Apophatic Theology

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter III

“In the first place, therefore, you say, “ it must be granted that there are Gods .” Thus to speak, however, is not right on this subject. For an innate knowledge of the Gods is coexistent with our very essence; and this knowledge is superio…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IVa

“With respect to your inquiry, “ what the peculiarities are in each of the more excellent genera, by which they are separated from each other? ” if you understand by peculiarities the specific differences under the same genus, which are dis…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IVb

“This, therefore, subsists contrarily to what you suppose, for the purpose of discovering the peculiarity which you now investigate. In short, whether you think that there is one genus of the Gods, one of dæmons, and in a similar manner of…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter Va

“In the next place, let us direct our attention to the solution of your inquiries. There is, therefore, the good itself which is beyond essence, and there is that good which subsists according to essence; I mean the essence which is most an…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter Vb

“Again, however, according to another mode of considering the subject, it is necessary to ascribe to the Gods the whole of that which is united, of whatever kind it may be; that which is firmly established in itself, and which is the cause o…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VII

“Of the extremes, therefore, one is supreme, transcendent, and perfect; but the other is last in dignity, deficient, and more imperfect. And the former, indeed, is capable of accomplishing all things at once, uniformly in an instant; but the…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIb

“Hence, through these things such a corporeal-formed division as you introduce, is demonstrated to be false. It is, indeed, especially necessary not to propose any thing of this kind; but if this should appear to you to be requisite, yet yo…”

◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IXa

“I consider you, therefore, as asking, for it is your inquiry, “ Why, since the Gods dwell in the heavens alone, there are invocations by theurgists of terrestrial and subterranean Gods? ” For 45 what you assert in the beginning is not true…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 10, Section 1a

“CHAPTER X Concerning ” Omnipotent ,” ” Ancient of Days “; and also concerning ” Eternity “ and ” Time .” 1. Now ‘tis time that our Discourse should celebrate God (Whose Names are many) as “Omnipotent” and “Ancient of Days.” The former titl…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 10, Section 1b

“For where Scripture speaks of things as “eternal” it doth not always mean things that are absolutely Uncreated or verily Everlasting, Incorruptible, 171 Immortal, Invariable, and Immutable ( e.g. “Be ye lift up, ye eternal doors,” 461 461…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 10, Section 1c

“It is spoken of by ail the Christian Mystics as the root of our being, or as the spark, or the Synteresis, etc. Our perfection consists in this ultimate reality, which is each man’s self, shining through his whole being and transforming it…”

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

“51 CHAPTER I Dionysius the Presbyter, to his fellow-Presbyter Timothy. 45 45 The name of St. Paul’s companion is intended to give colour to the writer’s pseudonym. See Introduction, p. 1; cf. iii. 2. What is the purpose of the discou…”

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

“For even as things which are intellectually discerned 52 52 i. e. The Transcendent Truths which are beyond ordinary knowledge. νοητά . The word νοῦς = Mind in the sense not merely of abstract intellect but of the spiritual personality.…”

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

“59 59 ὡς οὐκ ὄντος ἴχνους τῶν ἐπὶ τὴν κρυφίαν αὐτῆς ἀπειρίαν διεληλυθότων. Two interpretations of this passage are possible: (1) Those who have penetrated the hidden Depths cannot describe the Vision (cf. Dante, Par. xxxiii. 55–66) ; (2…”

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

“And we press upwards to those beams which in the Holy Scripture shine upon us; wherefrom we gain the light which leads us unto 55 the Divine praises 64 64 πρὸς τοὺς θεαρχικοὺς ὕμνους. Either (1) “leads us to declare the Divine praises”; or…”

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

“These mysteries we learn from the Divine Scriptures, and thou wilt find that in well-nigh all the utterances of the Sacred Writers the Divine Names refer in a Symbolical Revelation 72 72 ἐκφαντορικῶς καὶ ὑμνητικῶς. to Its beneficent Emanat…”

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

“And in all the other Divine enlightenments which the occult Tradition of our inspired teachers hath, by mystic Interpretation, accordant with the Scriptures, bestowed upon us, we also have been initiated: apprehending these things in the pr…”

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

“But if It is greater than all Reason and all knowledge, and hath Its firm abode altogether beyond Mind and Being, and circumscribes, compacts, embraces and anticipates all things 87 87 παντῶν . . . προληπτική—i.e. contains them eternall…”

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

“that which makes an individual thing to be one thing); (2) Mental or Spiritual intercourse; (3) Physical intercourse; (4) Sense perception. Here it = either (1) or (2), probably (1). limit, infinity, everything that exists. And yet since…”

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

“1 . as “God of Gods” and “Lord of Lords”, 108 108 Ps. cxxxvi. 2, 3 . and “Holy of Holies,” 109 109 Isa. vi. 3 . as “Eternal,” 110 110 Deut. xxxiii. 27 . as “Existent” 111 111 Ex. iii. 14 . and as “Creator of Ages,” 112 112 Gen.…”

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

“143 143 God is above Time. For the Nameless Goodness is not only the cause of cohesion or life or perfection in such wise as to derive Its Name from this or that providential activity alone; nay, rather does It contain all things beforehan…”

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

“) with our hearts predisposed unto the vision of God, and let us bring holy ears to the exposition of God’s holy Names, implanting holy Truths in holy instruments according to the Divine command, and withholding these things from the mocker…”

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

“The formless essence (ἀμορφία) of a thing is simple and imageless—a Platonic idea—perceived by the mind; things which have bodily form are, as it were, types and symbols perceived by the senses. 54 Or “indeterminate.” 55 Thus the three gra…”

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

“65 In the whole of this passage God is spoken of as at the same time Efficient, Formal and Final Cause of the soul’s activity. D. teaches that God is present in all things, but not equally in all. Cf. Intr., p. 14 66 Gen. i. 67 Three…”

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

“82 ἐν θειοτέρᾳ μιμήσει τῶν ὑπερουρανίων νοῶν—i. e. the angels. 83 Luke xx. 36 84 Meditation leads on to Contemplation; and the higher kind of Contemplation is performed by the Via Negativa. 85 i.e. The Angels. I have throughout trans…”

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

“99 Ex. iii. 14 . 100 John xiv. 6 . 101 John viii. 12 . 102 Gen. xxviii. 13 . 103 John xiv. 6 . 104 Matt. xix. 17 . 105 Ps. xxvii. 4 . 106 Rom. xvi. 27 . 107 Isa. v. 1 . 108 Ps. cxxxvi. 2, 3 . 109 Isa. vi. 3 . 1…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1a

“CHAPTER XI Concerning ” Peace “ and what is meant by ” Very Being “ Itself , ” Very Life ,” ” Very Power ,” and similar phrases . 1. Now let us praise with reverent hymns of peace the Divine Peace which is the Source of all mutual attract…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1b

“Plotinus says the Godhead is indivisibly divided. doth not leave Its own Unity, but, even in the act of going forth to all things, remains entirely within Itself through the excess of that all-transcendent Unity: concerning these things ‘t…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1c

“And the perfect Peace guards each several individuality unalloyed by Its providential gift of peace, keeping all things without internal or mutual discord or confusion, and establishing all things, in the power of unswerving stability, so a…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1d

“Now, since thou hast, on a previous occasion, sent me an epistle asking what I mean by Very Being Itself, Very Life Itself, Very Wisdom Itself: and since thou saidst thou couldst not understand why sometimes I call God “Life” and sometimes…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1e

