Active Contemplation

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IX

“In the last place, the dispositions of the soul of those that invoke the Gods to appear receive, when they become visible, a liberation from the passions, a transcendent perfection, and an energy entirely more excellent, and participate of…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter Xa

“What you introduce, however, for the purpose of obtaining a knowledge of these things, whether it be your own opinion, or whether you have heard it from others, is neither true nor rightly asserted. For you say, “ that to speak 104 boastin…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XIV

“Concerning another kind of divination, also, you say as follows: “ Others who are conscious what they are doing in other respects, are divinely inspired according to the phantastic part, some indeed receiving darkness for a cooperator, othe…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXI

“I think, therefore, that all who are lovers of the contemplation of theurgic truth will acknowledge this, that the piety which pertains to divine natures ought not to be exercised towards them partially or imperfectly. Hence, since prior to…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIe

““The divine Iamblichus, however, doubts how the Gods are said to be allotted certain places according to definite times, as, by Plato in the Timæus, Minerva is said to have been first allotted the guardianship of Athens, and afterwards of S…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIf

“Thus they recognised things supreme in such as are subordinate, and the subordinate in the supreme: in the celestial regions, terrene properties subsisting in a causal and celestial manner; and in earth celestial properties, but according t…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIg

“So that all things are full of divine natures; terrestrial natures receiving the plenitude of such as are celestial, but celestial of supercelestial essences; [153] while every order of things proceeds gradually, in a beautiful descent, fro…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII~

“But Pythagoras, as he was astronomizing, happened to meet with the Phrygian piper at an unseasonable time of night, and persuaded him to change his Phrygian for a spondaic song; through which the fury of the lad being immediately repressed,…”

◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Bembine Table of Isisc

“For as in the Supreme Mind everything is simultaneous and spaceless, the future is therefore present in that Mind; and they thought that while the human mind was absorbed in the Supreme by contemplation, by that union they were enabled to k…”

◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter I (part 1)

“p. vii CONTENTS AUTHOR'S PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION xiii INTRODUCTION TO THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION 1 CHAPTER I What do we know and what do we not know? Our data, and the things for which we seek. The unknown mistaken for the known. Mat…”

◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter II (part 1)

“p. 23 CHAPTER II A new view of the Kantian problem. The books of Hinton. The "space-sense" and its evolution. A system for the development of a sense of the fourth dimension by exercises with colored cubes. The geometrical conception o…”

◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter III (part 2)

“In analogy with all this, the solid, in order to leave as the tracing of its movement, the four-dimensional figure (hypersolid) shall move in a direction not confined in it; or in other words it shall come out of itself, set off from itself…”

◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter IV (part 1)

“p. 38 CHAPTER IV In what direction may the fourth dimension lie? What is motion? Two kinds of motion—motion in space and motion in time—which are contained in every movement. What is time? Two ideas contained in the conception of time.…”

◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter IV (part 3)

“If, presupposing that we are moving upon a sphere, upon its equator or one of its parallels, then it will appear that we recognize as really existing only one meridian: those which are behind us have disappeared and those ahead of us have n…”

◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter IV (part 5)

“There results in the other case a life upon some sort of needle-point called the present , which is surrounded on all sides by an abyss of non-existence, a journey in a country which does not as yet exist , a life in a world which is born a…”

◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter IV (part 8)

“We have that sense, therefore we sense motion. The time-sense is the sensation of changing moments. If we did not have this time-sense we could not feel motion. The "time-sense" is itself, in substance, the limit or the surface of our "s…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONj

“The body is in the soul, the soul is in the mind, the mind is in God. The life of the soul is the true life of the man. Of all his various faculties, that which rules all, that which exalts our nature, is Thought. By means of it we rise…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguea

“. Tansillo, Cicada. Tans. The enthusiasms most suitable to be first brought forward and considered are those that I now place before you in the order that seems to me most fitting. Cic. Begin, then, to read. Tansillo. 1. Ye Muses, t…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogued

“Some are called in vain to put in a ready appearance, and are chiefly those which proceed from the lower instincts, and which obey the reason either not at all, or very little; and forcing himself to prevent their actions and condemn those…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguee

“Herein he proves that his love is truly heroic; because he proposes to himself as the chief aim, not corporeal beauty, but rather the grace of the spirit, and the inclination of the affections in which, rather than in the beauty of the body…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogueb

“It is not a fury of black bile which sends him drifting outside of judgment, reason, and acts of prudence, and tossed by the discordant tempest, like those who, having violated certain laws of the divine Adrastia, are condemned to be scourg…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguec

“Here he shows his love not to be like that of the butterfly, of the stag, and of the unicorn, who would flee away if they had knowledge of the fire, of the arrow, and of the snares, and who have no other sense than that of pleasure; but he…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguee

