GIORDANO BRUNOBY RW:. RICHARD DECESARE

. THE PHILOSOPHER BORN IN 1548 IN NOLA, PART

OF THE PROVINCE OF NAPLES, ITALY.

ONE OF THE GREAT MINDS OF THE 16TH CENTURY: A SCIENTIST, PHILOSOPHER, POET, DRAMATIST.

AND MAGUS.

BEFORE THE MODERN SCIENTIFIC METHOD; BEFORE THE INVENTION OF THE TELESCOPE, BEFORE CALCULUS…

RELYING ON INDUCTIVE REASONING AND INSPIRED BY RENEWAL OF THE WESTERN ESOTERIC TRADITION…

HE POSITED GROUND BREAKING THEORIES ON THE NATURE AND RELATIONSHIP OF GOD AND THE UNIVERSE.

HIS THINKING REFLECTED THE ADVENTEROUSNESS OF THE TIMES.

THOSE TIMES HADN’T QUITE CAUGHT UP WITH HIM, HOWEVER.

HIS THEORIES ON THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE HAVE BEEN PROVEN CORRECT.

THEY WERE CONTRARY TO ESTABLISHED BELIEFS; HE WAS DECLARED A HERETIC AND WAS EXECUTED BY BURNING AT THE STAKE ON ASH WEDNESDAY, 1600.

REVERED BY ALL MASONS;

GRAND ORIENT OF ITALY’S HIGHEST HONOR BEARS HIS NAME.

HIS WORK INSPIRED GALILEO, LEIBNIZ, HARVEY, AMONG OTHERS.

A FAMOUS STATUE OF HIM OVERLOOKS THE CAMPO DEI FIORI IN ROME . THE MASONS OF THE GRAND ORIENT OF ITALY ALONG WITH STUDENTS AND REPUBLICANS SUPPORTING THE NEW CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY OF ITALY HAD IT ERECTEDIN 1885.

IT DIRECTLY FACES THE VATICAN

NAPOLI

CLASSICAL WORLD NEVER FAR FROM THE PRESENT:

Homer’s Sirens (Sorrento); Odysseus’ Enchantress, Circe (Promontorio San

Felice Circeo); Virgil’s Mouth of Hades/Dante’s Mouth of Hell: (Lake

Avernus); Work Shop of Vulcan/Hephaestus, (Vesuvius); Cumaen Sybil (Cumae). Isis as the River God of the Nile (The Body of Naples)

THE ‘NOLAN PHILOSOPHY’ FORMED THROUGH LIFE EXPERIENCE IN NOLA AND NAPLES, INCLUDED PERSONAL BELIEFS, NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGIOUS VIEWS.

PERSONAL BELIEFS:

“THINGS ARE PERFECT THE WAY THEY ARE.”

“BE NEITHER TOO HAPPY NOR UNHAPPY.”

“ ALWAYS LOOK OVER YOUR SHOULDER.”

THIS HE DID AS HE MOVED FROM PLACE TO PLACE ONE STEP AHEAD OF THE RELIGIOUS AUTHORITIES.

BRUNO WAS A PRODUCT OF THE RENNAISANCE, WHICH EMPHASIZED FREEDOM OF THOUGHT. SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION, HUMANISM AND THE RE-DISCOVERY OF CLASSICAL CULTURE AND ESOTERIC TRADITIONS WERE PART OF THIS NEW FREEDOM.

COSIMO de MEDICI AND HIS PLATONIC ACADEMY BROUGHT PLATONISM AND HERMETICISM TO THE WEST. HE IMPORTED RARE PUBLICATIONS INTO FLORENCE FOR TRANSLATION BY HIS PROTEGES. THIS WAS THE TOUCHSTONE OF THE RENAISSANCE AND THE REFORMATION.

MARSILLIO FACINO TRANSLATED THE WORK OF PLATO AND LATER HERMES TRISMEGISTOS’ “CORPUS HERMETICUS” INTO LATIN.

COUNT GIOVANI PICO DELLA MIRANDOLA TRANSLATED THE KABALA INTO LATIN.

MICHELANGELO BUONAROTI RECEIVED SUBSTANTIAL INSTRUCTION IN THE KABALA. HIS SISTINE CEILING, WHICH INCLUDES NO NEW TESTAMENT FIGURES, INCLUDES NUMBEROUS KABALISTIC AND HERMETIC REFERENCES.

