Front Matter, p. 4 (part 7)

A form of meditation that uses imagery, imagination, or symbolic thought rather than purely empty stillness.

The text states the universe 'perpetually speculates his divinity' and man should 'celebrate the intelligible Gods'.

Platonic recollection: knowledge as the soul's recovery of what it knew before birth, with learning as remembering rather than acquisition.

Proclus argues that souls have a 'stronger remembrance of superior principles' than things nearer to them, reflecting Platonic recollection.

The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.

The passage states that 'union with generation and material concerns' imbues the soul with oblivion and error.

The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.

Proclus uses the metaphor of stars that 'strongly irradiate our eyes with their light' to explain how superior principles affect the soul.

The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.

The supreme God is described as 'remaining one' while producing multiplicity, indicating undivided being.

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

The passage emphasizes that those who 'know the power of God' should exhibit divinity rather than contract it.

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

Proclus refers to the 'eye of our soul' which perceives superior principles through irradiation.

The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

The text refers to the 'One supreme' who remains one while producing many, fitting the definition of a simple first principle.

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

The text mentions that men 'invoke God as their helper' and should 'celebrate the intelligible Gods'.

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

The text urges the man to 'ascend still higher' and look up to the 'higher world' and 'great King'.

The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.

Porphyry is cited comparing humans to those in a 'foreign region' imbued with 'oblivion, ignorance, and error' due to union with material concerns.

The transmigration of the soul across lives.

The text references the 'Platonic doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul' and entering a 'foreign region'.

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

The passage asserts that God remains one while producing many and the universe subsists by him.

Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.

[auto] Proclus is quoted stating there is 'a providence proceeding from these to the universe' which not all men believe.

A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.

[auto] The passage explicitly describes a 'multitude of Gods subordinate to the One supreme' and states that divinity proceeds from the One.

A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.

[auto] The text commands that 'a man ought to ascend still higher' to celebrate intelligible Gods and the great King.