“Others esteem him unhappy through this appearance of an evil destiny, as being condemned to these pangs, for he will never cease from acknowledging the obligation he is under to love, nor cease from rendering thanks to him because he has pr…”

◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialoguef

“Fitly, therefore, this rapture of heroic enthusiasm feeds on such "high emprise." For the object is infinite, and in action most simple, and our intellectual power cannot apprehend the infinite except in speech or in a certain manner of spe…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 3, Section 1c

“It would be an impiety to do so, for he is almost equal to the Scriptural Writers, as he showed when he met with them to view the body of the B. V. M. even among our inspired Hierarchs (when, as thou knowest, we with him and many of our…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1b

“Hence have they their celestial orders, their self-unities, their mutual indwellings, their distinct Differences, the faculties which raise the lower unto the higher ranks, the providences of the higher for those beneath them; their preserv…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1€

“277 ἑνώσεις, διακρίσεις, ταὐτότητες, ἑτερότητες. 278 Hence parts are united into wholes and wholes articulated into parts, and hence each thing is identical with itself and distinct from everything else. 279 e.g. Moisture interpenetrates…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 7, Section 1b

“(2) Wisdom as a whole = Wisdom embodied in the universe as a whole. (3) Wisdom in each individual instance = Wisdom as shown in the structure of some particular plant or animal, or part of a plant or animal. (1) Is an Emanation; (2) and (…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 7, Section 1f

“The angels are conceived of as being always in such a state of contemplation. 408 God is the Manifested Absolute. Hence qua Absolute He is supra-sapient, qua Manifested He is wise (cf. ch. i, § 1). The Persons of the Trinity possess on…”

◆Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | VIe

“Therefore sanctification is the best of all things, for it cleanses the soul, and illuminates the conscience, and kindles the heart, and wakens the spirit, and girds up the loins, and glorifies virtue and separates us from creatures, and un…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 1)

“p. 33 THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. "Our whole doctrine is nothing else but an instruction to show how man may create a kingdom of light within himself. . . . He in whom this spring of divine power flows, carries within himself the d…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 8)

“1 "When my spirit, full of sorrow, earnestly, and as if moving in a great storm, arose in God, carrying with it my whole heart and mind, with all my thoughts and with the whole of my will, and when I would not cease to wrestle with the love…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 7)

“And although the same employment is common both to the ruler, and those who are ruled; yet the latter, if destitute of a leader, could no longer conspire together in one occupation; as the concord of the fingers and ` dancers, and the exped…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 10)

“For in this solemnity grass is carried about, enwrapping the kernels of olives, attended with figs, all kinds of pulse, oaken boughs or acorns, the fruit of the strawberry, wheat, and barley, a mass of dried figs, cakes composed from the me…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 11)

“As the husbandman, therefore, performs sacred rites, by presenting handfuls of pulse and fruits, so ought we to sacrifice our purest thoughts, and other goods of the soul, thanking the divinities for the sublime contemplations they afford u…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 15)

“For the generative causes of things, are contained by similitude in their effects; and in causes themselves their progeny subsist, comprehended in perfect union and consent. Hence the celestial orbs impart a copious defluxion of good to th…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 16)

“This heated paper we may compare to a certain relation of inferiors to superiors; and its approximation to the lamp, to the opportune use of things according to time, place, and matter. But the procession of fire in the paper aptly represe…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 5 (part 4)

“Now Nature is called in these hymns, or rather initiations πολυμήχανε μῆτερ, or much-mechanic Mother, and παντοτεχνεσ or universal Artist; and Minerva is denominated μητερ τεχνῶν, or Mother of Arts. Likewise Nature is expressly called ἀθαν…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXXV. THE MUSES (part 3)

“So in the poetic chain, it is requisite there should be something divine, which, through proper mediums, may connect the last to the first monad. This Fury Homer, as well as Plato, calls at one time in the plural number Muses, and at anoth…”

◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 4 (part 1)

“p. 1 THE GOLDEN VERSES OF PYTHAGORAS 1. First worship the Immortal Gods, as they are established and ordained by the Law. 2. Reverence the Oath, and next the Heroes, full of goodness and light. 3. Honour likewise the Terrestrial Dæmon…”

◆The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1a

“CHAPTER V. 1. (It is written) Isa. i. 4: "Woe unto the sinful nation, unto the people heavy with iniquity, unto the seed of evildoers, &c." (Here the author of the "Siphra Dtzenioutha" reasoneth concerning the small word HVI, "woe," whi…”

◆The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1c

“And to it also pertain the following names, namely, the name) IH, Yah (whensoever it is written in full with A in this manner:) IVD HA, Yod Ha (and containeth the number of the numeral powers of the letters of the Tetragrammaton, namely, 26…”

