Glenn Alexander Magee

Pythagoras and Pythagoreanism

Life and Work of Pythagoras The giant figure of Pythagoras straddles the borderline between history and myth. As in the case of his approximate contemporaries Zoroaster, Mahavira, Confucius, Lao Tse, and Gautama Buddha, his followers created an idealized biography that cannot be checked against impartial sources. Even then, they differ widely in their accounts, most of which date from the third century CE, eight centuries after their subject. Consequently, we cannot confirm any of the biographical data, nor even give firm dates for Pythagorass birth and death. Certainly his homeland was the Dodecanese island of Samos, and his birth occurred between 580 and 569 BCE. According to Iamblichus and Porphyry, he was born in Syria where his father Mnesarchus (a Phoenician by origin) was trading. After many travels, he settled in southern Italy, founding a school and community at Croton. Around 500 BCE, local opposition destroyed the school, and if Pythagoras did not perish then and there, he died in Metapontum during the following decade. This is the bare outline with which modern scholarship has to be content. Turning to the legendary life of Pythagoras as reported by the same authors, we find him first studying with the Ionian philosophers Thales and Anaximander, and with Pherecydes of Syros. Next came his voyages to the Phoenician settlements in Syria, where he underwent mystery initiations. The early witness of Herodotus confirms his long residence in Egypt. Having gone there on Thaless recommendation, Pythagoras visited the religious centers of Heliopolis, Memphis and Thebes and was admitted to initiations never before given to foreigners. A fourth, involuntary journey was to Babylon, as a captive following Cambysess conquest of Egypt (525 BCE), but Pythagoras turned it to good use by studying astronomy and mathematics with the Magi. On his release, he returned to Samos but became increasingly at odds with his compatriots. He made a tour of the oracular centers of Delos, Samothrace, Eleusis, Grecian Thebes, Delphi, and Crete, and he visited Sparta to observe the system of government. After emigrating to Croton, he never returned to Samos.

The Cambridge Handbook of Western Mysticism and Esotericism

Mysticism and esotericism are two intimately related strands of the Western tradition. Despite their close connections, however, scholars tend to treat them separately.Whereas the study ofWestern mysticism enjoys a long and established history, Western esotericism is a young field. The Cambridge Handbook of Western Mysticism and Esotericism examines both of these traditions together. The volume demonstrates that the roots of esotericism almost always lead back to mystical traditions, while the work of mystics was bound up with esoteric or occult preoccupations. It also shows why mysticism and esotericism must be examined together if either is to be understood fully. Including contributions by leading scholars, this volume features essays on such topics as alchemy, astrology, magic, Neoplatonism, Kabbalism, Renaissance Hermetism, Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, number symbolism, Christian theosophy, spiritualism, and much more. This handbook serves as both a capstone of contemporary scholarship and a cornerstone of future research.

Hermetism and Gnosticism

Introduction The religious currents that are usually called Hermetism and Gnosticism flourished in the Greco-Roman world of the first centuries of our era, but their impact on Western culture is still being felt today. Both proclaimed a salvific spiritual knowledge ( gnosis ) about God, the world, and man meant only for an elite (i.e., those who were worthy of receiving it). Accordingly, both currents showed distinct esoteric features, but that did not prevent their adherents from writing numerous books propagating these ideas. Although their views on the origin and destiny of human beings have much in common, there are also considerable differences, especially regarding the nature of the material world and the manner of salvation. To a certain extent, Gnosticism shows a radicalization of ideas that are also present, though not dominant or structural, in Hermetism. Hermetism Late Antiquity left us an extensive literature attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. It consists of magical, astrological, and alchemical texts (the so-called technical or practical Hermetica) and philosophically inspired religious treatises (the philosophical Hermetica). In the Greek world, Hermes Trismegistus was considered a sage of the remote Egyptian past, but originally he was the Egyptian god Thoth, the god of writing, culture, cosmic order, and magic. Already in the fifth century BCE, the Greeks identified Thoth with their god Hermes, who faintly resembled the Egyptian god. The predicate “Trismegistus” (“Thrice-Great”) derived from the Egyptian manner of expressing the superlative “greatest,” by repeating the word “great” three times. There is no reason to assume that the technical and philosophical Hermetica once belonged together as successive parts of one great hermetic teaching program. But the adepts of religious-philosophical Hermetism had no objections to making use of magical practices and astrological calculations. The main sources for our knowledge of Hermetism are the following: 1. The Greek Corpus Hermeticum (= CH ), a collection of seventeen treatises, of which CH I ( Poimandres ) and XIII ( On Rebirth ) are the most interesting. 2. The Latin Asclepius , the only complete hermetic text that was known during the Middle Ages. Some fragments of the Greek original have been preserved in later authors, and its final hymn is known from a Greek magical Papyrus. There are also Coptic translations of chapters 21–29 and of the final hymn, found in Nag Hammadi Codex (= NHC) VI.

