The Wisdom of Hypatia: Ancient Spiritual Practices for a More Meaningful Life (2 page)

With it you can contact the deepest wellsprings of life’s meaning, whether you think of this source as God, the gods, or psychological archetypes. It is not an Eastern practice, such as Buddhism, Yoga, or Daoism; nor is it one of the well-known Western religions: Judaism, Christianity, or Islam. It does have some interesting similarities to Eastern thought, however, and it flows like a subterranean river from ancient Paganism through the heart of Western religions, but it is a philosophy of life and a system of spiritual growth independent of them all. Its sources are deep in prehistory, but its practice has been documented for nearly 2600 years. Though ancient, it is not primitive; indeed it is more compatible with contemporary understanding of nature and human nature than many younger systems of

spiritual practice.

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4 introduction

Enough suspense. I will follow custom and call this tradition “Platonism,” but this familiar term is misleading, first, because it often suggests an intellectual system rather than a spiritual practice and, second, because the tradition predates Plato, stretching back to Pythagoras (sixth century BCE) and before him to the semi-mythical Orpheus and the

Persian Magi. Furthermore, it has not been stagnant since Plato’s time. Like any living tradition it has evolved over the centuries, but its core practices are still valuable because they are based on an understanding of the essence of human and divine nature, and that essence has not changed for many thousands of years.

In this book you will learn the way of life and spiritual practices taught by the most famous female philosopher of antiquity: Hypatia, a Pagan spiritual teacher who died nearly 1600 years ago. I’ve picked her because she taught in ancient the Egyptian city of Alexandria, where she had Pagan, Jewish, and Christian students (Islam did not yet exist), which shows that her philosophy is compatible with many religions (and indeed with agnostic views). Although she taught more than sixteen centuries ago, her ideas and practices are even more valuable in our world than in hers. She also stands out as a woman in an otherwise male-dominated history of philosophy and religion, and so she is a better model for our time.

Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living, and Epicurus said that a philosopher’s words of are empty if they don’t cure any human ills. In my own life I have studied many systems of thought and spiritual practice, Eastern as well as Western, and I have found much of value in them. Over the years I have learned, however, that this tradition of spiritual practice and understanding that lives hidden in the heart of Western culture can help us to live meaningful lives with joy, tranquility, and spiritual well-being today. As I continue to study, learn, and practice, my appreciation only deepens.

As you work through the exercises in this book you will learn this system of spiritual development through three stages of progressively deeper understanding and practice, which I call “three degrees of wisdom.”

Three Degrees of Wisdom

You are embarking on a new way of life, but it is neither wise nor practical to make sudden far-reaching changes in your life; in fact, most people will give up. You shouldn’t enter the Ironman Triathlon without doing some training and before succeeding in less demanding competitions! It is the same with spiritual development, which involves a change in atti-introduction 5

tude as well as behavior. Our goal is wisdom, and the wise path is to become proficient at one level of practice before attempting the next.

The ancient Greek word
therapeia
, from which we get “therapy,” means both
cure
and
care
. In this sense, ancient philosophy was
therapeia
—both cure and care—for the soul. Like many cures, philosophy must proceed in stages, starting with your current condition and proceeding through successive phases until the cure is successful. But philosophy is also care of the soul—a tending to its health, like regular exercise—which should be appropriate to maintain and to advance your level of spiritual progress. Indeed our goal is loftier than cure and care of the soul; it is the soul’s
spiritual transformation
.

