"Scuoprir quel ch'il nostro vase asconde". La lettura bruniana di una rivelazione

In this contribution the author considers a recurrent image in the "Eroici furori" and other writings by Bruno: as a result of the opening of a certain fateful vessel, and the consequent escape of 'harmful spirits', humanity has become blinded by vain hopes. The motif can be linked to Bruno's critique of religion: in his writings, he connects these harmful spirits with the waters of the mythic river Lethe, waters that induce forgetfulness in everyone who drinks them. In nature no one can escape the waters of forgetfulness, which signify the succession of different individuals within nature's general tendency toward the conservation of species. The significance of forgetfulness within the lives of individuals and in relationship with morality, however, is of an entirely different order: in this case human beings must resist any temptation to renounce their individual liberty or to limit their own conscience.