DOCSLIB.ORG

The Ocean of Theosophy Is a Classic of Theosophical Literature

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Ocean of Theosophy Is a Classic of Theosophical Literature PHILOSOPHY/THEOSOPHY T Mr. Judge’s The Ocean of Theosophy is a classic of theosophical literature. Written in 1893 as a text to explain the broad themes treated in H.P. Blavatsky’s HE two-volume magnum opus, The Secret Doctrine, it has long been regarded by students of the Wisdom Religion as one of the most valuable “keys” to understanding the latter work. O Robert Crosbie described the import of this volume in the following CEAN OF THE OCEAN OF manner: “As the Author’s Preface shows, the book was written in such a manner as to be understood by the ordinary reader; the simplicity of the terms used, however, should not mislead the reader into thinking that the work is an elementary one, for behind and within every statement THEOSOPHY there is a depth of meaning that the careless and superficial fail to perceive. It is really a simplified text-book of the fundamental teachings of Theosophy, and is found by students of the “Secret Doctrine” to be a true abridgment of that great work and a wonderful aid in its T comprehension; it was written with that end in view by the only one HEOSOPHY competent to do so and is there fore earnestly recommended to every student of Theosophy.” Students of every variety will gain enormous benefit from the study of both works conjointly. Mr. Judge’s Ocean provides a high-level overview - the schematic, if you will - of the subject matter treated in great detail in the Secret Doctrine, and is so very useful in keeping in mind the scope of that work. As Mr. Crosbie further remarked: “The passage of years has served to show, not only the value of this little book, but the status of Mr. Judge as a Teacher. Everything he has written bears impress of his deep knowledge to every real student of Theosophy. Even the ordinary reader cannot fail to perceive that only “One Who Knows” could have so applied Theosophy to the B Y circumstances and conditions of every-day human existence. W. Q. J The earnest student will do well to study conjointly the writings of H. P. Blavatsky and Wm. Q. Judge; from them he will learn Theosophy pure and simple; will recognize the community of knowledge and complete accord that existed between them and will more fully appreciate the mission and nature of those two Personages.” UDGE from the Introduction BY Theosophy Trust T WILLIAM Q. JUDGE T T T Books www.theosophytrust.org THE OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY Other Theosophy Trust Books Theosophy ~ The Wisdom Religion Compiled by The Editorial Board of Theosophy Trust Books by Raghavan Iyer Mahatma Gandhi and Buddhaʹs Path to Enlightenment The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Meditation and Self‐Study Essays on the Spiritual Life Wisdom in Action Essays on the Spiritual Life The Dawning of Wisdom Essays on Walking the Path Books by H.P. Blavatsky The Voice of the Silence The Origins of Self‐Consciousness in The Secret Doctrine The Key to Theosophy An Exposition of the Ethics, Science, and Philosophy Evolution and Intelligent Design in The Secret Doctrine Other Authors Teachers of the Eternal Doctrine From Tsong‐Ka‐Pa to Nostradamus by Elton Hall Symbols of the Eternal Doctrine From Shamballa to Paradise by Helen Valborg THE OCEAN OF THEOSOPHY BY WILLIAM Q. JUDGE THEOSOPHY TRUST BOOKS NORFOLK, VA The Ocean of Theosophy Copyright © June 21, 2015 by Theosophy Trust All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means ‐ graphic, electronic, or mechanical ‐ including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Theosophy Trust books may be ordered through Amazon.com, CreateSpace.com, and other retail outlets, or by visiting: http://www.Theosophytrust.org/online_books.php ISBN‐13: 978‐0‐9916182‐5‐5 ISBN‐10: 0991618254 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015942961 Printed in the United States of America Dedicated to all those who seek to unite their minds with Sanatana Dharma – the Eternal Religion. The central tenets of Theosophia are not derived from any ancient or modern sect but represent the accumulated wisdom of the ages, the unrecorded inheritance of humanity. Its vast scheme of cosmic and human evolution furnishes all true seekers with the symbolic alphabet necessary to interpret their recurrent visions as well as the universal framework