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soteriology

Pneumatic Elect

A spiritual elite who possess the divine spark and are predestined for salvation, contrasted with psychic (faithful) and hylic (material) persons.

292 passages · 13 traditions
gnosticism: 62 passagesgnosticism62western_esoteric: 36 passageswestern_esoteric36neoplatonism: 31 passagesneoplatonism31christian_mysticism: 28 passageschristian_mysticism28jewish_mysticism: 28 passagesjewish_mysticism28renaissance_hermeticism: 27 passagesrenaissance_hermeticism27hermeticism: 26 passageshermeticism26greek_mystery: 25 passagesgreek_mystery25platonism: 20 passagesplatonism20celtic: 3 passagesceltic3sufism: 3 passagessufism3egyptian: 2 passagesegyptian2mandaean: 1 passagemandaean1
gnosticism62
Gospel of Philip | Section 1a
(Above image of the Gospel of Thomas courtesy of the Institute for Antiquity and Christianity, Claremont Graduate University) Visit the Bookstore for a complete selection of translations and books about The Nag Hammadi Library The Nag Hamma…”
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 1c
And Jesus said, “Whoever will not eat my flesh and drink my blood has no life within him.” What does he mean? His flesh is the word and blood the holy spirit. Who has received these has food and drink and clothing. I condemn those who sa…”
Gospel of Philip | Section 1d
When the child is grown, however, then the father turns over all he possesses. THE LOST Those who have gone astray are those born of the spirit. And they are usually lost because of the spirit. So from one single breath of spirit the fir…”
Gospel of Philip | Section 1e
If you say, “I am a Roman,” no one will be upset. If you say, “I am Greek, a barbarian, a slave, a freeman,” no one will be troubled. But if you say, “I am a Christian,” they will tremble. I wish I had that title. The world will not end…”
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 Philip | Section 1m
If we know the truth, we shall find the fruits of the truth within us. If we join it, it will fulfill us. THE STRONG AND WEAK, THE MANIFEST AND HIDDEN Now we have the manifest things of creation. We say, “The strong are they who are held…”
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western_esoteric36
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolismo
To the Gnostics, the Christ was the personification of Nous , the Divine Mind, and emanated from the higher spiritual Æons. He descended into the body of Jesus at the baptism and left it again before the crucifixion. The Gnostics declared…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Zodiac and Its Signsh
While the ignorant multitudes worshiped the house of the sun's reflection, which in the case described would be the Bull, the wise revered the house of the sun's actual dwelling, which would be the Scorpion, or the Serpent, the symbol of th…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Freemasonic Symbolismj
And he left behind him the manner of using exorcisms, by which they drive away demons, so that they never return; and this method of cure is of great force unto this day." The mediæval alchemists were convinced that King Solomon understood…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Mystery of the Apocalypseg
At the lower right is the angel with the key to the bottomless pit, who with a great chain binds Satan for a thousand years. In the heavens above is represented one like unto the Son of Man, who carries a great sickle with which he reaps t…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Mysteries and Their Emissariesa
DID that divine knowledge which constituted the supreme possession of the pagan priestcrafts survive the destruction of their temples? Is it yet accessible to mankind, or does it lie buried beneath the rubbish of ages, entombed within the…”
The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Conclusionj
The great institution of materiality has failed. The false civilization built by man has turned, and like the monster of Frankenstein, is destroying its creator. Religion wanders aimlessly in the maze of theological speculation. Science…”
Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Page 4 (part 3)
Just as Goethe's Werther , with its sex-sentimentality, is said to have provoked an epidemic of suicides, so may Tertium Organum —which restores love to that high heaven from whence descend every beauty and benison—inaugurate a renascence o…”
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…”
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neoplatonism31
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter Va
In the next place, let us direct our attention to the solution of your inquiries. There is, therefore, the good itself which is beyond essence, and there is that good which subsists according to essence; I mean the essence which is most an…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IXb
For in things which are of a kindred nature, according to essence and power, or which are, in a certain respect, of the same species, or homogeneous, a certain comprehension, or conservation, may be discovered. But in such things as are en…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXI
The division, however, of the passive from the impassive , which you adopt, may perhaps be rejected by some one, as not adapted to either of the more excellent genera, through the causes which we have before enumerated; and it also deserves…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IIIb
In addition also to these peculiarities, divine beauty, indeed, shines with an immense splendour as it were, fixes the spectators in astonishment, imparts a divine joy, presents itself to the view with ineffable symmetry, and is exempt from…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VI
