Iamblichus: On the Mysteries · 173 of 218 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Chapter VIII-m
Thus, for instance, if the allotment of the soul was as far as to philosophy, the soul would be able, though it should not choose a philosophic but some other life, to energize in that life somewhat philosophically.
There are also said to be certain supermundane souls.
And thus we have shown how the soul energizes enthusiastically.
But how are statues said to have an enthusiastic energy?
May we not say, that a statue being inanimate, does not itself energize about divinity, but the telestic art, purifying the matter of which the statue consists, and placing round it certain characters and symbols, in the first place renders it, through these means, animated, and causes it to receive a certain life from the world; and, in the next place, after this, it prepares the statue to be illuminated by a divine nature, through which it always delivers oracles, as long as it is properly adapted.
For the statue, when it has been rendered perfect by the telestic art, remains afterwards [endued with a prophetic power] till it becomes entirely unadapted to divine illumination; but he who receives the inspiring influence of the Gods receives it only at certain times, and not always.
But the cause of this is, that the soul, when filled with deity, energizes about it.
Hence, in consequence of energizing above its own power, it becomes weary.
For it would be a God, and similar to the souls of the stars, if it did not become weary.
But the statue, conformably to its participations, remains illuminated.
Hence the inaptitude of it entirely proceeds into privation, unless it is again, de novo , perfected and animated by the mystic operator.
We have sufficiently shown, therefore, that enthusiasm, properly so called, is effected about the one of the soul, and that it is an illumination of divinity.
354 “In the next place, let us discuss the order and the use of the four manias, and show why the philosopher makes mention of these alone.
Is it because there are no other than these, or because these were sufficient for his purpose?
That there are, therefore, many other divine inspirations and manias Plato himself indicates as he proceeds, and prior to this, he makes mention of the inspiration from the Nymphs.
But there are also inspirations from Pan, from the mother of the Gods, and from the Corybantes, which are elsewhere mentioned by Plato.
Here, however, he alone delivers these four manias; in the first place, because these alone are sufficient to the soul, in the attainment of its proper apocatastasis, as we shall afterwards show; and in the next place, because he delivers the proximate steps of ascent to the soul.
For the gifts of the Gods to all beings are many and incomprehensible.
But now he delivers to us the energies of the Gods which are extended to souls.
He delivers, however, these four manias, not as if one of them was not sufficient, and especially the amatory, to lead back the soul to its pristine felicity; but at present the series and regular gradation of them, and the orderly perfection of the soul, are unfolded.
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 the statue receiving a certain life from the world and being illuminated by a divine nature through which it delivers oracles.
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 defines enthusiasm as an illumination of divinity and discusses manias that lead the soul to its pristine felicity.
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 references souls being 'as far as to philosophy' and the existence of supermundane souls.
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.
The passage links inaptitude with privation and describes the soul becoming weary when energizing above its power.
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 text mentions the amatory mania as one of the four that leads back the soul to its pristine felicity.
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
The passage explicitly states that the amatory mania leads back the soul to its pristine felicity and discusses the soul's journey back to its divine origin.
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.
The passage describes the soul becoming a God when filled with deity and similar to the souls of the stars.
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 text references the telestic art as a practice that purifies matter and prepares statues for divine illumination through symbols and characters.