and metaphysical vocabulary, drawn from many mystics and seers, which enable them to communicate their own intuitive perceptions. All authentic mystical writings are enriched by the alchemical flavour of Theosophical thought. Theosophy is an integrated system of fundamental verities taught by Initiates and Adepts across millennia. It is the Philosophia Perennis, the philosophy of human perfectibility, the science of spirituality and the religion of responsibility. It is the primeval fount of myriad religious systems as well as the hidden essence and esoteric wisdom of each. Man, an immortal monad, has been able to preserve this sacred heritage through the sacrificial efforts of enlightened and compassionate individuals, or Bodhisattvas, who constitute an ancient Brotherhood. They quietly assist in the ethical evolution and spiritual development of the whole of humanity. Theosophia is Divine Wisdom, transmitted and verified over aeons by the sages who belong to this secret Brotherhood. Spritual Evolution Hermes, August 1979 Raghavan Iyer Table of Contents INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... i CHAPTER I: THEOSOPHY AND THE MASTERS ............................ 1 Theosophy generally defined. The existence of highly developed men in the Universe. These men are the Mahatmas, Initiates, Brothers, Adepts. How they work and why they remain now concealed. Their Lodge. They are perfected men from other periods of evolution. They have had various names in history. Apollonius, Moses, Solomon, and others were members of this fraternity. They had one single doctrine. They are possible because man may at last be as they are. They keep the true doctrine and cause it to reappear at the right time. CHAPTER II: GENERAL PRINCIPLES .............................................. 13 A view of the general laws governing the Cosmos. The sevenfold division in the system. Real Matter not visible and this always known to the Lodge. Mind the intelligent portion of the Cosmos. In the universal Mind the sevenfold plan of the Cosmos is contained. Evolution proceeds upon the plan in the universal Mind. Periods of Evolution come to an end; this is the Night of Brahma. The Mosaic account of Cosmogenesis has dwarfed modern conceptions. The Jews had merely one part of the doctrine taken from the ancient Egyptians. The doctrine accords with the inner meaning of Genesis. The general length of periods of Evolution. Same doctrine as Herbert Spencerʹs. The old Hindu chronology gives the details. The story of Solomonʹs Temple is that of the evolution of man. The doctrine far older than the Christian one. The real age of the world. Man is over 18,000,000 years old. Evolution is accomplished solely by the Egos within that at last become the users of human forms. Each of the seven principles of man is derived from one of the seven great divisions of the Universe. CHAPTER III: THE EARTH CHAIN .................................................. 21 The doctrine respecting the Earth. It is sevenfold also. It is one of a chain of seven corresponding to man. The whole seven are not in a chain separated as to members, but they interpenetrate each other. The Earth chain is the reincarnation of a former old and now dead chain. This old chain was one of which our moon is the visible representative. Moon now dead and contracting. Venus, Mars, etc., are living members of other similar chains to ours. A mass of Egos for each chain. The number, though incalculable, is definite. Their course of evolution through the seven globes. In each a certain part of our nature is developed. At the fourth globe the process of condensation is begun and reaches its limit. CHAPTER IV: SEPTENARY CONSTITUTION OF MAN ............... 27 The constitution of man. How the doctrine differs from the ordinary Christian one. The real doctrine known in the first centuries of this era, but purposely withdrawn from a nation not able to bear it. The danger if the doctrine had not been withdrawn. The sevenfold division. The principles classified. The divisions agree with the chain of seven globes. The lower man is a composite being. His higher trinity. The lower four principles transitory and perishable. Death leaves the trinity as the only persistent part of us. What the physical man is, and what the other unseen mortal man is. A second physical man not seen but still mortal. The senses pertain to the unseen man and not to the visible one. CHAPTER V: BODY AND ASTRAL BODY ...................................... 