Apollonius of Tyana: The Pythagorean Shadow of the First Century
In the first century of the common era, while the Roman world was undergoing a profound religious and political transformation, there moved a figure of such immense spiritual gravity that he was often compared to the rising sun: Apollonius of Tyana. A Neopythagorean sage, traveler, and wonder-worker, Apollonius was the living embodiment of the "Sovereign Man"—the individual who has so perfectly mastered his own internal nature that the external world responds to his every intention. To understand Apollonius is to confront the "High Perplexity" of the Pythagorean ideal. Born in Cappadocia, he took a vow of silence that lasted five years, during which he communicated only through his eyes and hands. This was not a passive quietude, but a deliberate "atmospheric purification"—a stripping away of the "noise" of the personality to allow the voice of the Nous (the Divine Mind) to emerge. For Apollonius, silence was the forge of the spirit. The life...