Page 215 [215]
Is THE MYSTICISM OF GIORDANO BRUNO A FORM OF INITIATION
As far as point 5 is concerned, it is possible to state that Bruno, according
to the speculative conception of mysticism, does not provide for a sequence
of actions which humans must perform in order to establish and cross
the threshold separating the two states of being involved in initiation.
In the mysticism of Bruno, as in other related authors, the only action
required is the inner deed of detachment, involving intellect and will and
directing them towards divinity.
Regarding point 6, mysticism is a radical reformation of the human soul.
The human who attains a divine condition (i.e. the eroico furore) does not
commit suicide. He or she brings to accomplishment a full reform of his or
her soul, a rectification of his or her inner self. Such people do not annihilate
their bodies but they work to realize a special connection in which the body
becomes the vehicle of the soul.
In this context, it can be advantageous to refer to the concept of contractio,
which Bruno uses in its mystical meaning to indicate a sort of introflection,®
leading to the contraction of the Absolute in a human being, allowing
humankind to establish rationally the divine part within us and allows us
to direct our love toward divinity.? The term contractio is conspicuously
present in the dialogues De gli eroici furori, where it is related to the mystical
deed, to the furioso’s turning into God: “because [the intellectual species]
contracts the divinity in itself, by being in God in as much as it is driven by
the purpose of penetrating the divinity (as far as is possible) and by being
God in itself, as far as, after penetrating it, it conceives the divinity and (as far
as is possible) it receives and comprehends the divinity in its concept".
And “if they strive for the high splendour, they retreat to unity as far as it is
See F. Tocco, Le opere latine di Giordano Bruno esposte e confrontate con le italiane, Firenze,
Le Monnier, 1889, 77: “man can reach the superior degree of intellectual life solely by means
of concentrations or auto-retreat. Bruno calls such a concentration contractio” (“al grado
superiore della vita intellettiva non si arriva se non per via di concentrazioni 0 ripiegamenti
su di sé. Questa concentrazione del Bruno é chiamata contractio”).
On the concept of contraction in Bruno, see F. Papi, Antropologia e civilta nel pensiero di
Giordano Bruno, Napoli, Liguori, 2006 (original edition: 1968), 115-119, 163; S. Mancini, La
sfera infinita. Identita e differenza nel pensiero di Giordano Bruno, Milano, Mimesis, 2000,
67-68; L. Catana, The Concept of Contraction in Giordano Bruno’s Philosophy, Aldershot,
Ashgate, 2005. See also A. Ingegno, La sommersa nave della religione. Studio sulla polemica
anticristiana del Bruno, Napoli, Bibliopolis, 1985, 89-93; Idem, Regia pazzia. Bruno lettore
di Calvino, Urbino, Quattro Venti, 1987, 133-143; L. Spruit, IJ problema della conoscenza in
Giordano Bruno, Napoli, Bibliopolis, 1988, 147-149.
“Perché contrae la divinita in sé essendo ella in Dio per la intenzione con cui penetra nella
divinita (per quanto si pud), et essendo Dio in ella, per quanto dopo aver penetrato viene a
conciperla e (per quanto si pud) a ricettarla e comprenderla nel suo concetto”: Furori, I, 3,
564-565.
+ 213 ¢
Daréczi-Sepsi-Vassänyi_Initiation_155x240.indb 213 6 2020.06.15. 11:04:21