“Hence the Good God is called the Fount, first, of the Very Primaries: then, of those creatures which share completely therein; then, of those which share partially therein. 484 484 Migne’s text here is corrupt, I have emended it. (1) The…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1f

“472 Contemplation, Act of Contemplation, and Object Contemplated are all united together, and so imply a fundamental Unity which exists ultimately in God. 473 Cf. p. 174, n. 3. 474 D.‘s paradox is the paradox of sanity. We must hold a…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 12, Section 1a

“181 CHAPTER XII Concerning ” Holy of holies ,” ” King of kings ,” ” Lord of lords ,” ” God of gods .” 1. Forasmuch as the things which needed to be said concerning this matter have been brought, I think, to a proper ending, we must praise…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 12, Section 1b

“Which meaneth that just as things that have no substantial Being 490 490 i. e. The material things (cf. Myst. Theol. I.). This is the ordinary meaning of the phrase in D. are transcended by things that have such Being, together with…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 12, Section 1c

“For while this emanation can be communicated the Godhead cannot. (Cf. Via Negativa. See esp. Myst. Theol. I.). 492 i. e. The higher ranks whether among angels or among human souls. (Cf. “I have said, ‘Ye are gods,’” “hath made us…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 13, Section 1a

“184 CHAPTER XIII Concerning ” Perfect “ and ” One .” 1. So much for these titles. Now let us, if thou art willing, proceed to the most .important Title of all. For the Divine Science attributes all qualities to the Creator of all things…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 13, Section 1b

“abundant and inexhaustible supple, whereby It perfects all perfect 498 498 “Perfect,” a term taken from the Mysteries expressing the final state of the initiated. things and fills them with Its own Perfection. 2. And the title “One” impl…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 13, Section 1c

“Emily Brontë: “Every existence would exist in Thee.”) And if all things be conceived as being ultimately unified with each other, then all things taken as a whole are One. 507 507 All things possess the same Super-Essence, and that is why…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 13, Section 1d

“And hence, when we speak of the All-Transcendent Godhead as an Unity and a Trinity, It is not an Unity or a Trinity such as can be known by us or any other creature, though to express the truth of Its utter Self-Union and Its Divine Fecundi…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 13, Section 1e

“But be these matters as God wills 513 513 This anthropomorphic phrase is not inconsistent with the conceptions D. has been expounding; because he regards the limits of individual human capacities, etc., as timelessly existent in the Super-…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 13, Section 1f

“Thus in the form “1 x 1” the first figure represents the unity underlying all numbers, the second figure represents unity as a particular number among other numbers. The first figure may thus be taken as a symbol of the Godhead, the second…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1a

“65 CHAPTER II Concerning the Undifferencing and the Differentiation in Divinity, and the Nature of Divine Unification and Differentiation. 166 166 περὶ ἡνωμένης καὶ διακεκριμένης θεολογίας καὶ τίς ἡ θεία ἕνωσις καὶ διάκρισις. I. ’ Tis th…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1c

“But if he taketh Scriptural Truth as his Standard, this is the very Rule and Light by which we will (so far as in us lies) proceed straight to our defence, and will declare that the Sacred Science sometimes employs a method of Undifference…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1d

“and Manifestations; and following the Holy Scripture they declare that some Attributes belong especially to Undifference, and some, on the other hand, to Differentiation. 190 190 The received text reads: Φᾶσι . . . καὶ τῆς εἰρημένης ἑνώ…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1e

“even as the lights of lamps (to use visible and homely similes) being in one house and wholly interpenetrating one another, severally possess a clear and absolute distinction each from each, and are by their distinctions united into one, an…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1f

“Yea, ‘tis a common and undifferenced activity of the whole Godhead that It is wholly and entirely communicated unto each of them that share It and unto none merely in part; 197 197 D. here touches on the fundamental difference between spir…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1g

“Their ultimate nature, which they possess in their own original being, is beyond Mind and beyond all Being and Knowledge. 203 203 Even the Differentiations finally lead us up into the Undifferenced Godhead Where they transcend themselves.…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1h

“Even so if any one says that Very Life lives, or that Very Light is enlightened, he will be wrong (according to my view) unless, perchance, he were to use these terms in a different sense from the ordinary one to mean that the qualities of…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1i

“The Godhead is not a Whole because it is indivisible, nor a Part because there is nothing, on the ultimate plane, outside It. Yet It is a Whole because It includes the true existence of all things, and is Partitive because It contains the…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1j

“And since that Supra-Divine Being hath in loving kindness come down from thence unto the Natural Estate, and verily took substance and assumed the name of Man (we must speak with reverence of those things which we utter beyond human thought…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1k

“Indeed, He is not an unity in this sense, and doth not participate in unity nor possess it; 224 224 These two phrases well express the meaning of the title “Beyond things and supernally infusing Unity” (ὑπερηνωμένη), which I have generally…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1l

“166 περὶ ἡνωμένης καὶ διακεκριμένης θεολογίας καὶ τίς ἡ θεία ἕνωσις καὶ διάκρισις. 167 The point of this section is that God’s Nature is not a sum total of separate Attributes. Therefore when we say that the Scriptural titles of God are o…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1m

“καὶ τῆς εἰρημένης ἑνώσεως ἴδια καὶ αὖθις τῆς διακρίσεως εἶνάι τινας ἰδικὰς καὶ ἱνώσεις καὶ διακρίσεις. This, as it stands, must be translated: “They say that certain qualities belong to the said Undifference, and that to Differentiation, o…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1n

“200 Redemption is a work performed by the whole Trinity through the Second Person. (So, too, is Creation. Cf. p. 65, n. 2). 201 i. e. We strive to distinguish the two planes of Being in God. Cf. Athan. Creed: “Neither confounding…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1o

“Yet It is a Whole because It includes the true existence of all things, and is Partitive because It contains the principle of separate Individuality whereby Christ possesses a Human Soul distinct from all other human souls, and whereby, too…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1p

“224 These two phrases well express the meaning of the title “Beyond things and supernally infusing Unity” (ὑπερηνωμένη), which I have generally translated, like ἡνωμένη, as “Undifferenced.” 225 τῇ ἐξ αὐτοῦ θεώσει . . . θεῶν πολλῶν γιγνομ…”

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

“CHAPTER III What is the power of Prayer? Also concerning the Blessed Hierotheus and concerning Reverence and the Writing of Divinity. 1. And first of all, if it like thee, let us consider the highest Name, even “Goodness,” by which all t…”

◆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 3, Section 1d

“233 Cf p. 77, n. 1. 234 This is profound. Spatial metaphors are always dangerous, though unavoidable, in Theology. In space if A is touching B then B must be touching A. In the spiritual world this is not so. God is near me (or rathe…”

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

“CHAPTER IV Concerning ” Good ,” ” Light ,” ” Beautiful ,” “ Desire ,” ” Ecstasy ,” “ Jealousy .” Also that Evil is neither existent nor Sprung from anything existent nor inherent in existent things . 1. Now let us consider the name of “Go…”

◆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 1c

“The Good is beyond this distinction, for nothing (on the ultimate plane) is outside It. See Intr., p. 5. and Lifelessness an excess of Life and Its Mindless state is an excess of Wisdom, 252 252 This apparently profitless speculation rea…”

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

“Nay, even the foundation and the boundaries of the heavens (as we forgot to say while 91 thinking of other matters) owe their origin to the Good. Such is this universe, which lessens not nor grows, and such the noiseless movements (if nois…”

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

“260 260 The light permeates water but it does not permeate a stone. It passes over the stone and permeates the water beyond it. Yea, and it contributes to the birth of material bodies and brings them unto life, and nourishes them that the…”

