Iamblichus: On the Mysteries · 170 of 218 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Chapter VIII-j
the connective, perfective, demiurgic, assimilative, and such others as are celebrated posterior to these; so that all are in all, and yet each is at the same time separate and distinct.
“Indeed we obtain this knowledge of their union and characteristics from the natures by which they are participated.
For, with respect to the visible Gods, we say that there is one soul of the sun, and another of the earth, directing our attention to the visible bodies of these divinities, which possess much variety in their essence, powers, and dignity among wholes.
As, therefore, we apprehend the difference of incorporeal essences from sensible inspection, in like manner from the variety of incorporeal essences, we are enabled to know something of the unmingled distinction of the first and superessential unities, and of the characteristics of each.
For each unity has a multitude suspended from its nature, which is either intelligible alone; or intelligible, and at the same time intellectual; or intellectual alone; and this last is either participated, or not participated; and this again, is either supermundane, or mundane.
And thus far does the progression of the unities extend.” Shortly after he adds, “As trees by their extremities are rooted in the earth, and through this are earthly in every part, in the same manner divine natures are rooted by their summits in the one , and each is a unity and one , through its unconfused union with the one itself .” See more on this most important of all subjects in the notes to my translation of the Parmenides.
P.
50 .
For as in all other things, such as are principal, primarily begin from themselves, &c.
Hence every God begins his own energy from himself, which Proclus thus demonstrates in Prop.
131 of his Elements of Theology.
“For every God first exhibits the peculiarity of his presence with secondary natures in himself; because he imparts himself to other things also according to his own exuberant plenitude.
For neither is deficiency adapted to the Gods, nor fulness alone.
For every thing deficient is imperfect, and not being itself perfect, it is impossible it should make another thing to be perfect.
But that which is full is alone sufficient to itself, and is not yet prepared to communicate.
It is necessary, therefore, that the nature which fills other things, and which extends to other things the communications of itself, should be superplenary, 350 or exuberantly full.
Hence, if a divine nature fills all things from itself with the good which it contains in itself, it is exuberantly full.
And if this be the case, establishing first in itself the peculiarity which it imparts to others, it will extend to them the communications of superplenary goodness.
P.
59 .
It is requisite also to know what enthusiasm is, and how it is produced.
The following account of enthusiasm, and of the different kinds of mania mentioned by Plato in the Phædrus, from the Scholia of Hermeas on that dialogue, is extracted from the additional notes to my translation of Proclus on the Timæus, and is given in this place for the sake of the Platonic English reader, who may not have that translation in his possession, as a valuable addition to what is here said by Iamblichus on this subject.
“Since Plato here delivers four kinds of mania, by which I mean enthusiasm, and possession or inspiration from the Gods, viz.
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 passage states that we know the characteristics of the divine from the variety of incorporeal essences suspended from their nature.
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 text describes how divine natures are rooted in the one and extend their communications to other things.
The doctrine that the divine is present within all things and the universe itself, pervading creation rather than remaining solely transcendent above it. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about whether that substance indwells its parts) and from kingdom_within (the divine present specifically IN THE INDIVIDUAL human, accessible without mediation) — divine_immanence is the general pervading-presence claim applied to all of creation, not a human-specific indwelling.
The passage states 'all are in all' and that divine natures extend communications of themselves to other things, indicating the divine pervades and is present within lower levels of reality.
Ecstatic irrational rapture — Plato's mania, Bruno's furore — by which the soul transcends ordinary reason and attains direct contact with divine reality; madness reframed as higher knowledge.
The passage explicitly introduces the topic of enthusiasm and Plato's four kinds of mania as 'possession or inspiration from the Gods,' framing divine rapture as a mode of contact with the divine.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The passage describes the unities as 'unmingled' and 'unconfused,' each being 'a unity and one' through its union with the one itself, emphasizing undivided, non-composite divine being.
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 describes a progression of unities extending from the one through multiple levels of participation and distinction.
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The passage emphasizes obtaining knowledge of divine union and characteristics through direct apprehension of natures rather than material inspection alone.
The doctrine that the cosmos unfolds as a structured descent of spirit into matter — a directional process traced stage by stage from an unconditioned principle down through successive planes to full materialization — complemented by its own eventual return ('evolution'). Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (the static structure of the resulting levels of the cascade) and cosmogony (a single originating event rather than an ongoing staged process) in naming the directional cosmic PROCESS of descent itself, paired with its own complementary ascent.
The passage traces 'the progression of the unities' as a directional descent from superessential through intelligible, intellectual, participated, supermundane, to mundane levels, naming the staged cosmic descent process.
The divine fullness or totality of the highest realm, populated by aeons and divine attributes, contrasted with the deficient material world.
The passage describes the divine nature as 'superplenary, or exuberantly full,' emphasizing the overflowing fullness of the divine realm that extends communications to all things below.