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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_esoteric: 77 passageswestern_esoteric77theosophy: 49 passagestheosophy49renaissance_hermeticism: 28 passagesrenaissance_hermeticism28neoplatonism: 10 passagesneoplatonism10christian_mysticism: 6 passageschristian_mysticism6taoism: 5 passagestaoism5buddhism: 4 passagesbuddhism4hermeticism: 2 passageshermeticism2jewish_mysticism: 2 passagesjewish_mysticism2finnic: 1 passagefinnic1greek_mystery: 1 passagegreek_mystery1platonism: 1 passageplatonism1
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…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter VII (part 3)
“This Involuntary stage of Creation is sometimes called the "Outpouring" of the Divine Energy, just as the Evolutionary state is called the "Indrawing." The extreme pole of the Creative process is considered to be the furthest removed from T…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter IX (part 1)
“CHAPTER IX VIBRATION "Nothing rests; everything moves; everything vibrates."--The Kybalion. The great Third Hermetic Principle--the Principle of Vibration--embodies the truth that Motion is manifest in everything in the Universe--that noth…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter XI (part 1)
“CHAPTER XI RHYTHM "Everything flows out and in; everything has its tides; all things rise and fall; the pendulum-swing manifests in everything; the measure of the swing to the right, is the measure of the swing to the left; rhythm compensat…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Introduction-r
“This is a legitimate method of for to those able to realize the sacred significance of the threefold head a great mystery is revealed. However, in the presence of such applications of symbology in Christian art, it is scarcely proper to co…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Conclusion-g
“Worshiping the sun, moon, and stars, and offering sacrifices to the winds, the primitive savage sought with crude fetishes to propitiate his unknown gods. He dwelt in a world filled with wonders which he did not understand. Now great citi…”
The Tarot of the Bohemians (Papus) | Chapter XVII (part 8)
“If, on the contrary, he be worthy of the higher regions, this baptism of fire renders him one of the Magi; the sources of terrestrial life are at his disposition; he becomes a Therapeut. Having reached this point, he will then learn to kno…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Page 4 (part 4)
“These people of the fourth dimension are in the world but not of it: their range is far wider than this slum of space. In them dormant faculties are alert. Like birds of the air, their fitting symbol, they are at home in realms which othe…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter II (part 1)
“p. 23 CHAPTER II A new view of the Kantian problem. The books of Hinton. The "space-sense" and its evolution. A system for the development of a sense of the fourth dimension by exercises with colored cubes. The geometrical conception o…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter II (part 2)
“By a remarkable analysis the great geometers above mentioned have shown that space is not limited as ordinary experience would seem to inform us, but that we are quite capable of conceiving different kinds of space. ( A New Era of Thought…”
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…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter II (part 4)
“But it can be measured in only three directions independent of one another—in length, breadth, and height; these directions we call the dimensions of space, and we say that our space has three dimensions: it is three-dimensional. By indepe…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter II (part 5)
“But if I should prove that a house, i.e., a physical fact, may exist, it does not at all mean that it exists really. If I prove that a man may own the house it is no proof that he owns it. Our relation to an idea and to a house are quite…”
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 IV (part 1)
“p. 38 CHAPTER IV In what direction may the fourth dimension lie? What is motion? Two kinds of motion—motion in space and motion in time—which are contained in every movement. What is time? Two ideas contained in the conception of time.…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter IV (part 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 IV (part 5)
“There results in the other case a life upon some sort of needle-point called the present , which is surrounded on all sides by an abyss of non-existence, a journey in a country which does not as yet exist , a life in a world which is born a…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter IV (part 8)
“We have that sense, therefore we sense motion. The time-sense is the sensation of changing moments. If we did not have this time-sense we could not feel motion. The "time-sense" is itself, in substance, the limit or the surface of our "s…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter IV (part 9)
“But taking into consideration the ideas expressed before it would be interesting to look at the world supposing that we are not in it but on the ether; where the "ether" is the surface of contact of two bodies of higher dimensions. 1 Hinto…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter V (part 4)
“57 i.e., upon the surface, it is impossible to define the position of the solid, the side of which constitutes the given surface, so in the geometry of three dimensions, in three-dimensional space, it is impossible to define a four-dimensio…”
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 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 IX (part 7)
“And these two kinds of motion will be incommensurable for it. The animal will be in a position to measure an angle or a convex surface, though not understanding their true nature, and though regarding them as motion. But true motion, i.e.…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter IX (part 8)
“Thus in all its relations to the world the animal is quite analogous to the imagined, unreal two-dimensional being living upon a plane. All our world appears to the animal as the plane through which phenomena are passing, moving upon time,…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter X (part 1)
“p. 112 CHAPTER X The spatial understanding of time. The angles and curves of the fourth dimension in our life. Does motion exist in the world or not? Mechanical motion and "life." Biological phenomena as the manifestation of motions goi…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter X (part 2)
