Oration on the Dignity of Man

Who would dare to touch the ladder of the Lord with a dirty foot or poorly cleansed hands? As it is said in the mysteries, the unclean are not permitted to touch that which is pure.

But what are these feet and hands? The feet of the soul are, undoubtedly, that most contemptible part which rests upon matter as if upon the upper layer of the earth—the nourishing and feeding power, the combustible material of the passions, and the teacher of pleasure-seeking sensuality. And the hand of the soul, the protector of passion—why do we not speak of it with anger?—fights on its behalf; like a predator under the sun and dust, it snatches away that which the sleepy soul enjoys in the shadows. These hands and feet—that is, the entire sensual part in which the seduction of the body is contained, which is said to take the soul captive by force—we must wash in moral philosophy Moral philosophy was seen as the first step in spiritual purification, meant to tame the physical urges. as if in a river, so that we are not cast down from the ladder as impious and sinful men.

However, this is not enough if we wish to become companions of the angels who hurry along Jacob’s Ladder Jacob’s Ladder: A biblical vision from Genesis 28:10-19, which Pico interprets as the path the human soul takes to ascend to God and descend back to the world with wisdom.. We must be well-prepared in advance and trained to move, as is proper, from step to step, never turning from the path or hindering one another. When we achieve this through eloquence or the powers of reason, then, animated by the spirit of the Cherubim, we shall philosophize according to the steps of the ladder—that is, the steps of nature. Searching for the essence of all things, we shall sometimes descend, splitting the one into many parts with Titanic force like the body of Osiris, and sometimes ascend, joining the many parts back into a single whole with the power of Phoebus Osiris was a god in Egyptian myth who was dismembered and then reassembled. Pico uses this as a metaphor for "analysis" (breaking a concept down) and "synthesis" (building it back up)., until we finally rest in the bliss of theology, clinging to the breast of the Father who sits at the top of the ladder.

Let us ask the righteous Job, who made a covenant of life with God before he himself entered into life: "What does the highest God desire most from the millions of angels who serve Him?" original: "Чего больше всего желает высший бог..." citing Job 25:2. "Peace, certainly," God will answer, according to what is read: "He who makes peace in the high places." and since the middle rank transmits the commands of the highest rank to the lower, the words of the theologian Job are explained to us by the philosophy of Empedocles Empedocles: A Greek philosopher who taught that the universe is governed by two opposing forces: Love (which unifies) and Strife (which divides).. He points to the double nature of our soul: one part raises us up toward the heavens, the other casts us down into the underworld—and he compares this to enmity and friendship, or to war and peace, as his songs testify. Job complains that he, as if driven mad, was involved in discord and cast into the abyss far from the gods.

Indeed, fathers, there are many disagreements among us! At home, we are engaged in a heavy internecine struggle and a civil war. If we truly desired the peace that would lift us so high that we found ourselves among the exalted of the Lord, then the only thing that would fully calm and restrain us is moral philosophy. If the "man" within us asked his "enemies" for even a temporary truce, he would restrain his animal impulses and the fiery anger of the lion. And if, caring for ourselves, we then wished for eternal peace, it would come by abundantly satisfying our desires; by sacrificing two animals, it would conclude an unbreakable treaty of sacred peace between the body and the spirit.

Dialectic Dialectic: The art of logical argument and investigation into the truth of opinions. will calm the mind, which suffers because of verbal contradictions and deceptive syllogisms. Natural philosophy will settle the disputes and...