Lullism

Not to be confused with lulism.
Image from a 1505 edition of Arbre de ciència by Ramon Llull (1232?-1316). Printed in Barcelona.[1]

Lullism or llullism (Catalan: Llullisme) is an esoteric philosophy based on the search for truth in all areas of knowledge. It stemmed from a belief that the mundane secrets and celestial levels of existence could be deciphered by manipulating the letters of the alphabet.[2] It was originally developed by Ramon Llull (1232-1316). Manuscripts show that Llull anticipated prominent work on elections theory several centuries ahead of his time. He is also considered a pioneer of computational theory, given his influence on Gottfried Leibniz.[3]

Due to this, his reception in the 14th century or lack thereof cannot be seen on a linear manner, given the diversity in the overall reception of Ramon Llull. The transformation of Ramon Llull into a mystic began to spread even into the 16th century Europe and began to turn into a phenomenon almost three hundred years after his death. Europeans at this time valued his works as a method for integrating all different types of knowledge, including the works of Peter Ramus and Guillaume Budé.

Thoughts and influences

In 1263, Llull experienced a religious epiphany in the form of a series of visions. He narrated the event within his autobiography, Vita coaetanea ("Daily Life");

Ramon, while still a young man and Seneschal to the King of Majorca, was very focused on composing worthless songs and poems, as well as doing other licentious things. One night he was sitting beside his bed about to compose and write in his vulgar tongue a song to a lady whom he loved with a foolish love; and, as he began to write this song, he looked to his right and saw our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross as if suspended in midair.[4]

In the early 14th century at the age of 82, Llull visited North Africa.[5] After his release, Llull was stoned by an angry crowd in the city of Bougie. Genoese merchants took him back to Mallorca where he died at his home in Palma the next year.[6] According to Bonner, Llull journeyed to Tunis because he was erroneously informed that its ruler was interested in Christianity.[7]

Lullism has been seen as a bridge between Christianity and Islam. Aspects of theology and Muslim philosophy are incorporated in its works.[8]

Llull's many works; such as, the Llibre d'Amic e Amat, contain Sufi ideas and allegories and show an appreciation of Islamic mystical expressions.[9] Eve Bonner has assessed the influence of Franciscan mysticism and Troubadour poetry on Lullism.[10]

Its geographical proximity to Judaism allowed for fertile ground where Llull could develop his own theories regarding the relationship between God and man as well as the search for truth.[9] Dominique Urvoy suggests that the Jews were a knowledgeable source for Lullism about Islam, because they incorporated Muslim philosophy and Sufi ideas into their books.[11]

Connections between Lullism and Kabbalah have been debated by Christian and Jewish scholars with different results.[9] Adolphe Franck and Christian David Ginsburg referred to Lullism as Kabbalistic in their works,[12][13] was based on the inaccuracy that the Opusculum raymundinum de auditu kabbalistico was a lullistic work.[14] Arthur Edward Waite and Joseph Leon Blau interdicted a connection between Lullism and Kabbalah.[15][16][17] Frances Amelia Yates said, "Llull himself was almost certainly influenced by Cabala which developed in Spain at the same time as his art. In fact, the art is perhaps best understood as a medieval form of Christian Cabala".[18]

These works have approached the subject through the studies of Pico della Mirandola who connected the two phenomena: Lullism and Kabbalah.[19] These works, however, had anachronistically presented Lullism as a Renaissance understanding and use of Kaballah.[20]

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ *SC.L9695.482ab, Houghton Library, Harvard University
  2. ↑ Leighton 2010, p. 22.
  3. ↑ Bonner 2007, p. 290.
  4. ↑ Bonner, "Historical Background and Life" (an annotated Vita coaetanea) at 10-11, in Bonner (ed.), Doctor Illuminatus (1985).
  5. ↑ The Vita coaetanea (Daily Life) an "autobiography" which he dictated circa 1311. The "autobiography" of Llull does not mention such motive, but rather infers Llull's missionary quest, describing his high-profile public preaching in the main square of the city of Bougie(present-day Béjaïa in northern Algeria). The edgy adverse reaction, his quick arrest, beating, likely execution, intervention by Genoese, and Catalan merchants, landed him six months in jail but he was eventually released. Bonner, "Historical Background and Life" (the Vita coaetanea augmented and annotated) at 10-11, 34-37, in Bonner (ed.), Doctor Illuminatus (1985).
  6. ↑ Bonner states that his journey was to Tunis, not Bougie, and dates it from autumn of 1314 until at least December 1315 [42-43]. Bonner also notes that according to modern scholarship, it was in the mid-15th century that "the legend of Llull having been martyred in Bougie spread" [44,n138].
  7. ↑ Riber, Raimunco Lulio (1935, 1949) [220-221]; Bonner, "Historical Background and Life" in his Doctor Illuminatus (1985) [42-44].
  8. ↑ Urvoy, Penser l’Islam: Les présupposés Islamiques de l’ "Art" de Lull
  9. 1 2 3 Hames 2000, p. 118.
  10. ↑ A. Bonner (trans. and ed.), Doctor Illuminatus: A Ramon Llull Reader [including E. Bonner (trans.) The Book of the Lover and the Beloved], (Princeton 1993) pp. 175-84
  11. ↑ Urvoy, Penser l’Islam, pp 91-118
  12. ↑ Franck, The Kabbalah: The Religious Philosophy of the Hebrews, p. 223 (translated from the French published in Paris in 1843, with a second edition in 1889, 1892)
  13. ↑ Guinsburg, The Kabbalah: Its Doctrines, Development, and Literature, pp. 83, 200-1
  14. ↑ Hames 2000, p. 119.
  15. ↑ Waite, The Holy Kabbalah: A study of the secret tradition in Israel, pp. 438-42
  16. ↑ Waite, Three Famous Alchemists (Raymund Lully, Cornelius Agrippa and Theophrastus Paracelsus), p. 39
  17. ↑ Blau, The Christian interpretation of the Cabala in the Renaissance, pp. 17, 117-18
  18. ↑ Yates, Llull and Bruno: Collected Essays, vol. 1, p. 6
  19. ↑ Pico della Mirandola, Conclusiones, in Opera omnia, vol. 1, p. 108
  20. ↑ Serouya, La Kabbale. Ses origines, sa psychologie, sa mystique, sa métaphysiqée, p. 473
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