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

“But these things are dealt with in the “Symbolic Divinity.” Here I desire to declare what is the spiritual meaning of the name “Light” as belonging to the Good. 267 267 Two worlds: (1) Nature, (2) Grace. God is revealed in both; the forme…”

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

“and because It is the Cause of the harmony and splendour in all things, flashing forth upon them all, like light, the beautifying communications of Its originating ray; and because It summons all things to fare unto Itself (from whence It h…”

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

“Hence comes the bare existence of all things, and hence their unions, 277 277 ἑνώσεις, διακρίσεις, ταὐτότητες, ἑτερότητες. their differentiations, their identities, their differences, 278 278 Hence parts are united into wholes and wholes a…”

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

“For from It and through It are all Being and life of spirit and of soul; and hence in the realm of nature magnitudes both small, co-equal and great; hence all the measured order and the proportions of things, which, by their different harmo…”

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

“and all things are moved by a longing for the Beautiful and Good, to accomplish every outward work and form every act of will. And true reasoning will also dare to affirm that even the Creator of all things Himself yearneth after all thing…”

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

“Need is there to understand that in proper truth we do but use the elements and syllables and phrases and written terms and words as an aid to our senses; inasmuch as when our soul is moved by spiritual energies unto spiritual things, our s…”

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

“See also the translator’s note on ἔρως . Ed .] And in the “Introductions’ of Scripture 310 310 ἐν ταῖς προεισαγωγαῖς τῶν λογίων. Apparently this was a title of the books ascribed to Solomon. The present reference is Wisdom viii. 2 . th…”

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

“And herein the Divine Yearning showeth especially its beginningless and endless nature, revolving in a perpetual circle for the Good, from the Good, in the Good, and to the Good, with unerring revolution, never varying its centre or directi…”

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

“let us now yet further resume and compact them all together into the one and concentrated Yearning which is the Father of them all, and let us collect together into two kinds their general desiderative 109 powers, over which the entire mast…”

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

“In this passage “Non-Existent” is used in three senses: (1) “Matter,” or force, cannot exist without some form (which is its complement) and therefore is technically called non-existent. (2) Evil cannot exist at all on the ultimate plane o…”

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

“Now we will bid the questioner look towards the truth of things, and in the first place we will venture thus to answer: “Evil cometh not of the Good; and if it cometh therefrom it is not evil. For even as fire cannot cool us, so Good canno…”

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

“And if any one says that it is productive, and that by the destruction of one thing it giveth birth to somewhat else, the true answer is that it doth not so qua destructive. Qua destructive and evil it only destroys and debases; but it tak…”

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

“For in the case of other qualities, such as heat or cold, the things which have been warmed have their being even when they lose their warmth, and many of the creatures there are which have no life or mind; and in like manner God transcende…”

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

“For things of the same kind cannot 333 333 Exuberant vitality is per se a good thing and the more exuberant the better, though, like all good things, it is dangerous, and unless properly directed is disastrous. be wholly contradictory to o…”

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

“cannot be free from pain, nor without a feeling of ill, since there would be something causing Him trouble, yea, all things must in that case be in a state of disorder and perpetual strife; whereas the Good imparts a principle of harmony to…”

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

“For, were they such, they would not have sprung from the Good, nor have a place amongst existent creatures, nor have fallen from Goodness (being by their very nature always evil). Moreover, are they evil with respect to themselves or to ot…”

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

“Hence if they are always in the same condition, they are not evil; for to remain always the same is a property of the Good. But if they are not always evil, then they are not evil by their natural constitution, but only through a lack of a…”

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

“127 There remains but one alternative: Evil is a weakness and deficiency of Good. 31. Good things have all one cause. If evil is opposed to the Good, then hath evil many causes. The efficient causes of evil results, however, are not any…”

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

“In this present treatise we have, to the best of our abilities, celebrated the Good as truly Admirable, as the Beginning and the End of all things, as the Power that embraces them, as That Which gives form to non-existent things, as That wh…”

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

“And such was the Incarnate Life of Christ and such is the Life of God in eternity. So too the wisdom of Christ is, from a worldly point of view, foolishness. For worldly wisdom = self-seeking, but the Wisdom of Christ = self-abandonment.…”

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

“Intr., p. 5. 259 Here we get once more the Aristotelian classification of causes. The Good is:— (i) Formal Cause (1) immanent in the world (Order— τάξις ); (2) containing the world (Embracing Power— περιοχή ). (ii) Efficient Cause (Caus…”

◆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 4, Section 1

“The types of things existent in the permanent spiritual world before the things were created in this transitory material world; the Platonic Ideas. There was also a Jewish belief in such a pre-existence of things. Cf. Rev. iv. 11 (R.…”

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

“Aug., Transcende mundum et sape animum, transcende animum et sape Deum. 307 This shows that the Via Negativa starts from something positive. It is a transcendence, not a mere negation. 308 Prov. iv. 6, 8 . 309 ὁ ἐμὸς Ἔρως ἐσταύρωται&g…”

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

“Good cannot have produced it because a thing cannot produce its own opposite; evil cannot have produced itself because evil is always destructive and never productive. All things that exist are produced by the Good or the desire for the Go…”

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

“In the one case we get Immanence without Transcendence: in the other Transcendence without Immanence. D. holds a Transcendent Immanence (cf. Bradley, Appearance and Reality, rebutting charge of Pantheism). 328 e. g. The cruelty of Nat…”

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

“also “I have said, Ye are Gods.” 344 i. e. If totally and essentially by very nature evil with respect to themselves. In so far as they continue to exist they are good with respect to themselves. 345 Evil is the contrary of the Good. H…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1a

“131 CHAPTER V Concerning ” Existence “ and also concerning ” Exemplars .” I. Now must we proceed to the Name of “Being” which is truly applied by the Divine Science to Him that truly Is. But this much we must say, that it is not the purpo…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1b

“367 367 Sense-perception is a direct apprehension of that which we actually touch, see, hear, taste, or smell; Reason or Inference is an indirect apprehension of that which we do not actually touch, see, etc. Intuition is a direct apprehen…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1c

“You would have expected those which participate in God’s greater gifts to be the higher, and to surpass the rest.” Now if intelligent beings were defined as having no 134 Existence or Life, the argument would be sound; but since the divine…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1d

“All the properties, etc., of each thing exist outside that thing as an element in the Transcendent Being of God. the Existence of those that have any kind of existence, the Life-Process of those which in any way pass through that process.…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1e

“And if these Universals exist by participating in Existence, far more is this true of the things which participate in them. 6. Thus the first gift which the Absolute and Transcendent Goodness bestows is that of mere Existence, and so It d…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1f

“And the highest measure of existence He bestows upon the more exalted Beings, which the Scripture calls eternal; 380 380 2 Cor. iv. 18 but also the mere existence of the world as a whole is perpetual; and its very existence comes from the…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1h

“is attacking the irreligious attitude in science, philosophy, and life. We must seek for all things (including our own personalities) not in themselves but in God. The great defect of Natural Science in the nineteenth century was its fail…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1i

“364 The ultimate Godhead is reached only by the Negative Path, and known only by Unknowing. The Affirmative Path of philosophical knowledge leads only to the differentiated manifestations of the Godhead: e.g. the Trinity, in Its creative…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1j

“Hence the title “Existent” is not quite so general as the title “Good.” “Living” is a less general title still (since a stone, for instance, has no life), and “Wise” is yet less general (since a plant is not wise). Thus we get the followin…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1k

