cosmology
Infinite Cosmos
The doctrine of the universe as boundless and without center or circumference, populated by innumerable worlds — Bruno's rejection of the closed Aristotelian sphere; the divine and the cosmos as ontologically infinite.
186 passages · 12 traditions
western_esoteric77
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter IV (part 1)
“CHAPTER IV THE ALL "Under, and back of, the Universe of Time, Space and Change, is ever to be found The Substantial Reality--the Fundamental Truth."--The Kybalion.
"Substance" means: "that which underlies all outward manifestations; the es…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter IV (part 2)
“And still more presumptuous are those who attempt to ascribe to THE ALL the personality, qualities, properties, characteristics and attributes of themselves, ascribing to THE ALL the human emotions, feelings, and characteristics, even down…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter IV (part 3)
“It must be Infinite in Space--it must be Everywhere, for there is no place outside of THE ALL--it cannot be otherwise than continuous in Space, without break, cessation, separation, or interruption, for there is nothing to break, separate,…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter V (part 2)
“Well, then, secondly, Man pro-creates or reproduces his kind by the process of begetting, which is self-multiplication accomplished by transferring a portion of his substance to his offspring.
But this will not do, because THE ALL cannot t…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter V (part 3)
“You speak of the Fatherhood of God, and the Motherhood of Nature--of God, the Divine Father, and Nature the Universal Mother--and have thus instinctively acknowledged the Principle of Gender in the Universe.
Is this not so?
But, the Herme…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter VI (part 3)
“To know it otherwise, but actual experience, we must be THE ALL itself.
It is true that the higher we rise in the scale--the nearer to "the mind of the Father" we reach--the more apparent becomes the illusory nature of finite things, but n…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter VI (part 4)
“So that if even these highest Beings, whose powers exceed even those attributed by men to their gods--if even these are bound by and are subservient to Law, then imagine the presumption of mortal man, of our race and grade, when he dares to…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter VII (part 2)
“Man, like Micawber, may exclaim: "The Spirit of my Creator is inherent within me-- and yet I am not HE!" How different this from the shocking half-truth so vociferously announced by certain of the half-wise, who fill the air with their rauc…”
Show all 77 →theosophy49
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page 1]] PROEM ------- PAGES FROM A PRE-HISTORIC PERIOD.
A N Archaic Manuscript -- a collection of palm leaves made impermeable to water, fire, and air, by some specific unknow…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 2)
“The latter is either "awake" or "asleep." The Svabhavikas, or philosophers of the oldest school of Buddhism (which still exists in Nepaul), speculate only upon the active condition of this "Essence," which they call Svabhavat, and deem it f…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 3)
“The esoteric symbol of Kali Yuga is the five-pointed star reversed, thus -- the sign of human sorcery, with its two points (horns) turned heavenward, a position every [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * See t…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 4)
“The orthodox Brahmins, those who rise the most against the Pantheists and Adwaitees, calling them Atheists, are forced, if Manu has any authority in this matter, to accept the death of Brahma, the creator, at the expiration of every "Age" o…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 5)
“But this view does not prevent him from believing in its existence so long as it lasts, to wit, for one Mahamanvantara; nor from applying Akasa, the radiation of Mulaprakriti,* to practical purposes, connected as the World-Soul is with all…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 6)
“." For clearer understanding on the part of the general reader, it must be stated that Occult Science recognises Seven Cosmical Elements -- four entirely physical, and the fifth (Ether) semi-material, as it will become visible in the air to…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 7)
“Herbert Spencer has of late so far modified his Agnosticism, as to assert that the nature of the "First Cause,"* which the Occultist more logically derives from the "Causeless Cause," the "Eternal," and the "Unknowable," may be essentially…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 9)
“As may be judged, however, from the most important, as the best known of the Rosicrucians' symbols, there is one which has never been hitherto understood even by modern mystics.
It is that of the "Pelican" tearing open its breast to feed i…”
Show all 49 →renaissance_hermeticism28
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTION-b
“The Waldensians, who had lately been driven out of Piedmont, and had sought a shelter in the Calabrian territory, were hunted down and given over to the executioner.
The convent was the only refuge from violence, and Bruno, either from rel…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTION-c
“Bruno also wrote a book upon the Sphere, which was lost.
He expounded the system of Copernicus, and talked to his pupils with enthusiasm about the movement of the earth and of the plurality of worlds.
As in that same Liguria Columbus firs…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTION-h
“The primal idea of Pythagoras, which Bruno worked out to a more distinct development is this: numbers are the beginning of things; in other words numbers are the cause of the existence of material things; they are not final, but are always…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTION-i
“The life of man is more than an experience or trial; it is an effort, a struggle to reproduce and represent upon earth some of that goodness, beauty, and truth which are diffused over the universe and constitute its harmony.
Long, slow, an…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTION-l
“There he passed the first day of that imprisonment which was to last for eight years.
The next day he went over the lagoon in a gondola, in the company of his jailors, who took him to the prison of the Holy Office, and left him there.
