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Chapter 1: Who was Philo of Alexandria and what are his main philosophies?
The existent which moves and turns all else is itself unmoved and unchanging and gives the person of virtue a share in its own nature, which is repose. For just as crooked things are, I believe, made straight by a correct rule, so moving things are restrained and come to a halt by the force of that which stands.
God, the existent, is everywhere because he has stretched out his powers through earth and water, heaven and earth, and left no part of the universe void of his presence. And joining all with all has bound them fast with invisible bonds, that they should never be loosed. That aspect of him which transcends his powers cannot be conceived of all in terms of place, but only as pure being.
But that power of his by which he made and ordered all things, called God, in accordance with the etymology of that name, enfolds the whole and passes through the parts of the universe. But God is not a composite comprised of many parts, but is unmixed with anything else. For whatever is added to God is either superior or inferior or equal to him. But there is nothing equal or superior to God.
And no lesser thing is assimilated to him, otherwise he too will be lessened. But if he can be lessened, he will also be capable of corruption
Chapter 2: How does Philo interpret the Torah allegorically?
something it is wrong to entertain, even in thought. God is therefore in the category of the one and the monad. or rather the monad is in the category of the One God. For, like time, all number is subsequent to the universe, whereas God is prior to the universe and its creator. I am composed of body and soul. I seem to have mind, reason, sense, Yet I find none of them my own.
For where was my body prior to my birth? And where will it go when I have departed? Where are the various states produced by the life stages of an illusory self? Where is the newborn babe, the child, the boy, the pubescent, the stripling, the bearded youth, the lad, the full grown man. Whence came the soul? Where will it go? How long will it be our mate?
Chapter 3: What is the significance of ecstasy in Philo's mysticism?
Can we tell its essential nature? When did we acquire it? prior to our birth, but we were not then in existence. What of it after death? But then we who are embodied, compounds endowed with quality, shall be no more. but shall hasten to our rebirth, to be with the unbodied, without composition and without quality. But now, inasmuch as we are alive, we are the dominated,
rather than the rulers known rather than knowing the soul knows us though unknown by us and imposes commands we are obliged to obey as servants their mistress And when it will, it will transact its divorce in court and depart, leaving our home desolate of life. If we press it to remain, it will dissolve our relationship. So subtle is its nature that it furnishes no handle to the body.
Know then that God alone is the absolutely authentic and veritable peace. But the whole of created and perishable substance is one continuous war. For God is a being of freedom, but created substance is governed by necessity.
Chapter 4: Why does Philo argue that God cannot be comprehended by reason?
Whosoever then has the strength to forsake war and necessity, creation and perishing, and go over to the side of the uncreated, of the imperishable, of freedom, of peace, may justly be said to be the dwelling place and city of God. Do not suppose that the existent, which truly exists, is apprehended by any person.
For we have in us no organ by which we may form an image of it, neither sense organ. For it is not sense perceptible, nor mind. so moses the student of invisible nature for the divine oracles say that he entered the darkness a figure intimating the invisible and incorporeal existence searched everywhere and into everything
and sought to see with distinct clarity the object of his great yearning and the only good. But finding nothing, not even an idea that resembled what he hoped for. In despair and learning from others, He flies for refuge to the object of his search itself and makes the following supplication. Reveal yourself to me that I may see you clearly. And yet he does not attain his purpose.
since the knowledge of things both material and immaterial that come after the existent are considered a most ample gift for the best among mortals. For we read, You will see what is behind me, but my face will not be seen by you. Meaning that all that comes after the existent, both material and immaterial, is accessible to apprehension, even if it is not all already apprehended.
Chapter 5: What does Philo mean by the concept of pure being?
But that alone, by its very nature, cannot be seen. it is invisible while itself seeing all things. And though apprehending the substances of others, its own substance is unknown. Not even a proper name can be given to the truly existent. Observe that when the Prophet earnestly inquires what he must answer those who ask about his name, he says, I am he that is.
My nature is to be, not to be spoken. Do not then be thoroughly perplexed if you find the highest of all beings to be ineffable, when his logos too cannot be expressed by us through his own name. And indeed if he is ineffable, he is also inconceivable and incomprehensible.
But when unforeseen and unhopeful a sudden beam of self-taught wisdom has shone on us, when it has opened the closed eye of the soul and made us seers rather than hearers of knowledge, and set within our minds the swiftest of senses, sight in place of the more sluggish sense of hearing. Then it is to no purpose to further exercise the ear with words.
Those who persistently seek wisdom and knowledge are said in the oracles to have been called upward. For it is right that those who have received the divine in breathing should be called up to him.
For when trees are pulled up root and branch by whirlwinds and hurricanes and heavily freighted ships of giant tonnage are plucked from mid ocean as though they were the lightest of objects and lakes and rivers are born aloft and earth's hollows are emptied of their flood. which has been drawn up by tangled wind eddies of enormous force.
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Chapter 6: How does Philo describe the relationship between the soul and the body?
It is strange if the mind, being a light substance, is not made buoyant and raised to the highest summit by the all-powerful divine spirit. whose nature is to vanquish all that exists below. And how much more so must this be the case with the mind of a genuine philosopher.
For such a one does not sink downward by reason of weight toward objects dear to body and earth from which he has ever labored hard to be separated and estranged. He is thus born upward insatiably enamored of nature's lofty, utterly holy and happy. One who has nurtured on these teachings enjoys the peace that is endless, released from unabating toils.
For on the seventh day, creation lays aside its seeming activity and rests. Rest in God is the only nourishment and enjoyment, since it secures the greatest good, the peace unmarred by war. For the peace that reigns in the cities is mixed with internecine war, but the peace of the soul is free from all discord. The person of virtue having become a devotee of the quiet life
withdraws and loves solitude. Resolved to be unnoticed by the many, not through misanthropy, for they are, if anyone is, a lover of human beings.
Chapter 7: What is the ultimate goal of human life according to Philo?
but through having rejected vice, which is welcomed by the multitude, who rejoice at what calls for mourning, and are grieved at what it is well to be glad. Wisdom is not somber and severe, constricted by anxiety and gloom, but on the contrary, cheerful and serene, full of joy and gladness, conditions that often induce one to sport and jest tastefully.
There is a mind more perfect and more purified, which has been initiated into the great mysteries. A mind that discovers the first cause, not from created things, as one may learn of the abiding object from its shadow, but transcends creation and obtains a clear impression of the uncreated.