“Hence the soul possessing God is in a state of “having nothing and yet possessing all things.” Cf. Dante, cio che per l’universa si squaderna, etc. 382 Cf. Section 5. 383 i. e. The Platonic ideas of things—their ultimate essences. Bu…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1l

“This apparent hair-splitting is really of the utmost practical importance. D. is attacking the irreligious attitude in science, philosophy, and life. We must seek for all things (including our own personalities) not in themselves but in…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 6, Section 1a

“144 CHAPTER VI Concerning ” Life .” 1. Now must we celebrate Eternal Life as that whence cometh very Life and all life, 392 392 The Godhead, though called Eternal Life, is really supra-vital, because life implies differentiations, and the…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 6, Section 1b

“And wherever (under the form of intelligence, reason, sensation, nutrition, growth, or any mode whatsoever) you find life or the 146 Principle of life or the Essence of life, there you find that which lives and imparts life from the Life tr…”

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

“CHAPTER VII Concerning “Wisdom,” “Mind,” “Reason,” “Truth,” “Faith.” 1. Now, if it like thee, let us consider the Good and Eternal Life as Wise and as Very Wisdom, or rather as the Fount of all wisdom and as Transcending all wisdom and und…”

◆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 1c

“And in the same way we attribute lack of Reason to Him that is above Reason, and Imperfectibility to Him that is above and before Perfection; and Intangible and Invisible Darkness we attribute to that Light which is Unapproachable because I…”

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

“Furthermore, we must ask how it is that we know God when He cannot be perceived by the mind or the senses and is not a particular Being. Perhaps ‘tis true to say that we know not God by His Nature (for this is unknowable and beyond the rea…”

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

“i and more especially because the Divine Reason is more simple than all simplicity, and, in the transcendence of Its Super-Essential Being, is independent of all things. 419 419 God is called Reason: (1) because He is the Giver of reason;…”

◆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…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 8, Section 1a

“CHAPTER VIII Concerning ” Power ,” ” Righteousness ,” ” Salvation ,” ” Redemption “; and also concerning ” Inequality .” 1. Now since the Sacred Writers speak of the Divine Truthfulness and Supra-Sapient Wisdom as Power, and as Righteousne…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 8, Section 1b

“From this Source come the Godlike Powers of the Angelic Orders; from this Source they immutably possess their being and all the ceaseless and immortal motions of their spiritual life; and their very stability and unfailing desire for the Go…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 8, Section 1c

“The wise Elymas, forsooth, did not perceive this; and so is like an unskilled athlete, who (as often happens), thinking his adversary to be weak, through judging by his own estimation, misses him each time and manfully strikes at his shadow…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 8, Section 1e

“It thus = (1) “equality”; (2) “rightness.” D. maintains that all things possess the latter though not the former. 421 The highest power our minds can conceive is that of the angels. But God has the dominion over them, and hence His power…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 9, Section 1a

“162 CHAPTER IX Concerning ” Great ,” ” Small ,” ” Same ,” ” Different ,” ” Like ,” “ Unlike ,” ” Standing ,” ” Motion ,” ” Equality .” 1. Now , since Greatness and Smallness are ascribed to the Universal Cause, and Sameness and Difference,…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 9, Section 1b

“Dante passes outwards through the concentric spheres of space to the Empyrean which is beyond space and encloses it. There he sees the Empyrean as a point and his whole journey from sphere to sphere as a journey inwards instead of outwards…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 9, Section 1c

“For just as, supposing we were in thought to represent the soul itself in bodily shape, and represent this indivisible substance as surrounded by bodily parts, we should, in such a case, give the surrounding parts a different meaning suited…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 9, Section 1d

“Scripture itself declares 451 451 Cf. e. g. Ps. lxxxvi. 8 . that God is Dissimilar to the world, and not to be compared therewith. It says that He is different from all things, and (what is yet more strange) that there is nothing eve…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 9, Section 1e

“power bestowed upon all according to their worth; and because all Equality (perceived or exercised by the intellect, or possessed in the sphere of 169 reason, sensation, essence, nature, or will) is transcendently contained beforehand as an…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter Ia

“Wheat is the Divine Gloom. T rinty, which exceedeth all Being, Deity, and Goodness! 514 514 Lit. “Super-Essential, Supra-Divine, Super-Excellent.” Thou that instructeth Christians in Thy heavenly wisdom! Guide us to that topmost height…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter Ib

“They are useful and necessary up to a point, but the Truth lies beyond them and is to be apprehended to a supernatural manner by what later writers call “infused” contemplation. The sum of the whole matter is that God is incomprehensible.…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter IIa

“How it is necessary to be united with and render praise to Him Who is the cause of all and above all. Unto this Darkness which is beyond Light we pray that we may come, and may attain unto vision through the loss of sight and knowledge, an…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter IIb

“but now ascending upwards from 196 particular to universal conceptions we strip off all qualities 528 528 The process from the universal to the particular is the process of actual development (existence before life, and life before rational…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter IIIa

“What are the affirmative expressions respecting God, and what are the negative. Now I have in my Outlines of Divinity set forth those conceptions which are most proper to the affirmative method, and have shown in what sense God’s holy natu…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter IIIb

“Now in the former treatises the course of the argument, as it came down from the highest to the lowest categories, embraced an ever-widening number of conceptions which increased at each stage of the descent, but in the present treatise it…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter IV

“That He Who is the Pre-eminent Cause of everything sensibly perceived is not Himself any one of the things sensibly perceived. We therefore maintain 536 536 Being about to explain, in these two last chapters, that no material or mental qual…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter Va

“That He Who is the Pre-eminent Cause of everything intelligibly perceived is not Himself any one of the things intelligibly perceived. Once more, ascending yet higher we maintain 537 537 It is not (1) a Thinking Subject; nor (2) an Act or…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter Vb

“The ultimate truth about God and our relation to Him is held to be that He is a “Person” and that He has “made” the world. (This attitude is seen at its worst in Unitarian theology. Bradley’s criticisms on Lotze show how this fails on the…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter Vc

“begins with the notion of Goodness (which he holds to be possessed by all things) and proceeds thence to Existence (which is not possessed by things that are either destroyed or yet unmade), and thence to Wisdom (which is not possessed eith…”

◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter Vd

“safeguards the position against pure negativity by explaining that they are not absent either. The rest of this chapter deals with the qualities (1) of inanimate matter; (2 ) of material life. 537 It is not (1) a Thinking Subject; nor (2)…”

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

“THE NEARNESS OF THE KINGDOM St Luke xxi. 31 .—“Know that the Kingdom of God is near.” Our Lord saith that the Kingdom of God is near us. Yea, the Kingdom of God is within us as St Paul saith “our salvation is nearer than when we believed.…”

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

“THE ANGEL’S GREETING St Luke i. 28 .—“Hail, thou that art highly favoured among women, the Lord is with thee.” Here there are three things to understand: the first, the modesty of the angel; the second, that he thought himself unworthy to…”

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

“TRUE HEARING Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 30 .—“Whoso heareth Me shall not be confounded.” The everlasting and paternal wisdom saith, “Whoso heareth Me is not ashamed.” If he is ashamed of anything he is ashamed of being ashamed. Whoso worketh in…”

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

“THE SELF-COMMUNICATION OF GOD St John xiv. 23 .—“If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” We read in the Gospels that Our Lord fed many people with five…”

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

“It is necessary, therefore, for all the creatures which issued forth from God to co-operate earnestly with all their powers to form a Man who may again attain that union with God which Adam enjoyed before he fell, and who may again restore…”

