Select Works, Section 173 (part 2)

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

The use of 'that greatness' rather than a specific name suggests the divine source transcends ordinary categorization.

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 text notes that beauty is 'excellently reproduced upon a face,' implying the sensible world reflects the structure of the higher intelligible realm.

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.

References to 'vast orderliness' and the 'Form which the stars... display' suggest a divinely ordered cosmos governed by intelligible principles.

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 passage outlines an ascent from beauty reproduced on a face to the orderliness of stars and finally to 'that greatness,' mirroring the scala amoris.

The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.

The 'vast orderliness' and 'Form which the stars... display' reflect a divine rational ordering principle.

The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.

The necessity of being 'carried... to recollection' implies a current state of forgetfulness or distance from the divine origin.

The transmigration of the soul across lives.

The term 'recollection' implies a prior existence or state of the soul before its current embodiment.

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

[auto] The mind uses the 'sight of Beauty' and sensory order as a starting point for higher thought rather than empty stillness.

Platonic recollection: knowledge as the soul's recovery of what it knew before birth, with learning as remembering rather than acquisition.

[auto] The passage explicitly states that the sight of beauty carries the mind to 'recollection,' directly invoking the Platonic doctrine of remembering prior knowledge.

The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.

[auto] The passage equates 'Beauty' and 'loveliness' with a luminous quality that reveals the divine order to the mind.

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.

[auto] The distinction between the 'world of sense' and 'that other Sphere,' along with things being 'sprung from that greatness,' implies a hierarchical structure of reality.

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

[auto] Salvation or enlightenment is described through 'sight,' 'vision,' and 'recollection' rather than ritual or faith alone.

The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

[auto] The reference to 'that greatness' from which all springs suggests a singular, undivided first principle.

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

[auto] The soul is described as being 'carried' and 'gripped by reverent awe,' suggesting a profound connection or merging with the divine source.

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

[auto] The passage explicitly describes the mind being hurried to 'that other Sphere' and recognizing things as 'sprung from that greatness,' indicating a journey back to the divine origin.

The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.

[auto] The concept of 'recollection' implies the soul remembering its own true nature and origin.

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

[auto] The text details the movement of the mind from the 'world of sense' upward to a higher realm through the perception of beauty and order.

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

[auto] The assertion that all things are 'sprung from that greatness' points to a single underlying divine reality.