soteriology
Separation From Source
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
530 passages · 17 traditions
gnosticism130
◆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 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 1h
“Now the woman and man are one in the chamber with the bed, and those so joined will not come apart again.
Eve and Adam separated because when they joined it was not in the chamber with the bed.
ADAM’S SOUL The soul of Adam came into being…”
◆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…”
◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 2
“Jesus said, "Let him who seeks continue seeking until he finds. When he finds, he will become troubled. When he becomes troubled, he will be astonished, and he will rule over the All."…”
◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 3
“Jesus said, "If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and i…”
◆Gospel of Thomas | Logion 11
“Jesus said, "This heaven will pass away, and the one above it will pass away. The dead are not alive, and the living will not die. In the days when you consumed what is dead, you made it what is alive. When you come to dwell in the light, w…”
Show all 130 →christian_mysticism105
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 10, Section 1a
“CHAPTER X Concerning ” Omnipotent ,” ” Ancient of Days “; and also concerning ” Eternity “ and ” Time .” 1.
Now ‘tis time that our Discourse should celebrate God (Whose Names are many) as “Omnipotent” and “Ancient of Days.” The former titl…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 10, Section 1b
“For where Scripture speaks of things as “eternal” it doth not always mean things that are absolutely Uncreated or verily Everlasting, Incorruptible, 171 Immortal, Invariable, and Immutable ( e.g.
“Be ye lift up, ye eternal doors,” 461 461…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1h
“that which makes an individual thing to be one thing); (2) Mental or Spiritual intercourse; (3) Physical intercourse; (4) Sense perception.
Here it = either (1) or (2), probably (1).
limit, infinity, everything that exists.
And yet since…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1b
“Plotinus says the Godhead is indivisibly divided.
doth not leave Its own Unity, but, even in the act of going forth to all things, remains entirely within Itself through the excess of that all-transcendent Unity: concerning these things ‘t…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1c
“And the perfect Peace guards each several individuality unalloyed by Its providential gift of peace, keeping all things without internal or mutual discord or confusion, and establishing all things, in the power of unswerving stability, so a…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1d
“Now, since thou hast, on a previous occasion, sent me an epistle asking what I mean by Very Being Itself, Very Life Itself, Very Wisdom Itself: and since thou saidst thou couldst not understand why sometimes I call God “Life” and sometimes…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 11, Section 1f
“472 Contemplation, Act of Contemplation, and Object Contemplated are all united together, and so imply a fundamental Unity which exists ultimately in God.
473 Cf.
p.
174, n.
3.
474 D.‘s paradox is the paradox of sanity.
We must hold a…”
◆Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 13, Section 1d
“And hence, when we speak of the All-Transcendent Godhead as an Unity and a Trinity, It is not an Unity or a Trinity such as can be known by us or any other creature, though to express the truth of Its utter Self-Union and Its Divine Fecundi…”
Show all 105 →neoplatonism96
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter Vb
“Again, however, according to another mode of considering the subject, it is necessary to ascribe to the Gods the whole of that which is united, of whatever kind it may be; that which is firmly established in itself, and which is the cause o…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VII
“Of the extremes, therefore, one is supreme, transcendent, and perfect; but the other is last in dignity, deficient, and more imperfect. And the former, indeed, is capable of accomplishing all things at once, uniformly in an instant; but the…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIa
“But neither must we admit that cause of the distinction of these genera which you subjoin, viz.
“ that it is an arrangement with reference to different bodies; as, for instance, 39 of Gods to etherial bodies, but of dæmons to aerial bodies…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIb
“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 IXa
“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 Xa
“After these things, you again subjoin another division for yourself, “ in which you separate the essences of the more excellent genera by the difference of passive and impassive .” But neither do I admit this division.
For no one of the mo…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter Xb
“This, therefore, rather pertains to some other genus, than to that which always exists, and is suspended from the Gods, and which, in conjunction with them, observes the same order, and accomplishes the same period.