BRUNO WAS DEEPLY INSPIRED BY THESE WORKS AS WELL AS THE EPICURIAN PHILOSOPHY OF LUCRETIUS, WHOSE “DE RERUM NATURA” WAS A PARTIAL BASIS FOR THE NOLAN PHILOSOPHY. LIKE “HERMETICUS” IT WAS BROUGHT TO FLORENCE AS A FORGOTTEN TEXT.

THE RENAISSANCE: ROOTS OF A MAGUS

STIRRINGS OF DOUBT HE GREW UP A SUBJECT OF THE KINGDOM OF SPAIN. ENTERED A

DOMINICAN SEMINARY (SAN DOMENICO MAGGIORE). DOMINICANS: RIGIDITY & ORTHODOXY; ROOTING OUT

HERETICAL IDEAS. IN SPAIN AND ITALY THEY WERE THE NUCLEUS OF THE OFFICE OF THE INQUISITION.

MENTORED BY KINDRED SPIRITS (Giles of Viterbo and Teofilo da Vairano). DESPITE INSTITUTIONAL EMPHASIS ON SCHOLASTICISM (ARISTOTLE, AQUINAS) HE WAS SHOWN OPENNESS TO DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHICAL AND RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS (E.G., PLATONISM)

ARISTOTLE: ‘GEOCENTRIC’ VS. ‘HELIOCENTRIC’ UNIVERSE. OFFICIAL CHURCH POSITION FOR 1,700 YEARS).

16TH CENTURY: PROTESTANT REFORMATION, EXPANSION OF AGGRESSIVE ISLAM. PROLIFERATION OF ESOTERIC WRITINGS.

CHURCH RESPONSE: THE INQUISITION’, CENSORSHIP/INSTITUTIONAL CONTROL, INDEX OF PROHIBITED BOOKS.

A PROTESTANT IN A PRIEST’S HABIT

REBUFFED BY PRIEST FOR ONLY DISPLAYING A SIMPLE CRUCIFIX IN HIS ROOM. (TOO ‘PROTESTANT LOOKING’).

HARBORED DOUBTS ABOUT CATHOLIC ORTHODOXY: ‘HOLY TRINITY’, DEVOTION TO INTERCESSIONARY SAINTS “A WASTE OF TIME” AND A HOLD-OVER FROM THE POLYTHEISTIC FORMATS OF THE ANCIENT GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGICAL PANTHEON.

BELIEVED IN A TRANSCENDENT GOD, ALL MERCIFUL AND ALL LOVING: ALL PEOPLE BASICALLY WORSHIPPED THE SAME GOD.

SUBSCRIBED TO THE PLATONIC NOTION THAT THE ROUTE TO THE GOD-HEAD WAS THROUGH THE INTELLECT. (GNOSIS VS. SALVATION)

BELIEVED THAT HIS PERSONAL BELIEFS WERE COMPATIBLE WITH THE BASIC TENANTS OF THE ROMAN CHURCH.

COMPLETED HIS ORDINATION, DONNED DOMINICAN HABIT. CAUGHT WITH A CONDEMNED PAMPHLET BY ERASMUS ON

CHRISTIANITY AND THE HERMETIC TRADITION. A FORMAL COMPLAINT WAS FILED AGAINST HIM. DECIDED TO LEAVE SAN DOMENICO MAGGIORE AS THE INQUISTION WAS NOW ON ITALIAN SOIL.

A NEW CAREER: PERIPATETIC SCHOLAR AND

MAGICIAN DEVELOPED SYSTEM OF

MNEMONICS FOR EXPANDED MEMORY FUNCTION. CELEBRATED IN THE COURSE OF HIS TRAVELS (LIGURIA, FRANCE) EXCELLED IN DEMONSTRATIONS AND COMPETITIONS.

BASED ON A SYSTEM BY THE CATALONIAN RAMON LLUL—“LLULIAN” WHEELS.

REPUTATION AS A “MAGICIAN”. TRADITION OF MAGI (LEARNED MEN, EMPLOYING LOGIC, RATIONAL ANALYSIS).

KING HENRI III OF FRANCE BELIEVED HIM TO BE A MAGICIAN, DEPLOYING SUPERNATURAL FORCES.

MEMORY SYSTEM RECALLING VAST AMOUNTS OF INFORMATION. REQUIRED SUBSTANTIAL PREPARATORY WORK.