“______ The "infinite sphere" by which we represent the universe to ourselves is constantly and continuously changing: in every consecutive moment it is not that which it was before. A constant change of pictures, images, relations, is goin…”
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 4)
“This happens because the circle inevitably ends in the same point at which it began, and the "life" of the separate being, beginning with birth, must end in death, which is the return to the point of departure. But during its transit throu…”
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 XI (part 3)
“The pioneers of natural science do not enjoy such a serene point of view, and to this circumstance the natural sciences are indebted for their continuous development. I venture to lift the brilliant and familiar veil and throw open the san…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XI (part 5)
“The transition from one point to another of this film corresponds to our concept of the flow of time. This fourth dimension we will call, therefore, time. The film of a cinematograph can replace the reel of any tape-measure, and contrariw…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XI (part 7)
“Matter, i.e., everything finite, is an illusion in an infinite world. 1 Among many attempts at the psychological investigation of the fourth dimension I shall note one in the book by Johan Van Manen, Some Occult Experiences . In this book…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XII (part 3)
“The forces which are actually manifesting themselves in certain definite actions are called free, or live forces; but as regards free forces it is necessary to differentiate those forces which are liberating, setting free, from the forces w…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIII (part 6)
“These chains of events go on continuously, inter-weaving among themselves, entering one into another, sometimes hidden from our eyes, and sometimes visible. I find an admirable description of this idea in the chapter on "Karma" in Light on…”
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 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 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 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 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 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 XVII (part 8)
“Doesn't this show a singularly indigent imagination? Isn't this brave universe made on a richer pattern, with room in it for a long hierarchy of beings? Materialistic science makes it infinitely richer in terms, with its molecules, and et…”
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 3)
“We all know this, and the only thing we can do is to try not to think about the existence of these problems, to forget about them. We do so as a rule, but this does not annihilate them. They continue to exist, and at any given moment we m…”
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 XX (part 4)
“The chief of these conditional data consists in the fact that in problems of this mathematics there is always taken the t of the universe only , i.e., one section only of the universe is taken, p. 249 which section is never taken in conjun…”
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 XX (part 6)
“Were our space-sense more perfect in relation to any given object, say to the body of a given man, we could embrace all his life in time, from birth to death. Then within the limits of this embrace that life would be for us a constant magn…”
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 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 4)
“This sensation of light and of unlimited joy is experienced at the moment of the expansion of consciousness (the unfoldment of the mystical lotus of the Hindu yogi), at the moment of the sensation of infinity, and it yields also the sensati…”
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 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 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 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 25)
“I sensed the enormous heavy body— my body —all its motions, shudderings, waverings and vibrations, fire, pressure of steam and weight of engines were inside of me , the unmerciful and unyielding propelling screw which pushed and pushed me f…”
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) | Chapter XXIII (part 16)
“329 cases it is more correct to regard them all as the highest types in their own evolution. The absence of intermediate forms makes this view much more probable than that which is usually accepted, and which gives such rich material for d…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Page 28 (part 1)
“p. 333 CONCLUSION In conclusion I wish to speak of those wonderful words, full of profound mystery from the Apocalypse and the apostle Paul's Epistle to the Ephesians , which are placed as the epigraph of this book. The Apocalyptic angel…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Page 28 (part 2)
“We know that it must give it , but FROM WHAT could he know that? None of his contemporaries ever united sanctity with the idea of the comprehension of space; and in general there was no discussion at all about "space" at that time, at leas…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Page 29 (part 1)
“p. 337 TABLE OF THE FOUR FORMS OF THE MANIFESTATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS For ease of online reading, I have exchanged the rows and columns in this chart.—JBH 1ST FORM 2ND FORM 3RD FORM 4TH FORM THE SENSE OF SPACE AND TIME The sense of one-dime…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 1. The Candidate-e
“Every figure is a character, every character derives from and returns into a word. For this reason the ancient sages, of whom Trismegistus is the organ, formulated their sole dogma in these terms: “That which is above is like unto that whi…”
Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi) | 17. Astrology-d
“Hence I conclude that, for myself and for this year, experience confirms fully the precision of Cardan's astrological calculus, which connects furthermore with the climacteric years of ancient astrologers. This term signifies arranged in s…”
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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…”
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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…”
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neoplatonism10
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…”
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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…”