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Authors: Bruce J. MacLennan
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was a Pagan Neoplatonist, and secretly practiced his religion with a small group of followers at Mistra (in the Peloponnese). When he died, his papers were discovered and most of them were burned, preserving only enough to prove his “crime.”
However, at the Council of Florence he was representing the Greek Orthodox Church,
and presented lectures arguing the superiority of Plato over Aristotle, who was favored in the West. His descriptions of the Platonic Academy so fired the imagination of Cosimo de Medici (1389–1464) that he decided to establish a Platonic Academy in Florence. Eventually he chose the young scholar Marsilio Ficino (1433–99) to head the Florentine Academy, which was established in 1462 in a villa at Careggi. Ficino’s first task was to translate the texts of Plato and the Neoplatonists from Greek to Latin, which made them widely accessible in the West. Ficino came under some suspicion for engaging in Pagan rituals and 40 sources for hypatia's philosophy
spiritual practices in the Academy, and eventually he was obliged to reaffirm his Christian faith. In any case, his written works present a Christian Neoplatonic philosophy.
The Florentine Academy became a fount of Neoplatonic ideas and inspiration in phi-
losophy, the sciences, the arts, music, and literature, which helped to precipitate the Italian Renaissance and the rebirth of learning throughout Europe.
One of Ficino’s students was Pico della Mirandola (1463–94), who in some ways went
further than Ficino, combining Christian Neoplatonism with kabbalah and Hermetic mag-ic. The church condemned some of his claims and he had to recant. We still read his Oration on the Dignity of Man , with its famous quotation from a Hermetic text: What a great miracle is man!24
The Cambridge Platonists were an influential group of seventeenth-century Cam-
bridge University graduates, including Henry More (1614–87), Ralph Cudworth (1617–
88), and Anne Conway (1631–79), who advocated Christian Neoplatonism for its harmony with reason.
An important modern Pagan Neoplatonist was Thomas Taylor (1785–1835), who was
known in his time as “the English Platonist.” He made many of the first translations into English of Neoplatonic texts, some of which are still valuable today. His writings significantly influenced the English romantic poets William Blake (1757–1827), William Word-sworth (1770–1850), and Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822), as well as the American Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) and the other Transcendentalists of the nineteenth century.
As you can see, the Platonic philosophy—from Pythagoras to Neoplatonism—has been
a fruitful spiritual tradition for two and one-half millennia. That is what you will learn, but let’s begin by entering the Epicurean Garden to learn the First Degree of Wisdom.
Part II
The First Degree
of Wisdom
Chapter Four
Seeking Tranquility
in the Garden
Goals of the First Degree
You are embarking on a path of spiritual growth so that you can live a more fulfilling life by direct interaction with divinity. But this will be difficult to achieve if you are stressed out, working long hours, perpetually dissatisfied with how you spend your time, striving to advance in your career, anxious and fearful about the future, worried about money, and so on. Where will you find the time and energy—let alone the mental focus and peace—for spiritual practices? Therefore, you need to begin living a more tranquil life as a foundation for advanced spiritual practices. Nevertheless, most of us cannot devote our lives to spiritual pursuits; we need to work for our food, shelter, clothes, and other necessities, and living happily is easier if we have more than the bare necessities. How can we establish a base of happiness and tranquility on which to build a spiritual practice?
In this chapter you will learn the Epicurean way of life, which provides a background for more advanced spiritual practices. You’ll learn
However, at the Council of Florence he was representing the Greek Orthodox Church,
and presented lectures arguing the superiority of Plato over Aristotle, who was favored in the West. His descriptions of the Platonic Academy so fired the imagination of Cosimo de Medici (1389–1464) that he decided to establish a Platonic Academy in Florence. Eventually he chose the young scholar Marsilio Ficino (1433–99) to head the Florentine Academy, which was established in 1462 in a villa at Careggi. Ficino’s first task was to translate the texts of Plato and the Neoplatonists from Greek to Latin, which made them widely accessible in the West. Ficino came under some suspicion for engaging in Pagan rituals and 40 sources for hypatia's philosophy
spiritual practices in the Academy, and eventually he was obliged to reaffirm his Christian faith. In any case, his written works present a Christian Neoplatonic philosophy.
The Florentine Academy became a fount of Neoplatonic ideas and inspiration in phi-
losophy, the sciences, the arts, music, and literature, which helped to precipitate the Italian Renaissance and the rebirth of learning throughout Europe.
One of Ficino’s students was Pico della Mirandola (1463–94), who in some ways went
further than Ficino, combining Christian Neoplatonism with kabbalah and Hermetic mag-ic. The church condemned some of his claims and he had to recant. We still read his Oration on the Dignity of Man , with its famous quotation from a Hermetic text: What a great miracle is man!24
The Cambridge Platonists were an influential group of seventeenth-century Cam-
bridge University graduates, including Henry More (1614–87), Ralph Cudworth (1617–
88), and Anne Conway (1631–79), who advocated Christian Neoplatonism for its harmony with reason.
An important modern Pagan Neoplatonist was Thomas Taylor (1785–1835), who was
known in his time as “the English Platonist.” He made many of the first translations into English of Neoplatonic texts, some of which are still valuable today. His writings significantly influenced the English romantic poets William Blake (1757–1827), William Word-sworth (1770–1850), and Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822), as well as the American Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) and the other Transcendentalists of the nineteenth century.
As you can see, the Platonic philosophy—from Pythagoras to Neoplatonism—has been
a fruitful spiritual tradition for two and one-half millennia. That is what you will learn, but let’s begin by entering the Epicurean Garden to learn the First Degree of Wisdom.
Part II
The First Degree
of Wisdom
Chapter Four
Seeking Tranquility
in the Garden
Goals of the First Degree
You are embarking on a path of spiritual growth so that you can live a more fulfilling life by direct interaction with divinity. But this will be difficult to achieve if you are stressed out, working long hours, perpetually dissatisfied with how you spend your time, striving to advance in your career, anxious and fearful about the future, worried about money, and so on. Where will you find the time and energy—let alone the mental focus and peace—for spiritual practices? Therefore, you need to begin living a more tranquil life as a foundation for advanced spiritual practices. Nevertheless, most of us cannot devote our lives to spiritual pursuits; we need to work for our food, shelter, clothes, and other necessities, and living happily is easier if we have more than the bare necessities. How can we establish a base of happiness and tranquility on which to build a spiritual practice?
In this chapter you will learn the Epicurean way of life, which provides a background for more advanced spiritual practices. You’ll learn
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