theology
Relative Truth
The doctrine that reality has two registers — an Absolute truth as the divine or ultimate mind knows it, and a Relative truth as finite human reason perceives and must act on — with both held as legitimate on their own plane rather than the second being simply an error to correct. Distinct from apophatic_theology (a claim about how the divine may be described, by negation) and unity_of_being (a claim that being is ultimately one) in being a claim about two coexisting registers of truth-claim itself.
79 passages · 7 traditions
theosophy64
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 2)
“"When Buddhi absorbs our E GOtism (destroys it) with all its Vikaras, Avalokiteshvara becomes manifested to us, and Nirvana, or Mukti, is reached," "Mukti" being the same as Nirvana, i.e.
, freedom from the trammels of "Maya" or illusion.…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 3)
“I say "a few truths," advisedly, because that which must remain unsaid could not be contained in a hundred such volumes, nor could it be imparted to the present generation of Sadducees.
But, even the little that is now given is better than…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 5)
“Turning now to the oldest Aryan literature, the Rig-Veda, the student will find, following strictly in this the data furnished by the said Orientalists themselves, that, although the Rig-Veda contains only "about 10,580 verses, or 1,028 hym…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 6)
“When, however, he takes the opportunity of saying in the same breath that Odin "was worshipped as the supreme deity during a period long anterior to the age of the Veda and of Homer" ( Compar.
Theol., p.
318), he has not the slightest " h…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 7)
“Thus, though the Mother of Mercury (Budha, Thot-Hermes, etc.), was Maia, the mother of Buddha (Gautama), also Maya, and the mother of Jesus, likewise Maya (illusion, for Mary is Mare, the Sea, the great illusion symbolically) -- yet these t…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 8)
“This statement is rendered more credible by a consideration of the following facts: the tradition of the thousands of ancient parchments saved when the Alexandrian library was destroyed; the thousands of Sanskrit works which disappeared in…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 2 (part 9)
“I believe in the ancients and therefore I love them."** (Quoted in "Science of Religions" by Max Muller.) The writer loves them too, and therefore believes in the ancients, and the modern heirs to their Wisdom.
And believing in both, she n…”
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 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 8)
“Moreover, the Secret Doctrine teaches: -- ( c ) The fundamental identity of all Souls with the Universal Over-Soul, the latter being itself an aspect of the Unknown Root; and the obligatory pilgrimage for every Soul -- a spark of the former…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 5 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 35 STANZA I.
COMMENTARIES ON THE SEVEN STANZAS AND THEIR TERMS, ACCORDING TO THEIR NUMERATION, IN STANZAS AND SLOKAS.
STANZA I.
1.
" T HE E TERNAL P ARENT (Space), WR…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 5 (part 2)
“Even so of persons and things, which, dropping out of the to-be into the has-been, out of the future into the past -- present momentarily to our senses a cross-section, as it were, of their total selves, as they pass through time and space…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 5 (part 3)
“D ARKNESS ALONE FILLED THE BOUNDLESS ALL ( a ), FOR FATHER, MOTHER AND SON WERE ONCE MORE ONE, AND THE SON HAD NOT AWAKENED YET FOR THE NEW WHEEL* AND HIS PILGRIMAGE THEREON ( b ).
( a ) "Darkness is Father-Mother: light their son," says a…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 5 (part 4)
“1, Page]] 43 MOTIONS, THE "GREAT BREATH." sense, for it must give room to still further absolute perfection, according to a higher standard of excellence in the following period of activity -- just as a perfect flower must cease to be a per…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 5 (part 6)
“(See Weber, Max Muller, etc.) We labour under the impression that Colebrooke, "the highest authority" in such matters, had long ago settled the question by showing, that "the Hindus were in this instance the teachers, not the learners." [[V…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 5 (part 7)
“is explained in Vishnu Purana as: "that which is the unevolved cause, is emphatically called by the most eminent sages Pradhana, original base, which is subtile Prakriti, viz., that which is eternal, and which at once is (or comprehends) wh…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 6 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 53 THE STATE OF PARANIRVANA.
STANZA II.
C OMMENTARY.
1.
.
.
.
.
W HERE WERE THE BUILDERS, THE LUMINOUS SONS OF MANVANTARIC DAWN ( a )?
.
.
.
.
IN THE UNKNOWN…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 6 (part 2)
“No Orientalist, so far, seems to have thoroughly comprehended the real sense of the verses in the Purana, that treat of "creation." Therein Brahma is the cause of the potencies that are to be generated subsequently for the work of "creation…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 6 (part 3)
“The Lotus thus typifies the life of man and also that of the Kosmos; for the Secret Doctrine teaches that the elements of both are the same, and that both are developing in the same direction.
