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theology

Apophatic Theology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

805 passages · 16 traditions
neoplatonism: 297 passagesneoplatonism297christian_mysticism: 170 passageschristian_mysticism170western_esoteric: 78 passageswestern_esoteric78taoism: 50 passagestaoism50gnosticism: 49 passagesgnosticism49greek_mystery: 29 passagesgreek_mystery29renaissance_hermeticism: 29 passagesrenaissance_hermeticism29hermeticism: 26 passageshermeticism26buddhism: 21 passagesbuddhism21jewish_mysticism: 16 passagesjewish_mysticism16egyptian: 15 passagesegyptian15platonism: 12 passagesplatonism12sufism: 10 passagessufism10celtic: 1 passageceltic1finnic: 1 passagefinnic1mesopotamian: 1 passagemesopotamian1
neoplatonism297
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…”
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christian_mysticism170
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…”
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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…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter VI (part 2)
These will be considered as temporal phenomena, beginning at that moment when they become visible, and ending— ceasing to exist —at that moment when they become invisible. The one-dimensional being will not be in a position to imagine that…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter VI (part 4)
As has been said, the two-dimensional being will regard the straight lines only as immobile matter; irregular lines and curves will seem to him as moving. So far as really moving lines are concerned, that is, lines limiting the cross-secti…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter VI (part 6)
To the plane being the idea that some phenomena come whence others go, and vice versa, will seem equally absurd. He will tenaciously think that the future is that wherefrom everything comes, and the past is that whereto everything goes and…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter VI (part 7)
He would lack "necessary words." For instance, "section"—this would be for him a quite new and inconceivable word; then "angle"—again an inconceivable word; "centre"—still more inconceivable; the third perpendicular—something incomprehensib…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter VII (part 2)
But in the matter of dimensions it is as if mathematics sees more than we do, or farther than we do, through some boundaries which arrest us but not it—and sees that no realities whatever correspond to our concepts of dimensions. If the th…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter VII (part 3)
Thus on the one hand, Bonola, who ascribed to Lobachevsky views opposite to Kant, and their nearness to "sensualism" and "current empiricism," is quite wrong, while on the other hand, it is not impossible to conceive that Hinton entirely su…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter X (part 3)
It appears to us as if it is really growing up, i.e., as though it did not exist before. There disappeared the river, which was visible for so long a time; there appeared the bell-tower, which was invisible before. Such, exactly, is our r…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter X (part 5)
To the two-dimensional being time is necessary for the understanding of the most simple phenomena—an angle, a hill, a ditch. For us time is not necessary for the understanding of such phenomena, but is necessary for the explanation of the…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XII (part 1)
p. 136 CHAPTER XII Analysis of phenomena. What defines different orders of phenomena for us? Methods and forms of the transition of one order of phenomena into another. Phenomena of motion. Phenomena of life, Phenomena of consciousness…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIII (part 2)
The positivistic scientist finds himself in the presence of nature almost in the position of a savage in a library of rare and valuable books. For a savage a book is a thing of definite size and weight. However long he may ask himself wha…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIII (part 8)
They may vary infinitely, i.e., may seem various, ever new from some new standpoint, but they cannot utterly vanish, any more than they can cease, come to an end. All that is highest to which we shall come in the understanding of the meani…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIV (part 1)
p. 156 CHAPTER XIV The voices of stones. The wall of a church and the wall of a prison. The mast of a ship and a gallows. The shadow of a hangman and of an ascetic. The soul of a hangman and of an ascetic. The different combinations o…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIV (part 2)
And if we take men as we know them—the sailor, the hang-man, the ascetic: men who seem to us similar and equal —and consider them from the standpoint of their differences in function, we shall see that in reality they are entirely different…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 4)
1 This is the way a little girl thought, about whom I was reading, if I mistake not, in The Theosophical Review . The girl was sitting near the fireplace, and beside her slept a cat. "Well, the eat is sleeping," the girl reflected, "perha…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 5)
Let us endeavor to consider the activity of the brain and the activity of the psyche from the standpoint of the existence of those two data, the "world" and "consciousness," accepted by us at the very beginning. If we consider the brain fr…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 7)
From the STANDPOINT OF LOGIC such a theory is more correct than the theory of two classes of actions—REASONED AND UN-REASONED. It at least establishes the principle of NECESSARY UNIFORMITY. It is really impossible to suppose that in an im…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 8)