‘MEMORY PALACES’: CATEGORIZATION OF INFORMATION FOR MENTAL FILING SYSTEM. (BEGININGS OF HIS NATURAL PHILOSOPHY WORK.) MOST PEOPLE FOUND IT EXTREMELY TIME CONSUMING.

DEVELOPED A FASCINATION FOR ASTRONOMY, WHICH WAS SLOWLY DEVELOPING FROM ASTROLOGY.

HIS REPUTATION AS A “MAGICIAN” PLUS HIS DOMINICAN CONNECTIONS HELPED HIM TRAVEL ABOUT EUROPE.

BEGAN HIS PERIPATETIC CAREER AS TEACHER/PHILOSOPHER/MAGICIAN, MAKING ACQUAINTENCE OF KINGS AND QUEENS AND OTHER INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE.

TRAVELLED TO FRANCE, SWITZERLAND, ENGLAND, GERMANY AND BOHEMIA. TRAVEL WAS COSTLY AND DIFFICULT AND PROHIBITED TO MOST PEOPLE. HE FANCIED HIMSELF AS A “MASTER ARTIFICER’

IN FRANCE, HE WROTE TWO INFLUENTIAL WORKS: ON “THE INFINITE, THE UNIVERSE AND THE WORLDS”, AND “CAUSE, PRINCIPLE AND UNITY”. THESE WORKS SUMMARIZED HIS THINKING ON NATURAL PHILOSOPHY AND WORLD SYSTEMS (GOD, CREATION AND THE UNIVERSE).

THE NOLAN PHILOSOPHY

AT THE END OF 16TH CENTURY AT LEAST FIVE MODELS OF THE UNIVERSE WERE EXTANT: THE TRADITIONAL ARISTOTELIAN/PTOLEMAIC MODEL

(‘GEOCENTRIC’)

THE COPERNICAN

THE TYCHONIAN

THE DIGGES.

BRUNO’S SYSTEM EXPANDED ON BOTH THE COPERNICAN AND DIGGES’ SYSTEMS, BUT INVOLVES AN INFINITELY LARGE UNIVERSE AND INFINITE WORLDS, IN WHICH EVERY VISIBLE STAR WAS A SUN OR PLANET LIKE OUR OWN, EACH OF WHICH COULD BE POPULATED WITH ITS OWN PLANTS, ANIMALS AND PEOPLE.

This system features four accurate insights:

FIRST, THE UNIVERSE IN INFINITELY LARGE. (DIAMETER IS, MINIMALLY, 46 BILLION LIGHT YEARS).

SECOND, THE UNIVERSE IS ISOTROPIC— “…THE CENTER IS NOWHERE, THE CIRCUMFRENCE IS EVERYWHERE.”

THIRD, DISTANT PLANETS ROTATE AROUND DISTANT STARS AND ARE COMPOSED OF THE SAME BASIC MATERIAL AS OURS, ALTHOUIGH THE MIX OF THE MATERIALS IS DIFFERENT.

THESE PLANETS RECEIVE LIGHT FROM THESE NEARBY STARS AND THUS COMPRISE OTHER SOLAR SYSTEMS.

SUB-PARTICLES/ATOMS: THE UNIVERSE IS INFINITELY SMALL AS WELL AS INFINITELY LARGE.

EXPANSION OF CLASSIC ELEMENTAL THEORY OF THE UNIVERSE.

EXTENSIONS AND ELABORATIONS OF DEMOCRITUS, LUCRETIUS. AND HERMES TRISMEGISTOS (“THE WORLD SOUL” OF EACH PLANET )

INTELLIGIBILITY VS. SENSIBILITY. REASON IS MORE RELIABLY EFFECTIVE THAN THE SENSES (E.G., DISTANCE OF THE HORIZON).

THIS ACCORDS WITH PLATO’S BELIEF IN THE SUPREMACY OF REASON OVER THE SENSES.

IMPLICATIONS OF BRUNO’S THEORY OF INFINITE WORLDS:

SCANDALIZING THE AUTHORITIES

Most problematic was the theory of multiple, inhabited worlds beyond the familiar seven planets orbiting the earth.

If these multiple worlds were capable of sustaining life what does that portend for Man, in whose likeness we see the face of God?

What does this mean for the special relationship between Christ the Son and mankind? Does this relationship extend to other life forms?