Moreover, the gifts arising from the manifestations are not all of them equal, nor have the same fruits. But the presence [44] of the Gods, indeed, imparts to us health of body, virtue of soul, purity of intellect, and in one word elevates…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VII
Moreover, in the manifestations there is an indication of the order which the powers that are seen possess. For the Gods are surrounded by either Gods or angels; but archangels have angels either preceding or coarranged with them, or follow…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter I
In the first place, therefore, you ask me to explain to you distinctly, “ what that is which is effected in the foreknowledge of future events? ” Immediately, however, that which you endeavour to learn is impossible. For, according to the m…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXIV
In what follows, while you endeavour to unfold divination, you entirely subvert it. For if a passion of the soul is admitted to be the cause of it, what wise man will attribute to an unstable and stupid thing orderly and stable foreknowledg…”
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christian_mysticism28
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter Ib
They are useful and necessary up to a point, but the Truth lies beyond them and is to be apprehended to a supernatural manner by what later writers call “infused” contemplation. The sum of the whole matter is that God is incomprehensible.…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 2)
"Natural man knows nothing about the mystery of the kingdom of God, because he is outside and not within the state of divinity, as is daily proved by the action of the philosophisers who are disputing about the attributes and the will of Go…”
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 4 (part 2)
91 "Christ never said, 'I, in my human selfhood, am the voice of God, I am speaking as God, in or with God,' &c.; but He said, 'The words which I speak are the Father's, who lives in me '—that is to say, who lives in my human or natural sel…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 5 (part 6)
"In the lightning flash, the fourth form of nature, is the origin of life, and it attains perfection in the constancy of the fire. Here, in the object of division, is the p. 111 spirit born, and this spirit can either go backwards and ent…”
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 3)
It was she in whom the voice of God promised again to introduce the living, holy substance from heaven, and to generate anew and in divine power the faded image of God that was contained therein." 1 ( Grace , vii. 18.) This, however, did n…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 10 (part 5)
The wrath must kill and consume the external image that has grown in the wrath, but from its death springs forth the eternal life." ( Mysterium , xxviii. 14.) "Abel, representing an antitype of Christ, who was to suffer death for humanity,…”
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jewish_mysticism28
The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1e
31: "And He was wise above every man." Because these are not classed with man. 21. (But when it is said) "And the Tetragrammaton gave him wisdom," then is understood the supernal He . (Because he gave unto him the influx of the wisdom of…”
The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Page 3 (part 9)
The Apocalyptist prophesies further of the repentance of the Gentiles (chapter l.), an universalistic note of significance, and speaks of the Resurrection of the dead in a notable passage: And In those days shall the earth also give back th…”
The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter I
p. 31 BOOK OF ENOCH I-XXXVI I-V. Parable of Enoch on the Future Lot of the Wicked and the Righteous CHAPTER I. 1. The words of the blessing of Enoch, wherewith he blessed the elect ⌈⌈ and ⌉⌉ righteous, who will be living in the day of tribu…”
The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter V
CHAPTER V. 1. Observe ⌈⌈ ye ⌉⌉ how the trees cover themselves with green leaves and bear fruit: wherefore give ye heed ⌈ and know ⌉ with regard to all ⌈ His works ⌉ , and recognize how He that liveth for ever hath made them so. 2. And ⌈ all…”
The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter X (part 1)
CHAPTER X. 1. Then said the Most High, the Holy and Great One spake, and sent Uriel to the son of Lamech, and said to him: 2. ' 〈 Go to Noah 〉 and tell him in my name "Hide thyself!" and reveal to him the end that is approaching: that th…”
The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XXV
CHAPTER XXV. 1. And he said unto me: 'Enoch, why dost p. 51 thou ask me regarding the fragrance of the tree, and ⌈ why ⌉ dost thou wish to learn the truth?' Then I answered him ⌈⌈ saying ⌉⌉ : 'I wish to know about everything, but especially…”
The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XXXIX
XXXIX. The Abode of the Righteous and of the Elect One: the Praises of the Blessed . CHAPTER XXXIX. 1. [ And it †shall come to pass in those days that elect and holy children †will descend from the high heaven, and their seed †will become o…”
The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XL
XL. XLI. 2. The Four Archangels . CHAPTER XL. 1. And after that I saw thousands of thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand, I saw a multitude beyond number and reckoning, who stood before the Lord of Spirits. 2. And on the four sides…”
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renaissance_hermeticism27