Hence dæmons are impass…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XIII
“Moreover, “ the pacifications of anger ” will become manifest, if we understand what the anger of the Gods is. [32] This, therefore, is not, as it appears to be to some, a certain ancient and inveterate rage, but an abandonment of the benef…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XVIIIa
“Your next inquiry doubts, “ how some of the Gods are beneficent, but others malefic .” This opinion, therefore, is assumed from the predictors of nativities.
It is, however, entirely remote from the truth.
For all the Gods are good, and i…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XIXb
“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 XX
“After this, you again resume the same inquiries, of which what has been already said may be considered as a sufficient solution. Since, however, it is necessary, according to the proverb, frequently to speak of and consider things that are…”
◆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 VIII
“Moreover, with respect to the tenuity and subtilty of light, the Gods extend a light so subtle that corporeal eyes cannot sustain it, 100 but are affected in the same manner as fishes, when they are drawn upward from turbid and thick water…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IX
“In the last place, the dispositions of the soul of those that invoke the Gods to appear receive, when they become visible, a liberation from the passions, a transcendent perfection, and an energy entirely more excellent, and participate of…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter Xa
“What you introduce, however, for the purpose of obtaining a knowledge of these things, whether it be your own opinion, or whether you have heard it from others, is neither true nor rightly asserted.
For you say, “ that to speak 104 boastin…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VII
“It is not, however, sufficient to learn these things alone, nor will he who only knows these become perfect in divine science. But it is requisite also to know what enthusiasm is, and how it is produced. It is falsely, therefore, supposed t…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“If, therefore, true divination was a solution of the divine part of the soul from the other parts of it, or if it was a separation of intellect, or a certain extension of it; or if it was a vehemence 128 and extension of energy or passion,…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XIX
“But neither does the cause [of the energies] of more excellent natures subsist as a certain middle instrument, [77] nor does he who invokes operate through him who prophesies; for to assert these things is impious. And it is much more true…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XX
“Omitting, therefore, these things, we may reasonably adduce a second cause, assigned by you, of the above mentioned particulars: viz. “ that the soul says and imagines these things, and that they are the passions of it, excited from small i…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXI
“Is, therefore, what you add in the third place more true; viz. “ that there is a certain mixed form of hypostasis, consisting of our soul and divine inspiration externally derived ?” Consider this then more accurately, lest we should be dec…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXII
“You say, therefore, “ that the soul generates the power which has an imaginative perception of futurity, through motions of this kind, or 177 that the things which are adduced from matter constitute dæmons through the powers that are inhere…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXV
“That which follows in the next place, descends from a divine alienation of mind to an ecstasy of the reasoning power which leads it to a worse condition, and absurdly says, “ that the cause of divination is the mania which happens in diseas…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXVIIIa
“You adduce, however, as a thing by no means to be despised, “ the artificers of efficacious images .” But I should wonder if these were admitted by any one of the theurgists who survey the true forms of the Gods.
For why should any one exc…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XXX
“You say, however, “ that the makers of images observe the motion of the celestial bodies, and can tell from the concurrence of what star, with a certain star or stars, predictions will be true or false; and also whether the things that are…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter X
“We shall collect, therefore, what happens from these conclusions. For if certain invocators employ the physical or corporeal powers [91] of the universe, an involuntary gift of energy [from these powers], and which is without vice, takes pl…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter Xb
“If, therefore, it is impossible that we should be the primordial causes of dæmons, it is, for the same reason, impossible that we should be the causes of their nutriment.