33 The body and life principle. The mystery of life. Sleep and death are due to excess of life not bearable by the organism. The body an illusion. What is the cell. Life is universal. It is not the result of the organism. The Astral Body. What it is made of. Its powers and functions. As a model for the body. It is possessed by all kingdoms of nature. Its power to travel. The real sense organs are in the astral body. The place the astral body has at spiritualistic seances. The astral body accounts for telepathy, clairvoyance, clairaudience, and all such psychical phenomena. CHAPTER VI: KAMA – DESIRE ......................................................... 42 The fourth principle. Kama rupa. In English, the Passions and Desires. Kama rupa is not produced by the body but is the cause for body. This is the balance principle of the seven. It is the basis of action and mover of the will.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • CRATYLUS by Plato Translated by Benjamin Jowett the Project Gutenberg Ebook of Cratylus, by Plato
    CRATYLUS By Plato Translated by Benjamin Jowett The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cratylus, by Plato INTRODUCTION. The Cratylus has always been a source of perplexity to the student of Plato. While in fancy and humour, and perfection of style and metaphysical originality, this dialogue may be ranked with the best of the Platonic writings, there has been an uncertainty about the motive of the piece, which interpreters have hitherto not succeeded in dispelling. We need not suppose that Plato used words in order to conceal his thoughts, or that he would have been unintelligible to an educated contemporary. In the Phaedrus and Euthydemus we also find a difficulty in determining the precise aim of the author. Plato wrote satires in the form of dialogues, and his meaning, like that of other satirical writers, has often slept in the ear of posterity. Two causes may be assigned for this obscurity: 1st, the subtlety and allusiveness of this species of composition; 2nd, the difficulty of reproducing a state of life and literature which has passed away. A satire is unmeaning unless we can place ourselves back among the persons and thoughts of the age in which it was written. Had the treatise of Antisthenes upon words, or the speculations of Cratylus, or some other Heracleitean of the fourth century B.C., on the nature of language been preserved to us; or if we had lived at the time, and been 'rich enough to attend the fifty-drachma course of Prodicus,' we should have understood Plato better, and many points which are now attributed to the extravagance of Socrates' humour would have been found, like the allusions of Aristophanes in the Clouds, to have gone home to the sophists and grammarians of the day.
    [Show full text]
  • Thyrion Plato De Magistro
    Plato De Magistro Stacie Lynne Thyrion Fond du Lac, Wisconsin Bachelor of Arts in Greek, University of Minnesota, 2007 Master of Arts in Philosophy, University of Virginia, 2012 A Dissertation presented to the Graduate Faculty of the University of Virginia in Candidacy for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy University of Virginia May, 2018 CONTENTS Introduction: The Student Paradox 5 Chapter 1: Poet as Teacher 25 Chapter 2: Rhetorician and Text and Teacher 58 Chapter 3: Language as Teacher 89 Chapter 4: Sophist as Teacher 118 Bibliography 154 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a deep debt of gratitude to both advisors who oversaw this project. Dan Devereux saw it through to the end with me, gave me his ceaseless, caring support, and offered a critical eye that never failed to make my work stronger and more careful. Dominic Scott was there at the inception of most of these chapters, thinking with me and encouraging me to pursue my ideas in a way that was exceptionally rewarding. I will always feel immense gratitude and affection for them both. I want to thank the many other members of my philosophy community that helped and encouraged this project. My dissertation committee, for their time, hard work, and care: Ian McCready-Flora, Brie Gertler, Antonia LoLordo, and Jenny Strauss Clay. The close friends who supported me and helped me grow through years of effort, not least of all Derek Lam and Nick Rimell. And the many others at the University of Virginia who have given me the happiest intellectual years of my life.
