Empedocles- The Elements, The Eyes & More

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as well. And here I just wanted to include at the beginning I quote by him that I really liked nourished in the seas of black, springing back springing blood where above all is located what humans call thought, for the blood around the heart is for humans their thought. Pedocles was a Greek pre socratic philosopher for Macragus, a Greek city located in the region of Sicily. His contributions to philosophy are particularly well known for originating the influential cosmochony.

Screwed it up again? How do you say that word? Cosmogonicy theory of the four classical elements For those who may not be familiar with the term, cosmogony, said that right. It refers to any theoretical model or explanation concerning the origin and development of the cosmos or the universe as

a whole. The classical elements, according to Empedocles, typically referred to the elements used in rich craft and occultism today earth, water, air, and fire, which he believed were the building blocks of all matter. He referred to them as the four roots, indicating their fundamental nature. Additionally, Impedically undertook experiments that led him to assert at least to his own liking that air was indeed a distinct substance. He made this observation

through a very simple demonstration. When a bucket was inverted in water, it did not fill completely with water, as a pocket of air remained trapped inside, illustrating that air occupies space and exists separately from water. Empedocles was the first philosopher to propose the concept of the four classical elements as a cohesive set fire, earth, air, and water. Pedoicles was well known for his philosophical stance against the practice of animal sacrifice, as well as the killing of

animals for the purpose of food consumption. He also had a distinctive doctrine of reincarnation, which was quite unique for his time. He is generally regarded as the last Greek philosopher who chose to record his profound ideas in verse form, which was rather different for the times. Luckily, a portion of his work survived, offering some insights into his thinking.

and ideas in hexameter verse. This would include his most influential four part Theory of Roots and Love and Strife principles, which is going to go on to be highly influential and pretty much foundational to philosophy, mysticism, medicine, cosmology, and religion.

He also wrote in verse form for his work on purifications, which was Impedicle's poem of Ritual Cleansing, which was also written in hexmeter verse, and also transmit in which this hexameter verse form used gives such a spectacular effect to what empedically is. This equation of ritual animal sacrifice to human sacrifice was like something familiar to Amagedmond's slaughter of Iphingia. I probably didn't say that, right, but something like that.

So okay, So hexameter kind of break it down. I'm sure most of y'all are familiar with it, but kind of, you know, bear with us. So hexameter is a line of verse consisting of six metrical feet, So you have a metrical line of versus consisting of six feet or foot or pulse. It's going to differ from the iambic pentamin meter, which is five ims versus six. So English poetry from Jeffrey Chaucer is that you say it. Chaucer introduce iambic pentameter to the English language in the fourteenth century.

William Shakespeare, John Milton of Paradise Loss we're all well poets who use iamic pentameter, as well as Percy VC. Shelley and even Jim Morrison was also known to use iambic pentameter in his songs. So hexameter had been tried in the English poetry, but it really never took off, only because it was hard to adapt the hexameter rhythm to the English language. So it's a little bit difficult,

and that's why the popularity never gained. Poetry in and of itself flows from syllable to syllable, each pair of syllables, creating a pattern known as a poetic meter. When a verse line is made up of two syllables flowing from one unaccented beat to an accented beat, it creates a rhythmic pattern called iambic meter, So the term iambic originally

was applied to the quantitative meter in classical poetry. Meters in English were accentual syllabic verse, whereas ancient Greek and Latin meter was a rhythm created through the use of alternating short and long syllables. You also see this in Vedic and Sanskrit in that they are said to also utilize this rhythmic pattern meter or form of it in

their written stuff. So when you have a parasyllables and they're arranged in a short followed by a long or unstressed followed by a stress pattern, you now have a iambic or foot type of cadence. Okay, So why all this? So? Hexameter is the oldest form known in Greek poetry. It was the standard epic meter in classical Greek and Latin literature. So we have the Ilia, the Odyssey, Hymns of Orpheus,

