Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xiii
Part I Preliminaries
Chapter 1 Introduction 3
An Ancient Path for Modern Times 3
Three Degrees of Wisdom 4
A Nine-Month Program 6
Hypatia, the Most Holy and Revered Philosopher 8
Why Hypatia's Philosophy Is Important Today 11
Chapter 2 Spiritual Practices 15
Philosophy as a Way of Life 15
Concentrating Inward 18
Expanding Outward 22
Additional Practices 24
Living Philosophically 26
Chapter 3 Sources for Hypatia's Philosophy 27
Pythagoras and Plato 27
Plotinus 34
Porphyry and Iamblichus 35
Hypatia's Philosophy 36
Later Neoplatonism 38
Part II The First Degree of Wisdom
Chapter 4 Seeking Tranquility in the Garden 43
Goals of the First Degree 43
The Garden 44
Atoms and the Void 46
Classifying Desires 47
Tranquility 51
Sufficiency 53
Pain 56
Fear of the Gods 57
Fear of Death 59
The Fourfold Cure 61
Live Hidden 62
Justice 64
Friendship 66
The Death of Epicurus 68
Miscellaneous Maxims 68
Part III The Second Degree of Wisdom
Chapter 5 The Discipline of Assent 73
Goals of the Second Degree 73
Historical Background 74
Goals of Wisdom 78
Nature 79
Human Nature 81
Three Fundamental Disciplines 83
The Discipline of Assent 84
Practicing the Discipline of Assent 88
Chapter 6 The Discipline of Desire 91
Introduction 91
Desire, Impulse, and Nature 91
Good, Bad, and Indifferent 92
Circumscribing the Self 94
Indifference to Misfortune 97
Personal and Transpersonal Guides 100
The View from Above 102
Providence or Chaos? 103
Consent to Destiny 104
Universal Love 108
The Stoic God 109
Chapter 7 The Discipline of Impulse 113
Introduction 113
Action and Nature 113
Criterion I, First Standard: Altruism 116
Criterion I, Second Standard: Difficult People 119
Criterion I, Third Standard: Friends 125
Criterion II: Worth and Justice 126
Criterion III: Reservation 129
Nature's Sympathy 134
Part IV The Third Degree of Wisdom
Chapter 8 The Macrocosm 139
Goals of the Third Degree 139
The World Body 141
The World Mind 142
The Platonic Forms 146
Being and Becoming 147
Truth, Beauty, and Justice 150
The World Soul 151
Nature, Wisdom, and Daimons 153
The Inexpressible One 155
The God of the Philosophers 160
Images of the Cosmos 161
The Geocentric Image 164
The Central Light 166
The Golden Chain 170
Chapter 9 The Microcosm and the Archetypes 173
Microcosm: The Tripartite Soul 173
Polytheistic Pagan Interpretation 176
Monotheistic Interpretation 179
Evolutionary Jungian Psychology 185
The Archetypes 186
Evolutionary Neuropsychology and the Archetypes 189
Complexes and Daimons 191
The Shadow 194
The Evolution of the Archetypes 196
The Self and the Inexpressible One 199
Individuation 200
Chapter 10 The Path of Love 203
Three Paths of Ascent 203
History of the Ascent by Love 206
Purpose of the Ascent by Love 211
Awakening-The Body 216
Interlude-Gaius's Story 222
Purification-The Soul 224
Illumination-The Nous 228
Perfection-The One 232
Chapter 11 The Path of Truth 237
Introduction 237
Awakening 238
Purification 1 The Purifying Virtues 243
Purification 2 Dialectics 244
Purification 3 The Contemplation of Nature 248
Interlude-The Five Things 253
Illumination 255
Arrow Prayers and Invocation of the Name 257
Four Degrees of Prayer 261
Perfection-Union 263
Chapter 12 The Path of Trust 267
Introduction 267
Different Ways to The One 267
Symbols 272
Invocation 276
Animation 277
Incubation 280
Alliance 286
Deification 292
Individuation 298
Closing Remarks 299
Endnotes 301
Additional Reading 319
Glossary 323
Bibliography 331
Index 341