Plato, Plotinus, and Neoplatonism

Introduction Kant distinguishes between two philosophical schools: one in which knowledge is the fruit of rational labor and the other in which it is rather a kind of ecstasy , the mysterious “apotheosis” of intuition. It is in Plato that he finds the origin of the latter – referring to him as a “ Mytagogue ,” the founder of a sect, addressing himself only to initiates. The truth is that the “Greek light” is not the same as Kants “Enlightenment”: It is not a brightness gradually winning the battle against darkness, but rather a flash, a sudden and powerful illumination. This model certainly governs the Platonic tradition. It is for this reason that the question is not whether one can speak of mysticism and esotericism in relation to Platonism, but rather of how to do so. It is well known that “mysticism” comes from the Greek term mysteria , which refers to the mystery cults, mystes meaning “initiate.” But this linguistic fact leaves room for different inflections, depending on which aspect of the mysteric experience (i.e., the experience linked to mystery cults) is emphasized: the initiation, the revelation, the union with the divine, or the secret. These various inflections are precisely what we try to highlight. Thus, when Plato uses the “mysteric model,” it is mainly as a model of the initiation, that is, of the break with ordinary ways of life and thought that philosophy both provokes and requires. We may, then, wonder whether Platos philosophy is actually influenced by the mystery cults, and by the figures and trends of thought related to them (especially Orphism and Pythagoreanism). And we also have to ask whether Platonic philosophy is itself homologous to this tradition, insofar as it might be based on an esoteric teaching. From Plato to Plotinus, the inflection changes: What prevails in the model of Neoplatonism is not so much the initiatic scheme, as the union with the divine. Indeed, Plotinuss philosophy proceeds from a founding experience – the union with the One-Good – and develops as an inquiry into the conditions of its occurrence and recurrence. It is in this manner that the philosophy of Plotinus inherits the mysteric tradition and also has a decisive influence on what is commonly called the “mystical tradition,” particularly the Christian one.

Mesmer and Animal Magnetism

Discovery of Animal Magnetism In the last quarter of the eighteenth century, Franz Anton Mesmer (1734–1815) devised and promoted a healing method that he called “animal magnetism.” For approximately seventy-five years following its initial proclamation in 1779, animal magnetism flourished as a medical and psychological specialty, and for another fifty years it continued to be a system of influence, having a profound impact on medicine, psychology, and psychical research. The seeds of thought that gave rise to animal magnetism are found in Mesmers 1766 thesis Dissertatio physico-medica de planetarum influxu , which he wrote for his doctorate in medicine at the University of Vienna. Although he chose the title “Physical-medical Dissertation on the Influence of the Planets,” Mesmer was not interested in the occult and attempted to develop a theory of human health based on what he believed were purely physical, scientifically observable factors. Here he expounded his belief that just as there are tides in the ocean, so must there be tides in the human organism caused by the celestial bodies. He called this generalized influence “animal gravity.” Noting what he considered to be a similarity between gravity and magnetism, Mesmer attempted to cure the sick through the application of iron magnets. Using the terminology of the day, he called the carrier of magnetic influence “magnetic fluid,” which he believed was the foundation of life itself and the principle by which organic bodies carry out their vital functions. He asserted that the inhibition of this vital force produced disease. Mesmer therefore developed a technique to remove obstructions to the free flow of magnetic fluid in the body. After a period of experimentation in which he used mineral magnets to dissolve the blocks, he became convinced that the “magnet” of choice in healing is the physicians own body, which is capable of channeling the invisible fluid pervading the universe into the patients body. This constituted his theory of “animal magnetism.” Mesmer began his healing practice in Vienna, but after coming into conflict with both the medical establishment of that city and the family of one of his patients, he moved to Paris in 1778. There he gave his theory its first complete formulation, set up two clinics, and attempted to gain acceptance for his ideas from the local medical authorities.