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguee
Herein he proves that his love is truly heroic; because he proposes to himself as the chief aim, not corporeal beauty, but rather the grace of the spirit, and the inclination of the affections in which, rather than in the beauty of the body…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fourth Dialoguei
And amongst men the same thing is seen, according as some resemble one species of brute beast and some another: these having something of the quadruped, and those of birds, and, may be, some affinity, which I will not explain, but through w…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguen
So much so that whatsoever you might add thereto would appear to me superfluous. IX. Ces. Let us see what is here represented by those two radiating arrows upon a target around which is written: Vicit instans. Mar. The continual strugg…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogues
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) | Fourth Dialoguea
. Interlocutors : Severing. Minutolo. Sev. You will see the origin of the nine blind men, who state nine reasons and special causes of their blindness, and yet they all agree in one general reason and one common enthusiasm.[AB] [AB] May…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | Fifth Dialogueb
By her finally, they were treated in such a manner that, blind and homeless, with great labour having ploughed the seas, passed over rivers, overcome mountains, traversed plains for the space of ten years, and at the end of which time havin…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONg
His extraordinary memory and his eloquence caused great astonishment; and the fame of Bruno reached the ears of King Henry III., who sent for him to the Court, and being filled with admiration of his learning, he offered him a substantial s…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialoguea
. Tansillo, Cicada. Tans. The enthusiasms most suitable to be first brought forward and considered are those that I now place before you in the order that seems to me most fitting. Cic. Begin, then, to read. Tansillo. 1. Ye Muses, t…”
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hermeticism26
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 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 3: The Sacred Sermon | Section 1
The Sacred Sermon 1. The Glory of all things is God, Godhead and Godly Nature. Source of the things that are is God, who is both Mind and Nature - yea Matter, the Wisdom that reveals all things. Source [too] is Godhead - yea Nature, Energy,…”
Corpus Hermeticum 9: The Decalogue | Section 1a
On Thought and Sense <This somewhat diffuse essay covers a series of topics, starting with (and to some extent from) the concept that the set of perceptions we call "thoughts" and the set we call "sensory perceptions" are not significantly…”
Corpus Hermeticum 9: The Decalogue | Section 1b
But I return once more to the Discourse (Logos) on Sense. That sense doth share with thought in man, doth constitute him man. But 'tis not [every] man, as I have said, who benefits by thought; for this man is material, that other one subs…”
Corpus Hermeticum 9: The Decalogue | Section 1c
This is God's sense-and-thought, ever to move all things. And never time shall be when e'en a whit of things that are shall cease; and when I say "a whit of things that are", I mean a whit of God. For thigs that are, God hath; nor aught […”
Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount | Section 1a
The Key <This longer tractate presents itself explicitly as a summary or abridgement of the General Sermons (CH II-IX), and discusses the Hermetic view of knowledge and its role in the lives and afterlives of human beings. The attentive re…”
Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount | Section 1d
Spirit pervading [body] by means of veins and arteries and blood, bestows upon the living creature motion, and as it were doth bear it in a way. For this cause some do think the soul is blood, in that they do mistake its nature, not knowin…”
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greek_mystery25
Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 2 (part 1)
PREFACE. THERE is doubtless a revolution in the literary, correspondent to that of the natural world. The face of things is continually changing; and the perfect, and perpetual harmony of the universe, subsists by the mutability of its pa…”
Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 8)
43 these unnatural habits." As, therefore, it is not wonderful that the greatest part of those who inhabit a pestiferous region, should languish and decline, but that a very few should preserve their natural strength; so we ought not to won…”
Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 16)
This heated paper we may compare to a certain relation of inferiors to superiors; and its approximation to the lamp, to the opportune use of things according to time, place, and matter. But the procession of fire in the paper aptly represe…”
Orphic Hymns | Hymn XXIII. THE NEREIDS
XXIII. TO THE NEREIDS. The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS. DAUGHTERS of Nereus, resident in caves Merg'd deep in Ocean, sporting thro' the waves; Fanatic fifty nymphs, who thro' the main Delight to follow in the Triton's train, Rejoicing close b…”
Orphic Hymns | Hymn LI. TRIETERICUS
LI. TO TRIETERICUS. The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS. BACCHUS fanatic, much-nam'd, blest, divine, Bull-fac'd Lenæan, bearer of the vine; From fire descended, raging, Nysian king, From whom initial ceremonies spring: Liknitan Bacchus, pure and…”
Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXX. MELINOE
LXX. TO MELINOE. The FUMIGATION from AROMATICS. Call Melinoe, saffron-veil'd, terrene, Who from infernal Pluto's sacred queen, Mixt with Saturnian Jupiter, arose, Near where Cocytus' mournful river flows; When under Pluto's semblance, Jove…”
Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXXV. THE MUSES (part 3)
So in the poetic chain, it is requisite there should be something divine, which, through proper mediums, may connect the last to the first monad. This Fury Homer, as well as Plato, calls at one time in the plural number Muses, and at anoth…”
Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXXVI. MNEMOSYNE, or the GODDESS of MEMORY
LXXVI. To MNEMOSYNE, or the GODDESS of MEMORY * . The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. THE consort I invoke of Jove divine, Source of the holy, sweetly-speaking Nine; p. 215 Free from th' oblivion of the fallen mind, By whom the soul with inte…”
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platonism20
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1i
They are temperate because they are intemperate-which may seem to be a contradiction, but is nevertheless the sort of thing which happens with this foolish temperance. For there are pleasures which they must have, and are afraid of losing;…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1r
And this, my friend, may be conceived to be that heavy, weighty, earthy element of sight by which such a soul is depressed and dragged down again into the visible world, because she is afraid of the invisible and of the world below-prowling…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1…
The wise and orderly soul is conscious of her situation and follows in the path; but the soul which desires the body, and which, as I was relating before, has long been fluttering about the lifeless frame and the world of sight, is after ma…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1†
But we who live in these hollows are deceived into the notion that we are dwelling above on the surface of the earth; which is just as if a creature who was at the bottom of the sea were to fancy that he was on the surface of the water, and…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1‡
And upon the earth are animals and men, some in a middle region, others dwelling about the air as we dwell about the sea; others in islands which the air flows round, near the continent: and in a word, the air is used by them as the water a…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1‰
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: Phaedrus | Section 1o
Zeus, the mighty lord, holding the reins of a winged chariot, leads the way in heaven, ordering all and taking care of all; and there follows him the array of gods and demigods, marshalled in eleven bands; Hestia alone abides at home in the…”
Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1p
And there is a law of Destiny, that the soul which attains any vision of truth in company with a god is preserved from harm until the next period, and if attaining always is always unharmed. But when she is unable to follow, and fails to b…”
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celtic3
The Mabinogion | Tale TALIESINg
And so, when the bards and the heralds came to cry largess, and to proclaim the power of the king and his strength, at the moment that they passed by the corner wherein he was crouching, Taliesin pouted out his lips after them, and played “…”
The Mabinogion | Tale TALIESINi
The names of the three springs From the midst of the ocean; One generated brine Which is from the Corina, To replenish the flood Over seas disappearing; The second, without injury It will fall on us, When there is rain abroad, Through the w…”
The Mabinogion | Tale TALIESINj
And the king caused them to fetch Elphin in haste from his dungeon, and placed him before Taliesin. And it is said, that immediately he sang a verse, so that the chains opened from about his feet. “I adore the Supreme, Lord of all animati…”
sufism3
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | PROLOGUEa
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) | STORY IIIa
The Jewish King, his Vazir, and the Christians. A certain Jewish king used to persecute the Christians, desiring to exterminate their faith. His Vazir persuaded him to try a stratagem, namely, to mutilate the Vazir himself, and expel him…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY IXd
I knew of myself what ye thought, But I desired that ye should speak it; As this boasting of yours is very improper, So shall my mercy be shown to prevail over my wrath: O angels, in order to show forth that prevailing, I inspired that pret…”
egyptian2
The Egyptian Heaven and Hell | Chapter 14 (part 3)
It is tolerably certain that the form in which they depicted it is much shorter than that in which it existed originally, and that the attributes and duties of many of the gods have been changed to suit the necessities of the cults of Osiri…”
The Egyptian Heaven and Hell | Chapter 22 (part 1)
SEVENTH DIVISION OF THE TUAT. II. KINGDOM OF OSIRIS ACCORDING TO THE BOOK OF GATES. The SEVENTH DIVISION, or HOUR, is entered by the Gate PESTIT, which is guarded by a monster serpent called AKHA-EN-MAAT; the pictures and texts are incom…”
mandaean1
Gnostic John the Baptizer — The Story of the Breach with Judaism | Section 4
Then made he answer unto them: "You had better not to have known, my brothers, what has become of those birds. Slingshots drove them far from me; their wings broke; torn off were they, broken off; they went hence and relied on the bird-catc…”