    [Show full text]
  • Plato's Epistemology
    Plato’s Epistemology: a Coherent Account in Meno , Phaedo and Theaetetus Chuanjie Sheng Submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Leeds Department of Classics August 2015 II The candidate confirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where reference has been made to the work of others. This copy has been supplied on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. © 2015 The University of Leeds and Chuanjie Sheng The right of Chuanjie Sheng to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. III Acknowledgements I appreciate all the persons that helped me to complete this thesis. I would like to express my greatest gratitude to my supervisors, Dr. Elizabeth E. Pender and Professor Malcolm F. Heath. As an enlightened teacher, Dr. Pender has offered me valuable comments and suggestions for my dissertation. Working with her is a stimulating intellectual experience. She patiently suggested on the structure of my thesis and corrected all the chapters line by line. As a wonderful friend, she brings happiness, pleasure and fruitful experience into my life in Leeds. Professor Heath has read all the chapters of my thesis and has given me feedbacks on each of the chapters. During the supervisions, he has given me valuable academic advice and comments, which has saved me from a large number of mistakes and errors in this dissertation.
    [Show full text]
  • Dogma Et Rituel De La Haute Magie
    Eliphas Levi Dogma et Rituel de la Haute Magie Translated by A. E. Waite www.holybooks.com Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie Part II: The Ritual of Transcendental Magic By Eliphas Levi (Alphonse Louis Constant) Translated by A. E. Waite. Originally published by Rider & Company, England, 1896. Transcribed and converted to Adobe Acrobat format by Benjamin Rowe, January, 2002. Typeset in Bauer Bodoni, Goudy Text, and Waters Titling. www.holybooks.com Part II: The Ritual of Transcendental Magic www.holybooks.com The Sabbatic Goat www.holybooks.com INTRODUCTION KNOWEST thou that old queen of the world who is on the march always and wea- ries never? Every uncurbed passion, every selfish pleasure, every licentious energy of humanity, and all its tyrannous weakness, go before the sordid mistress of our tearful valley, and, scythe in hand, these indefatigable labourers reap their eternal harvest. That queen is old as time, but her skeleton is concealed in the wreckage of women's beauty, which she abstracts from their youth and love. Her skull is adorned with lifeless tresses that are not her own. Spoliator of crowned heads, she is embellished with the plunder of queens, from the star-begemmed hair of Berenice to that-white, but not with age-which the executioner sheared from the brow of Marie Antoinette. Her livid and frozen body is clothed in faded garments and tattered winding-sheets. Her bony hands, covered with rings, hold diadems and chains, scepters and crossbones, jewels and ashes. When she goes by, doors open of themselves; she passes through walls; she penetrates to the cabinets of kings; she surprises the extortioners of the poor in their most secret orgies; she sits down at their board, pours out their wine, grins at their songs with her gumless teeth, takes the place of the lecherous courtesan hidden behind their curtains.
    [Show full text]
  • Plato and True Names the Foundations of General Schemas Theory
    Plato and True Names -- Kent Palmer dimensions but their dual. In effect it is the Plato and True Names Pascal simplicies that generate dimensionality by generating the minimal solid of each dimension. If we look at the second table The Foundations of concerning the chiasms or reversibilities then we see that at the first meta-level there is the General Schemas Theory schemas which are the dual of the dimensions generated from the minimal solids at each level Kent D. Palmer, Ph.D. of the pascal triangle. But when we go to the P.O. Box 1632 second meta-level we see that there is Orange CA 92856 USA causality, and we can see that in the unfolding 714-633-9508 of the Pascal Simplicies as well because each [email protected] line by addition produces the next line by a rule. And when we go to the third meta-level we see there the bits which are the physical Copyright 2004 K.D. Palmer. All Rights Reserved. Not for distribution. basis for the coding, and it turns out that the Started 04.08.12; Version 0.8; 04.08.16; gst05a08.doc Pascal Triangle produces the minimal systems of bit arrays associated with Boolean Logic and Algebra which are used as the basis for our Keywords: General Schemas Theory, Systems computers. Moving up to the fourth meta-level Engineering, Systems Theory, we find there anomalies and it turns out that when we generate the negative pascal triangle that is the dual of the positive Pascal triangle then after passing beyond the Pascal point, True Names there is the void of odd zero, and then the We have established in the last essay that Plato negative Pascal point of the negative triangle has opened up the difference between Logos which is composed of the hyper-complex and Physus through the exploration of the algebras.
