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The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) · 39 of 49 · tr. L. Williams

Fourth Dialogued

Therefore, in the sistine he would have space made for him to pass; for if anybody should be touched by his fires he would become such that he would have no more feeling of the flames of hell, for their heat would be to him as cold snow. 69. The seventh blind man . Beauty, which through the eyes rushed to the heart, And formed the mighty furnace in my breast, Absorbing first the visual moisture; then, Spouting aloft its grasping flashing flame, Devouring every other fluid, To set the dryer element at rest, Has thus reduced me to a boneless dust, Which now to its own atoms is resolved, If anguish infinite your fears should rouse Make space, give way, oh peoples! Beware of my fierce penetrating fire, For if it should invade and touch you, ye Would feel and know the fires of hell To be like winter's cold. The eighth follows, whose blindness is caused by the dart which love has caused to penetrate from the eyes to the heart. Hence, he laments not only as being blind, but furthermore because he is wounded and burnt so fiercely, that he believes no other can be equally so. The sense of it is easily expressed in this sonnet:— 70. The eighth blind man . Vile onslaught, evil struggle, unrighteous palm, Fine point, devouring fire, strong nerve, Sharp wound, impious ardour, cruel body, Dart, fire and tangle of that wayward god Who pierced the eyes, inflamed the heart, bound the soul, Made me at once sightless, a lover, and a slave, So that, blind I have at all times, in all ways and places, The feeling of my wound, my fire, my noose. Men, heroes, and gods! Who be on earth, or near to Ditis or to Jove, I pray ye say, when, how, and where did ye Feel ever, hear, or see in any place Woes like to these, amongst the oppressed Amongst the damned, 'mongst lovers? Finally comes the last one, who is also mute through not having been able, or having dared, to say that which he most desired to say, for fear of offending or exciting contempt, and he is deprived of speaking of every other thing: therefore, it is not he who speaks, but his guide who relates the affair, about which I do not speak, but only bring you the sense thereof: 71. The guide of the ninth blind man . Happy are ye, oh all ye sightless lovers, That ye the reason of your pains can tell, By virtue of your tears you can be sure Of pure and favourable receptions. Amongst you all, the latent fire of him Whose guide I am, rages most fiercely, Though he is mute for want of boldness To make known his sorrows to his deity. Make way! open ye wide the way, Be ye benign unto this vacant face, Oh people full of grievous hindrances, The while this harassed weary trunk Goes knocking at the doors To meet a death less painful, more profound. Here are mentioned nine reasons, which are the cause that the human mind is blind as regards the Divine object and cannot fix its eyes upon it. And of these, the first, allegorized through the first blind man, is the quality of its own species, which in so far as the degree in which he finds himself admits, he aspires certainly higher, than he is able to comprehend. Min. Because no natural desire is vain, we are able to assure ourselves of a more excellent state which is suitable to the soul outside of this body, in the which it may be possible to unite itself, or to approach more nearly, to its object. Sev.
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 process of being reduced to dust and atoms mirrors the alchemical dissolution required for spiritual transformation.

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◆Apophatic Theologytheology

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

The Divine object is described as something the mind cannot fix its eyes upon or fully comprehend.

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◆Divine Hiddennesstheology

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

The human mind is described as blind regarding the Divine object, indicating its radical concealment.

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◆Fana Annihilationsoteriology

Sufi self-effacement in God — the via by which the lover is unmade as a separate ego and recovered as God's act; specifies the practice/event rather than mystical_union's resulting state.

The lover is reduced to 'boneless dust' and resolved to atoms, signifying self-effacement in the divine fire.

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◆Infinite Cosmoscosmology

The doctrine of the universe as boundless and without center or circumference, populated by innumerable worlds — Bruno's rejection of the closed Aristotelian sphere; the divine and the cosmos as ontologically infinite.

The text references 'anguish infinite' and the aspiration toward an object beyond comprehension, reflecting Bruno's metaphysics of the Infinite.

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◆Microcosm Macrocosmcosmology

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 mind and soul are depicted as reflecting the divine structure through their aspiration and capacity for union.

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◇Body As Obstacleanthropology

The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.

[auto] The soul aspires to unite with its object outside of this body, viewing the physical trunk as weary and hindering.

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◇Divine Madnesssoteriology

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 depicts ecstatic irrational rapture and fire as a means to transcend ordinary reason, aligning with Bruno's furore.

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◇Heroic Furorpraxis

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 the work defining this concept and describes the passionate spiritual ardor driving the soul toward divine wisdom.

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◇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.

[auto] The text enumerates stages of 'blind men' representing a structured ascent through love's pains toward the divine object.

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◇Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

[auto] The central goal described is for the soul to unite itself or approach more nearly to its divine object.

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◇Return To Sourcesoteriology

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

[auto] The soul seeks to return to its suitable state outside the body to unite with its divine origin.

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◇Spiritual Ascentpraxis

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

[auto] The passage describes the mind aspiring higher than it is able to comprehend and moving toward a more excellent state.

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Related passages · 1 parallel
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXII (part 13)
“Then the understanding of such a man receives from the Holy Spirit the highest and hidden mysteries which according to the divine Paul, neither the human eye can understand nor the human reason comprehend unaided. (Ii Corinthians ii, 9).…”
Both passages describe the transformative and overwhelming experience of divine love or mystical union, which leads to a state where the individual is consumed by an intense, all-encompassing fire or light. They also share the theme of the limitations of human understanding and expression in the face of divine beauty and mystery.