If this is the case, do not they who deny that prayers are to be offered to the Gods, and who prevent their souls from being united with the divinities, that is with beings more excellent than themselves, appear similar to those who are deprived of their parents?
Lastly, all nations who have flourished in the exercise of wisdom, have applied themselves to divine prayers: as the Bramins among the Indians, the Magi among the Persians, and amongst the Greeks also, those who have excelled in the science of theology: for on this account they instituted mysteries and initiatory rites (τελεται).
Besides, this consideration is not to be omitted, that since we are a part of this universe, it is consonant to reason p.
69 that we should be dependent on it for support.
For a conversion to the universe procures safety to every thing which it contains.
If therefore you possess virtue, it is requisite you should invoke that divinity which previously comprehended in himself every virtue: for universal good is the cause of that good which belongs to you by participation.
And if you seek after some corporeal good, the world is endued with a power which contains universal body.
From hence therefore it is necessary that perfection should also extend to the parts.
Thus far that most excellent philosopher Porphyry; in which quotation, as well as the preceding, the reader must doubtless confess, that Proclus did not without reason admire him, for what he calls his τὰ ιεροπρεπῆ νοήματα, or conceptions adapted to holy concerns; for surely no p.
70 philosopher ever possessed them in a more eminent degree.
If it should be asked, in what the power of prayer consists, according to these philosophers?
I answer, in a certain sympathy and similitude of natures to each other: just as in an extended chord, where when the lowest part is moved, the highest presently after gives a responsive motion.
Or as in the firings of a musical instrument, attempered to the same harmony; one chord trembling from the pulsation of another.
as if it were endued with sensation from symphony.
So in the universe, there is one harmony though composed from contraries; since they are at the same time similar and allied to each other.
For from the soul of the world, like an immortal self-motive lyre, life every where resounds, but in some things more inferior p.
71 and remote from perfection than in others.
And with respect to the super-mundane Gods, sympathy and similitude subsists in these as in their most perfect exemplars; from whence they are participated by sensible natures, their obscure and imperfect images.
Hence (say they) we must not conceive, that our prayers cause any animadversion in the Gods, or, properly speaking, draw down their beneficence; but that they are rather the means of elevating the soul to these divinities, and disposing it for the reception of their supernal illumination.
For the divine irradiation, which takes place in prayer, shines and energizes spontaneously, restoring unity to the soul, and causing our energy to become one with divine energy.
For such, according to these philosophers, is the efficacy of prayer, that it unites all inferior with all superior p.
72 beings.
Since, as the great Theodorus says, all things pray except the first.
Indeed so great is the power of similitude, that through its unifying nature all things coalesce, and impart their particular properties to ethers.
Whilst primary natures distribute their gifts to such as are secondary, by an abundant illumination, and effects are established in the causes from which they proceed.
But the connection and indissoluble society of active universals, and of passive particulars, is every where beheld.
Themes
◆Correspondencecosmology
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The concept of 'sympathy and similitude' between natures implies that the structure of the divine is reflected in the human capacity to resonate with it.
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 passage outlines a hierarchy where 'super-mundane Gods' are exemplars and 'sensible natures' are images, with primary natures distributing gifts to secondary ones.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
The text states that since humans are 'a part of this universe,' perfection must extend to the parts, implying the human reflects the cosmic whole.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
[auto] The passage explicitly defines the power of prayer as consisting in 'sympathy and similitude of natures,' using the metaphor of vibrating chords to describe how parts of the universe resonate with one another.
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
[auto] The text describes prayer as the means of 'elevating the soul to these divinities' and causing human energy to become 'one with divine energy,' restoring unity.
Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.
[auto] The entire passage is a treatise on the nature, necessity, and efficacy of prayer, arguing against those who deny it and explaining its metaphysical function.