praxis
Detachment Gelassenheit
Eckhart's Abgeschiedenheit/Gelassenheit — radical letting-go of will, image, and grasping that opens the soul to God; distinct from inner_silence (quietness) and from material renunciation, and adjacent to Sufi tark and Buddhist non-grasping as a practice rather than a metaphysical claim.
381 passages · 15 traditions
christian_mysticism74
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 1ah
“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 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 Mystical Theology | Chapter I-a
“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 II-a
“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…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | PREFACE-a
““ 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) | I-b
“It is also a fellowship with the Devil, for everything hath fellowship with its like; and sin maketh the soul and Satan resemble each other.
It is also an expulsion of Christianity, for it depriveth the sinner of all the profit that comes…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | II-b
“So, if my soul is to know God, it must be God-like.” Now, how is the soul to arrive at this heavenly state that it recognizes God in itself, and knows that He is near?
By copying the heavens, which can receive no impulse from without to ma…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | III-a
“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) | III-b
“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…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | IV-a
“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) | IV-b
“No, they are certainly not; for the work of the angels is the will of God, and the will of God is the work of the angels; their service to us does not hinder their joy nor their working.
If God told an angel to go to a tree and pluck cater…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | V-b
“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) | V-c
“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) | VI-a
“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) | VI-b
“Therefore she made mention of her humility and not of her sanctification, in which she remained unmoved and unaffected.
If she had said, “He hath regarded the sanctification of His handmaiden,” her sanctification would have been disturbed,…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | VI-c
“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) | VI-d
“That is not due to the heat, but to the variety of the materials.
Similarly God works in all hearts not alike but in proportion as He finds them prepared and susceptible.
If the heart is to be ready for the highest, it must he vacant of a…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | VI-e
“Therefore sanctification is the best of all things, for it cleanses the soul, and illuminates the conscience, and kindles the heart, and wakens the spirit, and girds up the loins, and glorifies virtue and separates us from creatures, and un…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | VII-a
“OUTWARD AND INWARD MORALITY I Cor.
xv.
10 .—“The Grace of God.” Grace is from God, and works in the depth of the soul whose powers it employs.
It is a light which issues forth to do service under the guidance of the Spirit.
The Divine L…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | VII-c
“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…”
Revelations of Divine Love | Chapter II
“"A simple creature unlettered.—Which creature afore desired three gifts of God" These Revelations were shewed to a simple creature unlettered, the year of our Lord 1373, the Thirteenth day of May. Which creature [had] afore desired three gi…”
Revelations of Divine Love | Chapter III-a
“"I desired to suffer with Him" And when I was thirty years old and a half, God sent me a bodily sickness, in which I lay three days and three nights; and on the fourth night I took all my rites of Holy Church, and weened not to have lived t…”
Revelations of Divine Love | Chapter V
“"God, of Thy Goodness, give me Thyself;—only in Thee I have all" In this same time our Lord shewed me a spiritual sight of His homely loving. I saw that He is to us everything that is good and comfortable for us: He is our clothing that for…”
Revelations of Divine Love | Chapter XXX
“"Two parts of Truth: the part that is open: our Saviour and our salvation;—and the part that is hid and shut up from us: all beside our salvation" He gave me understanding of two parts [of truth]. The one part is our Saviour and our salvati…”
Revelations of Divine Love | Chapter XXXIII
“"It is God's will that we have great regard to all His deeds that He hath done, but evermore it needeth us to leave the beholding what the Deed shall be" And yet in this I desired, as [far] as I durst, that I might have full sight of Hell a…”
Revelations of Divine Love | Chapter XXXV
“"I desired to learn assuredly as to a certain creature that I loved.... It is more worship to God to behold Him in all than in any special thing" And when God Almighty had shewed so plenteously and joyfully of His Goodness, I desired to lea…”
Revelations of Divine Love | Chapter XLII-a
“"Prayer is a right understanding of that fulness of joy that is to come, with accordant longing and sure trust" Our Lord God willeth that we have true understanding, and specially in three things that belong to our prayer.
The first is: by…”
Revelations of Divine Love | Chapter XLVI-b
“For I saw in the same Shewing that much privity is hid, which may never be known until the time that God of His goodness hath made us worthy to see it; and therewith I am well-content, abiding our Lord's will in this high marvel.
