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OCR
GERD VAN RIEL From this introduction, one may expect my reply to be in the negative. What I shall argue is, more precisely, that there is no Neoplatonic mysticism without a rational project, that Damascius’ “reversal of discourse” (mepttpomn t@v AOywv) is not a sceptical endeavour, and, most importantly, that the expression of ignorance or of the shortcoming of discourse presupposes the highest expression of rational analysis, before yielding to mystical experience. 1. THE TENSION BETWEEN PHILOSOPHY AND MYSTICISM We first need to tackle the question of how far the Neoplatonists went in embracing mysticism. There are two ways in which their views can be qualified as mystical. The first one, which is specific to late Neoplatonism, is their way of dealing with what they call “theurgy”, i.e. religious practice, rituals, and magic designed to unite with the gods and with the Highest Principle. The Chaldaean Oracles, written in the 2" c. AD by two Julians, father and son, served as the sacred text cited during those rituals. Syrianus was not too keen on them, but others, like Iamblichus and Proclus (a pupil of Syrianus’), took them very seriously. As Proclus testifies, philosophy and mystical theology are seen as complementary exercises. In his Platonic Theology, Proclus explains that “all of these doctrines [i.e. Greek theological traditions expressed in Plato’s dialogues] are in agreement with Plato’s first principles, and with the secret traditions of the theologians, for the entire Greek theology is the daughter of the mystagogy of Orpheus” (Proclus, Theologia Platonica [TP] 15, 25, 24-27). This theological tradition would then be handed over from Orpheus to Pythagoras, and from Pythagoras to Plato. That is to say, philosophy and the secret theologies (meaning mystic cults derived from Orphic texts, including the Chaldaean Oracles) serve the same purposes. Still, there is a difference in approach between these different texts. According to Proclus, a distinction must be made between texts that use an allusive language (61 évdei—~ewc) and texts that explain reality in an unveiled way (anapakaAürtwg). Each of the two has two further subdivisions, giving way to four types of theological speculation: the Orphic, which uses symbolic and mythical language, the Pythagorean, using images (St eikxövwv) and mathematics—those two are the allusive ones, while the unveiled ones are, on the one hand, the Chaldaean Oracles, which give a direct revelation of the divine truth in the celebration of the mysteries, and Plato, on the other, who presents a scientific (kar émorrjunv) account of the divine principles." 4 Proclus TP 14, 19, 23-20, 25. s 174 + Daréczi-Sepsi-Vassänyi_Initiation_155x240.indb 174 6 2020.06.15. 11:04:19