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

“Thus happens it to the noble soul which goes to God to school, and learns there what God is in His essence, and what He is in the Trinity, and what He is in man, and what is most acceptable to Him. St Augustine saith that the righteousness…”

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

“SANCTIFICATION 1 1 That is separation from all outward things. St Luke x. 42 .—“One thing is needful.” I have read many writings both of heathen philosophers and inspired prophets, ancient and modern, and have sought earnestly to discover…”

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

“Here some one may make the objection: “Are then all good works and prayers thrown away, since God is unmoved by them, and at the same time we are told to pray to Him for everything?” In answer to this I say that God from all eternity saw ev…”

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

“When a good work is done by a man, he is free of it, and through that freedom is liker and nearer to his Original than he was before. The moral task of man is a process of spiritualization. All creatures are go-betweens, and we are placed…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 2)

“"Natural man knows nothing about the mystery of the kingdom of God, because he is outside and not within the state of divinity, as is daily proved by the action of the philosophisers who are disputing about the attributes and the will of Go…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 4)

“Let them, therefore, again go out with their will from their wilful ignorance or malignity and enter again into the will of God." ( Menschwerdung , 3, 5.) All this goes to show that it is useless and vain to seek for divine wisdom, meaning…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 6)

“The human selfhood will then follow in its perceptions the Spirit of God, tremblingly and in the joy of humility, and become able to see what is contained in time and in eternity. Everything is near to a soul in that state, for the soul is…”

◆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…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 10)

“It is itself the most secret thing, which can be known by no one except by him who has experienced it; neither do those that live entirely within the realm of animality, or within that of the speculating intellect, believe that such a state…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 12)

“56 Neither is such a state attained without a hard fight against the powers of darkness. "If any one desires to follow me, let him not be intoxicated by terrestrial thoughts and desires, but girded with the sword of the Spirit, because he…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 2 (part 3)

“This other will is the sensitivity and conceivability of the primordial will, by means of which that which is nothing finds itself to be something. By so doing the inconceivable causeless will issues by means of that which it has eternally…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 2 (part 5)

“The will beholding itself in the mirror of wisdom causes its own image to appear within the groundlessness, and thus it creates a foundation in its own imagination." ( Menschwerdung , ii. 1.) "Wisdom, the eternal virgin, the playmate of Go…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 2 (part 6)

“2.) "If there is to be a light, there must be a fire. The fire produces the light, and the light renders the fire manifest; it receives the nature of the fire within itself and resides in the fire." ( Mysterium , xl. 2.) "Joy enters the s…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 3 (part 1)

“p. 71 CHAPTER III. THE SEVEN PROPERTIES OR QUALITIES OF ETERNAL NATURE. 1 I. ♄ ☾ II. ☿ ♃ III. ♂ ♀ IV. ☉ V. ♀ ♂ VI. ♃ ☿ VII. ☾ ♄ When the Eternal One, in its aspect as a Trinity and with reference to divine wisdom, reveals itself o…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 3 (part 4)

“The will cannot attain this light, and the more it desires for freedom the greater will be the attraction caused by the desire." ( Six Theosophical Points , i, 38.) "There must be au opposition, for the will desires not to be dark, and this…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 4 (part 2)

“91 "Christ never said, 'I, in my human selfhood, am the voice of God, I am speaking as God, in or with God,' &c.; but He said, 'The words which I speak are the Father's, who lives in me '—that is to say, who lives in my human or natural sel…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 4 (part 7)

“25.) "Whether or not God will create something more out of His will after the end of this time is not perceptible to my spirit, for it does not penetrate deeper than within its own centre wherein it lives, and therein is the paradise and th…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 5 (part 1)

“p. 101 CHAPTER V. THE ANGELS. "If you wish to hear the Holy Ghost speak out of the mouth of another you must first enter yourself with your will into the spirit of holiness."— Jacob Boehme . IT is perfectly useless to attempt to enter i…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 6 (part 3)

“123.) "The day's works refer to the seven qualities, six of them belonging to the actual regiment, but the seventh, or the essentiality, is that wherein the others are resting; for these qualities have been spoken out by God and rendered vi…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 7 (part 2)

“36.) "In Paradise there is perfect life without disturbance, and a perpetual day, and the paradisiacal man is clear like transparent glass, and he is fully penetrated by the light of the divine sun." 1 ( Signature , xi. 5 1.) His body like…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 7 (part 4)

“28.) "In Paradise the substance of the divine world penetrated the substance belonging to time, comparable to the power of the sun penetrating a fruit growing on a tree, and endowing it with such qualities as render it lovely to the sight a…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 7 (part 5)

“13.) Man can attain real similarity to God and perfect beatitude only by decisively willing to put his will into the Son, as the Heart or Light of the Father. "God has the eternal and unchangeable will to generate His Heart and his Son, an…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 8 (part 5)

“Thus the earth is filled with hunger after the stars and after the spiritus mundi , so that they have no peace." ( Clavis , 110.) "The earth is turning around because she has both fires, the hot and the cold fire, and that which is below al…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 9 (part 1)

“p. 180 CHAPTER IX. GENERATION. "Let every Brahman, with fixed attention, consider all nature, both visible and invisible, as existing in the Divine Spirit. For when he contemplates the boundless universe in the Divine Spirit, he cannot…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 11 (part 9)

“225:1 All disputes about the nature of Christ only prove that the disputants are not Christians, because if they were true followers of the Christ they would have the living Christ within themselves, and know His true nature. The misunders…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 11 (part 11)

“421.) 239:1 It is universal and nevertheless individual, like that of a god. 239:2 This would be like imagining that the trunk of a tree was dwelling within the leaves. 240:1 The universal life and the individual life are only one princip…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 2)

“265 To form a correct conception of the regeneration of man, and of what kind of a being it is which is to be brought to life in us, we must learn to know what is eternity and time, light and darkness, good and evil, and especially the orig…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 12)

“In the place which formerly was the seat of self-will there is now nothing, and wherever there is nothing there the love of God is solely active." ( Supernatural Life , xxviii.) "A true Christian knows himself to be a servant of God, whose…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 14)

“It would then be easy for us to grant our own desires, if in that divine state there could be room for personal desires of any kind. 268:1 True prayer is the bringing of will, thought, and word into one Δ by the power of the Spirit of God.…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 15)

“If he then, in his imagination, sinks himself into the abyss, he is then already there, and in this abyss is his pearl (the celestial jewel)." ( Grace , ii. 43.) 279:1 This may be expressed in other words by saying that desire gives rise t…”

◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 14 (part 9)

“The faith of the living caught that of the saints, and the faith performed the miracle. Faith can overthrow mountains. It could destroy the world, if God were so to direct it." 1 ( Forty Questions , xxvi.) In the above we have considered…”

◇Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | PREFACEa

““ Meister Eckhart ,” who has been called the “Father of German thought,” was a Dominican monk, and one of the most profound thinkers of the Middle Ages. He was born about 1260 A.D. in Thuringia, and died at Cologne 1327 A.D. In 1295 he w…”

◇Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | IIIb

“The earth cannot flee from heaven: whether it flee up or down, the heaven rains its influence upon it, and stamps its impress upon it, and makes it fruitful, whether it be willing or not. Thus doth God with men: whoever thinketh to escape…”

◇The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 2 (part 1)

“p. 58 CHAPTER II. THE UNITY OF THE ALL. "We are all one body in Christ, and have all the Spirit of Christ within our reach. If, then, we enter into the Christ, we may see and know everything by the power of His Spirit." ( Forty Question…”