And now I…”
Revelations of Divine Love | Chapter LXIV-b
“It is God's will that we set the point of our thought in this blissful beholding as often as we may,—and as long time keep us therein with His grace; for this is a blessed contemplation to the soul that is led of God, and full greatly to Hi…”
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 5)
“' Not that a person should run away from his home, and desert his wife, child, or relatives, commit suicide, or throw away his property, so that he may not be therein corporeally; but he should kill and annihilate his self-will, the will th…”
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 9)
“I have never desired to learn any sciences, but from early youth I strove after the salvation of my soul, and thought how I might inherit or possess the kingdom of heaven.
Finding within myself a powerful contrarium , namely, the desires t…”
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 11)
“54 From this it appears that truly inspired writings are quite different from those produced by ordinary mediumship; because in the former instance the seer perceives the truths which he is to express, while in the latter case the medium is…”
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 3 (part 3)
“The seven spirits are in the centre of the Father—that is to say, in the power of the Word.
The Word changes the wrathfulness into sweet joy and shapes it into a crystalline ocean; therein the seven spirits appear in a burning form, like s…”
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 3 (part 6)
“49.) Thus the light conquers the darkness, but does not destroy it; it merely becomes victorious over it and consumes it in a manner comparable to that of the assimilation of food by the organism which conquers and consumes that food by mea…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 5 (part 5)
“109 the spirit of holiness cannot enter unless unholiness is chased away.
In this battle against evil the angels are always ready to assist man in an invisible manner against the temptations of the "devils," provided that he is willing to…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 5 (part 7)
“2.) "Lucifer had within himself the fire and the light.
He p.
113 was free.
Why then did he imagine (project his consciousness) into the fire?
The light and the power of God did not draw him into the fire, but the wrath of nature.
Why…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 5 (part 11)
“Man must know evil for the purpose of becoming able to realise the good, after which he returns to the latter; but as everything seeks for its own corresponding principle, he in whom evil has become paramount will remain in evil.
p.
121 "…”
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 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 9 (part 9)
“183:1 If man's imagination were not excited by the pictorial representations which the objects of the surrounding world call forth in his mind by means of his external senses, but if his mental activity were restricted to forming images by…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 10 (part 4)
“Therefore the Word and the bruiser of the head of the serpent did not enter into form within their souls; but it stood within the mind to oppose the devils and the kingdom of hell with those that were willing to surrender themselves to it."…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 10 (part 9)
“"All sacrificing without faith and divine desire is an p.
219 abomination before God, and does not reach the gate of divine glory; but if man enters therein with the power of faith, he surrenders to it his free will, and desires by that me…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 11 (part 4)
“"The Word of promise, which was before the Jews as an antitype, or as an image in a mirror, wherein the wrathful Father imagined and wherewith He extinguished His wrath, began to move essentially, as it had not moved from eternity; for when…”
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 12 (part 3)
“He willingly surrendered Himself to the wrath (to the suffering caused by the lower principles that had been awakened to consciousness in consequence of the sin), and He extinguished it by His love.
He came from God into this world and too…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 12 (part 4)
“There was then no earthly food or drink, and the soul of Christ knew very well that she was in God, and that she could make terrestrial bread out of stones, as there was no other bread there.
But she did not desire to eat with her celestia…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 12 (part 6)
“253 and shedding of blood.
Adam's body died on the Cross, and Christ, born of Jesus and the sanctified seed of the woman, tinctured (blessed) him with His dear blood of love." ( Stiefel , ii.
494.) "The inner man Christ took our sins upon…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 12 (part 7)
“All this He gave up entirely into the Father's hands as being the end of nature, the great mystery of the Father; but not so that it should be dead, but so that the Spirit of God should be therein all its life, and the divine regimen exist…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 12 (part 11)
“The human will refuses to submit itself entirely to the exquisite grace which offers itself out of divine love, and seeks for its own self and for the love of that self which belongs to that which is impermanent.
It loves itself and the st…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 12 (part 12)
“255:1 However gratifying it may be for the curious seeker in history to know whether or when such an event has actually occurred in the history of the Jewish nation, such a historical belief would be of little benefit to him if he could not…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 1)
“p.
263 CHAPTER XIII.
REGENERATION.
"Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not of those things?" — John iii.
10.
"Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."— Luke ix.
23.