188 So writes Schopenhauer in his Counsels and Maxims , and indeed it is very effectively expressed, but we have no foundation whatsoever for regarding man as the summit of that which nature has created. This is only THE HIGHEST THAT WE KN…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVII (part 2)
If in general life and feeling exist, they must exist in all. Life and rationality make up the world. If we consider nature from our side , from the side of phenomena, then it is necessary to say that each thing, each phenomenon , possess…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVII (part 7)
The activity of the life of such a composite being as a forest is not the same as the activity of different species of plants and animals, and the activity of the life of a species is again different from the life of separate individuals.…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVIII (part 2)
Evolutionists, followers of Darwin, say that the struggle for existence and the selection of the fittest created the mind and feeling of contemporary man—that mind and feeling SERVE LIFE, preserve the life of separate individuals and of the…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIX (part 2)
A little more, and in every separate branch of science that which it does not know will become greater than that which it knows . In every department science itself is beginning to repudiate its p. 234 own foundations. A little more, and…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIX (part 7)
In the reduction of your soul to its simplest self, its divine essence, you realize this union—this identity. But this sublime condition is not of permanent duration. It is only now and then that we can enjoy this elevation above the limi…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XX (part 1)
p. 243 CHAPTER XX The sense of infinity. The Neophyte's first ordeal. An intolerable sadness. The loss of everything real. What would an animal feel on becoming a man? The transition to the new logic. Our logic as founded on the obse…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXI (part 2)
Science cannot deny the fact that mathematics grows, expands, and escapes from the limits of the visible and measurable world. Entire departments of mathematics take into consideration quantitative relations which did not and do not exist…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXI (part 6)
Of course absurdity , as such, is indeed not an index of the attributes of noumena, but the attributes of noumena will certainly be expressed in what are absurdities to us. To hope to find in the world of causes anything logical from our s…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 3)
These Eleatic ideas—namely that there is and there can be only One Absolute Being, infinite., unchangeable, without a second, without parts and passions—are the same ideas which underlie the Upanishads and have been fully worked out in the…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 10)
But it does not bear fruit presently; and, though it blossoms, they fall off; also many a cold wind, frost and snow, puff upon it, before it comes to any growth and bearing of fruit. Boehme's books are full of wonderment before these myste…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 18)
This is at the same time a religious sect and a philosophical school of high idealistic character, which struggled against materialism and against the narrow fanaticism and the literal understanding of the Koran. The Sufis interpreted the…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 20)
I feel as if it must mean something, something like what the Hegelian philosophy means, if one could only lay hold of it more clearly. Those who have ears to hear let them hear; to me the loving sense of its reality only comes in the artif…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXIII (part 7)
It was in the early spring, at the beginning of his thirty-sixth year. He and two friends had spent the evening reading Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, Browning, and especially Whitman. They parted at midnight and he had a long drive in a han…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXIII (part 10)
The mind becomes overcrowded (as it were) with concepts and these are constantly becoming larger, more numerous and more and more complex; some day (the conditions being all favorable) the fusion, or what might be called the chemical union,…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXIII (part 11)
He does not come to believe merely; but he sees and knows that the cosmos, which to the self-conscious mind seems made up of dead matter, is in fact far otherwise—is in very truth a living presence. He sees that in-stead of men being, as i…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Page 28 (part 3)
And truth itself is motion, and can never lead to arrestment, to the cessation of search. ALL THAT ARRESTS THE MOTION OF THOUGHT—IS FALSE. Therefore the true and real progress of thought is only in the broadest striving toward knowledge,…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 22. Summary And General Key Of The Four Secret Sciencesa
SIGNA TROT PAN LET us now summarize the entire science by its principles. Analogy is the final word of science and the first word of faith. Harmony consists in equilibrium, and equilibrium subsists by the analogy of contraries. Absolute…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 22. The Book Of Hermesm
Where now will the destroyed prince of perdition dare to show himself? It remains for us to state our conclusions and to define the end and import of this work in the religious and philosophical order, and in the order of positive and mate…”
Transcendental Magic II: The Ritual (Éliphas Lévi) | 22. The Book Of Hermesn