and so forth. Where it gets interesting is that, according to mythology in Greece, hexameter was invented by Fenmono, I think that's how you say it, who was a daughter of Apollo and the first Pithia of delf. This was around five hundred three hundred BC, or give or take. So the oracle of Delphi delivered her prophecies in the form of dactylic hexameter verse. The priests would then translate the utterances of the pythia or the oracle herself into

this metrical pattern of Greek poetry. Consisting of lines with six feet, the hexameter verse were deliberately ambiguous, requiring careful interpretation by the recipient, who could only understand the true meaning of the prophecy. The practice of delivering prophecies in hexameter verse was a key aspect to ancient Greek oracle of Delphi, which was extremely important to the rituals in

their culture and therefore highlighting the importance of the poetic language. Now, one of the main things that we found that I thought was very symbolic to add is that it was said that if prophecies were not given in hexameter verse, then they were regarded as potentially not authentic. So this is where you get hexameter verse as being extremely paramount to the utterances of the divine to the regular people.

So it is said that Empedocles wrote his responses even those like to paramendies in hexameter, whether it was a response to what he had claimed or other things.

And would it be possible that Crowley, considering himself the beasts of revelation something beyond the natural, could he be so bold as he likes to be as to write his poems in verse? You know? And if and if it Impedoicles wrote his poems which were to be used during rituals in the hexameter verse, would to be out of like the realm of possibility that poems Crowley wrote, which were to also be used during rituals also be

written in meter a verse. I'd say, you know, the hexagram rituals are supposed to be used with poems written hexameter verse, And could the pentagram rituals, and you know, in poems written in I would they be written in

iambic pentameter. You know, there's something to think about, because even when it comes to rituals, for me in the in the Oto, and really for any other kind of secret society that's based on like the kabbala or ceremonial magic, you're going to have the pentagram and the hexagram ritual going to be very very big rituals to use. And you know, I just wonder if there's a correlation between that and the that style of writing.

How convenient it is said that his godfather, also named Empatoicles, had been victorious in a horse race at the Olympia and seventy first OLYMPIAD.

I think that's how you say it. For contacts. Arcus lies on the plateau, surrounded by cliffs, overlooking the two rivers, Drago and Arcus Rivers, and to the north are a set of twin peaks, which of course reminds me of twin peaks. Origento was a wealthy ancient city founded in five hundred and eighty one BC, and it lies just northwest of Malta. During Impedocles's lifetime, Arcus had gone from a tyrannical reign to an oligarchy to the new governmental

system of democracy. And considering that these contrasting but significant political transformations, it's nodded or it's given a nod that Impededicles from his riotings tended to lean more towards a democratic governing. It's also claimed that, aside from being known as a philosopher, Empedocles was also known as a politician he championed against He also dismantled the oligarchy of the

thousand thousand being in quotation because he rejected kingship. Also, Empededicles's father was also said to have forestalled rising tyranny. So you start to see that Empedocles, potentially from the paternal exposure, was potentially a talented orator and had his ties into politics.

et cetera. Modern scholars generally believe that these biographical details, including his chronologically impossible tutelage under Pathegoris and his employment as a doctor and miracle worker, were fabricated from interpretations of Empedocles's poetry, which does tend which does tend to happen a lot to the biographies written during this time.

more later on in the episode. But my reason for bringing this up is that from the work that has survived and looking at it chronologically, it might be a bit of a stretch that for Empedocles to have personally met all three. However, with that being said, much of what has survived of Empedocles's work reflects that it was

more than just him. Being familiar with their teachings only suggests that and evidently points to actual engagement with Paramenodes and an an Exogorus and Pythagoras' theories.

perishing in the flames of Mount Etna. He was also he was also said to have died in Peloponnese, Greece.

of Empedtocles's life. So in addition to recording his claims of divine status and magical powers, the book goes at length into discussing the various accounts or stories of how Empedocles was said to have died. His death in particular seemed to have attracted so much attention, and there are many theories of how he died. Empedocles was said to have died in so many different ways, so like the first one was he drowned when he fell overboard from

a ship. Another one was that he hung himself. A third was that he died after breaking his leg when he fell from a carriage. And then the one that he is the most famous for, which you just mentioned, and the one the source of the legend for Empedocles was that Empededicles died by throwing himself into the crater

of Mount Edna and Sicily. And it's claimed that Empedocles had learned that he was going to die, or the news of his eminent death was so great that he wanted to appear as though he had he as he wanted to die as though he had been hypothesized, So he leapt into the crater so that the people would believe his body had vanished, and that he would then turn into an immortal god. The volcano, however, threw back out one of his trademark bronze sandals, revealing the deceit.