No man c…”
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 3)
“To accomplish this he must rise by the aid of the divine Spirit within himself above the inferior elements within his own nature, and thus surrender his whole self-will to God, an act which is expressed in the original meaning of the word "…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 4)
“will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of My Father in heaven." It would seem self-evident that no being inferior to the Father in heaven can possibly do the will of the Father, because no one can do the will of God unl…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 5)
“First, by the severe wrath of God, the abyss and dark world, which is the centre of the created life of the soul, whose innermost root is desire.
The second chain is the fiery longing of the devil for the soul, in consequence of which he t…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 7)
“27.) The first and greatest danger for the new-born being arises from pride; as is illustrated in the New Testament, for hardly is the new-born Saviour laid in the cradle, standing between the ox of self will and the ass of ignorance in the…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 8)
“A sprout grows from the earth, and thus the substance of which it is formed flies from the earth and is attracted towards the sunlight until it becomes a plant or a tree.
So does the divine Sun draw the human lily, i.e.
, the new man in h…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 9)
“279 free will already in the beginning (of a desire) destroys the desire, so that it does not become substantial, then is the physician (for the cure of that disease) already born, and there will not be needed such great earnestness as will…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 11)
“27.) No Christian should contemplate his own holiness, or fancy himself to be better than others; but he should rather realise his own unworthiness, and regret the perverted state of himself and of humanity as a whole.
"No one should want…”
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 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 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 2)
“2.) During his terrestrial existence man can remain consciously in the three worlds, and by the power of the will with which he is endowed penetrate into either one or the other; but after the separation of the soul from the body has taken…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 14 (part 7)
“This light moderates the action of the fiery will still active in them, the blessings of their good deeds surround them, the hope for still greater glorification is their life, and from the trouble and persecution which they have suffered t…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 14 (part 8)
“, in the heavenly essentiality (Devachan)—cannot be disturbed by anybody, unless they should wish it themselves, in case that they were very favourably inclined towards some particular soul in harmony with their own.
They do not trouble th…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 14 (part 10)
“When, then, death actually takes place, and separates the soul from the body, the poor soul will then cling to that thread and refuse to let go her hold of it, but all her essences are still deeply immersed in the wrath of God; she is tortu…”
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The Dhammapada | Chapter I, Section 1b
“70-75.' I do not deny that this may have been the traditional interpretation, at all events since the days of Buddhaghosa, but the very legend quoted by Buddhaghosa in illustration of this verse shows that its simpler and purely moral inter…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter I, Section 1c
“The play on the words anikkasâvo kâsâvam, or in Sanskrit anishkashâya h kâshâyam, cannot be rendered in English.
Kashâya means 'impurity,' nish-kashâya, 'free from impurity,' anish-kashâya, 'not free from impurity,' while kâshâya is the na…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter I, Section 1d
“He suffers when he thinks of the evil he has done; he suffers more when going on the evil path.
18.
The virtuous man is happy in this world, and he is happy in the next; he is happy in both.
He is happy when he thinks of the good he has…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter II, Section 1a
“p.
9 CHAPTER II.
ON EARNESTNESS .
21.
Earnestness is the path of immortality (Nirvâ n a), thoughtlessness the path of death.
Those who are in earnest do not die, those who are thoughtless are as if dead already.
22.
Those who are adv…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter II, Section 1b
“A Bhikshu (mendicant) who delights in earnestness, who looks with fear on thoughtlessness, [25.
Childers explains this island again as the state of an Arhat (arahatta-phalam).
28.
Cf.
Childers, Dictionary, Preface, p.
xiv.
See Vinaya,…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter III, Section 1a
“p.
12 CHAPTER III.
THOUGHT.
33.
As a fletcher makes straight his arrow, a wise man makes straight his trembling and unsteady thought, which is difficult to guard, difficult to hold back.
34.
As a fish taken from his watery home and th…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter III, Section 1b
“That s ru means 'to run,' and is in fact a merely dialectic variety of sru, has been proved by Burnouf, while Boehtlingk thinks the substitution of s for s is a mistake.
