My second article on Philo's preeminent mystical experience, seeing God.
Abstract
For Philo of Alexandria,
seeing God represents the pinnacle of human experience. This essay examines
three important aspects of that experience: the effectual means of the vision,
the methods employed in evoking it, and the function and influence of Philo’s
mysticism in the experience. While in some contexts Philo emphasizes the
singular role of God in empowering the contemplative ascent and affording the
vision, many others highlight the part played by human effort. Philo’s accounts
of the practices that evoke the ascent and vision of God are also varied.
Though Platonic philosophical contemplation and the practice of virtue are
occasionally implicated, in most cases exegetical text work is instrumental.
Finally, while some have attempted to divorce Philo’s mystical praxis from the
vision of God, contending that “seeing” is simply a metaphor for “knowing”
(i.e., “achieving a rational awareness of God’s existence”), a number of
factors indicate the importance of Philo’s mysticism in the experience and
suggest that an actual, mystical visual encounter underlies and informs these
textual representations.
