The Wisdom of Hypatia: Ancient Spiritual Practices for a More Meaningful Life (50 page)

from time to time that you have chosen a new, philosophical way of life, which

then implies other changes in your attitudes and choices. The other steps of

Awakening—vigilance, discernment, and guarding the heart—are implicit in

the practices of the Garden and the Porch that focus on your moment-by-mo-

ment attitude and behavior in order to govern your lower soul. Explore your

successes and difficulties in your journal and with others on the path.

Hypatia continues her lesson. “The Ascent by Truth involves the Platonic virtues
.

But the
virtue
—or
excellence
—of anything refers to the ways in which that thing is authentically what it is, its authentic being. For example, the virtue of a knife is to be sharp and strong. Therefore, we understand the virtues differently at each level of ascent. For example, Porphyry defines four degrees of virtue, corresponding, from bot-

tom up, to the body, the animal soul, the human soul, and the nous, which is your

divine mind; Proclus adds a fifth degree, which corresponds to The One.272 The cor-

responding means of cognition are first, sensation; second, opinion and belief; third, discursive reason and contemplation; fourth, noetic (intuitive) intelligence; fifth, union and deification. In this way each of the four Cardinal Virtues or Excellences—wisdom, fortitude, self-control, justice—is reinterpreted at each level of ascent. I will discuss each degree of virtue as we come to it, but let’s begin with those associated with

Awakening.” (All the degrees are listed in a table at the end of this chapter.)

“Porphyry tells us that the goal of the first degree of virtue,
Practical Virtue
, is to moderate your feelings and to follow the guidance of reason in the responsibilities

and actions of your life.273 Therefore these virtues have both a personal aspect, regulating your behavior with respect to yourself, and a social aspect, regulating it with respect to other people. You learned this in the first two degrees of wisdom, which you must continue to practice. Naturally one cannot hope to become divine until one has

become a good human being. Write down these maxims:

242 the path of truth

One must first be persons, then be gods.274

The Practical Virtues make persons,

and the sciences lead to Divine Virtue

and make them gods.275

“The Practical Virtues focus on the sensible world, the body, and sensation; they

moderate the feelings and govern the irrational parts of the soul. In this way we conform our behavior to (rational) human nature, but many animals also exhibit these

excellences, for they learn to regulate their behavior individually and in relation to other animals.

“Since the practical virtues are appropriate both to the individual and to the

group, there are two sublevels, the Ethical Virtues and the Social Virtues. The first three Ethical Virtues govern the three parts of the lower soul: the irrational part, the will, and the appetites. The virtue of
prudence
or
practical wisdom
refers to the rational part’s government of the irrational part.
Fortitude
governs the will, restraining it or acting on it according to reason.
Self-control
or
moderation
refers to the regulation of the appetites according to reason.
Justice
consists in the harmony of all the soul’s faculties, so that each fulfills its proper function, either to command or to obey.276

“The Social Virtues make us kind in our dealings with each other, uniting us into

a community.277 At this level
practical wisdom
is sound judgment about what is good for society,
fortitude
is an appropriate attitude toward what should be feared or not,
moderation
refers to the relation between the government and citizens, and
justice
is defined as a harmonious relation among all the groups and individuals making up the

community, so that each receives what it is due according to reason.

“In summary, the active practices of Awakening are represented by the four dots

at the bottom of the Tetractys. They symbolize both the four practical virtues, name-ly practical wisdom, fortitude, moderation, and justice, and they symbolize the four rungs of active practice, that is, a change of mind, vigilance, discernment, and guarding the heart. Now let’s take a break”

Is your head is swimming with all these steps of awakening, “virtues,” and other terminology? Don’t despair! Certainly, you can succeed in the Ascent by Truth without memorizing all this esoterica. The bottom line is this: continue to practice what you have learned in the the path of truth 243

first two degrees of wisdom and stay awake with a changed mind, vigilance, discernment, and a pure heart, and you will be ready for the ascent.

Purification 1: The Purifying Virtues

The contemplative practice, the ascent proper, begins with Purification, which was also the first initiation in the ancient mysteries. As Hypatia will explain, there are three rungs in the practice of purification, which progressively develop your contemplative abilities.