 s rava therefore, or âsrava, meant originally 'the running out towa…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter III, Section 1c
“I translate it therefore in a more general sense, let him not return or turn away from the battle, let him watch Mâra, even after he is vanquished, let him keep up a constant fight against the adversary, without being attached to anything o…”
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Tao Te Ching | Chapter 1
“The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name. (Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth; (conceived of as) having a n…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 2
“All in the world know the beauty of the beautiful, and in doing this they have (the idea of) what ugliness is; they all know the skill of the skilful, and in doing this they have (the idea of) what the want of skill is. So it is that existe…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 5
“Heaven and earth do not act from (the impulse of) any wish to be benevolent; they deal with all things as the dogs of grass are dealt with. The sages do not act from (any wish to be) benevolent; they deal with the people as the dogs of gras…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 6
“The valley spirit dies not, aye the same; The female mystery thus do we name. Its gate, from which at first they issued forth, Is called the root from which grew heaven and earth. Long and unbroken does its power remain, Used gently, and wi…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 9
“It is better to leave a vessel unfilled, than to attempt to carry it when it is full. If you keep feeling a point that has been sharpened, the point cannot long preserve its sharpness. When gold and jade fill the hall, their possessor canno…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 10
“When the intelligent and animal souls are held together in one embrace, they can be kept from separating. When one gives undivided attention to the (vital) breath, and brings it to the utmost degree of pliancy, he can become as a (tender) b…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 13
“Favour and disgrace would seem equally to be feared; honour and great calamity, to be regarded as personal conditions (of the same kind). What is meant by speaking thus of favour and disgrace? Disgrace is being in a low position (after the…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 15
“The skilful masters (of the Tao) in old times, with a subtle and exquisite penetration, comprehended its mysteries, and were deep (also) so as to elude men's knowledge. As they were thus beyond men's knowledge, I will make an effort to desc…”
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The Bhagavad Gita | Chapter II, Section 1a
“CHAPTER II.
Sañ g aya said: To him, who was thus overcome with pity, and dejected, and whose eyes were full of tears and turbid, the destroyer of Madhu spoke these words.
The Deity said: How (comes it that) this delusion, O Ar g una!
whi…”
The Bhagavad Gita | Chapter II, Section 1b
“It is not born, nor does it ever die, nor, having existed, does it exist no more.
Unborn, everlasting, unchangeable, and primeval, it is not killed when the body is killed .
O son of P ri thâ!
how can that man who knows it thus to be ind…”
The Bhagavad Gita | Chapter II, Section 1c
“But the states of mind of those who have no firm understanding are many-branched and endless.
The state of mind consisting in firm understanding regarding steady contemplation does not belong to those, O son of P ri thâ!
who are strongly…”
The Bhagavad Gita | Chapter II, Section 1d
“For his mind is steady whose senses are under his control.
The man who ponders over objects of sense forms an attachment to them; from (that) attachment is produced desire; and from desire anger is produced ; from anger results want of dis…”
The Bhagavad Gita | Chapter III, Section 1a
“CHAPTER III.
Ar g una said: If, O Ganârdana!
devotion is deemed by you to be superior to action, then why, O Kesava!
do you prompt me to (this) fearful action?
You seem, indeed, to confuse my mind by equivocal words.
Therefore, declare…”
The Bhagavad Gita | Chapter III, Section 1b
“For should I at any time not engage without sloth in action, men would follow in my path from all sides, O son of P ri thâ!
If I did not perform actions, these worlds would be destroyed, I should be the cause of caste interminglings; and I…”
The Bhagavad Gita | Chapter IV, Section 1a
“CHAPTER IV.
The Deity said: This everlasting (system of) devotion I declared to the sun, the sun declared it to Manu , and Manu communicated it to Ikshvâku.
Coming thus by steps, it became known to royal sages.
But, O terror of (your) fo…”
The Bhagavad Gita | Chapter IV, Section 1b
“The acts of one who is devoid of attachment, who is free , whose mind is fixed on knowledge, and who performs action for (the purpose of) the sacrifice are all destroyed.
Brahman is the oblation; with Brahman (as a sacrificial instrument)…”
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The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) | Page 5 (part 1)
“Click to view THE TEMPTATION OF EVIL From Cædmon.
INTRODUCTION THE mystic tradition in Christian Times is preserved, apart from all questions and traces of Instituted Mysteries, in the literature of Christian Mystical Theology; it is a lar…”
The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) | Page 5 (part 5)
“The technicalities of the occult sciences may seem hard to the beginner, and they are actually hard like the wilderness, because they are barren wastes, but they are in words of one syllable if compared with the little catechisms of eternal…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter XI (part 2)
“But the Hermetists carry the principle much further, and know that its manifestations and influence extend to the mental activities of Man, and that it accounts for the bewildering succession of moods, feelings and other annoying and perple…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter XIV (part 2)
“While at first there seems to be only an "I" existing, a more careful and closer examination reveals the fact that there exists an "I" and a "Me." These mental twins differ in their characteristics and nature, and an examination of their na…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Cross and the Crucifixion-k
“The figure is nailed to the cross, which symbolizes the death and surrender of the self-will, and that it should not attempt to accomplish anything by its own power, but merely serve as an instrument wherein the Divine will is executed.
