Abstract
Iamblichus' On the Mysteries is a sharply polemical treatise written by a platonic philosopher and theurgist exasperated at the profound misunderstanding of his former teacher, Porphyry, concerning their common tradition. The divine way of life that had been the inheritance of Platonists and Pythagoreans was being lost, according to Iamblichus, due to mistakes in metaphysical thinking and - more significantly - the exaggerated importance given to abstract thought over the direct experience of the gods. The light of Iamblichus' positive view of matter and embodiment, and because the gods - as henads - are revealed precisely in their concrete particularity, he would have encouraged theurgists to receive the gods in their bodies. For Iamblichus, our aesthetic experience is not an obstacle to deification; it is, in fact, the only way to embody the god. Keywords:aesthetic; god; Iamblichus; platonists; Porphyry; pythagoreans; theurgist
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