The root of the Lotus sunk in the mud represen…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 6 (part 4)
“-- Continued .
5.
T HE S EVEN ( Sons ) WERE NOT YET BORN FROM THE W EB OF L IGHT.
D ARKNESS ALONE WAS F ATHER- M OTHER, S VABHAVAT, AND S VABHAVAT WAS IN DARKNESS ( a ).
( a ) The Secret Doctrine, in the Stanzas given here, occupies its…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 62 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
STANZA III.
COMMENTARY.
1.
T HE LAST VIBRATION OF THE SEVENTH ETERNITY THRILLS THROUGH INFINITUDE ( a ).
T HE MOTHER SWELLS, EXPANDING FROM W…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 3)
“unable either to measure the first abstraction yielded to you by the Deity, or to get hold of it, you still hope to subject to your measurements the mystery of the Secret Sciences which emanate from that Deity?
.
.
.
.
And what would y…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 7 (part 4)
“The "fire," "heat," and "motion" here spoken of, are, of course, not the fire, heat, and motion of physical science, but the underlying abstractions, the noumena, or the soul, of the essence of these material manifestations -- the "things i…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 8 (part 2)
“Latent, during Pralaya, and active, during Manvantara, the "Primordial" proceed from "Father-Mother" (Spirit-Hyle, or Ilus ); whereas the other manifested Quaternary and the Seven proceed from the Mother alone.
It is the latter who is the…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 9 (part 11)
“They circumscribe the manifested world of matter within the R ING "Pass-Not." This world is the symbol (objective) of the O NE divided into the many, on the planes of Illusion, of Adi (the "First") or of Eka (the "One"); and this One is the…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 10 (part 3)
“Crookes, F.R.S ., to admit that Science is yet a thousand leagues from the knowledge of the compound nature of the simplest molecule.
From him we learn that such a thing as a really simple [[Footnote continued on next page]] [[Vol.
1, Pag…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 10 (part 6)
“In fact, to us the matter of the lower plane there vanishes from our perception into nothing -- or rather it passes on to the higher plane, and the state of matter corresponding to such a point of transition must certainly possess special a…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 10 (part 7)
“At any rate, Occultism teaches that the so-called "reverse rotation" is a fact.
* The Occultists, having most perfect faith in their own exact records, astronomical and mathematical, calculate the age of Humanity, and assert that the latte…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 11 (part 6)
“.' You can never impress it too profoundly on the minds of those to whom you impart some of the esoteric teachings.
.
." Again, here are more extracts from another letter written by the same authority.
This time it is in answer to some o…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 12 (part 8)
“He is sexless , and , like the animal and vegetable he develops monstrous bodies correspondential with his coarser surroundings.
" II.
Round.
He ( Man ) is still gigantic and ethereal but growing firmer and more condensed in body , a mor…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 14 (part 3)
“These, Tsanagi-Tsanami , descended into the Universe by the celestial Bridge (the milky way), and " Tsanagi , perceiving far below a chaotic mass of cloud and water, thrust his jewelled spear into the depths, and dry land appeared." Then th…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 15 (part 6)
“The Second Round brought forth and developed two Elements -- Fire and Earth -- and its humanity, adapted to this condition of Nature, if we can give the name Humanity to beings living under conditions unknown to men, was -- to use again a f…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 16 (part 2)
“And there are still weightier reasons to believe that the priceless Bhashyas (Commentaries) on the esoteric doctrine of the Brahmins, by their greatest expounder, will remain for ages yet a dead letter to most of the Hindus, except the Smar…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 16 (part 3)
“(5.) Everything in the Universe, throughout all its kingdoms, is CONSCIOUS: i.e., endowed with a consciousness of its own kind and on its own plane of perception.
We men must remember that because we do not perceive any signs -- which we c…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 16 (part 4)
“It is on the acceptance or rejection of the theory of the Unity of all in Nature, in its ultimate Essence, that mainly rests the belief or unbelief in the existence around us of other conscious beings besides the Spirits of the Dead.
[[Vol…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 16 (part 5)
“As Hermes says, "Knowledge differs much from sense; for sense is of things that surmount it, but Knowledge (gyi) is the end of sense" -- i.e., of the illusion of our physical brain and its intellect; thus emphasizing the contrast between th…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 16 (part 6)
“The 'Ideal Forms' are the archetypal or formative ideas of the Neo-Platonists; the eternal and subjective concepts of things subsisting in the divine mind prior to 'becoming'" (p.
134).