Fortunately there is a natural progression of spiritual attainment in the three most important philosophical schools of the Hellenistic Age (the period following the breakup of Alexander the Great’s empire after his death in 323 BCE). The first degree is represented by Epicureanism, which despite the modern connotation of the word, seeks tranquility through moderating the desires. The second degree is Stoicism, which seeks freedom and serenity through detachment from the things outside our control, and the third is Platonism, which is the foundation of Hypatia’s philosophy. In ancient Athens, where these philosophies originated, Epicureanism was taught in the enclosed Garden of Epicurus

outside the city walls, Stoicism was taught on the painted Porch (
stoa
in Greek) in the Athenian agora (market and meeting place), and Platonism was taught in the Akademia, a sacred olive
grove outside the city, which was a walled sanctuary dedicated to Athena, the goddess of wisdom. The Garden, the Porch, and the Grove thus symbolize three degrees of spiritual attainment, the
Three Degrees of Wisdom
.

In ancient times, when people wanted a deeper spiritual experience than the popular

religions could provide, they were initiated into one or more of the mystery religions, such as the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Dionysian or Bacchic Mysteries, and Orphism. As you will learn later, initiation proceeded through three degrees,
purification
,
illumination
, and
revelation
, in which the initiate had direct experience of the gods. These stages correspond to the three degrees of wisdom through which you will pass as you practice the exercises in this book.

Much has been made of the secrets revealed only to the highest initiates, but the real secret is that for the unprepared—the unpurified and unilluminated—the hidden truths are meaningless and sometimes dangerous. The Mysteries guard themselves; human secrecy

is not required. Practice is the key that unlocks the Mysteries.

6 introduction

A Nine-month Program

To help you through this system of spiritual development, I have designed a nine-month program, which is reasonable for most people, but does not need to be followed rigidly.

Depending on your prior spiritual practice and the time available, you may be able to do it more quickly or you may need more time. Keep in mind, first, that philosophy is a way of life, not an accomplishment, and so the goal is to integrate these spiritual practices into your life, not to try them once or twice and move on. Second, they are called spiritual
practices
because they must be
practiced
! This means, first of all, that it is not enough to read about them; you have to do them. You can’t learn to swim by reading about it or by watching other people swim; you have to get in the water! Second, they must be practiced
regularly
, otherwise you won’t acquire and retain your skill in the practice, and it won’t have its transformative effect. Think again of health. It won’t do you much good just to read about healthy eating, or to eat one or two healthy meals; it has to become part of your life. So also with these spiritual practices.

Everyone wants to get right to the good stuff, the advanced spiritual techniques that put us in contact with divinity, but all authentic spiritual traditions agree that it’s best to do things in order. Ancient Platonists said:

According to the Rules of Order,

little things must precede the greater,

if we would make the ascent.1

If you attempt the Ironman without proper training … well, the results might not be

pretty. In our culture of instant gratification, this is a hard pill for many to swallow. True philosophers—spiritual adepts—have more discipline. (There is no harm, however, in reading this book through so that you see your destination. But don’t fool yourself into thinking that you have learned the practices. Go back and do them diligently.)

As you will see, each of the degrees of wisdom provides a foundation on which the

next degree rests. The effects, the transformations, build incrementally, but that doesn’t mean that you can forget earlier practices after you have moved on to more advanced

ones. Often you will find it is worthwhile to go back to the lower degrees, just as the piano student who has advanced from practicing scales to playing complex etudes finds it worthwhile, from time to time, to refresh their scales.

introduction 7

So let’s begin. The next chapter will give you a brief overview of the spiritual practices common to all the ancient philosophies and will get you started on your spiritual transformation. The following chapter is a summary of the history of the Platonic tradition, from a thousand years before Hypatia up to the present day.

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10

11

8

7

9

III

5

6

II

4

Degrees of

Wisdom

I

The Nine-month Program

Next you will begin a nine-month program of spiritual growth (see the figure). Chap-

ter 4 is devoted to the first degree of wisdom, which teaches Epicurean spiritual practices as a way of living with greater tranquility. The following three chapters (5, 6, 7) teach the second degree (Stoic philosophy), where you will learn three disciplines to help you face with equanimity the challenges and opportunities of a socially and politically engaged life.

