anthropology
Mechanical Humanity
Gurdjieff and Ouspensky's claim that ordinary human beings live in a state of waking sleep, reacting mechanically without unified will or consciousness, and that the spiritual path begins with recognising this condition.
183 passages · 11 traditions
western_esoteric143
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolismx
“Pluto, the lord of the underworld, represents the body intelligence of man; and the rape of Persephone is symbolic of the divine nature assaulted and defiled by the animal soul and dragged downward into the somber darkness of Hades, which i…”
◆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 I (part 2)
“But such a procedure constitutes a departure from facts, and all such considerations of the world and of the self, to the ordinary non-philosophical mind, will not have the character of obviousness.
On the contrary the sole obvious fact re…”
◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter I (part 4)
“Also, all phenomena not in time, divorced from the idea of time, not taken in this or that fashion from the standpoint of before , now , after , would co-exist for us simultaneously, and all mixed up with one another, and our weak mind woul…”
◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter I (part 5)
“It is not true because our experimental knowledge is not a confused perception of a real world .
It is a very acute perception of an entirely unreal world appearing round about us at the moment of our contact with the world of true causes,…”
◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter I (part 6)
“Or, as a logical conclusion from Kant's ideas, shall we recognize the validity of Berkeley's idea, and deny the existence of the world itself except in imagination?
______ Positive philosophy stands in a very ambiguous relation to Kant's v…”
◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter I (part 7)
“But why seven, exactly, he is unable to explain.
For physicists the rôle of the "creation of the world" is played by the atomic theory and the ether, with its wave-like vibrations, and further by the electrons, and the energetic, or electr…”
◆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…”
Show all 143 →platonism12
◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1x
“I mean, he replied, as you might say of the very large and very small, that nothing is more uncommon than a very large or a very small man; and this applies generally to all extremes, whether of great and small, or swift and slow, or fair a…”
◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1w
“Why, he begins in this manner: "Be it enacted by the senate, the people, or both, on the motion of a certain person," who is our author; and so putting on a serious face, he proceeds to display his own wisdom to his admirers in what is ofte…”
◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1
“Then clearly, Thrasymachus or any one else who teaches rhetoric in earnest will give an exact description of the nature of the soul; which will enable us to see whether she be single and same, or, like the body, multiform.
That is what we…”
◆Plato: Republic | Section 1e
“I might compare them to a man who should study the tempers and desires of a mighty strong beast who is fed by him-he would learn how to approach and handle him, also at what times and from what causes he is dangerous or the reverse, and wha…”
◆Plato: Republic | Section 1f
“Now, when he is in this state of mind, if some one gently comes to him and tells him that he is a fool and must get understanding, which can only be got by slaving for it, do you think that, under such adverse circumstances, he will be easi…”
◆Plato: Republic | Section 1g
“Then, Adeimantus, I said, the worthy disciples of philosophy will be but a small remnant: perchance some noble and well-educated person, detained by exile in her service, who in the absence of corrupting influences remains devoted to her; o…”
◆Plato: Republic | Section 1h
“Yes, but not in a satisfactory manner; you frightened us by interposing objections, which certainly showed that the discussion would be long and difficult; and what still remains is the reverse of easy.
What is there remaining?
The questi…”
◆Plato: Republic | Section 1a
“BOOK VII SOCRATES - GLAUCON AND now, I said, let me show in a figure how far our nature is enlightened or unenlightened:--Behold!
human beings living in a underground den, which has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the…”
Show all 12 →christian_mysticism9
◆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 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 7 (part 1)
“p.
140 CHAPTER VII.
MAN.
"God created man in His own image.
Male and female ( in one ) created He them." Man in his cosmic aspect is a being very superior to that which is commonly looked upon as a "man," and which is described in books…”
◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 7 (part 13)
“154:1 This is the difference between life in the terrestrial and life in the celestial states of nature, that the former is differentiated into forms, each of which loves to live in the consciousness of its own illusive self— i.e.
, in a s…”
◆The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 9 (part 5)
“189 four states, forms, or temperaments are called the choleric, the sanguine, phlegmatic, and melancholy temperament.
In the choleric one is the nature and quality of the fire manifested, in the sanguine that of the air, in the phlegmatic…”
◆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 9 (part 10)
“The conditions of these animal elementals in the constitution of man are some of those causes of his bodily ills of which modern medical science is entirely ignorant.