Ab…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Faith of Islam-f
“* * * They called him a Prophet, you say?
Why, he stood there face to face with them; there, not enshrined in any mystery, visibly clouting his own cloak, cobbling his own shoes, fighting, counselling, ordering in the midst of them, they m…”
The Tarot of the Bohemians (Papus) | Page 26
“THE HANGED MAN. THE HANGED MAN. 12. ל 12th Hebrew letter (Lamed). ORIGIN OF THE SYMBOLISM OF THE TWELFTH CARD OF THE TAROT. Hieroglyphically the Lamed designates the arm, and therefore it is connected with anything that stretches, that rais…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter II (part 3)
“The thought of past ages has used the conception of a three-dimensional space, and by that means has classified many phenomena and has obtained rules for dealing with matters of great practical utility.
The path which opens immediately bef…”
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The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogue-d
“Some are called in vain to put in a ready appearance, and are chiefly those which proceed from the lower instincts, and which obey the reason either not at all, or very little; and forcing himself to prevent their actions and condemn those…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialogue-b
“On the contrary, I mean that there is in these another species of foolishness and a worse.
Cic.
Who, then, is wise, if foolish is he who is content, and foolish he who is sad?
Tans.
He who is neither merry nor sad.
Cic.
Who?
He who s…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogue-a
“.
Tansillo .
There are several varieties of enthusiasts, which may all be reduced to two kinds.
While some only display blindness, stupidity, and irrational impetuosity, which tend towards savage madness, others by divine abstraction bec…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogue-b
“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 Dialogue-c
“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 Dialogue-e
“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) | Fourth Dialogue-e
“She dispatches the armed thoughts, which, solicited and urged by disagreement with the inferior nature, are sent to recall the heart.
The soul instructs them how they should conduct themselves, so that, being allured and attracted by the o…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogue-f
“Hence it follows that not less do we desire to see things unknown and unseen than those known and seen.
And from this it does not follow that the desire does not proceed from cognition, and that we desire something that is not known; but I…”
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Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII-ad
“But Pythagoras, as he was astronomizing, happened to meet with the Phrygian piper at an unseasonable time of night, and persuaded him to change his Phrygian for a spondaic song; through which the fury of the lad being immediately repressed,…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 38
“Section 5 5. But what of sorrows, illnesses and all else that inhibit the native activity? What of the suspension of consciousness which drugs or disease may bring about? Could either welfare or happiness be present under such conditions? A…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 40
“Section 7 7. Then why are these conditions sought and their contraries repelled by the man established in happiness? Here is our answer: These more pleasant conditions cannot, it is true, add any particle towards the Sage's felicity: but th…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 44
“Section 11 11. We shall perhaps be told that in such a state the man is no longer alive: we answer that these people show themselves equally unable to understand his inner life and his happiness. If this does not satisfy them, we must ask t…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 45
“Section 12 12. The pleasure demanded for the life cannot be in the enjoyments of the licentious or in any gratifications of the body- there is no place for these, and they stifle happiness- nor in any violent emotions- what could so move th…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 46
“Section 13 13. The characteristic activities are not hindered by outer events but merely adapt themselves, remaining always fine, and perhaps all the finer for dealing with the actual. When he has to handle particular cases and things, he m…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 48
“Section 15 15. But suppose two wise men, one of them possessing all that is supposed to be naturally welcome, while the other meets only with the very reverse: do we assert that they have an equal happiness? We do, if they are equally wise.…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 67
“Section 6 6. For, as the ancient teaching was, moral-discipline and courage and every virtue, not even excepting Wisdom itself, all is purification. Hence the Mysteries with good reason adumbrate the immersion of the unpurified in filth, ev…”
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Gospel of Philip | Section 1b
“TRUTH MADE NAMES Truth made names in the world, and without them we can’t think.
Truth is one and is many, teaching one thing through the many.
RULERS The rulers wanted to fool us, since they saw we were connected with the good.
They too…”
Gospel of Philip | Section 1f
“When wanton women see a man sitting alone, the man is overcome.
They fondle him and pollute him.
When wanton men see a beautiful woman sitting alone, they overcome her, and she is violated and polluted.