The final five chapters are devoted to the third degree of wisdom, the Platonism of Hypatia. The first two (8 Macrocosm, 9 Microcosm) help you to understand the Platonic view of reality. The remainder (10, 11, 12) teach three different ways of ascent to the divine.

But first, let’s learn a little more about Hypatia, her world, and its similarity to our own.

8 introduction

Hypatia, the Most Holy

and Revered Philosopher2

You may wonder why I have chosen Hypatia as our guide on this path of spiritual development. She was the most important teacher of philosophy in Alexandria at the end of the fourth century of the Common Era. Students from all over the ancient world, from Rome and Constantinople, from Cyrene and Syria, journeyed to study with her. Many

attended her public lectures, but a few were privileged to become her private students, to whom she taught a spiritual practice directed toward personal contact with divinity. She was a confidant and adviser to public officials, some of whom had been her students. The intellectual life of Alexandria, a very cosmopolitan city, revolved around Hypatia. Yet she came to a terrible end.

Ancient authors said that Hypatia was modest, just, considerate, and wise. Her stu-

dents went further, calling her “the most holy and revered philosopher,” “the blessed lady,”

and “divine guide”; they spoke also of her “divine spirit” and “oracular utterances.” She never married. Her attitude seems to have been aristocratic, perhaps aloof, steeped in the excellences of Greek culture, but she wore the coarse white woolen cloak that was the traditional insignia of philosophers. Yet she was at home in the highest social circles of Alexandria.

Hypatia was a mathematician and scientist as well as a philosopher, and she assisted her father Theon in his projects editing and commenting on the work of famous astronomers and mathematicians. She probably learned her science and philosophy from her father, an important scientist and mathematician, for there is no mention of other teachers or of her traveling outside Alexandria to study.

Theon was a member of the Museion, perhaps its head. The Alexandrian Museion

(often misleadingly translated “Museum”) had been established about 300 BCE, and by the time of Theon and Hypatia it had been in operation for 700 years. The term “Museion”

refers to a temple or sanctuary for the Muses, the divine patrons of creative activities, including the arts, but also astronomy and mathematics. The head of the Museion was a Pagan priest.

The Museion was more like a research university than a museum. It had facilities to

support the resident scholars, such as Theon, who were paid by the emperor. These included a communal dining-hall, a tree-lined walkway, and small meeting areas with seats arranged in an arc to facilitate collaboration, discussion, and presentation to small groups.

There was also the famous Alexandrian Library, which may have been part of the Museion introduction 9

or near by it. At its height, it was reported to house 700,000 volumes, including all the greatest work available to the Roman Empire (and no doubt lots of mediocre stuff too!).

This would have been the primary resource for the Museion scholars.

Theon is the last Museion scholar known to us, and it may have ceased to exist in the early 390s, a victim perhaps of the religious and civil strife in Alexandria at that time.

Hypatia’s name is never connected with the Museion, and so we suppose that she taught elsewhere, in public lecture halls and her home.

Although she was a Pagan at a time when the Empire was officially Christian, and

Pagans were increasingly persecuted, her students included Christians who later became important religious and civil leaders. In spite of her religion she was welcome in the highest circles of Alexandrian society and government. The reason seems to be that her true allegiance was to her philosophy, which was mostly compatible with the beliefs of the Pagans, Jews, and Christians who were her students. She does not seem to have involved herself in the escalating violence among these three groups.

Nevertheless Hypatia was drawn into these civil conflicts, for she was an adviser to Orestes, the Prefect (Governor) of Alexandria. Although he was a Christian, he came into increasing conflict with Cyril (later, Saint Cyril), the Christian Patriarch of Alexandria, who was very ambitious. He was installed as bishop in 412 after three days of fighting between his supporters and those of a rival candidate (the one favored by Orestes). To some extent the conflict of Orestes and Cyril was between civil and religious authority, but it also pit-ted the wealthy upper classes, allied with Orestes, against the poor lower classes, which followed Cyril. These conflicts came to a head in 415.