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 282 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
from whi…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 16 (part 8)
“"Glory to the unchangeable, holy, eternal Supreme Vishnu, of one universal nature, the mighty over all; to him who is Hiranyagarbha, Hari, and Sankara (Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva), the creator, the preserver, and the destroyer of the world; t…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 16 (part 9)
“It cannot be called so by men in their WAKING STATE; therefore they have named it in their ignorance ' God-Spirit.
' (xix.) " It exists everywhere and forms the first U PADHI ( foundation ) on which our World ( solar system ) is built.
Ou…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 16 (part 11)
“.
.
.
All these Genii preside over mundane affairs,** they shake and overthrow the constitution of States and of individuals; they imprint their likeness on our Souls, they are present in our nerves, our marrow, our veins, our arteries,…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 16 (part 13)
“) Some fifteen years ago, the writer was the first to repeat, after the Kabalists, the wise Commandments in the Esoteric Catechism.
"Close thy mouth, lest thou shouldst speak of this (the mystery), and thy heart, lest thou shouldst think a…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 325 THE IMPARTIALITY OF SCIENTIFIC DENIALS.
[[This page continued from previous section ]] § III.
PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE AND DIVINE THOUGHT.
"As it would seem irrational…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 2)
“Without doubt, this one-sided mode of dealing with the problem is due largely to the pernicious Western practice of subordinating consciousness, or regarding it as a "by-product" of molecular motion.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 328 THE SECRET DOCTRI…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 3)
“Therefore, such being the case, all those who sought to give a name to the incognizable Principle have simply degraded it.
Even to speak of Cosmic Ideation -- save in its phenomenal aspect -- is like trying to bottle up primordial Chaos, o…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 4)
“We shall speak further on of the intelligent "principle," or rather of the invisible immaterial properties, in the visible and material elements, that "sprung from the primordial Chaos." For, "What is the primordial Chaos but AEther?" it is…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 23 (part 3)
“"Awaking at the end of his night, the unborn .
.
.
creates the Universe anew.
.
.
.
" ( Vishnu Purana.
) This is "incidental" pralaya; what is the Elemental Dissolution?
"When by dearth and fire," says Parasara to Maitreya, "all th…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 25 (part 3)
“would be either the phallus or the phallus and yoni, .
.
.
or male and female.
Indeed, the words translated by the generalizing terms male and female, in the 27th verse of the 1st chapter of Genesis are .
.
.
sacr and n ' cabrah , or…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 27 (part 3)
“Anger, my son, is the destruction of [[Vol.
1, Page]] 416 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
all that man obtains .
.
.
and prevents the attainment of emancipation.
The sages shun wrath.
Be not thou, my child, subject to its influence.
Let not th…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 27 (part 5)
“We bow to thee, in the nature of Brahma uncreated, undecaying ( avyaya ), who art in our bodies and in all other bodies , and in all living creatures , and beside whom nothing exists.
We glorify that Vasudeva, the lord of all, who is witho…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 28 (part 3)
“It exists in a latent condition in the bosom of Parabrahmam at the time of Pralaya.
.
.
." (During Manvantara) "it has a consciousness and an individuality of its own .
.
.
.
." (It is a centre of energy, but) .
.
.
.
.
such cen…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 28 (part 9)
“For if the said Forces had nought to do with "Creation" so-called, why call them Elohim (Alhim) in plural; "divine workmen" and Energies ([[' Energeia ]]), incandescent celestial stones (lapides igniti coelorum), and especially, " supporter…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 28 (part 10)
“, a fiery serpent, the Gnostic Agathodaemon probably.* As explained, the "sacred animals" and the Flames or "Sparks" within the "Holy Four" refer to the prototypes of all that is found in the Universe in the Divine Thought , in the R OOT, w…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 29 (part 3)
“For which his mother coolly puts him down by saying, "Do not lie, Ildabaoth, for the father of all, the first man ( Anthropos ) is above thee , and so is Anthropos , the Son of Anthropos " (Irenaeus, b.
I, ch.
xxx., 6).
This is a good pr…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 32 (part 2)
“Notwithstanding the efforts made to the contrary, an unprejudiced mind will discover [[Footnote(s)]] ------------------------------------------------- * Their intellection, of course, being of quite a different nature to any we can conceive…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 32 (part 3)
“Bacon was one of the first to strike the key-note of materialism, not only by his inductive method (renovated from ill-digested Aristotle), but by the general tenor of his writings.
He inverts the order of mental Evolution when saying that…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 37 (part 2)
“V., pp.
329-34.
[[Vol.
1, Page]] 509 THE FIXING OF LIGHT.
sensitive paper in a dark place, and at the end of 24 hours it will have left an impression of itself on the sensitive paper, the whites coming out as blacks.
.
.
.
There see…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 37 (part 4)
“How can Science presume to know anything certain of it?