But when spirits see a man and his…”
Gospel of Philip | Section 1i
“His seed was Jesus, and the plant was the cross.” The tree of life in the middle of that garden of paradise is an olive tree, and from the olive tree comes chrism, and from that oil comes the resurrection.
THE WORLD EATS BODIES The world e…”
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 16
“Jesus said, "Men think, perhaps, that it is peace which I have come to cast upon the world. They do not know that it is dissension which I have come to cast upon the earth: fire, sword, and war. For there will be five in a house: three will…”
Gospel of Thomas | Logion 27
“<Jesus said,> "If you do not fast as regards the world, you will not find the kingdom. If you do not observe the Sabbath as a Sabbath, you will not see the father."…”
Gospel of Thomas | Logion 36
“Jesus said, "Do not be concerned from morning until evening and from evening until morning about what you will wear."…”
Gospel of Thomas | Logion 37
“His disciples said, "When will you become revealed to us and when shall we see you?" Jesus said, "When you disrobe without being ashamed and take up your garments and place them under your feet like little children and tread on them, then w…”
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The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | PROLOGUE-a
“HEARKEN to the reed-flute, how it complains, Lamenting its banishment from its home: "Ever since they tore me from my osier bed, My plaintive notes have moved men and women to tears.
I burst my breast, striving to give vent to sighs, And t…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | PROLOGUE-b
“Knowest thou why thy mirror reflects not?
Because the rust has not been scoured from its face.
If it were purified from all rust and defilement, It would reflect the shining of the SUN Of GOD.6 O friends, ye have now heard this tale, Whic…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY I-a
“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 IV
“Another Tyrannical Jewish King. A certain Jewish king, the same who is referred to in the Sura "Signs of the Zodiac," I made up his mind to utterly exterminate the Christian faith, and with that view he set up a huge idol, and issued comman…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY V-c
“The skill taught by God to the silkworm Is a learning beyond the reach of the elephant.
The earthly Adam was taught of God names, 4 So that his glory reached the seventh heaven.
He laid low the name and fame of the angels, 5 Yet blind ind…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY VI-a
“Omar and the Ambassador.
The hare, having delivered his companions from the tyranny of the lion, in the manner just described, proceeds to improve the occasion by exhorting them to engage in a greater and more arduous warfare, viz., the st…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY VIII-a
“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…”
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The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 5 (part 2)
“The mortal Oath--that used amongst men--has to be reverenced as an image of the other, and as leading to the greatest strength and stability of character.
And if man would reverence the Oath, then must he do all in his power to understand…”
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 5 (part 3)
“"Thou shalt not hope what thou ought'st not to hope," knowing the nature of all things, and what is possible.
55.
The Gods near at hand are virtue and truth.
p.
17 59, 60.
The fatal strife is caused by our inclination "madly to run cou…”
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 7 (part 1)
“p.
29 THE PYTHAGOREAN SENTENCES OF DEMOPHILUS 1.
Request not of Divinity such things as, when obtained, you cannot preserve; for no gift of Divinity can ever be taken away; and on this account he does not confer that which you are unable…”
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 7 (part 2)
“Understand that no dissimulation can be long concealed.
24.
The unjust man suffers greater evil while his soul is tormented with a consciousness of guilt, than when his body is scourged with whips.
25.
It is by no means safe to discours…”
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 8 (part 1)
“p.
37 THE SIMILITUDES OF DEMOPHILUS 1.
Flattery is like painted armour, because it affords delight, but is of no use.
2.
Learning is similar to a golden crown; for it is both honourable and advantageous.
3.
Flighty men, like empty ves…”
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 10 (part 1)
“p.
53 SELECT SENTENCES OF SEXTUS THE PYTHAGOREAN 1.
To neglect things of the smallest consequence, is not the least thing in human life.
2.
The wise man, and the despiser of wealth, resemble God.
3.
Do not investigate the name of God,…”
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 10 (part 2)
“It is not proper to despise those things of which we shall be in want after the dissolution of the body.
36.
You should not ask of divinity that which, when you have obtained, you will not perpetually possess.
37.
Accustom your soul aft…”
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 10 (part 3)
“Speak not of God to every man.
79.
It is dangerous and the danger is not small, to speak of God even things which are true.
80.
A true assertion respecting God is an assertion of God.
p.
61 81.
