Daily Devotional: December 14th

Daily Prayer XIX

Hail, Mercury, guide of mortal souls in flight,

Leader of angels and daemons, in celestial light.

Thy swift wings span realms, traversing the ethereal plane,

Messenger divine, transcending time's constraining chain.

In thy hand, the Caduceus, symbol of transcendent power,

A ladder to the divine, ascending each cosmic tower.

With serpents entwined, a dance of duality,

Harmony and balance, thy sacred reality.

Thou art the conductor of the cosmic symphony,

Leading souls to realms of eternal harmony.

Through the veil of worlds, in thy company, we soar,

Mercury, our guide, forevermore.

Daily Meditation

"Have we said enough now, and can we be released? But the soul is still in the pangs of labor, even more now than before…. For though the soul goes over all truths, even those in which we participate, yet she still evades us if someone wishes her to speak and think discursively.

In order for discursive thought to say something, it must consider its objects successively, for such is the unfolding of thought. Yet what kind of unfolding can there be, in the case of something which is absolutely simple?”

—Plotinus

Enneads, V-3-17

Discursive thoughts come from rational and logical speculation. Often, we associate all of philosophy with these types of thoughts and theories. But Plotinus tells us that this kind of thinking can only keep us away from the realization of God. While rational thought considers objects as they unfold in thought, God is beyond the distinctions and explanations of the mind. Every rational explanation we make about God only takes us further from God’s essence.

Monthly Ascesis: Repentance

"Repentance is the beginning of philosophy"

—Hierocles

“Repentance is often seen as a particularly Christian idea, but philosophers were quite fond of reminding people to repent. Pythagoras, in particular, suggests two ways that we can begin to repent and take a better inventory of who we are. The word ‘repent’ is related to the Latin word for regret. The idea is that we should look over our actions and judge them if they are unworthy. However, the Greek word for repentance is metanoia, which means the transformation of the mind. Platonic repentance is about creating an inner change that leads us back to a life of holiness in harmony with the divine.

Pythagoras says we should “do nothing shameful, neither in the presence of others nor privately; Thus, above all things, sit as a judge over [ourself].” This suggests we should watch our actions, and when we do something wrong or shameful, we should repent, that is, regret that action. If we never do this or shun it as a practice, we effectively say we have no reason to regret our actions. However, regretting an action is recognizing an area where we fell short of our ideals. If we never regret or repent, we make any spiritual or ethical growth impossible. This is why Hierocles, commenting on Pythagoras, says, “repentance is the beginning of philosophy.””

Excerpt from Ascesis: The Handbook of Platonic Practice

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