191:1 This is the way in which the "personalities" mentioned in the Book…”
◆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."…”
Show all 9 →neoplatonism6
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter III
“I wish, in the next place, to reply to such assertions as calumniate divine prediction. For you compare with it “ certain other methods which are conversant with the prediction of future events .” To me, however, it does not appear to be an…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“και αετοι μεν, και δρακοντες, βιωσιμοι αυτοις προς υγειαν υποθεσις´ αιλουροι δε και κυνες, και κορακες αγρυπνητικα συμβολα.
κηρος δε και πηλος εις τας των μοριων συμπλασεις παραλαμβανονται.
φανταζει δε πολλακις, και πυρος ουρανιου εδοσεις…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 180
“Section 4 4. Another theory: The Universe is permeated by one Soul, Cause of all things and events; every separate phenomenon as a member of a whole moves in its place with the general movement; all the various causes spring into action fro…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 181 (part 1)
“Section 5 5.
But perhaps the explanation of every particular act or event is rather that they are determined by the spheric movement- the Phora- and by the changing position of the heavenly bodies as these stand at setting or rising or in…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 203 (part 2)
“That one Reason-Principle, then, must be the unification of conflicting Reason-Principles whose very opposition is the support of its coherence and, almost, of its Being.
And indeed, if it were not multiple, it could not be a Universal Pri…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 340
“Section 20 20. As with bodily pain and pleasure so with the bodily desires; their origin, also, must be attributed to what thus stands midway, to that Nature we described as the corporeal. Body undetermined cannot be imagined to give rise t…”
hermeticism3
◆Corpus Hermeticum 1: Poimandres | Section 1e
“To the first zone he gives the Energy of Growth and Waning; unto the second [zone], Device of Evils [now] de-energized; unto the third, the Guile of the Desires de-energized; unto the fourth, his Domineering Arrogance, [also] de-energized;…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount | Section 1c
“For that the soul who hath no knowledge of the things that are, or knowledge of their nature, or of Good, is blinded by the body's passions and tossed about.
This wretched soul, not knowing what she is, becomes the slave of bodies of stran…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 12: The Prayer | Section 1b
“But for the moment, [Tat,] let be the teaching as to vice and Fate, for we have spoken of these things in other [of our sermons]; but now our teaching (logos) is about the Mind: - what Mind can do, and how it is [so] different - in men bein…”
renaissance_hermeticism3
◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONb
“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) | Second Dialoguea
“.
Tansillo.
Now begins the enthusiast to display the affections and uncover the wounds which are for a sign in his body, and in substance or essence in his soul, and he says thus: 9.
Of Love the standard-bearer I; My hopes are ice, and g…”
◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialogueb
“He forms intelligible conceptions in his own way and proportions them to his capacity, so that they are received according to the manner of the recipient.
Tans.
And does he hunt through the operation of the will, by the act of which he co…”
gnosticism2
◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 97
“Jesus said, "The kingdom of the father is like a certain woman who was carrying a jar full of meal. While she was walking on the road, still some distance from home, the handle of the jar broke and the meal emptied out behind her on the roa…”
◆Pistis Sophia | Document THIRDm
“Now therefore they are wont to bear the child, the power in him being small, and being small in him the soul, and being small in him the counterfeit spirit also in one word, being small the three together: having not any of them any percept…”
sufism2
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY IXa
“The Arab and his Wife.
An Arab lived with his wife in the desert in extreme poverty, so that they became a reproach to their neighbours.
The wife at last lost patience, and began to abuse her husband, and to urge him to improve their cond…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY XVb
“When you are cured of your sickness, O invalid, Then leave out the vinegar and eat pure honey.
When the heart is garnished and swept clear of lust, Therein 'The God of Mercy sitteth on His throne.' 5 Then God rules the heart immediately, W…”
buddhism1
◆The Dhammapada | Chapter XXIV, Section 1a
“p.
80 CHAPTER XXIV.
THIRST.
334.
The thirst of a thoughtless man grows like a creeper; he runs from life to life, like a monkey seeking fruit in the forest.
335.
Whomsoever this fierce thirst overcomes, full of poison, in this world,…”
greek_mystery1
◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 4 (part 2)
“Wherein have I done amiss?
What have I done?
What have I omitted that I ought to have done?
43.
If in this examination thou find that thou hast done amiss, reprimand thyself severely for it; 44.
And if thou hast done any good, rejoice.…”
taoism1
◆The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book 124 (part 8)
“You see the egg, and (immediately) look out for the cock (that is to be hatched from it); you see the bow, and (immediately) look out for the dove (that is to be brought down by it) being roasted.
I will try to explain the thing to you in…”