1.mythos

Ficino's understanding of the soul corresponds to the myth said by Socrates in Phaedrus. He depicts souls as chariots, dragged by a pair of winged horses on a celestial sphere. While divine souls have both horses same as well as perfectly bred, human horses are different from each other, one tends to maintain the level of celestial sphere, the second one is weak and lured by lesser spheres, so both drag the chariot in another direction. Charioteer tries to control them both to maintain his flight level, but it's hard for him, because human needs to deal with lesser spheres of the material world as well as contemplate divine ideas, what he cannot do at the same time. Charioteer fails, makes errors, 'loses wings' and falls to the earth.

2.ontological scheme

There is a difference between the ontological conception of the myth by Plato and by Ficino: Plato tried to mention the inability of human to reach some kind of higher existence, while Ficino imagines this mythical chariot as an 'original state' of soul, being spatially positioned on the highest sphere of the universe, in the ptolemaic sense. They agree with each other on the freedom and role of the human will in the descent - it's only human's fault, that it doesn't follow the right way of living, like when drunkard drinks too much even if it is unhealthy for him. It's in human nature, that the soul and body degenerates. Core idea is human irresponsible omission of its tasks in restraining this nature.

3.contemplation/consideration

Ficino and Allen speak of two modes of thinking: contemplative and considerative. As long, as human contemplates the Ideas, which dwell on the highest sphere, he maintains the right flying level. When he, however, starts to think about them and sets an alternative (what's remission), his 'knowledge' of ideas is replaced by only an 'opinion' about them. Thus one may stop desire their fulfillment any more (intermission) or dismiss them wholly. In this we may see how human thinking qualitatively changes in the descent. Remission of higher ideas is a source of their intermission, which is a cause of their dismisal, and thus of soul's descent. Soul doesn't see all higher ideas as equal, but one of them more and others less, while those dominant determinate determinate soul's character, when it is born. The more ideas are remitted, the deeper has the soul 'fallen' into the matter (in a gnostic sense).

4.return

But Ficino retains optimism, and altough a soul has fallen into a material body, it may purify itself from it by a certain cycles of lives and deaths. Freshly descended soul needs 10 (10 is in pythagorean tradition a universal number - 1+2+3+4) lifes (under influence of any of the 9 Ideas - 3^3; 3 is a number of completeness, thus 9 is a "solid" number representing earth and material body). One cycle of a birth, purgation and restitution in another body takes 1000 years (10^3; when 10 it is cubed, one may think of imbuing earth with universality, with Ideas). A good philosopher needs to live only 3000 years (first cycle in a standard, earthly body, next in one made of an impure air, and then finally in an aetheric one). Usually, all souls are born as philosophers at first, but they fail in their tasks and has to live then full 10k years, being purified wholly (inshallah) in the last cycle. After death of a body, its soul is judged to either ascend or remain in the same form. Soul is never judged to descend into a lesser form of body. By remitting perception of Ideas and letting earthly inclinations a soul degenerate as by its own fault (in this way Ficino interpretes Plato's idea of incarnation of human soul into a beast). Right preservence of Ideas leads to correct desires and thus to a positive and helpful ascension. The core idea of Ficino is, that moral life is a thing of creating right habits, more similar to a continuity of a "healthy life" than that of mystical self-forgetting.

Ivan Šimko

1.mýtus o vozatajovi
1.1.dve protichodné sily v duši človeka
1.2.prirodzený charakter ich aktivity
1.3.zapríčinenie pádu
2.ficinovská duša
2.1.zrodenie
2.2.rozvoj
2.3.úpadok
2.4.zlepšenie
2.4.1.matematika idey
2.4.2.prevtelovanie
2.5.beštializácia
2.6.cieľ
2.7.hriech


voz vedeny dusou je tahany dvoma konmi; u bohov su oba skvele, no u ludi je vzdy jeden lepsi, inklinujuci k bohom, a jeden horsi, stahujuci voz k zemi; ulohou duse je obidva zosuladit a doviest ich do ciela, ktorym je kontemplacia sveta

1.1.
submerse (úpadok), claudicare (krívanie), victium (pochybenie)
duša sa sklada z dvoch síl, kontemplácie božského a riešenia pozemského
1.2.
nieje ovládaná Bohom, ale sebe vlastnou prirodzenou èinnosou (actio vegetalis)
vô¾a (affectus) a èinnos (actus)
nerozvíjanie (remittere, opak zamýš¾ania - intendere, resp.extremnej formy excitari)
zabrzdenie (intermittere)
zanechanie (dismittere)
1.3.
chybí jazdec, kone to len zneužívajú
pád duše je spôsobený remisiou rozmýš¾ania
oslabujúce sily majú svoj prirodzený priestor
prirodzená nutnos (adrastia)
slabos ako remisia vyšších a intenzifikácia nižších síl
kontemplácia je vyššia èinnos ako rozmýš¾anie


clovek musi svoje chyby, resp.inklinaciu k nim predpokladat; nesmie povolit nizsim silam, aby rozptylovali tie vyssie; hmotne tuzby mozu zvrhnut aj dobry dar idey, vtedy je vedena vyssia cinnost tak, ze kultivuje hmotu, je teda 'rozptylena' niecim nizsim

2.1.
kazda dusa vidi aspon jednu z vyssich idey (bohov) na nu sa viaze a zaklada svoj charakter
niektore duse vidia viac (plura), ine menej (pauciora)
2.2.
vidiet viac z idey znamena aj pochopit ju lepsie, kvalitativne
podobne prepojenie duse a idey nieje u Platona
sedem planetarnych darov (tvorivost, jemnost, laska, proroctvo, odvaha, moc, kontemplacia)
dobre formy rozvoja (kral, filozof, umelec, milovnik)
2.3.
zvrhle formy (lokalny politik, fortune-teller, remeselnik, imitator, sofista, tyran)


zlepsenie stavu duse nastava ocistou; filozof sa ocisti najrychlejsie, za tri vymeny tiel, ostatni ludia potrebuju trochu viac, no vzdy pod mocou jednej vyssej idey

2.4.
výmenou tiel je možné zlepšiť aj dušu
pocet potrebnych zivotov nevychadza z poctu bohov, ale inych cisel
2.4.1.
3 ako prve kompletne cislo, alebo ako pevne cislo (podla 3 rozmerov kocky), zem
10 ako univerzalne cislo, univerzalita cloveka
1000 (10 na 3.) ako univerzalno spojene so zemou (10 'earthed'), cas zlepsenia cloveka
2.4.2.
po smrti su duse sudene, tie dobre dostanu lepsie telo
filozofsky prechod (pozemske telo->vzdusne telo->etericke, ciste vzdusne, telo, 3000 rokov)
normalny prechod (9 zivotov a 10 inkarnacii, 10 000 rokov)
2.5.
moznost skazenia (in bestiarum commertia; to surrender to beastly passions and habits)
metempsychozu vraj priniesol Plotinus
superimpose itself on the soul of beasts do takej miery, ze sa jej dusa pripodobni
ascend je zlozity, lebo ludske duse maju zle telo
2.6.
znovuzískanie krídel a návrat k bohom
jazyk Foriem spred narodenia
duša vidí po ascende to, čo pred pádom (idey)
poznanie je ascend, ascend je poznanie
2.7.
človek nieje k zlu odsúdený ako za hriech, ide o sebazničenie