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INITIATION INTO MYSTERIES IN PIco’s WORKS for if we will to, we can. Let us spurn earthly things; let us struggle toward the heavenly. Let us put in last place whatever is of the world; and let us fly beyond the chambers of the world to the chamber nearest the most lofty divinity.”"? Pico refers here, by word, to the mysteries that can show us what kinds of beings are near the divinity: “There, as the sacred mysteries reveal, the seraphim, cherubim and thrones occupy the first places.”* Our aim has to be to reach the same position: “Ignorant of how to yield to them [...] let us compete with the angels in dignity and glory.”* In Pico’s opinion, success is guaranteed if we really want it: “When we have willed it, we shall not be at all below them."" His next question is, what method should we choose? What should we do to reach this place? He suggests that we have to see what they are doing, what kinds of lives they are living, and we have to do so in order that we may then be equal with them. The source of the following description about the angels’ features has to be Pseudo-Dionysius’ Celestial Hierarchy, and Pico subsequently quotes Pseudo-Dionysius by name”: “The seraph burns with the fire of charity; the cherub shines with the radiance of intelligence; the throne stands in steadfastness of judgement.”® Translating these tasks or conditions into human possibilities, he says that, just as there are three different types of angels, so we have three choices too: one is the active life, taking care of other beings below us and thereby showing the steadfastness and justice of the thrones. Another is contemplation for those who are tired from having led an active life. Through their meditation, they will be able to see the creator in the creation and the creation in the creator, and thus they will radiate with cherubic light. The third is charity: “If we burn with love for the Creator only, his consuming fire will quickly transform us into the flaming likeness of the Seraphim.”!? Pico does not explain this in detail, but presumably loving the Creator also includes loving the creation for the same reason that the contemplator will see the creator in the creation and vice versa: because, at a lower level, the cherubim (that is the contemplator), whose characteristic is radiance, have the capacity and the knowledge of seeing the creator and the creation in each other as though they were one, which is the sign of being enlightened. Book IV of Ficino’s 13 Pico Della Mirandola, On the Dignity of Man, 7. Translation by Wallis, Miller and Carmichael. 14 Ibidem. 55 Ibidem. 16 Ibidem. Like Ficino, Pico did not discuss the authenticity of the authorship, so he quoted the author by the name of Dionysius the Areopagite. See below. 15 Ibidem. Caponigri’s translation. In Latin: “Si ab actionibus feriati, in opificio opificem, in opifice opificium mediantes, in contemplandi otio negotiabimur, luce cherubica undique corruscabimus. Si caritate ipsum opificem solum ardebimus, illius igne, qui edax est, in saraphicam effigiem repente flammabimur.” Pico Della Mirandola, De hominis dignitate, 110. + 201 ¢ Daréczi-Sepsi-Vassänyi_Initiation_155x240.indb 201 6 2020.06.15. 11:04:20