So I thought that's pretty classic.

fate of Empedocles is reevaluated. Rather than being incinerated in the intense fires of Mount Etna, he is depicted as being carried up into the heavens by a volcanic volcanic eruption, and this retelling Empedocles not only survives, but continues his existence on the moon, where he sustains himself by feeding on the nourished jew that collects there.

It is said that Empedocles's poetry rivaled that of Homer Galen, who's well known for the discovery and description of the optic Nerve regarded him as a founder of Italian medicine. Lucretius held that Empedocles's hexameter poetry was one that you should hold in the highest of esteem, and he held

it in highest esteem and admiration. Empedocles was the founder of the Sicilian school of medicine and was claimed to be a great physician, and this is evidence conveyed in the Hippocratics, fifth century of the current era book on ancient medicine and basically details a critique of Impedocles's alliance of the study of nature and medicine. And it is also said within this book itself that he was known to have brought a dead woman back to life impressive.

as an ordering force. He also gave several noble scientific accounts of natural phenomena, including the notion of pan spermia that life exists throughout the universe and could be distributed everywhere. He deduced a correct explanation for eclipses and described the Sun as a fiery mass larger than Peloponnese, and also attempted to explain rainbows and meteors. You know, I will have to say, I mean, isn't it kind of wild how like they were talking about this stuff back then

or theorizing on it. They actually just find that interesting that these ideas that they were even ideas, Because I don't even know how to say it, but like I do find it impressive considering, like I feel, like like what people think about today. Many later accounts of his life claim that impedically studied with the Pythagoreans on the basis of his doctrine of reincarnation, although he may have instead learned this from a local tradition rather than directly

from the Pythagoreans. Now a little bit on his writings and work. Most of him, Pedicle's work has not survived intact. There's only about two poems. The two poems on Nature and on Purifications together comprise and comprise a total of five thousand lines. However, only about five hundred and fifty lines of his poetry survived, quoted in fragments by later

ancient sources. So that's unfortunate. Out of the five thousand line thing, about five hundred and fifty ten yeah, yeah, ten, ten point five or something like that.

or if they were two separate works. It's been long held, like a long held belief that these two poems are completely two separate pieces of work, and the reason for that is because the two topics are very distinct from each other, and as alleged by Diogenies third century of the current era biography and Empedoicles, But it's an earlier publication which was found dating back all the way to the first second century current era, surfaced and showed to

contain lines of on purifications as part of the on

nature work. So why does this matter? Because if these two poems were part of a single project, then the theory arises that the physical doctrine on purifications is not separate from the religious one, which was on nature, and that both themes are much more related than previously thought, because that would mean that the history of the structure, information of the physical world, animals and plants within it have a lot to do with morality and purification, at

least in terms of rituals or in terms of the way he was trying to describe it, that they were

important enough to be inclusive. So if the surviving five hundred and fifty lines of poetry as depicted in older editions of Empedocles, about four hundred fifty lines were ascribed to on Nature, which outlined his philosophical system and goes into explaining not only the nature and history of the universe, including his theory of the four classical elements, but also the theories on causation, perception, thought, as well as explanation

of terrestrial phenomenon and biological processes. The other one hundred lines of poetry, which have been typically ascribed to On Purifications was taken to be a poem simply about ritual purification, and they contain all of his religious, moral and ethical thought, so many early editors thought that it was a poem that offered a mythical account of the world based on Empedocles's philosophical system.

