The mystical poem of Parmenides

Parmenides of Elea, a pre-Socratic philosopher born around 515 BCE, stands as one of ancient Greece’s most enigmatic and influential thinkers, particularly for his contributions to metaphysics and mysticism. His only surviving work, a hexameter poem conventionally titled On Nature, blends philosophical rigor with vivid mystical imagery, presenting a vision that transcends ordinary perception. Likely composed in the early 5th century BCE, the poem is divided into two main parts: the Proem, which describes a mystical journey, and the subsequent sections, the Way of Truth and Way of Opinion, which articulate his revolutionary metaphysical doctrines. Parmenides’ work, preserved in fragments through later sources like Simplicius and Sextus Empiricus, marks a pivotal moment in Western thought, with its mystical vision of Being challenging conventional notions of reality and influencing philosophers like Plato and Heidegger.

In the Proem, Parmenides describes a transformative journey, rich with symbolic and mystical elements, that sets the stage for his philosophical revelations. He portrays himself as a young man, carried by a chariot driven by divine maidens, the Daughters of the Sun, from the realm of mortal ignorance to the divine abode of a goddess, often interpreted as Truth or Necessity. This journey, traversing a cosmic threshold “where Night and Day meet,” signifies a passage from the sensory world to a higher realm of eternal truth. The goddess welcomes him and promises to reveal the “unshakable heart of well-rounded truth,” distinguishing it from the deceptive opinions of mortals. This vivid narrative, steeped in the language of mystery cults and epic poetry, frames Parmenides’ philosophy as a divine revelation, aligning him with mystic traditions that emphasize direct encounters with the divine.

The core of Parmenides’ mystical vision unfolds in the Way of Truth, where the goddess articulates a radical ontology: what exists is Being, a singular, unchanging, eternal, and indivisible reality. She argues that Being is all that can be thought, asserting, “What is, is, and what is not, cannot be.” This vision rejects the sensory world’s multiplicity and change as illusory, a stark departure from earlier Greek cosmologies. The goddess’s teaching, presented as a divine disclosure, carries a mystical weight, as it demands a leap beyond empirical observation to grasp the unity and permanence of Being. Parmenides’ emphasis on thought as the pathway to truth—equating thinking with Being—suggests a contemplative, almost meditative approach, resonating with later mystical traditions that seek unity with the absolute.

The poem’s impact lies in its fusion of mysticism and logic, a duality that distinguishes Parmenides among his contemporaries. While the Way of Opinion critiques mortal reliance on sensory deception, the Way of Truth offers a vision of reality that is both intellectually rigorous and spiritually profound. Scholars debate whether Parmenides was a mystic in the religious sense or a philosopher using mystical imagery to convey abstract truths, but his poem undeniably evokes a sense of awe and transcendence. By presenting his insights as a divine gift, Parmenides elevates philosophy to a sacred act, inviting readers to transcend the flux of appearances and encounter the eternal unity of Being. His work remains a testament to the power of mystical vision in shaping philosophical inquiry, bridging the human and divine in a quest for ultimate truth.

Parmenides’ notion of Being can possibly be seen as connecting point between Greek philosophy (through Plato) and monotheism — perhaps a bit more monist than the traditional Hebraic God (and thus maybe more like Spinoza’s view), but perhaps facilitating the eventual conversion of the Greek-trained people of the Roman empire to Pauline Christianity.