    [Show full text]
  • Unknown God, Known in His Activities EUROPEAN STUDIES in THEOLOGY, PHILOSOPHY and HISTORY of RELIGIONS Edited by Bartosz Adamczewski
    18 What can man know about God? This question became one of the main Tomasz Stępień / problems during the 4th-century Trinitarian controversy, which is the focus Karolina Kochańczyk-Bonińska of this book. Especially during the second phase of the conflict, the claims of Anomean Eunomius caused an emphatic response of Orthodox writers, mainly Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa. Eunomius formulated two ways of theology to show that we can know both the substance (ousia) and activities (energeiai) of God. The Orthodox Fathers demonstrated that we can know only the external activities of God, while the essence is entirely incom- prehensible. Therefore the 4th-century discussion on whether the Father and the Son are of the same substance was the turning point in the development Unknown God, of negative theology and shaping the Christian conception of God. Known Unknown God, Known God, Unknown in His Activities in His Activities Incomprehensibility of God during the Trinitarian Controversy of the 4th Century stopibhuarly Jewish Sources Tomasz Stępień is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Theology, Cardi- Karolina Kochańczyk-Bonińska · nal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. He researches and publishes / on Ancient Philosophy, Early Christian Philosophy, Natural Theology and Philosophy of Religion. European Studies in Theology, Karolina Kochańczyk-Bonińska is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Philosophy and History of Religions the Humanities and Social Sciences, War Studies University in Warsaw. She researches and publishes on Early Christian Philosophy and translates Edited by Bartosz Adamczewski patristic texts. Stępień Tomasz ISBN 978-3-631-75736-9 EST_018 275736-Stepien_TL_A5HC 151x214 globalL.indd 1 04.07.18 17:07 18 What can man know about God? This question became one of the main Tomasz Stępień / problems during the 4th-century Trinitarian controversy, which is the focus Karolina Kochańczyk-Bonińska of this book.
    [Show full text]
  • To Get the File
    TRUTH AND METHOD LANGUAGE AS THE MEDIUM OF HERMENEUTIC. EXPERIENCE as the only source of the meaning of words. The opposed theory holds that there is a natural agreement between word and object that is described by the idea of correctness (orthotes). It is clear that both of these positions are extremes and so do not necessarily exclude each other in fact. At any rate, the ordinary speaker knows nothing of the 'correctness" of the word that this position presumes. The mode of being of language that we call "customary usage" sets a 2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONCEPT OF LANGUAGE IN THE limit to both theories: the limit of conventionalism is that we cannot HISTORY OF WESTERN THOUGHT arbitrarily change the meaning of words if there is to be language. The problem of 'special languages" shows the conditions that apply to this kind (A) LANGUAGE AND LOGOS of renaming. In the Cratylus Hermogenes himself gives an example: the renaming of a servant.20 The dependency of a servant's life world, the In the earliest times the intimate unity of word and thing was so obvious coincidence of his person with his function, makes possible the renaming that the true name was considered to be part of the bearer of the name, if that a free man's claim to independence and the preservation of his honor not indeed, to substitute for him. In Greek the expression for "word,' would make impossible. Children and lovers likewise have "their" lan- onoma, also means 'name," and especially "proper name"—i.e., the name guage, by which they communicate with each other in a world that by which something is called.