◆The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1e

“31: "And He was wise above every man." Because these are not classed with man. 21. (But when it is said) "And the Tetragrammaton gave him wisdom," then is understood the supernal He . (Because he gave unto him the influx of the wisdom of…”

◆The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1f

“[The letters of the Hebrew alphabet are divided into three classes, the three mothers as they are called, AMSh; the seven duplex letters, BGDKPRTh, so called because they are sometimes tenues and sometimes aspirates, according to whether th…”

◆The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1h

“35: "Ye shall not do iniquity in judgment, in dimension, in weight, and in measure." (Where these four are mystically intimated.) 37. (There is one) rigorous judgment (of severity),another that is not rigorous (that is, of the kingdom). T…”

◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter II

“CHAPTER II. 1. Observe ye everything that takes place in the heaven, how they do not change their orbits, ⌈ and ⌉ the luminaries which are in the heaven, how they all rise and set in order each in its season, and transgress not against thei…”

◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter III

“CHAPTER III. Observe and see how (in the winter) all the trees ⌈⌈ seem as though they had withered and shed all their leaves, except fourteen trees, which do not lose their foliage but retain the old foliage from two to three years till the…”

◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter V

“CHAPTER V. 1. Observe ⌈⌈ ye ⌉⌉ how the trees cover themselves with green leaves and bear fruit: wherefore give ye heed ⌈ and know ⌉ with regard to all ⌈ His works ⌉ , and recognize how He that liveth for ever hath made them so. 2. And ⌈ all…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 3: The Sacred Sermon | Section 1

“The Sacred Sermon 1. The Glory of all things is God, Godhead and Godly Nature. Source of the things that are is God, who is both Mind and Nature - yea Matter, the Wisdom that reveals all things. Source [too] is Godhead - yea Nature, Energy,…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 4: The Epistles | Section 1b

“And having raised themselves so far they sight the Good; and having sighted it, they look upon their sojourn here as a mischance; and in disdain of all, both things in body and the bodiless, they speed their way unto that One and Only One.…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 5: The Discourse of Hermes to Asclepius | Section 1a

“Though Unmanifest God Is Most Manifest 1. I will recount to thee this sermon (logos) too, O Tat, that thou may'st cease to be without the mysteries of the God beyond all name. And mark thou well how that which to the many seems unmanifest…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 5: The Discourse of Hermes to Asclepius | Section 1c

“And for this cause hath He all names, in that they are one Father's. And for this cause hath He Himself no nome, in that He's Father of [them] all. Who, then, may sing Thee praise of Thee, or [praise] to Thee? Whither, again, am I to tur…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 13: The Discourse of Hermes to Tat | Section 1d

“<lacuna in text>, though this Sermon (Logos) on Rebirth, on which I did not comment - in order that we may not be calumniators of the All unto the multitude, to whom indeed God Himself doth will we should not. 14. Tat: Tell me, O father:…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 13: The Discourse of Hermes to Tat | Section 1e

“Sing praise, my Self-control; sing thou through me, my Righteousness, the praises of the Righteous; sing thou, my Sharing-all, the praises of the All; through me sing, Truth, Truth's praises! Sing thou, O Good, the Good! O Life and Light,…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 14: The Discourse of Hermes to Ammon | Section 1b

“Now if the Maker is naught else but That which makes, Alone, Simple, Uncompound, it needs must do this [making] to Itself,—to Which its Maker’s making is “its being made.” 2 And as to all that’s being made,—it cannot be p. 261 [paragraph c…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 14: The Discourse of Hermes to Ammon | Section 1c

“Footnotes 257:1 εὖ φρονεῖν. I do not know the exact meaning of this expression. Everard translates “to be truly wise”; Parthey, “ recte sapere ” following Patrizzi; Ménard, “ sagesse ”; Chambers, “to be rightly wise.” I would suggest that…”

◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1~

“I might compare him to a person who began by maintaining generally that mind is the cause of the actions of Socrates, but who, when he endeavored to explain the causes of my several actions in detail, went on to show that I sit here because…”

◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1|

“The two speeches, as you may remember, were unlike-I the one argued that the lover and the other that the non-lover ought to be accepted. Phaedr. And right manfully. Soc. You should rather say "madly"; and madness was the argument of th…”

◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1

“I quite admit, Socrates, that the art of rhetoric which these men teach and of which they write is such as you describe-there I agree with you. But I still want to know where and how the true art of rhetoric and persuasion is to be acquire…”

◆Plato: Symposium | Section 1b

“But when I hear another strain, especially that of you rich men and traders, such conversation displeases me; and I pity you who are my companions, because you think that you are doing something when in reality you are doing nothing. And I…”

◆Plato: Symposium | Section 1m

“For if they had understood him they would surely have built noble temples and altars, and offered solemn sacrifices in his honour; but this is not done, and most certainly ought to be done: since of all the gods he is the best friend of men…”