With Man’s God-given inheritance over the Earth and all of nature, how can the Earth not be the center of the universe?

THERE WERE EXTRAORDINARY IMPLICATION FOR CHRISTIANITY: NICHOLAS OF CUSA: THERE WAS AN INFINITE GULF

BETWEEN GOD AND THE UNIVERSE. (INFINITY BETWEEN GOD AND INFINITY.) ONLY SUPRA-BEING (I.E., CHRIST) CAN BRIDGE THIS.

BRUNO: INFINITE ACTION (GOD) AND INFINITE POTENTIAL (MATTER) ARE THE SAME SINCE THE UNIVERSE IS INFINITE.

THIS UNIIFIES CREATOR AND CREATED, AND IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO SEPARATE THE TWO.

THE ESSENTIAL ASPECT OF THE UNIVERSE IS UNITY AND GOD IS THE UNIVERSE.

GOD IS NOT EXTERNAL TO US; THE DIVINE IS WITHIN US. THEREFORE NO MEDIATION (I.E., CHRIST) WAS NECESSARY

BETWEEN THE DIVINE AND HIS CREATION.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CHRISTIANITY

MORE OF BRUNO’S RELIGIOUS BELIEFS WERE REFLECTED IN HIS “EXPULSION OF THE TRIUMPHANT BEAST. ” HE REVEALS SYMPATHY FOR THE LOSS OF THE ANCIENT EGYPTIAN (AGRICULTURAL) RELIGION.

OUR FOREFATHERS WERE NOT FOOLS: THEY PRAYED TO THE SEA GOD FOR FISH, TO THE GOD OF THE GRAIN FOR ABUNDANT HARVEST.

ECHONG HERODOTUS, HE DEVELOPS ANTHROPOLOGICAL APPROACH IN ANALYZING THE FOUNDATION OF THE ANCIENT AGRICULTURAL RELIGIONS.

THIS IS FRAZER BEFORE FRAZER.

HE CRITICIZED RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS FOR THE CONSTANT WARS TEARING APART EUROPE.

THE POPE IS THE “TRIUMPHANT BEAST”.

NOLAN PHILOSOPHY: FURTHER IMPLICATIONS FOR RELIGION AND CHRISTIANITY

THIS GOT HIM INTO A LOT OF TROUBLE

. THE END OF THE ROAD HE WAS BEFRIENDED BY LIBERAL PHILOSOPHERS AND ‘MAGI’ IN

ENGLAND (E.G., JOHN DEE –A LATER ROSICRUCIAN) BUT HIS THEORIES WERE TOO RADICAL FOR THE RELATIVELY CONSERVATIVE ANGLICANS.

HE HAD DIFFICULITIES IN HIS PRESENTATIONS AND LECTURES WITH THE UNRULY BRITISH. HE WAS MOCKED DURING SEVERAL LECTURES. AFTER FAILING TO SECURE A PERMANENT POSITION HE MOVED ON TO BOHEMIA AFTER AN INTRODUCTION TO HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR RUDOLPH II.

HE MISSED ITALY VERY MUCH.

HE THOUGHT THAT HIS TRANSGRESSIONS WERE FORGOTEN. PADUA & VENICE SEEMED GOOD PLACES FOR A RETURN, BEING INDEPENDENT OF ROME IN MOST MATTERS.

HE RECEIVED A REQUEST FROM COUNT MOCENIGO, A VENETION NOBLEMAN WHO WAS INTERESTED IN ALCHEMY, TO TEACH HIM HIS MEMORY SYSTEM.

AFTER VISITING PADUA HE TRAVELLED TO VENICE AND LODGED WITH COUNT MOCENIGO ON THE GRAND CANAL.

GROWING FRUSTRATED, EXPECTING SUPERNATURAL POWERS AND SEEKING TO AVOID TEDIUM OF BRUNO’S MNEMONIC SYSTEM, MOCENIGO DEMANDED A MAGICAL SYSTEM HE COULD EASILY UTILIZE.

BRUNO COULD NOT DELIVER ON SUCH AN UNREASONABLE REQUEST.

MOCENIGO REPORTED BRUNO TO THE ROMAN INQUISITION WHICH HAD A WARRANT OUT FOR BRUNO BECAUSE OF EARLY INDESCRETION

(ERASMUS PAMPLET).

