be known". Such is the Good, O Tat. Tat…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 15: The Hymn of Hermes | Section 1f

“(xiv.) 7. 274:4 The two irrational parts, “passion” and “desire” (θυμὸς and ἐπιθυμία). 274:5 The soul. 275:1 This Erōs is the lower love ( cf. C. H. , i. 18: “love, the cause of death”), not the Divine Love who inspires Hermes in “Th…”

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◇Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 15)

“For the generative causes of things, are contained by similitude in their effects; and in causes themselves their progeny subsist, comprehended in perfect union and consent. Hence the celestial orbs impart a copious defluxion of good to th…”