sdi: Oil painting of the Heliconian Muse whispering inspiration to Hesiod. (Default)
sdi ([personal profile] sdi) wrote 2021-12-29 09:00 pm (UTC)

Nock's commentary, again: "It is not stated here, but it follows from [Ch. X], that reasonable and unreasonable soul exist simultaneously in a man; this is a commonplace of Hellenistic philosophy. In Iamblichus also it is complementary to the general belief in two kinds of soul; so in the Poimandres man is assigned a dual nature. The struggle of the reasonable soul and the unreasonable is again a commonplace."

The Pœmandres is an important Hermetic text. I read it a few years ago, but remember little about it.

I will note that the struggle between one's divine ("good") and mortal ("evil") halves was a big part of my Christian upbringing, too. Personally, I find the whole thing baffling, and it's a significant component of my apostasy.

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