it's an attempt to cultivate the master pupil relationship. And the third reason was for the community of a kragus, and it goes on to discuss metaphysics or the study of the nature of being and cosmogony, influenced by the coming together and separation of Empedocles's four basic elements via the forces of love and strife. Now, when we get into the elements with him, uh yeah, we will get into a little bit about the about Empedocles and the elements,

or as he called them roots. And first I'll read some of his own stuff. And this is from Fragment seventeen twofold. Is what I shall say. For at one time they I e. The elements, grew to be only one out of many. At another time again they separate to be many out of one. And double is the birth of mortal things, double their death, for the one is both born and destroyed by the coming together of all things, while the other, inversely, when they are separated,

is nourished and flies apart. And these the elements incessantly exchange their places, continually, sometimes by love, all coming together into one, and sometimes again, each one carried off by the hatred of strife, and adversely the one separating again. They end up being many to that extent they become, and they do not have a steadfast lifetime. But in so far as they incessantly exchange their places continually. To

that extent, they are always immobile in a circle. And Peticals established four elements which make all structures in the world fire, air, water, and earth. Peticles call these four elements roots, which he also identified with the mythical names of Zeus, Hera, Nestus, and a Donius. Now Here are the fourfold roots of everything, enlivening Hera Hayes, shining Zeus, and nests moistening mortal springs with tears. That was from him.

came up with it. Also, it has been said that because Empedocles gave these roots names of the divine, it is claimed that he was implying that each of them had an active nature and not going to be or not. They should not just be regarded as inert matter. One interpreter describes his philosophy as asserting that nothing new comes or can come into being. The only change that can occur is a change in the juxtaposition of element with element.

This theory of the four elements became the standard dogma for the next two thousand years. And so if you think about you know nothing can come from nothing. It's essentially pretty much stating the first law of their own dynamics, where energy can neither be created nor destroyed. So it's pretty impactful.

So I just wanted to throw it in there. Love serves as the force responsible for the attraction and cohesion of different forms of what we now refer to as matter, while strife acts as the driving force behind their inevitable separation and division. If we consider that these four elements make up the entirety of the universe, then the interplay of love and strife provides a compelling explanation for the variation, diversity,

and harmony observed within it. These two opposing forces can be understood as both attractive and repulsive, embodying the push and pull dynamics present in nature. As the interact the relative dominance of love and strife waxes and wanes, creating a balance. However, it is important to note that neither force ever entirely escapes the influence or imposition of.

death coming to be passing away. It also describes the dominance of one force over the other and then their exchanging of their places continuously, almost personifying like a cycle or the image of a cycle. So without finding and also because of that cycle, you also picture a lack of finality or triumph over the other. There's just only moments of dominance with continued alteration.

elementary substances together, and the sphere became dissolved. The elements became the world of phenomena we see today, full of contrast and oppositions operated on by both love and strife, and Pedicles assumed cyclical universe, whereby the elements returned and prepare the formation of the sphere for the next period of the universe. Em Peticles also attempted to explain that separation of elements, the formation of Earth and sea, of

Sun and moon, and of atmosphere. Empedocles argues that these routes and forces do not pass away, nor is anything added to them, according to him, for these are all equal and identical in age, but each one presides over a different honor. Each one has its own character, and by turns they dominate while the time revolves. And besides these, nothing at all is added, nor is lacking. For if they perished entirely, they would no longer be in this

whole here. What could increase it in coming from where? And how could it be completely destroyed? Since nothing is empty of these? But these are themselves, but running the ones through the others, they become now this, now that, and each time are continually similar.

to be, it always just was. Also, the movement and separation of these elementary substances within the sphere reminds me of Genesis one, verse six through nine, where the earth is described as first being formless until the waters were separated by a dome or an expanse by God gathering the water in the sky in one place and then letting the dry ground disapprear. And as we go further into cosmogony, you'll see how that's further reemphasized.

we even view them today. For example, fire and water are traditionally viewed as antagonistic, whereas fire and air are viewed as compatible. But by adding in the forces love and strife, Empedocles indicates that the specific nature of the roots alone would not be sufficient enough to enable organization of the cosmos. Here we get into inner workings of Empedocles's theory.