    [Show full text]
  • Archon - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    Archon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon#Gnostic_archons Archon From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Archon (Gr. ἄρχων, pl. ἄρχοντες) is a Greek word that means "ruler" or "lord", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem ἀρχ-, meaning "to rule", derived from the same root as monarch, hierarchy and anarchy. Contents 1 Ancient Greece 2 Byzantine Empire 3 Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople 4 Gnostic Archons 4.1 The Hebdomad 4.2 Mandaean Archons 4.3 Manichaean Archons 4.4 Origins 4.4.1 As planets 4.4.2 In Zoroastrianism 4.5 Usage 4.5.1 In Judaism and Christianity 4.5.2 In Greek theology 5 Other uses 5.1 Real life 5.2 Books 5.3 Movies and television 5.4 Role-playing games 5.5 Video games 5.6 Music 5.7 Others 6 References 6.1 Bibliography Ancient Greece In the early literary period of ancient Greece the chief magistrate in various Greek city states was called Archon.[1] The term was also used throughout Greek history in a more general sense, ranging from "club leader" to "master of the tables" at syssitia to "Roman governor". 1 of 14 03/12/2010 07:27 PM Archon - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archon#Gnostic_archons [citation needed] In Roman terms, the board of archontes ruled by potestas, whereas the Basileus ("King") had auctoritas. In Athens a system of nine concurrent Archons evolved, led by three respective remits over the civic, military, and religious affairs of the state: the three office holders being known as the Eponymous archon (Ἐπώνυμος ἄρχων; the "name" ruler, who gave his name to the year in which he held office), the Polemarch ("war ruler"), and the Archon Basileus ("king ruler").[2] Originally these offices were filled from the aristocracy by elections every ten years.
    [Show full text]
  • Nomination in Badiou and the Theatre of Mysticism
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by University of Liverpool Repository 1 ‘Unutterable Utterances’ and ‘Mysterious Naming’: Nomination in Badiou and the Theatre of Mysticism Daniel Whistler ‘Hail in the name of those who seek the name for your endurance.’ —Mokhtar in Badiou’s The Incident at Antioch I.iii (2013 21) ‘A truth begins to dawn on the horizon.’ —The Stranger in Strindberg’s The Road to Damascus I (1983 204) Part One: A Mystic-without-Mysticism Act One of the The Incident at Antioch takes place on the road to Damascus, and its action revolves around one moment of ecstatic illumination: the protagonist, Paula, ‘fall[s] to the ground, arms outstretched’ (2013 27), unconsciously imitating Caravaggio’s The Road to Damascus in which St Paul falls from a horse, arms outstretched, in an ecstatic fit of divine revelation.1 Paula is, in this moment of ‘feverish exaltation’ (29), ‘a young woman experiencing the joys of the new’ (31), thinking and speaking from a ‘place out of place’ (2013 29) (a Badiouian utopia). Moreover, Paula’s words here become simultaneously cryptic and full of meaning: ‘The pebbles in my mouth are giving way to clear words.’ (27) The ‘transparency’ (29) to which she ecstatically refers is linguistic as well as cognitive, and, as such, the words themselves—as spoken on the stage—bring forth an excess of meaning, an 1 On Badiou’s use of Caravaggio, see the notes to Badiou 2013 127. 2 excess faithful to Paula’s experience of a new truth, but cryptic to her audience.
    [Show full text]
  • Parmenides on Naming True and Right Names of Being 2 3 4 Parmenides As a Knowing Mortal (F I
    2020-3804-AJP 1 Parmenides on Naming True and Right Names of Being 2 3 4 Parmenides as a knowing mortal (F I. 3) writes a philosophical-poetic account of a 5 travelogue in which distinctive voices (F .2) that are a mixture of myth and logos come 6 out of an unnamed goddess (F I. 23) who didactically speaks with an unnamed young 7 man as her direct listener and addressee (FII.1) in order to reveal for him different 8 spheres and routes (FII.2) of inquiry about a specific referent. In the hybrid and tailored 9 account of the Immortal about a specific subject-matter such as being, we can read 10 different approaches of the thoughtful mortals through the narration of the goddess, and 11 the idea of the immortal herself. And exactly when thoughtful mortals want to introduce 12 their thinking and understanding of the “referent” in human lingual terms they appeal to 13 the act of naming and making names, though there is no explicit account by the Immortal 14 about her approach for lingual expressing of the referent. Such an account gives us some 15 useful and distinctive hints about Parmenides’ conception as a mortal about 16 naming/names which makes his conception in a specific position in regard to the other 17 pertinent and close words (such as 18 and the like) and 19 Presocratics (such as Homer; Hesiod; Heraclitus; Democritus; Herodotus; Empedocles; 20 and the like). According to the Immortal’s account, in relation to naming and names 21 thoughtful mortals can be classified mainly into two groups: a- Those who are in 22 Aletheia, they are informed of the distinctive features of the referent that is a “totality” 23 and should be able to make “true” names for it but fail (F8.