Faith, hope and charity are three such inseparable sisters that they may be taken one for another. Thus in religion universal and hierarchic orthodoxy, restoration of temples in all their splendour; reestablishment of high ceremonial in it…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter I (part 4)
Also, all phenomena not in time, divorced from the idea of time, not taken in this or that fashion from the standpoint of before , now , after , would co-exist for us simultaneously, and all mixed up with one another, and our weak mind woul…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter I (part 5)
It is not true because our experimental knowledge is not a confused perception of a real world . It is a very acute perception of an entirely unreal world appearing round about us at the moment of our contact with the world of true causes,…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter III (part 1)
p. 34 CHAPTER III What may we learn about the fourth dimension by a study of the geometrical relations within our space? What should be the relation between a three-dimensional body and one of four dimensions? The four-dimensional body a…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter III (part 3)
How from them is it possible to imagine a man, with all the richness of his physical and spiritual life? It is impossible. Our relation to the four-dimensional world will be analogous to the relation of that consciousness which sees five…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter X (part 7)
An age of great inspiration and unconscious productiveness is invariably followed by an age of criticism and consciousness. The one affords material for the analyzing and critical intellect of the other. Thus all those great characters wh…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XII (part 4)
______ If we would correlate all of the above with the principle of physics that the amount of energy is constant , then we must state more exactly that in the preceding discussion nothing has been said of the creation of new energy, but of…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIII (part 7)
153 has really entered a cul de sac out of which there is no escape, and the official recognition of the fact that the direction it has taken is entirely the wrong one, is only a question of time. _____ We may say—not as an assumption, but…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 2)
Studying man from one side only I should stand in the same position in relation to him as, according to Kant, we stand with relation to the world surrounding us. We know merely the form of our knowledge of it. The world-in-itself we do no…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 3)
______ In "man" we have found that one side of his noumenon is his psychic life, and that therefore in the psyche lies the beginning of the solution of the riddle of the functions and meanings of man which are incomprehensible from an outsi…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 9)
In our language only an eternally becoming universe exists. The "Eternal Now" cannot be expressed in language. Thus our language pictures to us beforehand a false universe— dual , when in reality it is one ; and eternally becoming when it…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 12)
He clearly affirms: I confess that I am very much inclined to assert the existence of immaterial natures in the world, and to put my soul itself into that class of beings. These immaterial beings . . . are immediately united with each o…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XVI (part 14)
The mystery of infinity —the greatest of all mysteries—it tells us that all the visible universe and its galaxies of stars have no dimension : that in relation to infinity they are equal to a point , a mathematical point which has no extens…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIX (part 5)
The "seeing" changes with the changes of the state of consciousness in which it is proceeding. But what forms of consciousness exist? p. 239 Hindu philosophy makes the division into four states of consciousness: sleep, dream, waking, and…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XX (part 3)
Mathematics, or the science of magnitudes, is that system which studies the quantitative relations between things; logic, or the science of concepts, is that system which studies the qualitative (categorical) relations between things. Logi…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XX (part 5)
Consequently, the number of points in the cube, a 3 is equal to ∞ ∞∞ , this expression is equal to the expression ∞ ∞ and ∞, i.e., this means that an infinity continues to grow, remaining at the same time unchanged . ______ Thus in transfi…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXI (part 1)
p. 254 CHAPTER XXI Man's transition to a higher logic. The necessity for rejecting everything "real." "Poverty of the spirit." The recognition of the infinite alone as real. Laws of the infinite. Logic of the finite—the Organon of Arist…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXI (part 3)
All attempts to penetrate mentally into that higher, noumenal world, or world of causes, by means of the logic of the phenomenal world, if they did not fail altogether, or did not lead to castles in the air , gave only one result: in becomi…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXI (part 5)
Penetrating there, it first of all renounces its fundamental axioms of identity and difference. In the world of infinite and fluent magnitudes, a magnitude may be not equal to itself; a part may be equal to the whole; and of two equal magn…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXI (part 7)