roots come together. Both love and strife are in constant conteination, waxing and waning in strengths from the beginning of the cosmos and its inhabitants coming into being and then passing away throughout history. So traditionally, and Pedocoles' section of cosmogony has been viewed as a two part symmetrical cycle endlessly

repeating itself. Roots united, which is love dominant, and strife enters and begins to separate the roots until fully distinct, which now strife is dominant, and then at which point love re enters and begins to unite them until fully united. During these half cycles of separation or unification where one is not dominant the other, but there's like this middle ground, cosmogeny or the genesis of cosmo and zoogeny, which is

a generation of animals happens. So it's in these middle moments that you have the birth of the cosmos or the birth of the animals. Empedocles describes the stage where love is dominant and the roots are unified and intermingled into a sphere here. The sphere is the initial stage in formation of the cosmos, but not the cosmos itself.

When strife begins to insinuate itself into the sphere, it results in the separation of the roots into identifiable masses of earth, air, water, and fire in the cosmos, resulting in earth mass at the center of the sphere, water more or less surrounding the earth, air forming the next layer,

with fire at the outer edge of the sphere. The ancients recognize this geocentric formation as the representation of our cosmos, and also because it was strife that separated the roots within the sphere, it was believed that hosmogeny as described here was dependent on the influence of strife.

to insinuate itself back into the elements and roots. So I wanted to kind of expound upon the whole vortex thing with them saying with empedically saying that strife begins through the means of a vortex. It calls to mind vortex mouth in that vortex mouth, just really quickly and oversimplified. Definition is basically a system of numbers explaining the essence

of form as a sphere revealing a spiral line over time. Okay, So the swirling pattern itself represents the flow or vibrational energy of information within the universe that in turn exerts an influences as so, and it is connected to the spiral patterns that we see repeated throughout nature. So kind of like an imprint or a fingerprint of this vortex spiraling through the ether or the cosmos, what have you.

On another note, Pythagoras believed that numbers, Marie. His famous quote is numbers as all were the fundamental building blocks of reality, and that they held mystical significance reflected in geometrical patterns. So if we put these two together, because Empedocles was said to be a student of Pythagoras, and filtered through the lens of sacred geometry, we get the idea of vortex or vortices that start to signal the possibility of a deeper mystical connection between numbers and the universe.

It would then echo that the connections recorded are imprinted as patterns found in nature, and we see this repeated over and over, whether it's a spiral pattern of the Milky Way, or hurricanes or something in the plant systems that you see it kind of whirling around. So these interpretations of the cycle formed by alternating ruling forces, whether it's strife or love, is another point of scholarly debate.

The description of strife separation of roots and pedoicles fragments first producing cosmos, followed by the complete separation of the roots with no presence of the other to point of suspending all movement, points to the theory that another or a second cosmogeny is required to reverse the process, and thus under the unity of love, the fundamental principle of symmetry is reinforced. So you have this balancing type of

image that comes to mind. However, because evidence of Empedocles's description of a second cosmogony has yet to be found

in this particular piece or his poem. It is or was traditionally assumed that he didn't support a theory of a second cosmogony, and that he just didn't go that way yet in Aristotle's writings, Aristotles strongly argued that Empedocles was committed to a second cosmogony, but that he had yet to theoretically figure out how it happened or how it was to be, So maybe that he didn't write about it, but he believed that there was, he just hadn't come to the point to where he could theoretically

talk about it. Despite this, scholars have branded in Pedocles's theory as a single cosmogony type theory, and I think it's because it would echo what all the other Presocratic philosophers philosophers were saying at the time and what they believed. But if we look at the argument that Aristotle makes, it further sets Empedocles and his theories apart from the others rather than just blended in with the ones at that time. And when you think about it, you know

that this is a common threat. Thinkers who have ideas and theories outside the norm bear the fate of either having their ideas or theories blended or worsely, hardly remembered throughout history at all. So in the case of Empedocles, not only were his ideas and theories blended, but they were hardly discussed. Yet some of those most influential thinkers in history were heavily influenced by Empedocles and echo his philosophies.