    [Show full text]
  • Sacramental Magic and Animate Statues in Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, and John Milton
    RICE UNIVERSITY Sacramental Magic and Animate Statues in Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, and John Milton by Jill Renee Delsigne A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE Doctor of Philosophy APPROVED, THESIS COMMITTEE: Meredith Skura, Libbie Shearn Moody Professor of English Jef rey J. Kripal, J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought, Chair of the Department of Religious Studies HOUSTON, TEXAS MAY2012 Sacramental Magic and Animate Statues in Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, and John Milton Jill Renee Delsigne ABSTRACT "Sacramental Magic" explores the animate statue in early modem romance as an emblem of the potential spiritually transformative power of objects. The tendency of New Historicism to "empty out" theology from Catholicism overlooks the continued power of sacred objects in Reformation literature. My dissertation joins the recent tum to religion in early modem studies-Catholic doctrine and religious experience explain the startling presence of benevolent animate statues in Spenser, Shakespeare, and Milton; one would expect these statues to be empty idols, but instead they animate, revealing a real presence of the divine. I first investigate Spenser's Egyptian lexicon for the Catholic veneration of sacred images in the Temple of Isis in the Faerie Queene. Embedding Britomart's dream vision of an English empire in Egyptian mythology creates a translatio imperii from Egypt to Rome to England, transferring not only political but also religious power. The Isis statue's transformation ofBritomart bears striking textual and visual correlations to John Dee's hermetic Monas Hieroglyphica. For Shakespeare, ermetic magic emblematizes the sacrament of penance. Shakespeare's claim "to make men glorious" suggests that Pericles transforms its audience by effecting, not merely signifying, grace.
    [Show full text]
  • Philosophy and Theurgy in Late Antiquity
    Philosophy and Theurgy in Late Antiquity Algis Uždavinys INDICE ▹.140707130246 About the book ▹.140707130528 About the Author ▹.140707130610 Prospetto dei contenuti ▹.140707130743 Foreword. Philosophy, Theurgy and the Gods. ▹.140707130913 Introduction ▹.140707131006 1. The Origins and Meaning of Philosophy ▹.140707131039 Eidothea and Proteus: the veiled images of philosophy ▹.140707131453 The distinction between philosophical life and philosophical discourse ▹.140707131714 Standing face to face with immortality ▹.140707131823 Philosophy and the hieratics rites of ascent ▹.140707131854 The task of "Egyptian Philosophy": to connect the end to the beginning ▹.140707132004 The kronian life of spectator: "to follow one's heart in the tomb" ▹.140707132343 Thauma idesthai: "A wonder to behold" ▹.140707132437 The invincible warriors as modele of philosophical life ▹.140707132541 The inward journey to the place of truth ▹.140707133106 To be like Osiris ▹.140707133133 The death which detaches from the inferior ▹.140707133223 Entering the solar barque of Atum-Ra ▹.140707133301 Philosophical initiations in the netherworld ▹.140707133332 Self-knowledge and return to one's innermost self ▹.140707133425 The recovered unity of Dyonisus in ourselves ▹.140707133504 Philosophical mummification inside the cosmic tomb ▹.140707133539 Platonic dialectic: the science of purification and restoration of unity ▹.140707133618 Philosophy as a rite of becoming like god ▹.140707133648 The ancient logos and its sacramental function ▹.140707133722 Riddles of the cosmic
    [Show full text]