◇The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 2 (part 4)

“She is passive, but the Spirit of God is active, like the soul in the body." ( Clavis , v. 18.) This eternal Trinity is inconceivable in its aspect as a spiritual potentiality, in the same sense as a fire is inconceivable if it does not bu…”

◇The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 3 (part 8)

“Without it the form of the spirit would not be knowable; it is the corporeity of the spirit. To be sure, it is not a bodily, tangible substance, like the bodies of men, but has nevertheless substantial and visible qualities which the spiri…”

◇The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 4 (part 3)

“7.) "We cannot reasonably suppose any formation or differentiation to have existed in the eternal One from which, or according to which (formation) something could have been made; for if such a form, or predisposition to making a form, had…”

◇The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 6 (part 8)

“They are fire-flames, illumined by the light of God, but we attain the great fountain of meekness and love which is welling up within the holy essentiality of God." 1 ( Menschwerdung , i. 5.) Man comprises all three principles: the princip…”

◇The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 6 (part 9)

“Thus he was in possession of divine and terrestrial essentiality; but the terrestrial one was in the divine one like consumed or impotent (latent). The substance or the matter from which the body was made or created contained itself also t…”

◇The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 11 (part 8)

“Neither is God measurable, and there has no place of residence been discovered in Him, unless He should establish for Himself such a dwelling in one of His creatures; but even then He remains a whole apart from and beyond such a created bei…”

◇The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 11 (part 10)

“"Human reason can understand nothing about the kingdom of Christ, nor about His person or office, because the testament of Christ is celestial, and human reasoning is terrestrial; the latter seeks Christ in time, while He can only be found…”

◇The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 13)

“Nevertheless he has nothing (objectively), because that which is before Him is nothing in His comprehension, for it does not comprehend Him. Likewise will this be the state of a person according to his submitted will if he entirely surrend…”

◇The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 14 (part 12)

“Certainly, from the point of view of the divine spirit, all forms are merely illusive, and as long as man is rooted within that spirit he may recognise them as such; but for the godless they are horrible realities, as real as the images of…”

◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Introductione

“He himself declared philosophy to be the way of true happiness and its purpose twofold: (1) to contemplate God, and (2) to abstract the soul from corporeal sense. The principles of all things he conceived to be three in number: God , matte…”

◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Life and Teachings of Thoth Hermes Trismegistusk

“In concluding his exposition of the Vision , Hermes wrote: "The sleep of the body is the sober watchfulness of the Mind and the shutting of my eyes reveals the true Light. My silence is filled with budding life and hope, and is full of goo…”

◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Fundamentals of Qabbalistic Cosmogonya

“THE Qabbalists conceive of the Supreme Deity as an Incomprehensible Principle to be discovered only through the process of eliminating, in order, all its cognizable attributes. That which remains--when every knowable thing has been removed…”

◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Fundamentals of Qabbalistic Cosmogonyi

“By the man of Ezekiel's vision is symbolized the World of Atziluth ; by the throne, the World of Briah ; by the firmament, the World of Yetzirah ; and by the living creatures the World of Assiah . These spheres are the wheels within wheels…”

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

“______ Since the remotest antiquity the question of our relation to the true causes of our sensations has constituted the main subject of philosophical research. Men have always felt that they should have some solution for this question, s…”

◆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 2)

“The future also does not exist—it does not exist as yet. It has not arrived, has not formed. By the present we mean the moment of transition of the future into the past, i.e., the moment of transition of a phenomenon from one non-existenc…”

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

“If we look at our two hands we see this clearly, though the two hands represent a complex case of a symmetrical similarity. Now there is one way in which the right hand and the left hand may practically be brought into likeness. If we tak…”

◆Tao Te Ching | Chapter 11

“The thirty spokes unite in the one nave; but it is on the empty space (for the axle), that the use of the wheel depends. Clay is fashioned into vessels; but it is on their empty hollowness, that their use depends. The door and windows are c…”

◆Tao Te Ching | Chapter 48

“He who devotes himself to learning (seeks) from day to day to increase (his knowledge); he who devotes himself to the Tao (seeks) from day to day to diminish (his doing). He diminishes it and again diminishes it, till he arrives at doing no…”

◆Tao Te Ching | Chapter 63

“(It is the way of the Tao) to act without (thinking of) acting; to conduct affairs without (feeling the) trouble of them; to taste without discerning any flavour; to consider what is small as great, and a few as many; and to recompense inju…”

◆Tao Te Ching | Chapter 67

“All the world says that, while my Tao is great, it yet appears to be inferior (to other systems of teaching). Now it is just its greatness that makes it seem to be inferior. If it were like any other (system), for long would its smallness h…”

◆Tao Te Ching | Chapter 71

“To know and yet (think) we do not know is the highest (attainment); not to know (and yet think) we do know is a disease. It is simply by being pained at (the thought of) having this disease that we are preserved from it. The sage has not th…”

◆Tao Te Ching | Chapter 73

“He whose boldness appears in his daring (to do wrong, in defiance of the laws) is put to death; he whose boldness appears in his not daring (to do so) lives on. Of these two cases the one appears to be advantageous, and the other to be inju…”

◆The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book 123 (part 2)

“In the south of Khû 2 , there is the (tree) called Ming-ling 3 , whose spring is 500 years, and its autumn the same; in high antiquity there was that called Tâ-khun 4 , p. 167 whose spring was 8000 years, and its autumn the same. And Phän…”

◆The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book 124 (part 1)

“p. 176 BOOK II. PART I. SECTION II. Khî Wû Lun, or 'The Adjustment of Controversies 1 .' 1. Nan-kwo Sze-khî 2 was seated, leaning forward on his stool. He was looking up to heaven and breathed gently, seeming to be in a trance, and to…”

◆Gospel of Philip | Section 1c

“And Jesus said, “Whoever will not eat my flesh and drink my blood has no life within him.” What does he mean? His flesh is the word and blood the holy spirit. Who has received these has food and drink and clothing. I condemn those who sa…”

◆Gospel of Philip | Section 1j

“In the world these are the true people. They are the attendants of the bridal chamber. POWER AND WEAKNESS In this world, power and weakness mingle when man and woman have sex. Joining is different in the eternal realm, though we use the…”

◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 7

“Jesus said, "Blessed is the lion which becomes man when consumed by man; and cursed is the man whom the lion consumes, and the lion becomes man."…”

◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 29

“Jesus said, "If the flesh came into being because of spirit, it is a wonder. But if spirit came into being because of the body, it is a wonder of wonders. Indeed, I am amazed at how this great wealth has made its home in this poverty."…”

◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 43

“His disciples said to him, "Who are you, that you should say these things to us?" <Jesus said to them,> "You do not realize who I am from what I say to you, but you have become like the Jews, for they (either) love the tree and hate its fru…”

◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 83

“Jesus said, "The images are manifest to man, but the light in them remains concealed in the image of the light of the father. He will become manifest, but his image will remain concealed by his light."…”

◆Pistis Sophia | Document FIRSTa

“But it happened after that Jesus rose out of those who (are) dead, and he spent eleven years speaking with his disciples, and teaching them only as far as the Places of the First precept (Law?), and as far as the Places of the First Mystery…”

◆Pistis Sophia | Document FIRSTb

“Because of this therefore they were thinking of that Mystery that it is the completion of all completions; and that it is the head of the Universe; and that [4 ] it is the whole Pleroma: since Jesus is wont to say unto his disciples that th…”