One such thinker might have been Jesus of Nazareth. And the reason we say this is because the use of the word roots to conceptualize elements or the nature of matter, as used by Empedocles, was also said to have been used by Jesus to describe nature's cyclical coming together and then dissolving, according to the Gnaustic text of the Gospel of Mary Magdalen. So here's an excerpt of that. Then will matter be destroyed or not? This was when the apostles were asking Jesus what he had seen and if

he could explain more about what he had seen. The Savior said, every nature, every form, every creature exists in and with each other. But they'll dissolve again into their own roots. Because the nature of matter dissolves into the nature alone, anyone who has ears to hear should hear. So going back to the dissolving of nature as being a part of a cycle points to the theory, and Pedocles was alluding to five hundred years prior potentially, which is part of his second cosmogony theory that.

was in accord with personal experiences. While Parmenides understood the ultimate reality as homog genus, permanent and unchanging single entity, Empedocles comprehended it as the combination of the four permanent and unchanging elements. These roots are both material and spiritual, and Pedocles's conception of the ultimate reality has intrinsic dynamics dynamos dynamism which the Parmiedian concept of the ultimate reality lacked one thing I will say, even when it comes

down to even magic. I mean, when you look at the elements, you will look at them as being in like an earthly form, and then you could look at them as starting to be like spiritual stuff or even like archetypes of thought. So I mean you find that interesting. How that does kind of carry over still with magic and occultism.

in transmigration of souls and vegetarianism. Important to note his philosophy was influenced by what was being practice at the time religious wise and other magical practices also included in on nature, Empedocles goes on to explain how the force and combinations of roots exert their influence on zoogyny. Humans, plants, and animals went from formless to having a defined form such as a neck, or dual but separate limbs, eyes,

sexual reproduction. When I read this, it reminded me of what biology teaches something an event called the Cambrian explosion, and it's a point in time about five hundred and forty million years ago if you adhere to that right, that all complex life forms suddenly appear in the fossil record.

And so it goes from these formless type organisms to all of a sudden, a period of rapid evolution where dual but separate limbs appear, compound eyes or a peer, and sexual reproduction among the different life forms or physiological features of these life forms appear on the planet.

of Empedocles's philosophy, and this is a considered fragment. There is a decree of necessity, ratified long ago by God's eternal and sealed by broad oaths, that whenever one, in error from fear, defiles his his own limbs, having by his era made false the oath he swore damons to whom life long lasting is appointed, he wanders from the blessed ones for three times countless years, being born throughout the time, as all kinds of mortal forms, exchanging one

hard way of life for another. For the force of air pursues him into the sea, and the sea spits him out onto the Earth's surface. Earth casts him in the rays of the blazing sun, and sun into the eddies of air. One takes him from another, and all abhore him. I too, am now one of these, in exile from the gods, and a wanderer, having put my trust in raving strife. Traditionally, Plutarch's attribution of this fragment to on nature was assumed to be incorrect and was

placed in the Purifications instead. However, from the eva of the Strausburg Fragments, it seems that it may be Plutarch was correct, since they contain a description of the details of the sin, and Pedoicles accuses himself of and in the fragments of lines five through six, alas that merciless day did not destroy me sooner before I devise with

my clause terrible deeds for the sake of God. In Fragment one fifteen, and Pedoicles describes himself as a daimon, a being to whom long life has been granted, who has committed the sin of meat eating and bloodshed, and consequently is punished by banishment from the company of the immortal gods. The banishment lasts three myriads of years, either

three times countless years of thirty thousand years. In either case, he must atone for his sin by being repeatedly reincarnated into all the different living forms of the different orders of nature Fragment one seventeen. Elsewhere, he says, for before now, I have been at some time a boy and a girl, bush bird, and a mute fish in the sea Fragment

one forty six. There are others two numbered among the daemons, those who at the end come among men on earth as prophets, minstrels, physicians and leaders, and from these they arise as God's highest in honor. Now that that actually find that line very impressive, because he really nailed it for the twenty twenties. Wow.

return to god like status. These incarnations form a ladder, with the highest order being the laurel and the Lion. I think we've heard that somewhere before, as we have recently too. This claim of his to being a daemon was more of a reference to being a divine being who was who was banished and an almost regression of lift by being forced to suffer and endure successive incarnations in a pure factory journey of all the different orders of nature and elements of the cosmos, as you mentioned,

but now as human. He believed he had a chief, the final and perfect state of nature, and would therefore be reborn next as an immortal. Almost like you know, you have to start off at the bottom of the restaurant and then work your way up to be an owner.