BRUNO WAS IMPRISONED, INTERROGATED AND THEN TRANSFERRED TO THE OFFICE OF THE INQUISITION IN ROME .

IN ADDIITON TO POSSESSING CONDEMNED READING MATERIAL, MOCENIGO TESTIFIED TO BRUNO’S HIGHLY HERETICAL BELIEFS.

UNDER THE INQUISITION ONLY ONE ACCUSATION WAS SUFFICIENT FOR DETENTION, UNLIKE ROMAN LAW (2 WITNESSES).

HE WAS DETAINED IN A ROMAN PRISON FOR EIGHT YEARS (1592-1600). HE DEFENDED HIS POSITIONS AND AVOIDED FINAL SENTENCING OVER THIS TIME.

ORIGINALLY DISPOSED TO RECANTING, HE REALIZED THAT ANY CONFESSIONS TO THE TRIBUNAL WERE GOING TO BE DISTORTED. HE WOULD BE CONFESSING TO THINGS HE WAS NEVER GUILTY OF.

HE AGREED TO HARBORING DOUBTS AND UNORTHODOX SPECUALTIONS, BUT THIS WAS NOT HERESY. HE COULD NOT RECANT ON HIS BELIEFS IN THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE. THIS WAS SCIENTIFIC FACT.

POPE CLEMENT VII DECLARED HIM A HERETIC. HE WAS SENTENCED TO DEATH.

HE WAS DEFROCKED, STRIPPED OF ALL PRIESTY DISTINCTIONS AND DEGREES.

“YOU WILL HAVE GREATER DIFFICULTY CARRYING THIS OUT THEN I WILL IN UNDERGOING IT”.

ON FEBRUARY 17, 1600 (ASH WEDNESDAY) HE WAS BROUGHT TO CAMPO DEI FIORI. HIS CLOTHES WERE REMOVED, A SPIKE WAS DRIVEN THOUGH HIS TONGUE; HE WAS SHOWED A CRUCIFIX AND THEN WAS SET ON FIRE.

HIS LEGACY AND SIGNIFICANCE TO FREEMASONS

CONCEIVED OF CALCULUS WHICH WA S FORMERLY CREATED BY LEIBNIZ, A ROSICRUCIAN 40 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH.

HE VISUALIZED THE HUMAN CIRCULATORY SYSTEM, BASED ON HERMETIC PRINCIPLES, WHICH WAS LATER DEVELOPED BY HARVEY (ALSO A LATER ROSICRUCIAN).

TIMELINE OF BRUNO’S LIFE ((1548- 1600): HIGH RENAISSANCE, PROTESTENTISM & THE COUNTER REFORMATION. CRISIS OF FAITH THROUGHOUT EUROPE. RENEWED INTEREST IN THE ESOTERIC TRADITION AND THE RISE OF SECRET SOCIETIES.

HALT IN CHURCH CONSTRUCTION AND INTEREST IN OCCULT PHILOSOPHIES ENCOURAGES ADMISSION OF NON-OPERATIVE MASONS IN STONEMASON GUILDS AND MASON COMPANIES (Haliwell Poem 1598). LATER ROSICRUCIAN INFLUENCE.

LEGACY, CONTINUED

SCHAW, OVERSEER OF KINGS’ WORKS (JAMES I) REQUIRES IN HIS STATUTES “TESTS OF MEMORY AND KNOWLEDGE ” FOR MASONIC CANDIDATES (1598) AND CHANGES THE FOCUS OF MASONRY FOREVER. “OLD CHARGES” CONTAIN HERMETIC REFERENCES.

BRUNO’S LIFE REVEALS THE PROGRESSION AND CROSS-FERTALIZATION OF IDEAS IN THE 16TH AND EARLY 17TH CENTURIES AND HOW THIS AFFECTED THE DEVELOPMENT OF FREEMASONRY.

HE ADVOCATED RESPECT FOR ALL PEOPLE, CULTURES AND RELIGIONS. RELIGION SHOULD DEAL WITH MORALITY, NOT SCIENCE.

HE DISPLAYED COURAGE IN EXPLORING THE TRUTH IN DEFIANCE OF INSTITUTIONAL OPPOSITION. HE IS IMPORTANT NOT BECAUSE HE WAS A HERETIC BUT AN EMBODIMENT OF RATIONAL THOUGHT AND SELF DISCOVERY.