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

“And in the same place, Proclus has preserved to us another copy of Orphic verses, which are also found in the writer (de Mundo); previous to which he observes, that the demiurgus, or artificer of the world, being full of ideas, comprehended…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 6 (part 2)

“Footnotes 109:* As these Hymns, though full of the most recondite antiquity, have never yet been commented on by any one, the design of the following notes, is to elucidate, as much as possible, their concealed meaning, and evince their agr…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn V. PROTOGONUS, Or the FIRST-BORN (part 1)

“V. TO PROTOGONUS, Or the FIRST-BORN. The FUMIGATION from MYRRH. O Mighty first-begotten, hear my pray'r, 1 Two-fold, egg-born, and wand'ring thro' the air, p. 119 Bull-roarer, glorying in thy golden wings, 3 From whom the race of Gods a…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn IX. NATURE (part 1)

“IX. TO NATURE. * The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS. NATURE, all parent, ancient, and divine, O Much-mechanic mother, art is thine; p. 127 Heav'nly, abundant, venerable queen, In ev'ry part of thy dominions seen. p. 128 Untam'd, all-taming…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn XI. HERCULES (part 1)

“XI. TO HERCULES. The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. HEAR, pow'rful, Hercules untam'd and strong, To whom vast hands, and mighty works belong, Almighty Titan, prudent and benign, Of various forms, eternal and divine, Father of Time, the th…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn XII. SATURN

“XII. TO SATURN. The FUMIGATION from STORAX. ETHERIAL father, mighty Titan, hear, 1 Great fire of Gods and men, whom all revere: Endu'd with various council, pure and strong, To whom perfection and decrease belong. Consum'd by thee all forms…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn XXVIII. PROSERPINE (part 1)

“XXVIII. TO PROSERPINE. A HYMN DAUGHTER of Jove, almighty and divine, Come, blessed queen, and to these rites incline: Only-begotten, Pluto's honor'd wife, 3 O venerable Goddess, source of life: 'Tis thine in earth's profundities to dwell,…”

◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn XXIX. BACCHUS

“XXIX. TO BACCHUS. The FUMIGATION from STORAX. BACCHUS I call, loud-sounding and divine, Fanatic God, a two-fold shape is thine: Thy various names and attributes I sing, O, first-born, thrice begotten, Bacchic king: 4 Rural, ineffable, two-f…”

◆Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter V — Of the Wonderful Natures of Fire and Earth | Chapter V, Section 1a

“CHAPTER V. Of the Wonderful Natures of Fire and Earth . There are two things, saith Hermes, viz., Fire and Earth, which are sufficient for the operation of all wonderful things: the former is active, the latter passive. Fire, as saith Di…”

◆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…”

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

“He forms intelligible conceptions in his own way and proportions them to his capacity, so that they are received according to the manner of the recipient. Tans. And does he hunt through the operation of the will, by the act of which he co…”

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

“Whence he says, "Come not back to me till thou art mine," and not unworthily may I say with that other— Thou has left me, oh, my heart, And thou, light of my eyes, art no more with me. Here he describes the death of the soul, which by the…”

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

“This I understand right well, and also that which you would infer about the principal intention; that is to say, that these are the degrees of the loves, of the affections, and of the enthusiasms, according to the degrees of greater and les…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 1: Poimandres | Section 1f

“All this befell me from my Mind, that is Man-Shepherd, Word (Logos) of all masterhood, by whom being God-inspired I came unto the Plain of Truth. Wherefore with all my soul and strength thanksgiving give I unto Father-God. 31. Holy art T…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 2: The Serapeum | Section 1a

“To Asclepius <This dialogue sets forth the difference between the physical and metaphysical worlds in the context of Greek natural philosophy. Some of the language is fairly technical: the "errant spheres" of sections 6 and 7 are the celes…”

◆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 1b

“Would that it were possible for thee to get thee wings, and soar into the air, and, poised midway 'tween earth and heaven, behold the earth's solidity, the sea's fluidity (the flowings of its streams), the spaciousness of air, fire's swiftn…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 6: The All-Father | Section 1b

“So then, Asclepius, the name alone of Good is found in men, the thing itself nowhere [in them], for this can never be. For no material body doth contain It - a thing bound on all sides by bad, by labors, pains, desires and passions, by err…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 8: The Eight Sphere | Section 1b

“Now the third life - Man, after the image of the Cosmos made, [and] having mind, after the Father's will, beyond all earthly lives - not only doth have feeling with the second God <i.e., the Cosmos>, but also hath conception of the first; f…”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 9: The Decalogue | Section 1c

“This is God's sense-and-thought, ever to move all things. And never time shall be when e'en a whit of things that are shall cease; and when I say "a whit of things that are", I mean a whit of God. For thigs that are, God hath; nor aught […”

◆Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount | Section 1a

“The Key <This longer tractate presents itself explicitly as a summary or abridgement of the General Sermons (CH II-IX), and discusses the Hermetic view of knowledge and its role in the lives and afterlives of human beings. The attentive re…”

◆The Dhammapada | Chapter XIV, Section 1a

“p. 49 CHAPTER XIV. THE BUDDHA (THE AWAKENED). 179. He whose conquest is not conquered again, into whose conquest no one in this world enters, by what track can you lead him, the Awakened, the Omniscient, the trackless? 180. He whom no…”

◆The Dhammapada | Chapter XXVI, Section 1d

“Him I call indeed a Brâhma n a who has left what gives pleasure and what gives pain, who is cold, and free from all germs (of renewed life), the hero who has conquered all the worlds. 419. Him I call indeed a Brâhma n a who knows the dest…”

◆The Dhammapada | Chapter XXVI, Section 1e

“Him I call indeed a Brâhma n a who calls nothing his own, whether it be before, behind, or between, who is poor, and free from the love of the world. 422. Him I call indeed a Brâhma n a, the manly, the noble, the hero, the great sage, the…”

◆Vajrakkhedika (Diamond Cutter) | Section 1b

“observes that pa kkh abhatta m pi nd apâtapa t ikkânto is a {Greek ú!oteron próteron }, as it means, having returned from his rounds, and then made his meal on the food obtained on his rounds. 4. Pâli pa ññ ata. 5. Burnouf, Lotus, p. 3…”

◆Vajrakkhedika (Diamond Cutter) | Section 1d

“In the next or third 500 years, they will be strong in 'much learning,' i.e. bahu s ruta, religious knowledge. In the next or fourth 500 years, they will be strong in founding monasteries, &c. In the last or fifth 500 years, they will be…”

◆Vajrakkhedika (Diamond Cutter) | Section 1f

“Because, O Subhûti, the highest perfect knowledge of the holy and enlightened Tathâgatas is produced from it; the blessed Buddhas are produced from it. And why? Because, O Subhûti, when the Tathâgata preached: [1. See Childers, s.v. Lok…”

◆Vajrakkhedika (Diamond Cutter) | Section 1h

“Do you think then, O Subhûti, that his selfhood (he himself) would be large?' Subhûti said: 'Yes, O Bhagavat, yes, O Sugata, his selfhood would be large. And why? Because, O Bhagavat, when the Tathâgata preached: "Selfhood, selfhood indee…”

◆Vajrakkhedika (Diamond Cutter) | Section 1i

“Therefore it is called the Pra gñ â-pâramitâ. 'Then, what do you think, O Subhûti, is there anything (dharma) that was preached by the Tathâgata?' Subhûti said: 'Not indeed, O Bhagvat, there is not anything that was preached by the Tathâga…”

◆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 Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XXXIX

