The Renaissance Manifesto

Pico discuses, near the end of our excerpt, matters of humanity's likeness to the rest of God's higher creation in angels, and his throne of judgement.  He equates these three things to the just and ultimate culmination of all humanity: the seraphim, the throne of YHWH, and the (specifically) the cherubim.  He calls humanity to a sort of "Cherubic Life" to ultimately fulfill all that it is to be a Cherubim.  In the same way that Saint Paul witnessed the Cherubim being purified, enlightened and finally perfected upon his entrance to the third level of heaven, so we too as Humanity must embrace this call.  Purify your passions, educate ourselves in the perfect manifestation of philosophy in theology and then perhaps we shall finally reach unity in the arms of God at the top of Jacob's ladder.  Such a potent impetus on humanity places much supposition of its capabilities in general.  Truly, Pico (de gallo which, if you have not yet gathered, is not his real name but my Latino attempts at a joke) is the product of his historical and societal context.  This exudes and oozes Renaissance thought in ways heretofore unaware to me.  The assumption, as my house-mate Cedric so rightly asserted, is that humanity has the capability of attaining a deified state HERE IN THIS LIFE!  That is a massive expression of secularism.  (I am trying to read this through a somewhat objective lens.  My views of humanity in this sense are much lower than Pico's)  We also see the great appreciation for general education and even a stemming back to ancient philosophers and ancient fathers, perhaps a reclaiming of the philosophers of Greece, the Hebrews, and even some cultures I am unaware.  There's even a mention (ha that's litote if there ever was one, eh Dr. Hobbs?) of individualism and the huge necessity for virtuous and versatile living in the process of ascension to the top rung of the ladder of Jacob.  Pico is such a Renaissance man, he may have even drafted the Renaissance manifesto! (wonder if the conservatives of america would have such a problem with that as they do with the (/my) communist manifesto!  They probably would in consideration of all the secularism and humanism explicated herein.  As an interesting side note, does anyone else notice the similarities of the Renaissance and the nineteenth century?  It seems like the Renaissance is directly reflected in the peoples of Europe just before WW I.  I wonder if there came some massive war to interrupt this flow of optimism and secularism for the Renaissance peoples in the same way that the Great War blew apart the nineteenth century joy.