Jeffrey S. Kupperman - Living Theurgy: A Course in Iamblichus’ Philosophy, Theology and Theurgy

This book is about a way of life. This wayis founded on the principles of something called Neoplatonism. The worddescribes a number of schools of Platonic thought, beginning with the EgyptianPlatonist Plotinus . The word Neoplatonism is neverused by the Platonists who develop the philosophies and theologies now describedas such. Until the 18th century these philosophers are simply known asPlatonists, which is how they think of themselves. The Neoplatonists, or latePlatonists, do not see their interpretations of Plato and Aristotle as new. To them, Neoplatonismis simply Platonism, six centuries after Plato.

That Platonism changes during this time isnot surprising and, given the mythology surrounding Socrates and Plato , neither are the ways in which ithas done so. There are, of course, innovations. There is likely as much newthought in Neoplatonism as there are traditional Platonic ideas. This does notchange the fact that through the Renaissance, a person reading Plotinus assumes he is simply a non-political, and possibly somewhat moreaccessible, version of Plato.

The Neoplatonists make good use of thePlatonic corpus. They also draw on elements outside of Platonism. The first ofthese is the works of Aristotle . Typically, Aristotle is seen as an enemy of Platonism, stressingempiricism over pure reason. The Neoplatonists, beginning with Plotinus and exemplified by Iamblichus , see Aristotle differently. Yes, they criticize him when theybelieve he is wrong, but they also incorporate some of his ideas andterminology into their philosophies.

All this gives rise to heavily synthetic,mystical, religious, and esoteric forms of Platonism. The importance of theurgyin the lives of the late Platonists cannot be undervalued. Philosophy ispurifying, religion illuminating, but theurgy is uplifting. Together theseobservances enable the practitioner to rise above their mortal life toparticipate in immortal life. For Iamblichus and Proclus and Ficino , it is inappropriate to consider them simply philosophers or simplytheurgists. These two elements are so interwoven as to lose distinction. Oneelement can no more be removed from the other while keeping either intact thana person can survive without their heart or a heart can survive without itsperson. This is living theurgy.

The theurgic practices of Neoplatonism area kind of ritual mysticism not quite what we normally think about when we thinkabout mysticism. It is not a series of peak experiences upon which we focusfor the totality of our spirituality. It is not, as Professor E. R. Dodds once said of the famous theurgic text De Mysteriis , a manifesto of irrationalism. Instead, theurgy is a way of life fully complementary to philosophy andreligion.

On Words and Ideas

There are a number of ideas basic toPlatonic thought. Some of them are discussed in depth in the pages of thisbook. Some are not. Two such basic concepts are discursive reasoning and thedialectic. Discursive reasoning, dianoia, is the primary wayPlatonists engage in non-intuitive thought. And not just Platonists, this ishow humans think. Discursive reasoning engages in the comparison of things tobetter understand them and achieve knowledge. Such knowledge is as objective aspossible, based on the faculties of reason and intellect, but is still,ultimately, subjective. This is because in discursive reasoning there is alwaysa difference between the object of thought and the thinker. I do not ultimatelyknow the subject of my enquiry; I only know what I think about it. Such adistinction is obliterated in intuitive knowledge,