The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) · 31 of 49 · tr. L. Williams
Third Dialoguec
First, because such an impediment cannot exist in action, if (equally?) violent opposition is not put into action;[U] second, because in so far as the waters are actually in the eyes, they can give passage to the heat as to the light; for, experience proves that the luminous ray kindles, by means of reflection, any material that becomes opposed to it, without heating the glass; and the ray passes through a glass, crystal or other vase, full of water, and heats an object placed under it, without heating the thick intervening body.
As it is also true that it causes dry and dusty impressions in the caves of the deep sea.
Therefore by analogy, if not by the same sort of reasons, we may see how it is possible that, through the lubricant and dark passage of the eyes, the affection may be kindled and inflamed by that light, the which for the same reason cannot be in the middle.[V] As the light of the sun, according to other reasoning, is in the middle air, or again in the nearer sense, and again in the common sense, or again in the intellect, notwithstanding that from one mode proceeds the other mode of being.
[U] Prima, per che tal impedimento in atto non puo essere se non posti in atto tali oltraggiosi ripari.
Does this mean that the opposites which are called into action must be equal in power?—(Translator.) If, when fire is ascending again to its proper sphere, it should meet with obstacles, such as a bit of wood or of straw, it would resume its former activity, and consume this obstacle or hindrance; and the greater the resistance, the more its activity would be increased....
You will observe that the obstacle which the fire meets with would serve only to increase its velocity, by giving it a new ardour to overcome all obstacles in joining itself to its centre.—("Spiritual Torrents," Lady Guion.) [V] Nel mezzo.
Lao.
Are there any more discourses?
Lib.
Yes; because both the one and the other are trying to find out in what way it is that it (the heart) contains so many flames and those (the eyes) so many waters.
The heart then makes the next proposition.
59.
Second proposition of the heart to the eyes .
If to the foaming sea the rivers run, And pour their streams into the sea's dark gulf, How does the kingdom of the water-gods, Fed by the double torrent of these eyes, Increase not; since the earth Must lose the glorious overflow?
How is it that we do not see the day, When from the mount Deukalion returns?
Where are the lengthening shores, Where is the torrent to put out my flame, Or, failing this, to give it greater power?
Does drop of water ever fall to earth In such a way as leads me to suppose It is not as the senses show it?
It asks, what power is this, which is not put into action?
If the waters are so many, why does Neptune not come to tyrannize over the kingdoms of the other elements?
Where are the inundated banks?
Where is he who will give coolness to the ardent fire?
Where is the drop of water by which I may affirm through the eyes that which the senses deny?
But the eyes in the same way ask another question.
60.
Second proposition of the eyes to the heart .
If matter changed and turned to fire acquires The movement of a lighter element, Rising aloft unto the highest heaven; Wherefore, ignited by the fire of love, Swifter than wind, dost thou not rise and flash.
Into the sun and be incorporate there?
Themes
◆Alchemical Workpraxis
The transformation of base substance — outer matter or the inner soul — into a purified, perfected, or 'gold' state; the magnum opus as both laboratory practice and spiritual allegory.
The passage describes matter changing and turning to fire to rise aloft, utilizing alchemical imagery for spiritual transformation.
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 uses physical analogies of light, heat, and water to explain spiritual affection, reflecting the 'as above, so below' axiom.
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 interaction between fire and water suggests hidden affinities where elements resonate and influence one another across distances.
Ecstatic, non-rational receptivity to the divine figured as drunkenness — Plato's symposium wine, Rumi's sukr, Eckhart's 'sober drunkenness'; the passive/receptive metaphor for divine encounter, distinct from divine_madness's active possessing rapture.
The concept of 'Enthusiasts' and 'Furori' implies an ecstatic, non-rational receptivity to the divine figured as a passionate state.
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 dialogue outlines the ascent of love and fire from the senses to the intellect and sun, grounding the canonical scala amoris mentioned in the definition.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
The human heart and eyes are personified debating cosmic elements like the sea, fire, and sun, mirroring the cosmos within the self.
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 fire's need to ascend to its proper sphere implies a current state of separation from its divine center.
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.
[auto] The text embodies the concept of furore or ecstatic spiritual ardor that transcends ordinary reason to attain divine contact.
Bruno's eroici furori — a passionate, ennobling spiritual ardor that drives the soul toward divine wisdom; distinguished from base or animal passions by its orientation to infinite truth.
[auto] The passage is from Bruno's Gli Eroici Furori and explicitly describes the spiritual ardor and flames driving the soul toward divine wisdom.
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
[auto] The interaction between fire and water, and the transformation of obstacles into fuel for velocity, suggests a transcendence of binary oppositions.