◆Plato: Symposium | Section 1z

“Marvel not then at the love which all men have of their offspring; for that universal love and interest is for the sake of immortality." I was astonished at her words, and said: "Is this really true, O thou wise Diotima?" And she answered w…”

◆Plato: Symposium | Section 1{

“"These are the lesser mysteries of love, into which even you, Socrates, may enter; to the greater and more hidden ones which are the crown of these, and to which, if you pursue them in a right spirit, they will lead, I know not whether you…”

◆Plato: Symposium | Section 1|

“This, my dear Socrates," said the stranger of Mantineia, "is that life above all others which man should live, in the contemplation of beauty absolute; a beauty which if you once beheld, you would see not to be after the measure of gold, an…”

◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 33 (part 1)

“PLATE XXVI. underworld fear me, and they (17) fight for me [in their habitations]. I, in very truth I am a shining one and a dweller in light, who hath been created and who hath come into being (18) from the body of the god. I am one of…”

◇The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 19 (part 9)

“, the "house of cloth," was a district belonging to the temple of Suten-henen or Heracleopolis in Upper Egypt.] Ubes-hra-per-em-khet khet,[l] and Maa (106) -em-qerh-an-nef-em-hru.[2] The chief of the holy ones (107) who minister in his cham…”

◇The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 29 (part 2)

“Text [CHAPTER CXXXIII.]: (1) TO BE SAID ON THE DAY OF THE MONTH.[2] (2) Osiris Ani, the scribe, triumphant in peace, triumphant, saith: "Ra riseth (2) in his horizon, and the company of his gods follow after the god when he appeareth from h…”

◇The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 32 (part 2)

“May I enter into the presence of Ra daily to hear his words, and may I sit down among the (8) mighty gods of Nut. May a homestead be made ready for me, and may offerings of food and drink be put before me therein. May I eat therein; (9) m…”

◇The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 40 (part 4)

“I have sailed on its Lake that I may come unto its cities, and I have drawn nigh It unto the city Hetep.[3] For behold, I repose at the seasons [of Horus]. I have passed through the region of the company of the gods who are aged and venera…”

◇The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 43 (part 95)

“see also Maspero, Hymne au Nil, publié et traduit d'après les deux textes A Musée Britannique , Paris, 1868. 4to. 2 Pyramid of Unas, l. 219; Pyramid of Teta, ll. 60, 286; Pyramid of Pepi I., ll. 444, 593, etc. 3. Pyramid of Pepi I.,…”

◆The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book 128 (part 5)

“Dze-sze 1 , Dze-yü 1 , Dze-1î 1 , and Dze-lâi 1 , these four men, were talking together, when some one said, 'Who can suppose the head to be made from nothing, the spine from life, and the rump-bone from death? Who knows how death and birt…”

◇Tao Te Ching | Chapter 10

“When the intelligent and animal souls are held together in one embrace, they can be kept from separating. When one gives undivided attention to the (vital) breath, and brings it to the utmost degree of pliancy, he can become as a (tender) b…”

◇The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book 123 (part 1)

“p. 164 THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-DZE. BOOK I. PART I. SECTION I. Hsiâo-yâo Yû, or 'Enjoyment in Untroubled Ease 1 .' 1. In the Northern Ocean there is a fish, the name of which is Khwän 2 ,--I do not know how many lî in size. It changes…”

◆The Mabinogion | Tale PEREDUR THE SON OF EVRAWCl

“And in the morning he arose, and when he went forth, behold a shower of snow had fallen the night before, and a hawk had killed a wild fowl in front of the cell. And the noise of the horse scared the hawk away, and a raven alighted upon th…”

◆The Mabinogion | Tale PEREDUR THE SON OF EVRAWCm

“And while thy speech and thy soft words last, a coat of thin linen were armour sufficient for thee, and thou wilt not need to break either lance or sword in fighting with the knight in the state he is in.” Then said Gwalchmai to Kai, “Thou…”

◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 2

“Jesus said, "Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All."…”

◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 9

“Jesus said, "Now the sower went out, took a handful (of seeds), and scattered them. Some fell on the road; the birds came and gathered them up. Others fell on the rock, did not take root in the soil, and did not produce ears. And others fel…”

◆The Dhammapada | Chapter II, Section 1a

“p. 9 CHAPTER II. ON EARNESTNESS [1] . 21. Earnestness is the path of immortality (Nirvâ n a), thoughtlessness the path of death. Those who are in earnest do not die, those who are thoughtless are as if dead already. 22. Those who are…”

◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY Ve

“"In yourselves are signs; will ye not behold them?" (Koran li, 21). 12. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 92. Mr. Mansel (Bampton Lectures, p. 49) says: "A thing can be known as that which it is only by being distinguished from that which it is n…”