Lev…”
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-f
“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 Dialogue-c
“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 Dialogue-d
“To be infinite, it must be infinitely pursued with that form of pursuit which is not incited physically, but metaphysically, and is not from imperfect to perfect, but goes circulating through the grades of perfection to arrive at that infin…”
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…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogue-j
“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…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogue-g
“This special human intelligence which influences all individuals is like the moon, which partakes of no other species but that one alone which always renews itself by the transmutation caused in it by the sun, which is the primal and univer…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogue-j
“So also is the hemisphere of this earth ever equally irradiated, although from the watery surfaces she from time to time sends her splendours unequally to the moon,—which like innumerable other stars we consider as another earth—in the same…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogue-n
“Of necessity, one is according to the sum of the other, seeing that where things are finite it may result in this, that it is more wise than beautiful or good, more good and beautiful than wise, more wise and good than powerful, and more po…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogue-o
“For love, while it is finite, contented, and fixed in a certain measure, is not in the form of the species of divine beauty, but as it goes on with ever higher aspirations, it may be said to verge towards the infinite.
Cic.
.
How is brea…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogue-d
“You see, Cesarino, how this enthusiast is justified in his anger against those who reproach him with being in captivity to a low beauty, to which he dedicates his vows, and attributes these forms, so that he is deaf to those voices which ca…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogue-g
“Wherefore not only can we never discourse about things divine, but we cannot even think of them without detracting from, rather than adding to the glory of them; so that the best thing to be done with regard to them is, that man, in the pre…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogue-m
“Thus everything has an impetus towards its beginning retrogressively, and progressively towards its end and perfection, as Empedocles well said, and from which sentence I think may be inferred that which the Nolan said in this octave: The s…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogue-r
“But where the entire affection is all turned towards God, that is towards the Idea of Ideas, from the light of intelligible things, the mind becomes exalted to the super-essential unity, and, all love, all one, it feels itself no longer sol…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogue-s
“Weary and hoarse I yield me, impotent, And seek no more to elude my destiny, Or make endeavour to escape my death: Let every other life to me be null, And let not the extremest torment fail, Which my hard fate for me prescribed.
Type of my…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialogue-f
“[P] Number is, as the great writer (Balzac) thought, an Entity, and at the same time, a Breath emanating from what he called God, and what we call the ALL, the breath which alone could organize the physical Kosmos.—("The Secret Doctrine.")…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogue-b
“And more than that, they are equal to the ocean, not because they do pour, but because these two springing streams can pour such, and so much, that compared with them the Nile would appear a tiny stream divided into seven streamlets.[T] [T]…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogue-d
“Why rather stay a pilgrim here below Than open through the air and us a way?
No spark of fire from that heart Goes out through the wide atmosphere.
Body of dust and ashes is not seen, Nor water-laden smoke ascends on high.
All is contain…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogue-e
“This alone I will not leave (unsaid) that it is not without reason that the affection of the heart is said to be the infinite sea by the apprehension of the eyes.[X] For the object of the mind being infinite, and no definite object being pr…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Third Dialogue-f
“Here the eyes imprint upon the heart, that is upon the intelligence, and rouse in the will an infinite torment of love, where there is no pain because nothing is sought which is not obtained; but it is happiness, because that which is there…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogue-d
“Therefore, in the sistine he would have space made for him to pass; for if anybody should be touched by his fires he would become such that he would have no more feeling of the flames of hell, for their heat would be to him as cold snow.
6…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogue-d
“The fourth with the viola sang : And pierced anon with such a light as this; Blindness worth more than every other sight, Pains sweeter far than other pleasures are, For to the fairest light Thou art thyself a guide, Show to the soul all lo…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogue-e
“"The sun is equal to thy chiefest nymph, By virtue of the everlasting laws, And pauses alternating, Amongst my stars she's equal to the sun." [AJ] Plato says that [Greek: Theos] is derived from the verb [Greek: Theein], to move, to run, as…”
← Collapseneoplatonism10
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII-b
“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 IX-a
“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…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XIX-a
“In the next place, therefore, we shall answer your question, “ What it is which conjoins the Gods that have a body in the heavens with the incorporeal Gods.
” What this is, therefore, is evident from what has been before said.
For 72 if t…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XIX-b
“And secondary genera, indeed, remain with invariable sameness in the one of such as are primary; but the primary impart from themselves union to the secondary genera, and all of them possess in each other the communion of an indissoluble co…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII-bc
“De Abstinentia, “to be a lover of truth, an accurate writer, and very conversant with the Stoic philosophy.” Τοιαυτα μεν τα κατ’ Αιγυπτιους υπ’ ανδρος φιλαληθους τε και ακριβους, εντε τοις Στωϊκοις πραγματικωτατα φιλοσοφησαντος μεμαρτυρημεν…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 131
“Section 9 9. But how can we conceive a thing having existence without having magnitude? We have only to think of things whose identity does not depend on their quantity- for certainly magnitude can be distinguished from existence as can man…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 488
“Section 10 10. This is why Zeus, although the oldest of the gods and their sovereign, advances first [in the Phaidros myth] towards that vision, followed by gods and demigods and such souls as are of strength to see. That Being appears befo…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 632
“Section 12 12. We may be told that unity and monad have no real existence, that the only unity is some definite object that is one thing, so that all comes to an attitude of the mind towards things considered singly. But, to begin with, why…”
Show all 10 →christian_mysticism6
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1o
“And herein the Divine Yearning showeth especially its beginningless and endless nature, revolving in a perpetual circle for the Good, from the Good, in the Good, and to the Good, with unerring revolution, never varying its centre or directi…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 2 (part 1)
“p.
