#divine madness

[flankerclinger0a]

“Oh, sweet boy, sweet, helpless boy, you don’t deserve this.” It sounded like real remorse in Whumper’s voice.

Whumpee straightened, their back against the wall. “Then…why do you keep doing this?”

Whumper’s smile didn’t reach their eyes. “I enjoy it. Simple as that.”

[shisasan]

The Love Poems of Rumi, The Mythical Lover First published 1273

[lasomber]

Mr Robot 2.04 "eps2.2_init_1.asec” / Wikipedia, "Divine Madness" / Ghirlandaio’s “The Last Supper"

[luciosfanpage]

[alephskoteinos]

One thing I think I must credit Plato for is the fact that he apparently had no truck with our modern division between "the Apollonian" as rationality and "the Dionysian" as esctasy or mania. He instead associated both Apollo and Dionysus with frenzy or mania. In Plato's Phaedrus, Socrates describes four kinds of divine madness. One of them comes from Apollo, and another comes from Dionysus. Apollo's divine madness was the mania of prophesy, while Dionysus' divine madness was related to religious mysteries, or at least more particularly his own mysteries.

That's one thing that's genuinely admirable, or rather relatable even, about Platonism: in Platonism, the gods are supposed to make you sort of mad, because madness, of a certain sort, means knowledge. Which means that divine inspiration and knowledge are linked with personal disinhibition.

[house-of-hermes]

Divine Inspiration: Theia Mania

[Part 1 out of 3]

Foreword Most of present-day knowledge of theia mania (otherwise known as divine madness) in Ancient Greece specifically comes from Plato's "Phaedrus," his dialogue with Socrates. Plato especially, was an eccentric—his ideas often differed from his contemporaries. And as such, we must also acknowledge that Plato's words may not always accurately reflect the beliefs of the time¹. Scholars have long since debated whether the concept of "divine mania" (both in its entirely and specific aspects) existed in ancient Greek society, or if it was the mental creation of Plato himself.

I cannot hope to answer that. Rather, I aim to condense and highlight some of aspects of divine mania I wished people talked more about. This series will cites Yulia Ustinova's "Divine Mania: Alteration of the Consciousness in Ancient Greece," heavily, and I recommend that people interested in the topic check it out.

Plato was the first to define theia (divine) mania into what we know it now. He provided four succinct categories which highlight a wide array of situations:

Prophetic (foreseeing the future),

Ritual/Telestic (ritualistic release),

Poetic (artistic inspiration), and

Erotic (intense emotions/passion)

In order to properly understand each category of mania, we must first recognize that the word "mania," here is more akin to the word inspiration. To experience divine mania is to be divinely inspired—and the category (prophetic, telestic, poetic, erotic) varies depending on how that inspiration manifests in the real world. Terms such as "mania" or "madness" paint a picture of anguish, despair and agony which isn't always reflected in ancient depictions. Plato quotes Socrates as saying:

"It might be so if madness were simply an evil; but there is also a madness which is a divine gift, and the source of the chiefest blessings granted to men. For prophecy is a madness, and the prophetess at Delphi and the priestesses at Dodona when out of their senses have conferred great benefits on Hellas, both in public and private life, but when in their senses few or none.²"

The Pythia at Delphi and the Priestess at Dodona were known to be "mad," and yet people traveled far and wide to receive an Oracle from them. That's because their "madness" was a sign of the Theoi.

And at its core, that's what divine mania is—it's a connection with the Theoi.

Sources [1] Ustinova, "Divine Mania...in Ancient Greece," 2. [2] Plato, "Phaedrus," (trans. Jowett)

[thenocturnearchive]

My soul spoke to me in a whisper, urgently and alarmingly: S: “Words, words, do not make too many words. Be silent and listen: have you recognized your madness and do you admit it? Have you noticed that all your foundations are completely mired in madness? Do you not want to recognize your madness and welcome it in a friendly manner? You wanted to accept everything. So accept madness too. Let the light of your madness shine, and it will suddenly dawn on you. Madness is not to be despised and not to be feared, but instead you should give it life.” I: “Your words sound hard and the task you set me is difficult.” S: “If you want to find paths, you should also not spurn madness, since it makes up such a great part of your nature.” I: “I didn’t know that this is so.” S: “Be glad that you can recognize it, for you will thus avoid becoming its victim. Madness is a special form of the spirit and clings to all teachings and philosophies, but even more to daily life, since life itself is full of craziness and at bottom utterly illogical. Man strives toward reason only so that he can make rules for himself. Life itself has no rules. That is its mystery and its unknown law. What you call knowledge is an attempt to impose something comprehensible on life.” I: “That all sounds very desolate, but nevertheless it prompts me to disagree.” S: “You have nothing to disagree with—you are in the madhouse.” - C.G. Jung, The Red Book, Nox Tertia, cap. XVI, p. 347

[child-of-earth-and-starry-heaven]

Debauchery, music, endless Wild dancing and singing, Losing oneself to the gods, And giving in to the Euphoric sensation Of control slowly slipping Through one’s fingers, Liberating one, releasing one, Dizzying one, drowning one in the Deep waters of delusions, Sanity harmonising deliriously With madness —L.S.