Library / Neoplatonism / Iamblichus: On the Mysteries ← Chapter IV Chapter VI → 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 way to felicity, and show you in what the essence of it is placed .” For from this the truth will be discovered, and at the same time all the doubts may be easily dissolved. I say, therefore, that the more divine intelligible man, who was formerly united to the Gods by the vision of them, afterwards entered into another soul, which is coadapted to the human form, and through this became fettered with the bonds of necessity and fate. Hence it is requisite to consider how he may be liberated from these bonds. There is, therefore, no other dissolution of them than the knowledge of the Gods. For to know scientifically the good is the idea of felicity; just as the oblivion of good, and deception about evil, happen to be the idea of evil. The former, therefore, is present with divinity; but the latter, which is an inferior destiny, is inseparable from the mortal nature. 333 And the former, indeed, measures the essences of intelligibles by sacred ways; but the latter, abandoning principles, gives itself up to the measurement of the idea of body. The former is a knowledge of the father; but the latter is a departure from him, and an oblivion of the God who is a superessential father, and sufficient to himself. The former, likewise, preserves the true life of the soul, and leads it back to its father; but the latter draws down the generation-ruling man, as far as to that which is never permanent, but is always flowing. You must understand, therefore, that this is the first path to felicity, affording to souls an intellectual plenitude of divine union. But the sacerdotal and theurgic gift of felicity is called, indeed, the gate to the Demiurgus of wholes, or the seat, or palace, of the good . In the first place, likewise, it possesses a power of purifying the soul, much more perfect than the power which purifies the body; afterwards it causes a coaptation of the reasoning power to the participation and vision of the 334 good , and a liberation from every thing of a contrary nature; and, in the last place, produces a union with the Gods, who are the givers of every good.
§ Ask Guru about this passage → Themes
Body As Obstacleanthropology The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
The mortal nature is described as inseparable from evil and bound by necessity, contrasting with the divine state.
All passages → Cosmic Dualismtheology Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.
A clear opposition is drawn between the divine intelligible man and the mortal nature, good and evil.
All passages → Divine Hiddennesstheology The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The Gods are described as being united through vision but hidden from ordinary human divination.
All passages → Divine Lighttheology The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
Divine union is associated with intellectual plenitude and the idea of good.
All passages → Emanation Hierarchycosmology 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.
A distinction is made between divine intelligible man and mortal nature, implying a hierarchical structure.
All passages → Evil As Privationtheology Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
Evil is defined as the oblivion of good and deception about evil, lacking positive being.
All passages → Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
Salvation and felicity are explicitly linked to the scientific knowledge of the Gods rather than ritual alone.
All passages → Hidden Sayingssoteriology Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The text begins by stating that divine knowledge is not accessible through ordinary human divination.
All passages → Inner Lightanthropology The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.
Divine union is associated with intellectual plenitude and the presence of good within the soul.
All passages → Ladder Of Lovesoteriology 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.
The path to felicity involves a progression from knowledge of the father to union with Gods.
All passages → Mystical Unionsoteriology The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
Felicity is defined as the union with the Gods who are givers of every good.
All passages → Return To Sourcesoteriology The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
The soul is described as being led back to its father and liberated from flowing into impermanent things.
All passages → Ritual Puritypraxis The maintenance of a state of cleanliness—physical, moral, or spiritual—required for encounter with the divine.
The sacerdotal gift includes a power of purifying the soul before union with Gods.
All passages → Soul Migrationcosmology The transmigration of the soul across lives.
The text describes a man entering into another soul coadapted to the human form.
All passages → Spiritual Ascentpraxis A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.
The passage outlines a path of liberation from bonds that leads to union with the Gods.
All passages → Related passages · 15 of 415 parallels
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1a
“131 CHAPTER V Concerning ” Existence “ and also concerning ” Exemplars .” I.
Now must we proceed to the Name of “Being” which is truly applied by the Divine Science to Him that truly Is.
But this much we must say, that it is not the purpo…”
Shared concept: Mystical Union — The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1i
“364 The ultimate Godhead is reached only by the Negative Path, and known only by Unknowing.
The Affirmative Path of philosophical knowledge leads only to the differentiated manifestations of the Godhead: e.g.
the Trinity, in Its creative…”
Shared concept: Evil As Privation — Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 10, Section 1a
“CHAPTER X Concerning ” Omnipotent ,” ” Ancient of Days “; and also concerning ” Eternity “ and ” Time .” 1.
Now ‘tis time that our Discourse should celebrate God (Whose Names are many) as “Omnipotent” and “Ancient of Days.” The former titl…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 10, Section 1c
“It is spoken of by ail the Christian Mystics as the root of our being, or as the spark, or the Synteresis, etc.
Our perfection consists in this ultimate reality, which is each man’s self, shining through his whole being and transforming it…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1b
“For even as things which are intellectually discerned 52 52 i.
e.
The Transcendent Truths which are beyond ordinary knowledge.
νοητά .
The word νοῦς = Mind in the sense not merely of abstract intellect but of the spiritual personality.…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
christian_mysticism | 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…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1e
“These mysteries we learn from the Divine Scriptures, and thou wilt find that in well-nigh all the utterances of the Sacred Writers the Divine Names refer in a Symbolical Revelation 72 72 ἐκφαντορικῶς καὶ ὑμνητικῶς.
to Its beneficent Emanat…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1f
“And in all the other Divine enlightenments which the occult Tradition of our inspired teachers hath, by mystic Interpretation, accordant with the Scriptures, bestowed upon us, we also have been initiated: apprehending these things in the pr…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1g
“But if It is greater than all Reason and all knowledge, and hath Its firm abode altogether beyond Mind and Being, and circumscribes, compacts, embraces and anticipates all things 87 87 παντῶν .
.
.
προληπτική—i.e.
contains them eternall…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1h
“that which makes an individual thing to be one thing); (2) Mental or Spiritual intercourse; (3) Physical intercourse; (4) Sense perception.
Here it = either (1) or (2), probably (1).
limit, infinity, everything that exists.
And yet since…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1j
“143 143 God is above Time.
For the Nameless Goodness is not only the cause of cohesion or life or perfection in such wise as to derive Its Name from this or that providential activity alone; nay, rather does It contain all things beforehan…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1l
“The formless essence (ἀμορφία) of a thing is simple and imageless—a Platonic idea—perceived by the mind; things which have bodily form are, as it were, types and symbols perceived by the senses.
54 Or “indeterminate.” 55 Thus the three gra…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
christian_mysticism | 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…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1n
“82 ἐν θειοτέρᾳ μιμήσει τῶν ὑπερουρανίων νοῶν—i.
e.
the angels.
83 Luke xx.
36 84 Meditation leads on to Contemplation; and the higher kind of Contemplation is performed by the Via Negativa.
85 i.e.
The Angels.
I have throughout trans…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1a
“CHAPTER XI Concerning ” Peace “ and what is meant by ” Very Being “ Itself , ” Very Life ,” ” Very Power ,” and similar phrases .
1.
Now let us praise with reverent hymns of peace the Divine Peace which is the Source of all mutual attract…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
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