This is often interpreted as a poem focused on the theme of ritual purification, or possibly a poem that contains all his extensive religious and ethical contemplations. Now we're going to get to psychology, and I wanted to backtrack a little on the quote alas that the pitiless day did not destroy me earlier, which has been referred to as the modified nomic wisdom of not to be born is best to make light of Empedocles' transgression of meatating.

you remember this when we covered Pythagoras. But Pythagoras and his followers were his cult. We're strictly against the consuming of beans because they believed that it contained human souls.

light streams out of our eyes and touches them. This became the fundamental basis on which later Greek philosophers and mathematicians like Euclid would construct some of the most important theories of light, vision, and optics. Knowledge is explained by the principle that elements in the things outside us are perceived by the corresponding elements in ourselves. Like is known by like. The whole body is full of pores, and hence respiration takes place over the whole frame in the

organs of sense. These pores are especially adapted to receive the influences which are continually rising from bodies around us. Thus perception occurs. In vision. Certain particles go forth from the eye to meet similar particles given forth from the object, and the resultant contact constitutes vision. Perception is not merely a passive reflection of external objects, and Pedocles caused a

sensation by explaining how Eyite sight worked. It was one of the first ideas Regarding how human vision works, Empedocles reasoned that the Greek goddess Aphrodite had lit a fire in the eye, and vision was possible because light rays from this fire emanated from the eye, illuminating objects around us. According to Empedocles, the eyes were like a lantern, guiding one through the dark, sounds familiar. Within Each eye blazed a specific kind of fire, This mesmerizing fire of the

goddess Aphrodite. Her magical flames burned brightly without ever causing injury or pain, casting forth an inner light that radiated outwards from the eye until it encountered something. And whatever the light touched you instantly saar with clarity. The inner light projected by your ocular lantern reached around you like delicate sensory tentacles, exploring the world in profound detail. Sight

was not merely a passive observation. It was the beautiful consequence of your light connecting with whatever you'll looked at.

And then this is from some stuff that he has in Pedoicles focuses on the senses when he talks about the way the eye functions, just as when someone before taking the road constructs a lamp for himself a flame, a flame of gleaming fire in a stormy night, fitting as protection against all winds, lantern casings that scatter the breath of the buffeting winds, while the light finer as it is leaping through to the outside, shines on the

threshold with its unimpaired beams. Thus, after Aphrodite had fitted the Aggian fire enclosed in the membranes with pegs of love, she poured round Eye Corry in filmy veils. These kept off the depth of water flowing around them, but allowed the fire to pass through to the outside. And that is a finer and that it is finer where they had been bored through the marvelous funnels. And Pedocles's theory resonated with many of his fellow Greeks, but not everyone

was convinced, and it did raise some questions. One thing that I was thinking of, like even as I was reading this, and even some of the other things that you I was just talking about, I have shown it before. I've shown it on the show multiple times and then all the other podcasts when we're talking about the eye.

But back in the Ice series, I did show the birth of Venus, and I believe the birth of Venus, which could be interchangeable with Aphrodite, is an artistic depiction of the eyeball, which kind of makes me wonder if in Pedocles was doing the same thing with this idea which he's trying to describe with her and like her dancing could be the hyloid canal bending or a flame flickering, you know. I wonder if the flame flickering is even a way to show you that the hyloid canal could

be bending. Another thing I find interesting, Alison Crowley did develop an order called the Lamp of the Invisible Light inspired Theochian inspired by the Enochian system while he was in Mexico. This was after his This was even after his initiation into the second order of the harmetic Order of the Golden Dawn by Mathers, but before his work in either the AA or the OTO, so it is

in between that time. But I mean, there's there's a few things that I do think, in my Opinionley Croley know who this guy was, and I think he was impressed by his work.