After her students have settled into their chairs, Hypatia begins. “Purification is represented by the second level of the Tetractys, which has three dots. They correspond to ethics, logic, and physics, and to the three parts of the soul: the animate soul (which we share with other animals), the rational soul (which includes the faculties of language and discursive reason), and the noetic soul (which is the image of the Cosmic

Nous in each of us). Purification operates on each of these parts of the soul in order, and there are corresponding degrees of virtue, for Plotinus says,

Virtue demands preliminary purification.278

“The ascent commences with the
Purifying Virtues
by which you begin assimilation to The One. For it is said:

Just as the bleary, unclear eye cannot behold exceeding brightness,

so a feeble soul that’s weak in virtue

cannot look and gaze upon the Beauty of Truth.279

“Preliminary purification is necessary; remember:

It’s not lawful for impurity to touch the pure.280

“The Purifying Virtues begin the separation of your soul from your body and its

concerns. They are the first stage of philosophical ‘dying before you die’, because you intentionally separate your soul from your body by the power of the soul, whereas

death separates your body from your soul because of the death of your body. Death

to one’s old life is the first stage of initiation in the mysteries, also called Purification.

Therefore Plotinus says,

The object of virtue is to disentangle the soul from the body.281

244 the path of truth

“First your animal soul is purified by disengaging it from the concerns of the body, its feelings and concerns. Therefore the Purifying Virtues focus on your lower soul and your faculty of belief, which you share with many other animals. We reinterpret the

four cardinal virtues in this first rung of Purification to represent a soul that has purified itself from the concerns of the body. In brief,
practical wisdom
consists in not forming opinions according to your body and its sensations, but in accord with reason;
self-control
consists in not being disturbed by the state of your body or its feelings;
fortitude
consists in not fearing your soul’s separation from the body (as though it were to die); and
justice
is the subjection of the soul to the power of reason. The first two degrees of wisdom support these virtues.”

The Purifying Virtues:
The Purifying Virtues are supported by the practices and way of life you learned in the first two degrees of wisdom. In your journal or in

discussion with your teacher and other practitioners assess your progress in

the four Purifying Virtues.

Purification 2: Dialectics

“The second rung of Purification,” Hypatia continues, “is directed to the rational

soul with its power of discursive reason. Its principal practice is
dialectics
, which is a philosophical method central to Platonism; it’s illustrated by the Socratic method evident in the Plato’s dialogs. Dialectics is a practice in which two or more people use logical analysis to reveal the truth. As we do in our lessons, a teacher usually leads the pupils in an exploration of the realm of Forms, but philosophers can also explore it collaboratively, criticizing and testing each other’s discoveries.

“The practice of dialectics is a logical corrective to our tendency to fool ourselves or to be satisfied with inadequate proofs of what we are already inclined to believe.

That is, it is a means of greater objectivity in philosophical matters. It is motivated by desire for the Truth and aims at a Logos that transcends our individual opinions. This is especially important in spiritual investigations.

“In accord with the Triadic Principle—the threefold movement of Abiding, Pro-

ceeding, and Returning—dialectic explores the relation of Ideas three ways: in their own essence, in relation to their effects, and in relation to their causes. That is, it explores Ideas first as they abide in themselves, in their essence or Being. It also follows the path of truth 245

Ideas as logical causes, proceeding outward to their consequences. Finally, it investigates Ideas by looking backward toward their premises or causes, ascending ever

higher in the Chain of Being toward the First Cause, The One. This may be difficult, but Plato reminds us:

The way upward and downward,

through all its stages,

produces knowledge through effort and toil.282

“Mathematics is the most familiar example of the dialectical process, exploring

the realm of Forms through this upward and downward process. For example, math-

ematics may begin with well-known Ideas, such as numbers, magnitudes, and geo-

metrical figures, such as circles and triangles. It works downward, investigating the consequences of these ideas, deriving and proving theorems about arithmetic and

geometry (such as formulas for area). It also works upward, striving to discover the definitions and postulates that give numbers and shapes their properties and that explain them. When this process is carried out methodically and when mathematicians

collaborate, checking, criticizing, and improving each other’s work, then the structure of mathematical ideas can be discovered and expressed precisely in words, symbols,

and diagrams. (Traditional Euclidean geometry remains an outstanding example of a

result of dialectics.) This is why over the entry to Plato’s Academy was posted, ‘Let no non-geometer enter’. But mathematics is just training for applying dialectics in the spiritual realm.

“I despair of ever learning mathematics,” says Theotecnus, who has a snowy white

mane and beard. “Am I unworthy to be a Platonist?”

“Most certainly not, father,” Hypatia says kindly. “Mathematics is a useful stepstool for the ascent, but it’s not necessary. Even for this purpose, it is sufficient to appreciate the eternal, immaterial nature of mathematical objects, in which they are like the Ideas. But I know from our personal conversations that you have already a deep