Front Matter, p. 4 (part 10)

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

The text prescribes contemplating the divinity with the rational eye filled with intellectual light.

Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.

A sharp distinction is drawn between the impure material world and the pure intellectual/divine realm.

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

The Supreme God is described as sublime and ineffable, beyond sensible or material dedication.

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

The Supreme God is above all things and free from material concretion, implying an undivided nature.

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.

The text distinguishes between the 'first God' above all things and the 'intelligible divinities' who are his offspring.

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

Salvation and safety are achieved by contemplating the divinity with a soul free from material affections and filled with intellectual light.

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

The rational eye within the soul is filled with intellectual light to perceive the divine.

Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.

The practice involves disciplined inward attention through silence and contemplation of the divine nature.

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

The Supreme God is described as the single principle above all things from which intelligible divinities flow.

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

The text advocates for conjoining and assimilating ourselves to the sublime principle of God.

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

Hymns composed by the rational principle and sacrifices redounding to praise are forms of address to the divine.

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

The goal is reception into celestial regions and association with immortal Gods after the conclusion of mortal life.

The maintenance of a state of cleanliness—physical, moral, or spiritual—required for encounter with the divine.

Worship requires pure thoughts and a soul free from material affections to be worthy of the divine.

The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.

Assimilation to God requires knowing his exalted nature and one's own capacity for intellect.

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

The soul must approach the sublime principle and ascend to celestial regions through purification.

The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.

Worshippers aim for an association with the race of immortal Gods and assimilation to the divine nature.

Iamblichean ritual practice that engages the gods directly through consecrated material symbols and actions, on the premise that divine power descends into properly prepared matter — distinct from philosophical contemplation alone.

The passage discusses the proper manner of sacrifice and offering to engage with divinities, distinguishing material from intellectual rites.

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

[auto] The passage explicitly states that nothing sensible or material should be sacrificed to the Supreme God and that worship must occur in profound silence, negating positive attributes.

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

[auto] The text describes material concretion as impure and the body as a source of contagion that must be transcended for pure worship.

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

[auto] Fire is explicitly described as similar to the 'lucid frames' of the divinities, linking the element to divine luminosity.

The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence.

[auto] Porphyry instructs that the supreme God ought to be worshipped in the most profound and pure silence, rejecting vocal discourse.

Fire as medium of divine presence.

[auto] The passage centrally discusses the use of fire in ancient sacrifices and the preservation of perpetual temple fires as symbols resembling divine frames.