Brief Notes on Various Topics -- 16

22 March 2024

Brief Notes on Various Topics -- 16

1.  “To some philosophy is primary, as to Porphyry and Plotinus and a great many other philosophers; to others hieratic practice, as to Iamblichus, Syrianus, Proclus, and the hieratic school generally.”

This is a quote from a commentary on Phaedo by Damascius, translated by L. G. Westerink (page 104).  Damascius was the last head of the Platonic Academy in Athens before it was closed by Justinian.  Damascius lived in the late 5^th and early 6^th centuries CE.

I take ‘hieratic’ to refer to theurgy.  Damascius is indicating that Platonism, at the time he was teaching, had split into two camps, depending on what they regarded as ‘primary.’  Porphyry, Plotinus, and a ‘great many other philosophers’ took philosophy to be primary.  I interpret this as meaning that this group practiced contemplation as the central practice of their tradition.  In contrast, Iamblichus, Syrianus, and Proclus considered theurgy, or the ‘hieratic practice,’ which refers to ritual sacrifice, including animal sacrifice, as primary.

This division remains today as a legacy of late Classical Platonism.  I am rooted in the contemplative tradition of Plotinus and Porphyry.  

2.  Porphyry wrote the longest, and most thorough, surviving work on the practice of vegetarianism/veganism in the Platonic tradition.  The translated title for the newest available translation is On Abstinence from Killing Animals; Gillian Clark is the translator.  It is an extended argument against either killing animals for food or killing them in other contexts such as ritual sacrifice, or in the context of theurgy.

Later, Porphyry wrote another work on the same topic called Letter to Anebo, which we no longer have except for quotations found in Iamblichus and Eusebius.  Iamblichus took issue with Porphyry and wrote a commentary attempting to refute Porphyry’s views contained in Letter to Anebo.  As far as we know, Porphyry did not respond to the critique by Iamblichus (called On the Mysteries). 

Thus the division between the contemplative, or philosophical, tradition of Platonism and the hieratic, or theurgic, tradition arose.  I am rooted in the tradition shaped by Porphyry’s views; meaning that I see vegetarianism and veganism as a central practice of the Platonic tradition.

3. One reason I admire Platonism is that Platonism recognizes and honors cause and effect.  Platonism is aware of the interior struggles of the soul with bodily desires and never minimizes just how difficult that struggle is. 

4.  It is possible to take ordinary activities and use them as an opportunity for purification.  For example, washing one’s hands, and bathing, are both opportunities for thinking about purification, for training the mind to use ordinary events as a means for purification.  The cleansing of the body becomes a symbol for the purification of the mind and with repetition helps incline our consciousness towards that goal.

5.  Mark Anderson wrote in his essay on Platonic purification, “Whenever you want to indulge, recall that you prefer to ascend.”  (Mark Anderson, Pure, page 104.)  I think this is a wonderful ‘pithy saying’ and I have found it helpful to internalize its message as I continue on the path to the Good and the One.