external light in. External light was made by light sources such as lamp and the sun, which was different, But he's still saying that there's an internal light emanating through Right In the time of Tamais, Plato wrote that eyes emanated a substance akin to the light of everyday life, that flowed in a stream, smooth and dense. By itself, this stream of vision was inert, but the catalytic light

of an external and kindred fire transformed it. It could then diffuse the motions of whatever it touched, causing the perception, which we call sight. Plato used his optical model to explain how you saw your face in the mirror. You saw your face because of the interplay between the internal light from your eye, some external light, and a third kind of light being given off spontaneously by your face.

Sit happened when your vision stream ran into the light being given off by the objects you were looking at. Your vision stream smacked into the light coming off of your face precisely on the surface of the mirror, and on that surface you would then see your face.

that situation, it is representing the optic nerve, especially when you're standing in front of a tent that looks like the optic nerve with the retna vein or artery that runs right up it. You see that too, you know. And another thing to add, you know, to even add, not to say too much, but like you will get your thumb pumped twelve times while you're standing over there. And the optic nerve is also one of the twelve

cranial nerves, you know. And when you're looking at the eye, you can see where the eye splits from the vitreous humor to the ocuous humor and where the lens and the riserata are, and when you're looking at that part of the eye, as silly as it sounds, can start to look like stuff in nature, like an upside down flower petal or a seashell where then you can start seeing trees in there. So you know, it's just like a little thing that I was really wondering about with

that whole thing, and it's a little out there. It's a little bit for you to for you to think about with that one. But uh yeah, basically, I mean we're pretty much done with talking about demand. There is a few fragments here that I would like to re off, you know, and then we will wrap it up. So here's some of them that I just thought were rather

interesting to hear. More, Will I tell THEE two there is no birth of all things mortal, nor end in ruinous death, but mingling only and an interchange of mixed there is, and birth is but its name with men. I just find that interesting, basically saying that to me, there's no birth or no.

fine and thin. I'm assuming. I mean, that does really sound a lot like how he's describing how he thinks the eyeballs were wanted to throw that. One thing I did find interesting is that, like, I don't know if these fragments are actually like the way they're numbered in the book, but like from what I just read, it was from eighty four to eighty eight, and I just always find those numbers are very interesting. And let me

continue reading. The gentle flame of eye did chance to get only a little of the earthen part from which by Aphrodite, the divine, the untiring eyes were formed. Thus Aphrodity wrought with bolts of love. One vision of two eyes is born. Oh, I liked all of that. I thought that was pretty interesting, and I thought it was just all the ways to include some of his fragment pieces talking about the eyes in Aphrodite. So that's all I got.

He was a healer who specialized in ecstasy and had the ability to access others states of consciousness at will. It is said that Empedocles had come to realize his immortality by discovering his divinity. He went on to record his teachings in the form of poetry, which have been considered as a powerful way to direct people towards experiencing their own divine nature, freeing people of the illusions that buying them, and bring them to an immediate awareness of their own immortal soul.

world today. It seems like an occult. It seems to pop up quite otenly. Yeah, oh yeah, that's something to think about my opinion for sure. Yeah, but again, thank you Lisa so much for finally we got Empedocles done and we killed it. And I'm really I really think that was not to bragg at the pattist selves on the back, but this is going to be probably the longest and most comprehensive work done on this man that you're gonna find on YouTube and probably podcasts. Yes, for sure,

we scoured it. I don't think we saw anything over thirty eight minutes in the Everything was pretty much the same thing. So yes, yes, I'm really hoping that people get something out of this and that they will look into the man's work, you know, because I think it's very important to know who he is. And again, like Lisa said at the beginning of the show, how many times was this guy always coming up when we're looking at other people? He influenced a lot of occultists in

alchemists and scientists. Absolutely, so all right, that is the end of another amazing I'm just gonna say it myselfself. Another amazing Occult Reject episode. Yeah, and thank you very much, Lisa, and uh yeah, thank you everybody for listening. And until the next one, everybody be well later