You should not dare to speak of God to…”
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Plato: Phaedo | Section 1g
“And he attains to the knowledge of them in their highest purity who goes to each of them with the mind alone, not allowing when in the act of thought the intrusion or introduction of sight or any other sense in the company of reason, but wi…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1s
“The lovers of knowledge are conscious that their souls, when philosophy receives them, are simply fastened and glued to their bodies: the soul is only able to view existence through the bars of a prison, and not in her own nature; she is wa…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1aa
“For example, when the body is hot and thirsty, does not the soul incline us against drinking?
and when the body is hungry, against eating?
And this is only one instance out of ten thousand of the opposition of the soul to the things of th…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1ad
“I might compare him to a person who began by maintaining generally that mind is the cause of the actions of Socrates, but who, when he endeavored to explain the causes of my several actions in detail, went on to show that I sit here because…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1ao
“Those again who have committed crimes, which, although great, are not unpardonable-who in a moment of anger, for example, have done violence to a father or mother, and have repented for the remainder of their lives, or who have taken the li…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1ap
“In any way that you like; only you must get hold of me, and take care that I do not walk away from you.
Then he turned to us, and added with a smile: I cannot make Crito believe that I am the same Socrates who have been talking and conduct…”
Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1d
“But the non-lover has no such tormenting recollections; he has never neglected his affairs or quarrelled with his relations; he has no troubles to add up or excuse to invent; and being well rid of all these evils, why should he not freely d…”
Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1h
“Once upon a time there was a fair boy, or, more properly speaking, a youth; he was very fair and had a great many lovers; and there was one special cunning one, who had persuaded the youth that he did not love him, but he really loved him a…”
Show all 12 →hermeticism5
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 7: The Seven Powers | Section 1
“The Greatest Ill Among Men is Ignorance of God 1. Whither stumble ye, sots, who have sopped up the wine of ignorance and can so far not carry it that ye already even spew it forth? Stay ye, be sober, gaze upwards with the [true] eyes of the…”
Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount | Section 1b
“For It doth will to be, and It is both Itself and most of all by reason of Itself.
Indeed, all other things beside are just bacause of It; for the distinctive feature of the Good is "that it should be known".
Such is the Good, O Tat.
Tat…”
Corpus Hermeticum 12: The Prayer | Section 1c
“All things incorporeal when in a body are subject unto passion, and in the proper sense they are [themselves] all passions.
For every thing that moves itself is incorporeal; while every thing that's moved is body.
Incorporeals are further…”
Corpus Hermeticum 13: The Discourse of Hermes to Tat | Section 1b
“Thou seest me with eyes, my son; but what I am thou dost not understand [even] with fullest strain of body and of sight.
4.
Tat: Into fierce frenzy and mind-fury hast thou plunged me, father, for now no longer do I see myself.
Hermes: I…”
native_american4
The Soul of the Indian | Chapter I-a
“THE GREAT MYSTERY Solitary Worship.
The Savage Philosopher.
The Dual Mind.
Spiritual Gifts versus Material Progress.
The Paradox of “Christian Civilization.” The original attitude of the American Indian toward the Eternal, the “Great My…”
The Soul of the Indian | Chapter I-b
“Sometimes an old man, standing upon the brink of eternity, might reveal to a chosen few the oracle of his long-past youth.
The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity.
They forget…”
The Soul of the Indian | Chapter IV-c
“It was considered a high honor among us to have won some distinction in war and the chase, and above all to have been invited to a seat in the council, before one had spoken to any girl save his own sister.
It was our belief that the love…”
Myths of the Cherokee | Myth 91b
“One of the Cheerake, the noted half-breed of Istanare [Ustăna′lĭ] town, which lay 2 miles from thence, was at the first onset knocked down and almost killed with his own cutlass, which was wrested from him, though he was the strongest of th…”
finnic1
The Kalevala | Rune XXIII-a
“THE BRIDE-ADVISER Now the bride must be instructed, Who will teach the Maid of Beauty, Who instruct the Rainbow-daughter?
Osmotar, the wisdom-maiden, Kalew's fair and lovely virgin, Osmotar will give instructions To the bride of Ilmarinen,…”
theosophy1
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 2)
“"When Buddhi absorbs our E GOtism (destroys it) with all its Vikaras, Avalokiteshvara becomes manifested to us, and Nirvana, or Mukti, is reached," "Mukti" being the same as Nirvana, i.e.
, freedom from the trammels of "Maya" or illusion.…”