Oration on the Dignity of
Man Theme/ Man’s Status/ Dignity in this
world.
v Introduction:-
Once
he challenged different heads of the schools of religion to dispute with on
nice hundred grave questions. The title of one of his religious discourses is
the “The Dignity of Man” delivered by him in 1486 at Rome. This oration is the
compact expression of the mind of the Renaissance and the manifesto of
humanism. Richard Hooker, commenting
on it asserts, thus
“if
there is such a thing as a manifesto of
the renaissance,
Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola’s ‘oration’ is it.”
v Combination of religion and Renaissance:-
Pico belonged to a brilliant
Renaissance family .He studied at Bologna, and wandered through the Italian and
French Universities for seven years. He masters the Greek, Latin, and Hebrew,
Chaldee and Arabic languages. Along with his age, he became a mystic, magician
and grand scholar. In his works, we find a happy combination religion and
Renaissance as we find in Donne and other metaphysical poets. He was the most
semantic of all the Humanists. He wished a synthesis and reconciliation among
the Hebrew, classical and Christian traditions.
v Dehumanization of Man:-
Pico
points out that today in our lust of divine power, we have forgotten human
dignity. In the twentieth century, the ambition of men of progress is to occupy
God’s place, to repeat His deeds, to recreate and organize a man made cosmos
according to man-made laws of reason, foresight and efficiency. This ambition
moves us very near to the dehumanization of man.
v Dignity of Man
The
writer of this oration firmly believed that Man could become kingly, even
angelic with the help of reason and will. The words in the title ’the dignity
of man’ also mean ‘high nobility of soul and disciplined reason’. Through such
an exercise of the soul and mind, human nature can be redeemed by Christ. After
Pico’s oration, the phrase ‘dignity of man’ was on the lips of all sorts of
people. He believed that “one man is as good as another, or may be a
little better.” He also
remarked that no man can dignify himself. Dignity is a quality with which one
is invested. There must be a Master who can raise Man above the brute creation.
If that Master is denied, no on man can attain dignity.
v Unique Creation of Human being by God:-
In
the beginning of his oration, Pico says,
“There
is nothing to be seen more marvelous than man.”
Hermes also exclaims,
“What
a great miracle is Man!”
These
words remind us of Shakespeare’s most poetic expression about man’ dignity in
“Hamlet”,
“What
a piece of work is man! How noble in reason! How infinites in faculty! In form
and moving, how express and admirable! In action how like an angle ! In
apprehension how like a God! The beauty of the world, the paragon of
animals!”
Pico further points out the ‘man is the
intermediary between the God and His other creations.’ He has acute senses,
sharp reason and brilliant intelligence. He is in the midway between the
timeless and the flux. After the creation of this beautiful world, God had
desired to create a creature which might comprehend the meaning of so vast an
achievement, which might be moved with love at its beauty and impressed by its
grander. At last He created Man. He offered him his own power of judgment and
decision. He made him free from all the restriction which he had laid down for
Nature and creatures. He gifted man with his own free will. Thus God placed Man
at the centre of the world so that he could se and enjoy the pleasures of all
thing created by God. God told Adam,
“It
will be in your power to descend to the lower, brutish forms of life; you will
be able, through your own decision to rise again to the superior orders whose
life is divine”.
v Man’s Potentialities: -
Pico
also points out at the moment of man’s creation; God bestowed upon him Seed of
all different potentialities. These seeds would bear hi m fruits according to
his wish, The writer says,
“if
vegetative, he(man) will become a plant;
if sensual he will become a brutish;, if
rational he will reveal himself a
heavenly being, if intellectual; he will
be an angel and the son of god.”
v Sacred Mysteries:-
Here
Pico refers to the ‘Sacred Mysteries such as Seraphim, Cherubim and Thrones.
The Seraphim burns with the fires of Charity. Cherubim stands for spelendour of
intelligence and Through stands for the firm just. It is rightly observed in
hymns that “Whoever is Seraph, i.e. the lover, in God and God is in him. In the
other words, God and he are one. With the help of Thrones we attain the power
of right judgment. Cherub is the intermediary and his light of intelligence
prepares the man for the fire of the Seraphim and the judgment of the Thrones.
v Man and his status:-
Thus
in this magnificent creation on the dignity of man and his status in this
world, Pico rightly points out that through the discipline of reason and will,
Man can make himself kingly, even angelic. In any angel a real main dignified
and nobly human so long as he acknowledges the authority of Almighty God.
Preaching against the vegetative and sensual errors of our time, Pico bows down
his head before the God as a sign of thankfulness of Man’s higher and dignified
nature.
v Conclusion:-
Thus
Pico answers the question ‘what is
the dignity of man? He located his dignity in the human capability and
freedom to be whatever it wants to do. According to Pico, if we view the whole
of human history, we shall find that nothing remain stable. No faith, no
philosophy, no worldly view ever remains static. The only eternal thing is the
human ability and freedom to change and express themselves in different ways.
The great dignity of humanity is the boundless power of self transformation.
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