“XXXIX. The Abode of the Righteous and of the Elect One: the Praises of the Blessed . CHAPTER XXXIX. 1. [ And it †shall come to pass in those days that elect and holy children †will descend from the high heaven, and their seed †will become o…”

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

“LXIII. The unavailing Repentance of the Kings and the Mighty . CHAPTER LXIII. 1. In those days shall the mighty and the kings who possess the earth implore (Him) to grant them a little respite from His angels of punishment to whom they were…”

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

“LXXI. Two earlier visions of Enoch . CHAPTER LXXI. 1. And it came to pass after this that my spirit was translated And it ascended into the heavens: And I saw the holy sons of God . They were stepping on flames of fire: Their garments were…”

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

“XCIII. XCI. 12-17. The Apocalypse of Weeks . p. 132 CHAPTER XCIII. 1. And after that Enoch both †gave† and began to recount from the books. And Enoch said: 'Concerning the children of righteousness and concerning the elect of the world, And…”

◆The Kabbalah Unveiled | Introduction, Section 1a

“p. 43 SPRA DTzNIOVThA (SIPHRA DTZENIOUTHA); OR, THE BOOK OF CONCEALED MYSTERY. CHAPTER I. 1. Tradition .--"The Book of Concealed Mystery" is the book of the equilibrium of balance. [The word "Dtzenioutha" is difficult to translate, but…”

◆The Kabbalah Unveiled | Introduction, Section 1m

“Woe, woe unto him who revealeth their nakedness! (Since this can be done by the faults of the inferiors, so that Microprosopus loseth this influx, whereby he is of so great power that he can seek to enshroud his mother; for that covering i…”

◆The Lesser Holy Assembly (Idra Zuta Qadisha) | Idra Zuta, Chapter 1 (part 1)

“CHAPTER VIII. CONCERNING THE FOREHEAD OF MACROPROSOPUS. 87. THE forehead of His skull is the acceptation of acceptations, whereunto is opposed the acceptation of Microprosopus, like as it is written, Exod. xxviii. 38: "And it shall be…”

◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 8 (part 6)

“, the litany from the tomb of Seti I., published by Naville, La Litanie du Soleil , Leipzig, 1875, p. 13 ff. 2. E.g. , Hymn to Amen-Ra, translated by Goodwin from papyrus No. 17, now preserved in the Gizeh Museum (see Les Papyrus Égypt…”

◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 10 (part 13)

“In turn it was identified with all the gods of Egypt, new or old, and its influence was so great upon the minds of the Egyptians that from the earliest days they depicted to themselves a material heaven wherein the Isles of the Blest were l…”

◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 43 (part 40)

“Thou art the heir of Seb and the sovereign of all the earth; [* This festival took place on the 17th and 18th days of the month Thoth; see Brugsch, Kalendarische Inschriften, p. 235.] {footnote page liii} Seb hath seen thy glorious power,…”

◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 43 (part 65)

“In the Journal de Paris , 15 Mars, 1871; and in the Academy , Aug. 1, No. 29, p. 386, 1871. 7. L'Égyptologie , Série I., tt. i., ii., Chalons-sur-Saône and Paris, 40., 1876-78. This work contains the hieratic text divided into sectio…”

◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 43 (part 69)

“xcii} unity of a supreme and self-existent being, his eternity, his almightiness, and external reproduction thereby as God; the attributing of the creation of the world and of all living beings to this supreme God; the immortality of the so…”

◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 43 (part 71)

“the walls of tombs,[1] stelæ, and papyri[2] of the XVIIIth dynasty; and these prove that the Egyptians ascribed the attributes of the Creator to the creature. The religious ideas which we find in these writings in the XVIIIth dynasty are,…”

◆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 Egyptian Heaven and Hell | Chapter 13 (part 2)

“The hidden gods who march in front of the boat are few in number, and the names of many of them are unfamiliar; some of them are connected with Osiris, and all of them are under the control of ANPU, or ANUBIS, and perform some act which hel…”

◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1

“I dare say that the simile is not perfect-for I am very far from admitting that he who contemplates existence through the medium of ideas, sees them only "through a glass darkly," any more than he who sees them in their working and effects.…”

◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1€

“Very true, he said. Again, would you not be cautious of affirming that the addition of one to one, or the division of one, is the cause of two? And you would loudly asseverate that you know of no way in which anything comes into existence…”

◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1

“The reason why I say this is that I want you to agree with me in thinking, not only that absolute greatness will never be great and also small, but that greatness in us or in the concrete will never admit the small or admit of being exceede…”

◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1o

“Zeus, the mighty lord, holding the reins of a winged chariot, leads the way in heaven, ordering all and taking care of all; and there follows him the array of gods and demigods, marshalled in eleven bands; Hestia alone abides at home in the…”

◆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 1t

“to which you would find no difficulty in replying, of a son or daughter: and the answer would be right. Very true, said Agathon. And you would say the same of a mother? He assented. Yet let me ask you one more question in order to illus…”

◆Plato: Symposium | Section 1u

“True, he said. Then Love wants and has not beauty? Certainly, he replied. And would you call that beautiful which wants and does not possess beauty? Certainly not. Then would you still say that love is beautiful? Agathon replied: I fe…”

◆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…”

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

“The Prince and the Handmaid. A prince, while engaged on a hunting excursion, espied a fair maiden, and by promises of gold induced her to accompany him. After a time she fell sick, and the prince had her tended by divers physicians. As,…”

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

“The Oilman and his Parrot. An oilman possessed a parrot which used to amuse him with its agreeable prattle, and to watch his shop when he went out. One day, when the parrot was alone in the shop, a cat upset one of the oil-jars. When the oi…”

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

“But the light that lights the heart is the Light of God, Which is distinct from the light of reason and sense. At night there is no light, and colors are not seen; Hence we know what light is by its opposite, darkness. At night no colors…”

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

“The Harper. In the time of the Khalifa 'Omar there lived a harper, whose voice was as sweet as that of the angel Israfil, and who was in great request at all feasts. But he grew old, and his voice broke, and no one would employ him any lo…”

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

“When love of God kindles a flame in the inward man, He burns, and is freed from effects. He has no need of signs to assure him of love, For love casts its own light up to heaven. Other details are wanting to complete this subject, But tak…”

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

“Joseph a‚Žd the Mirror. An old friend came to pay his respects to Joseph, and, after some remarks upon the bad behaviour of his brethren, Joseph asked him what present he had brought to show his respect. The friend replied that he had long…”

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

“The Chinese and the Greek Artists. The Chinese and the Greeks disputed before the Sultan which of them were the better painters; and, in order to settle the dispute, the Sultan allotted to each a house to be painted by them. The Chinese pro…”

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

“'Ali's Forbearance. 'Ali, the "Lion of God," was once engaged in conflict with a Magian chief, and in the midst of the struggle the Magian spat in his face. 'Ali, instead of taking vengeance on him, at once dropped his sword, to the Magia…”

◆The Mabinogion | Tale TALIESINi

“The names of the three springs From the midst of the ocean; One generated brine Which is from the Corina, To replenish the flood Over seas disappearing; The second, without injury It will fall on us, When there is rain abroad, Through the w…”

◆The Kalevala | Rune IXg

“O, ye people of Wainola, People of this generation, And the folk of future ages, Fashion not in emulation, River boat, nor ocean shallop, Boasting of its fine appearance, God alone can work completion, Give to cause its perfect ending, Neve…”

◇Enuma Elish: The Epic of Creation | 1a

“THE FIRST TABLET When in the height heaven was not named, And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name, And the primeval Apsu, who begat them, And chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both Their waters were mingled together, And no field was…”