58 CHAPTER II.
THE UNITY OF THE ALL.
"We are all one body in Christ, and have all the Spirit of Christ within our reach.
If, then, we enter into the Christ, we may see and know everything by the power of His Spirit." ( Forty Question…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 8 (part 8)
“For the internal being is continually labouring to manifest itself outwardly.
Thus everything has its own mouth for the purpose of revealing itself, and therein is based the language of nature, by means of which each thing speaks out of it…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 10 (part 12)
“For the third time, and at the end of the world, God will move in the name (quality) of the Holy Spirit, when the world will return into the Ether ( Akasa ), and then its dead will be resurrected." ( Threefold Life , vii.
22.) This may per…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 11 (part 7)
“48.) "The soul and the Word are not one or one being.
The soul is born from the centre of nature, from the essences, and belongs to the body, for she issues from the essences of the body, and attracts to herself the body; but the Word is f…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 11 (part 8)
“Neither is God measurable, and there has no place of residence been discovered in Him, unless He should establish for Himself such a dwelling in one of His creatures; but even then He remains a whole apart from and beyond such a created bei…”
taoism5
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 34
“All-pervading is the Great Tao! It may be found on the left hand and on the right. All things depend on it for their production, which it gives to them, not one refusing obedience to it. When its work is accomplished, it does not claim the…”
The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book I (part 1)
“p.
164 THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-DZE.
BOOK I.
PART I.
SECTION I.
Hsiâo-yâo Yû, or 'Enjoyment in Untroubled Ease 1 .' 1.
In the Northern Ocean there is a fish, the name of which is Khwän 2 ,--I do not know how many lî in size.
It changes…”
The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book I (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 II (part 5)
“A third class held that there was such recognition, but there had not begun to be any expression of different opinions about it.
p.
186 It was through the definite expression of different opinions about it that there ensued injury to (the…”
The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book II (part 9)
“The harmonising of them is to be found in the invisible operation of Heaven, and by following this on into the unlimited past.
It is by this method that we can complete our years (without our minds being disturbed) 1 .
'What is meant by h…”
buddhism4
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…”
Vajrakkhedika (Diamond Cutter) | Section 1o
“Bhagavat said: 'What do you think, O Subhûti, has the Tathâgata the bodily eye?' Subhûti said: 'So it is, O Bhagavat, the Tathâgata has the bodily eye.' Bhagavat said: 'What do you think, O Subhûti, has the Tathâgata the heavenly eye?' Subh…”
hermeticism2
Corpus Hermeticum 1: Poimandres | Section 1b
“But when He raised His head, I see in Mind the Light, [but] now in Powers no man could number, and Cosmos grown beyond all bounds, and that the Fire was compassed round about by a most mighty Power, and [now] subdued had come unto a stand.…”
Corpus Hermeticum 12: The Prayer | Section 1e
“Observe this too, my son; that each one of the other lives inhabiteth one portion of the Cosmos - aquatic creatures water, terrene earth, and aery creatures air; while man doth use all these - earth, water air [and] fire; he seeth Heaven, t…”
jewish_mysticism2
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…”
Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation) | Section 1a
“Wescott, tr.
(1887) CHAPTER 1 1.
In two and thirty most occult and wonderful paths of wisdom did JAH the Lord of Hosts engrave his name: God of the armies of Israel, ever-living God, merciful and gracious, sublime, dwelling on high, who i…”
finnic1
The Kalevala | Rune I-a
“OF WAINAMOINEN.
In primeval times, a maiden, Beauteous Daughter of the Ether, Passed for ages her existence In the great expanse of heaven, O'er the prairies yet enfolded.
Wearisome the maiden growing, Her existence sad and hopeless, Thus…”
greek_mystery1
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 13 (part 12)
“Ταῦτά μοι ἔσπετε Μοῦσαι, Ὀλύμπια δώματ᾽ ἔχουσαι [ἐξ ἀρχῆς, καὶ εἴπαθ᾽, ὅ τι πρῶτον γένετ᾽ αὐτῶν.] 115 Ἦ τοι μὲν πρώτιστα Χάος γένετ᾽, αὐτὰρ ἔπειτα Γαῖ᾽ εὐρύστερνος, πάντων ἕδος ἀσφαλὲς αἰεὶ [ἀθανάτων, οἳ ἔχουσι κάρη νιφόεντος Ὀλύμπου, Τάρτα…”
platonism1
Plato: Timaeus | Section 1x
“Of the infinite forms we must select the most beautiful, if we are to proceed in due order, and any one who can point out a more beautiful form than ours for the construction of these bodies, shall carry off the palm, not as an enemy, but a…”