_______ Where are our "idols?" From what shall we liberate ourselves in order to pass to an understanding of the multi-dimensional world? First of all we must get rid of our assurance that we see and sense that which exists in reality, and…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXI (part 8)
Therefore we must reconcile ourselves to the fact that all attempts to express super-logical relations in our language will seem absurdities, and really can only give hints at that which we wish to express. Thus the formula, A is both A an…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXI (part 9)
There cannot be anything which is measured by years, days, hours—there cannot be before, now, after. Moments of different epochs, divided by great intervals of time, exist simultaneously, and may touch one another. Along with this, all th…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 2)
What do we know of the Jews at the time of Moses, except the traditions preserved in the Laws and the Prophets? It is the prophets, the poets, the lawgivers and teachers, however small their number, who speak in the name of the people, and…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 4)
Both philosophies, that of the East and that of the West [says Müller] start from a common point, namely from the conviction that our ordinary knowledge is uncertain, if not altogether wrong. This revolt of the human mind against itself is…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 5)
______ Whatever we may think of this philosophy, we cannot deny its metaphysical boldness and its logical consistency. If Brahman is all in all, the One without a second, nothing can be said to exist that is not Brahman . there is no room…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 7)
Now we have established that illogicality (from our standpoint) is the necessary condition of the knowledge of truth or of the real world. This does not mean that everything that is illogical is true and real, but it means absolutely, that…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 9)
In like manner he beheld the whole creation, and from that foundation he afterwards wrote his book, " De Signature Rerum ." In the unfolding of those mysteries before his understanding he had a great measure of joy, yet returned home and to…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 11)
Let not thy Left Eye deceive thee, by making continually one representation after another, and stirring up thereby an earnest longing in the self-propriety; but let thy Right Eye command back this Left . . . And only bringing the Eye of…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 12)
"The cause of all things is neither soul nor intellect; nor has it imagination, opinion, or reason, or intelligence; nor is it reason or intelligence; nor is it spoken or thought. It is neither number, nor order, nor magnitude, nor littlen…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 13)
Then the understanding of such a man receives from the Holy Spirit the highest and hidden mysteries which according to the divine Paul, neither the human eye can understand nor the human reason comprehend unaided. (Ii Corinthians ii, 9).…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 14)
How many arguments, how many religious struggles, how much of violence toward the thoughts of others would be rendered unnecessary and impossible if men would only understand that nobody possesses truth, but all are seeking for it, each in…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 15)
If it had this likeness, long ago would its smallness have been known. The sage attends to the inner and not to the outer; he puts away the objective and holds to the subjective. The sage occupies himself with inaction, and conveys instru…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 17)
. . . To hear the voice of the silence is to understand that from within comes the only true guidance. . . . For when the disciple is ready, the Master is ready also. Hold fast to that which is neither substance nor existence. List…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXII (part 21)
Blood describes the value of the anæsthetic revelation for life as follows: "The Anæsthetic Revelation is the initiation of man into the mystery of the open secret of Being, revealed as the inevitable vortex of continuity. Inevitable is th…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XXIII (part 9)
Further, it should be noted, as the possession of concepts implies the possession of language, so the possession of concepts and language (which are in reality two aspects of the same thing) implies the possession of self-consciousness. Al…”
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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…”
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gnosticism49
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…”
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greek_mystery29
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…”
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renaissance_hermeticism29
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…”
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hermeticism26
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…”
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buddhism21
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…”
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jewish_mysticism16
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…”
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egyptian15
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…”
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platonism12
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…”
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sufism10
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…”
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celtic1
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…”
finnic1
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…”
mesopotamian1
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…”