How can it maintain its position and its hypotheses against those of the Occultists, who see in gravity only sympathy and antipathy, or attraction and repulsion, caused by physical po…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 37 (part 5)
“The totality of the Seven Rays spread through the Solar system constitute, so to say, the physical Upadhi (basis) of the Ether of Science; in which Upadhi, light, heat, electricity, etc., etc., -- the forces of orthodox science -- correlate…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 41 (part 4)
“Air ships are riding at anchor, as it were, waiting for the force which is to make aerial navigation something more than a dream.
As easily as men communicate with their offices from their homes by means of the telephone, so will the inhab…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 97 (part 2)
“[[Vol.
2, Page]]763 THE HEIRLOOM OF ATLANTIS.
Inscriptions, p.
176).
For Atlas is Atlantis which supports the new continents and their horizons on its "shoulders." Decharme, in his Mythologie de la Grece Antique, expresses a doubt as to…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 97 (part 8)
“The Laplanders call their corpses to this day manee, ( Voyage de Renard en Laponie I., 184).
Mannus is the ancestor of the German race; the Hindu Manu, the thinking being, from man; the Egyptian Menes ; and Minos, the King of Crete, judge…”
← Collapsebuddhism6
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 1k
“Therefore the Tathâgata preaches: "A gift should not be given by a Bodhisattva who believes in anything, it should not be given by one who believes in form, sound, smell, taste, or anything that can be touched." 'And again, O Subhûti, a Bod…”
Vajrakkhedika (Diamond Cutter) | Section 1n
“This prophecy is supposed to have been addressed by Dîpankara to S âkyamuni, before he had become a Buddha.] perfect knowledge has been known, he would speak an untruth, and would slander me, O Subhûti, with some untruth that he has learned…”
Vajrakkhedika (Diamond Cutter) | Section 1p
“If, O Subhûti, there existed a stock of merit, the Tathâgata would not have preached: "A stock of merit, a stock of merit indeed!"'(19) XX.
'What do you think then, O Subhûti, is a Tathâgata to be seen (known) by the shape of his visible b…”
Vajrakkhedika (Diamond Cutter) | Section 1q
“Free from self, free from being, free from life, free from personality, that highest perfect knowledge is always the same, and thus known with all good things.
And why?
Because, what were preached as good things, good things indeed, O Sub…”
Vajrakkhedika (Diamond Cutter) | Section 1r
“This probably refers to the auspicious signs discovered in S âkyamuni at his birth, which left it open whether he should become a king or a Buddha.] A Buddha is to be seen (known) from the Law; for the Lords (Buddhas) have the Law-body; And…”
christian_mysticism3
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1c
“But if he taketh Scriptural Truth as his Standard, this is the very Rule and Light by which we will (so far as in us lies) proceed straight to our defence, and will declare that the Sacred Science sometimes employs a method of Undifference…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1f
“Yea, ‘tis a common and undifferenced activity of the whole Godhead that It is wholly and entirely communicated unto each of them that share It and unto none merely in part; 197 197 D.
here touches on the fundamental difference between spir…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1i
“The Godhead is not a Whole because it is indivisible, nor a Part because there is nothing, on the ultimate plane, outside It.
Yet It is a Whole because It includes the true existence of all things, and is Partitive because It contains the…”
neoplatonism3
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXVI
“There are many other contentious innovations also, which may be the subject of wonder. But some one may justly be astonished at the contrariety of opinions produced by admitting either that the truth of divination is with enchanters, the wh…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 500
“Section 8 8. If, then, the Intellection is an act upon the inner content [of a perfect unity], that content is at once the Idea [as object: eidos] and the Idea itself [as concept: idea]. What, then, is that content? An Intellectual-Principl…”
Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 609
“Section 2 2. Now the reasoning faculty which undertakes this problem is not a unity but a thing of parts; it brings the bodily nature into the enquiry, borrowing its principles from the corporeal: thus it thinks of the Essential Existence a…”
hinduism1
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book III | Sutra 37
“These powers stand in contradistinction to the highest spiritual vision. In manifestation they are called magical powers. The divine man is destined to supersede the spiritual man, as the spiritual man supersedes the natural man. Then the d…”
taoism1
The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book I (part 4)
“Yâo ruled the people of the kingdom, and maintained a perfect government within the four seas.
Having gone to see the four (Perfect) Ones 3 on the distant hill of Kû-shih, when (he returned to his capital) on the south of the Fän water 4 ,…”
western_esoteric1
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter VI (part 2)
“We recognize this even in our ordinary view, for we speak of the world as "a fleeting show" that comes and goes, is born and dies--for the element of impermanence and change, finiteness and unsubstantiality, must ever be connected with the…”