|
The Arabic Influences on Early Modern Occult Philosophy
system by reconciling the Sephirot with Neoplatonic emanationism;
though the theurgic element was still present, in Italy this element
was de-emphasized in this universalization to make it reconcilable with
Christianity.
42
Pico had major sources available to him that were translated from
Hebrew by his teacher, Flavius Mithridates, a converted Jew and a Kab-
balist. In the Commentary, Pico describes Kabbalah as a theology coded
in a symbolic system that targets the intellectual part of the soul to
achieve the highest and most divine knowledge.
43
In the Conclusions,
Kabbalah is Christianized particularly in 11>5–9. The Persons of the
Trinity – Father, Son and the Holy Spirit – are represented by three
of the Hebrew divine names, Ehyeh, YHWH and Adonai respectively.
The name ‘Jesus’ is interpreted according to ‘the method and principle
of the Kabbalah’. Therefore, Kabbalah becomes for Pico a hermeneutic
tool.
44
He writes: ‘whoever profoundly and radically grasps the order
of the Hebrew language, and knows how to preserve that order pro-
portionally in the sciences, will possess the rule and pattern of perfectly
discovering everything knowable’.
45
Contemplating Kabbalistic symbols
on the practical level, and constructing a system of layered meanings –
mythological, astrological and Christian – on the epistemological level,
eventually reveal universal philosophical principles. On an eschato-
logical level, they achieve a mystical alignment of the soul with the
multiple facets of realities represented by those symbols and meanings
thus reconfiguring the self for the reception of divine effusion.
46
Each
level of reality is expressed using a different set of terms. Technical
descriptive terminology is a mundane form of expression that requires
the reasoning faculty; supplanting it by symbols and allegories creates a
linguistic manoeuvre that elevates the soul’s focus. Technical language is
still suitable for aetiological explanations. In the Commentary, discussing
the generation of created things, Pico writes that ‘for present purposes
we can use the following terms for them: causal being, formal being,
and participated being. The distinction can hardly be stated in less tech-
nical terms.’
47
This is the language that has been used by Arabs, Latin
medieval cosmologists and philosophers, and to a large extent Ficino,
to describe the generative dynamics of the universe and the influences
of the celestial world on the world below.
Despite the mystical, Kabbalistic and exegetical mission of Pico, these
theories are adopted to describe the natural and celestial dimensions
from which the soul launches towards the divine. To perceive the place
of the Arabic theories of astral influences in Pico’s works, we need to
inspect the types of magic and astrology he engages with in his works.
The True Magic and Astrology of Pico della Mirandola
131
Magic
Pico goes to great textual lengths to distinguish licit from illicit magic.
In the Oration he writes: ‘I have also proposed some theses regarding
magic in which I have shown that there are two forms of magic: one is
based entirely on the deeds and powers of demons [demonum] (and is, in
truth, an execrable and monstrous thing); the other, when keenly exam-
ined, is nothing but the absolute perfection of natural philosophy.’ The
first is abhorred by religion, the second is ‘approved and embraced by all
wise men and by all peoples devoted to heavenly and divine things’ such
as al-Kindi, Roger Bacon and William of Auvergne.
48
This is maintained
in the Apology where natural magic is described as ‘the practical part
of natural science’ and ‘science of natural agents’;
49
the same medieval
authorities on the topic are cited and Albertus Magnus is referred to as
an example of those who practised natural magic.
50
So what is the theoretical foundation of this kind of legitimate magic?
Yates considers it to be the natural sympathetic and talismanic magic of
Ficino. She writes: ‘Pico means the establishing of the “links” between
earth and heaven by the right use of natural substances in accordance
with the principles of sympathetic magic [
. . . ] the use of talismans must
(or so I would think) be included in the methods by which Pico’s natural
Magus “unites” virtues in heaven with those on earth.’
51
For Yates this is
ascertained by Pico’s description of legitimate magic as marrying heaven
and earth, that is, establishing correspondences between the celestial
bodies and natural materials.
52
This interpretation was contested by
Farmer in his critical edition of the Conclusions. He accepts that early
modern natural magic centres around natural sympathies, but rejects
the claim that Pico’s natural magic is in any way astral like Ficino’s and
supports his view by noting that Ficino’s own Three Books on Life was
published after the Conclusions, Oration and Apology.
53
He also quotes a
passage from a miscellany where Pico writes:
Therefore let us not form images of stars in metals, but images of
him, that is, the Word of God, in our souls. Let us not seek from the
heavens goods of the body or fortune, which they will not give; but
from the Lord of heaven, the Lord of all goods, to whom is given
every power in heaven and on earth, let us seek both present goods –
insofar as they are good – and the true happiness of eternal life.
54
Farmer also insists that the absence of spiritus as a main agent in the
magic of Pico indicates that it cannot be Ficinian.
55
132
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
