“…neither mortal nor immortal, in order that you may, as the free and proud shaper of your own being, fashion yourself in the form you may prefer. 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.”

The author of this quotation is Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and this was taken from his Oration on the Dignity of Man. Pico’s work surrounded the idea that man is God’s greatest creation and should rightly be celebrated. His ideas seem very radical because they are so different from what Augustine and others believed. The whole feeling of Pico’s work is much more optimistic about the state of the individual man, especially in relation with that man’s trek toward God.

As quoted in the prompt, Pico seemingly writes that through man’s own choice will he be able to reach the height of God. It is almost as though God is unnecessary in man’s attainment of grace except as a goal for man to aim toward. “[Man] should recollect himself into the center of his own unity, he will there, become one spirit with God,” (Pico, Oration, pp. 9), “[A philosopher] is a creature of heaven and not of earth,” (Pico, Oration, pp. 10), and “Let us emulate [Seraphim, Cherubim, and Thrones]… if we will it, we shall be inferior to them in nothing,” (Pico, Oration, pp. 13). These passages are but a small sampling of the height to which Pico holds man.

Never before has man been written of in such a exalted fashion. Previous attitudes, most notably that of Augustine, have been very humbling when it comes to mankind. Pico discards all of that and starts afresh with the idea that man is a creature truly worth acclamation. In this, Pico’s work is both new and contrary to previously held ideas.

Another difference between the writing of Pico and that of previous Christians is that Pico did not hesitate to include mention of non-Christians. The pages of Oration are filled with the names of obvious non-Christians, and Pico does not acknowledge them only to argue that they are incorrect. Quite the opposite, as Pico uses some of their work in his own arguments: “Nature, as Heraclitus wrote, is generated by war and for this reason is called by Homer, ’strife.’ Natural philosophy, therefore…” (Pico, Oration, pp. 21) and Pico goes on to make his point. Pico even went so far as to make mention of various pagan gods, such as Apollo and Bacchus (Pico, Oration, pp. 27).

Previous Christian writers shirked away from outright use of the names of pagans, especially pagan gods. While Augustine had much of Plato’s logic evident in his work, Pico came right out and included both Plato’s name and Aristotle’s in his work (Pico, Oration, pp. 39). For Pico to have done so must have opened new doors for Christian writers afterward. Not only Christian writers, either, but any Christian might now be more likely to include the name Zoroaster or Empedocles (Pico, Oration, pp. 32 and 10, respectively) in his or her discussion since Pico himself, an esteemed Christian writer, did.

A result of this must have been similar to the result of Aquinas’ five proofs. That is, now Christians would have a much wider source from which to draw their arguments for the support of their religion, due to the open-mindedness of Pico in his writing. Perhaps then Christians would not feel it a crime to mention the intelligent thoughts of a person if that person were not a Christian. Also, since Pico went so far in his defense and glorification of man, people might have begun to believe him. Even if only in small areas of their lives, subtle changes might have started. Perhaps the viewpoints of some would be changed to allow that they were not entirely condemnable creatures, or perhaps one might allow oneself to purchase luxury items, as “there was nothing to be seen more marvelous than man,” (Pico, Oration, pp. 3), and that man might deserve pampering.

Pico therefore helped enlighten his fellow man by letting the idea circulate that we are not to be completely detested, but instead “deserving of all admiration,” (Pico, Oration, pp. 4). This circulation would allow the lives of others to be improved because they might feel less guilt in doing good things for themselves, as well as allowing the strengthening of Christianity due to a widened base from which to draw logical argument in support of Christian ideas.