245…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XVIII
“According to another division, therefore, the numerous herd [or the great mass] of men is arranged under nature, is governed by physical powers, looks downward to the works of nature, gives completion to the administration of Fate, and to t…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter IV
“It is necessary, however, to think that the soul which uses divination of this kind, not only becomes an auditor of the prediction, but also contributes in no small degree from itself to the consummation of it, and of what pertains to its o…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter II
“Hear, therefore, the intellectual interpretation of symbols, according to the conceptions of the Egyptians; at the same time removing from your imagination and your ears the image of things symbolical, but elevating yourself to intellectual…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter III
“According to another order, however, he arranges the God Emeph [134] prior to, and as the leader of, the celestial Gods. And he says that this God is an intellect, itself intellectually perceiving itself, and converting intellections to its…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VI
“You say, therefore, “ that according to many of the Egyptians, that which is in our power depends on the motion of the stars .” What the truth, however, is respecting this, it is necessary to unfold to you from the Hermaic conceptions. For…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VII
“Hence that of which you are dubious is not true, “ that all things are bound with the indissoluble bonds of Necessity ,” which we call Fate. For the soul has a proper principle of circumduction to the intelligible, and of a separation from…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“What then, is it not possible for a man to liberate himself [from fate] through the Gods that revolve in the heavens, and to consider the same as the leaders of fate, and yet as 311 those that bind our lives with indissoluble bonds? Perhaps…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter X
“And this order is adapted to dæmons; one part of it being allied to those that are invoked; another being derived from more ancient causes; and the third part effecting a common completion from both the others. Do not, therefore, assimilate…”
◆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 VIIIq
“On the contrary, divinely-inspired poets, as Hermeas well observes, knock, as it were, at the gates of the Muses, and thus being filled from thence exclaim, Εσπετε νυν μοι Μουσαι And, Μηνιν αειδε θεα— And, Ανδρα μοι εννεπε Μουσα .
For bein…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIr
“But there are a certain few who by employing a certain supernatural power of intellect, are removed from nature , &c.
The class to which these few belong is beautifully unfolded, as follows, by Plotinus, in the beginning of his Treatise on…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIs
“Hence the Emperor Julian, in the fragments of his treatise against the Christians, preserved by Ciryl, says, speaking of the Christians, “If any one wishes to consider the truth respecting you, he will find that your impiety consists of the…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIu
“ελευθεροι δε οντες υπερανω παντων, ωσπερ φυλακες και επισκοποι ακριβεις του παντος, περιεχονται τῳ νυχθημερῳ το παν.——εχουσι προς ημας την μεγιστην δυναμιν.
i.
e.
“We say, O son, that the body [of the universe] is comprehensive of all th…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIIIw
“Cathartic virtue, therefore, alone must be called the salvation of souls; since this cuts off, and vehemently obliterates, material natures, and the passions which adhere to us from generation; separates the soul and leads it to intellect;…”
◆Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter VIII
“Proclus, in his MS.
Commentary on the First Alcibiades of Plato, observes, “that in the mysteries some one of the more imperfect dæmons assumes the appearance of one that is more perfect, and draws down to himself souls that are not yet pu…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 38
“Section 5 5. But what of sorrows, illnesses and all else that inhibit the native activity? What of the suspension of consciousness which drugs or disease may bring about? Could either welfare or happiness be present under such conditions? A…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 59
“Section 9 9. But is there not something to be said for the memory of the various forms of beauty? That is the resource of a man whose life is without beauty in the present, so that, for lack of it now, he grasps at the memory of what has be…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 102
“Section 3 3. The truth may be resumed in this way: There is a lowest power of the Soul, a nearest to earth, and this is interwoven throughout the entire universe: another phase possesses sensation, while yet another includes the Reason whic…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 115
“Section 12 12. All that thus proceeds from the supernal combines into a unity and every existing entity takes something from this blended infusion so that the result is the thing itself plus some quality. The effluence does not make the hor…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 116
“Section 13 13. Of phenomena of this sphere some derive from the Kosmic Circuit and some not: we must take them singly and mark them off, assigning to each its origin. The gist of the whole matter lies in the consideration that Soul governs…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 148
“Section 3 3. The Whiteness, therefore, in a human being is, clearly, to be classed not as a quality but as an activity- the act of a power which can make white; and similarly what we think of as qualities in the Intellectual Realm should be…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 162 (part 1)
“Section 6 6.
And, what are we to think of the new forms of being they introduce- their "Exiles" and "Impressions" and "Repentings"?
If all comes to states of the Soul- "Repentance" when it has undergone a change of purpose; "Impressions"…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 168 (part 1)
“Section 12 12.
And how does this image set to its task immediately after it comes into being?
By memory of what it has seen?
But it was utterly non-existent, it could have no vision, either it or the Mother they bestow upon it.
