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The Golden Verses of Pythagoras · 41 of 122 · tr. Florence M. Firth

Section 13 (part 8)

Ταῦτ᾽ ἄρα Μοῦσαι ἄειδον, Ὀλύμπια δώματ᾽ ἔχουσαι, 75 ἐννέα θυγατέρες μεγάλου Διὸς ἐκγεγαυῖαι, Κλειώ τ᾽ Εὐτέρπη τε Θάλειά τε Μελπομέενη τε Τερψιχόρη τ᾽ Ἐρατώ τε Πολύμνιά τ᾽ Οὐρανίη τε Καλλιόπη θ᾽· ἣ δὲ προφερεστάτη ἐστὶν ἁπασέων. Ἥ γὰρ καὶ βασιλεῦσιν ἅμ᾽ αἰδοίοισιν ὀπηδεῖ.
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Themes
Active Contemplationpraxis

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

[auto] The text advocates for contemplation about intellectual conceptions and intelligibles rather than sensible natures.

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Anthropomorphismtheology

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.

[auto] The passage depicts Zeus with human attributes such as holding thunder and lightning, having a father (Cronus), and reigning like a king.

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Body As Obstacleanthropology

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

[auto] Corporeal and sensible natures are described as unable to sustain firm knowledge compared to the objects of intellectual vision.

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Cosmic Dualismtheology

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

[auto] The passage explicitly contrasts stable intellectual objects with corporeal and sensible natures characterized by flux and mutation.

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Cosmic Sympathycosmology

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.

The earth is described as echoing the hymns of the divine beings, suggesting a resonance between the celestial and terrestrial realms.

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Divine Providencetheology

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.

Zeus is described as having arranged all things well for the immortals and ordained their honors, reflecting active divine ordering.

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Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

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

[auto] Firm scientific apprehension and knowledge are linked directly to the objects of Intellectual vision.

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Inner Lightanthropology

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

[auto] A splendid and stable purity is described as being produced about the eye of the soul through intellectual conception.

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Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

Zeus is portrayed as an active, dynamic ruler who holds weapons and governs the cosmos rather than an abstract principle.

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Opposites Transcendedanthropology

The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.

[auto] The instruction to be neither inflated with prosperity nor abject in calamity signifies transcending emotional extremes.

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Prayerpraxis

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

The text explicitly mentions hymns and singing offered to the father god, which constitutes direct address or praise to the divine.

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Self Examinationpraxis

Daily review of thought and action as spiritual practice.

[auto] The instruction to subdue passions and recall right reason implies a practice of internal monitoring and discipline.

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Spiritual Ascentpraxis

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

[auto] The admonition to betake oneself to intellectual objects rather than corporeal natures implies an upward movement of focus.

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Related passages · 5 parallels
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 127
Section 5 5. It may be objected that the Intellectual-Principle possesses its content in an eternal conjunction so that the two make a perfect unity, and that thus there is no Matter there. But that argument would equally cancel the Matter…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Dualism — Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XVIII-b
A certain thing of this kind also may take 71 place in the harmony and crasis of the universe: for the same things may be the salvation of the whole, through the perfection of the things inherent and the recipients; but may be noxious to th…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Sympathy — 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. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 161
Section 5 5. Still more unreasonably: There are men, bound to human bodies and subject to desire, grief, anger, who think so generously of their own faculty that they declare themselves in contact with the Intelligible World, but deny that…”
Shared concept: Divine Providence — 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. (derived)
hinduism|Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book III|Sutra 47
Mastery over the powers of perception and action comes through perfectly concentrated Meditation on their fivefold forms; namely, their power to grasp their distinctive nature, the element of self-consciousness in them, their inherence, and…”
Shared concept: Active Contemplation — A form of meditation that uses imagery, imagination, or symbolic thought rather than purely empty stillness. (derived)
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 13 (part 10)
281 "The inner man continually kills the outer one by means of the love and sweetness of God, so that the external one cannot introduce into the soul-fire his earthly poisonous desire, which is infected by the devil; but the external man ca…”
Shared concept: Self Examination — Daily review of thought and action as spiritual practice. (derived)