Another…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 168 (part 2)
“The theory, therefore, refers the entire process to pre-existing compulsions: the guilt inheres in the Primal Beings.…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 169
“Section 13 13. Those, then, that censure the constitution of the Kosmos do not understand what they are doing or where this audacity leads them. They do not understand that there is a successive order of Primals, Secondaries, Tertiaries and…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 173 (part 2)
“Nothing base within can be beautiful without- at least not with an authentic beauty, for there are examples of a good exterior not sprung from a beauty dominant within; people passing as handsome but essentially base have that, a spurious a…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 191
“Section 4 4. That water extinguishes fire and fire consumes other things should not astonish us. The thing destroyed derived its being from outside itself: this is no case of a self-originating substance being annihilated by an external; it…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 205
“Section 18 18. Souls vary in worth; and the difference is due, among other causes, to an almost initial inequality; it is in reason that, standing to the Reason-Principle, as parts, they should be unequal by the fact of becoming separate. W…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 207
“Section 1 1. What is our answer? All events and things, good and evil alike, are included under the Universal Reason-Principle of which they are parts- strictly "included" for this Universal Idea does not engender them but encompasses them.…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 210 (part 2)
“The Reason-Principle of an ox does not occur except in connection with the Matter appropriate to the ox-Kind.
It must be by such a process that the transmigration, of which we read takes place; the Soul must lose its nature, the Reason-Pri…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 220 (part 1)
“Section 6 6.
What, then, is the achieved Sage?
One whose Act is determined by the higher phase of the Soul.
It does not suffice to perfect virtue to have only this Spirit [equivalent in all men] as cooperator in the life: the acting forc…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 224
“Section 3 3. That Love is a Hypostasis [a "Person"] a Real-Being sprung from a Real-Being- lower than the parent but authentically existent- is beyond doubt. For the parent-Soul was a Real-Being sprung directly from the Act of the Hypostasi…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 228 (part 1)
“Section 7 7.
This is the significance of Plato's account of the birth of Love.
The drunkenness of the father Poros or Possession is caused by Nectar, "wine yet not existing"; Love is born before the realm of sense has come into being: Pen…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 240
“Section 8 8. It is a general principle that, to be modified, an object must be opposed in faculty, and in quality to the forces that enter and act upon it. Thus where heat is present, the change comes by something that chills, where damp by…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 259
“Section 7 7. Now comes the question whether, in all this discussion, we are not merely helping to make out a case for some other order of Beings and talking of matters alien to ourselves. But how could that be? What understanding can there…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 260 (part 2)
“That definite Quantity is merely something occurring within Time, for, otherwise Time is not everywhere but is something belonging to Movement which thus would be its substratum or basic-stuff: once more, then, we would be making Time ident…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 274 (part 1)
“Section 8 8.
From this basis we proceed: In the advancing stages of Contemplation rising from that in Nature, to that in the Soul and thence again to that in the Intellectual-Principle itself- the object contemplated becomes progressively…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 275 (part 1)
“Section 9 9.
Clearly a Being of this nature is not the primal existent; there must exist that which transcends it, that Being [the Absolute], to which all our discussion has been leading.
In the first place, Plurality is later than Unity.…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 303
“Section 16 16. The punishment justly overtaking the wicked must therefore be ascribed to the kosmic order which leads all in accordance with the right. But what of chastisements, poverty, illness, falling upon the good outside of all justic…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 307 (part 2)
“Because the soul is not seen and the body is: we perceive the body, and by its movement and sensation we understand that it is ensouled, and we say that it possesses a soul; to speak of residence is a natural sequence.
If the soul were vis…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 316
“Section 29 29. Are we, then, to refer memory to the perceptive faculty and so make one principle of our nature the seat of both awareness and remembrance? Now supposing the very Shade, as we were saying in the case of Hercules, has memory,…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 317
“Section 30 30. But what of the memory of mental acts: do these also fall under the imaging faculty? If every mental act is accompanied by an image we may well believe that this image, fixed and like a picture of the thought, would explain h…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 327
“Section 7 7. Well but can they not tell themselves that yesterday, or last year, they moved round the earth, that they lived yesterday or at any given moment in their lives? Their living is eternal, and eternity is an unchanging unity. To i…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 328 (part 2)
“And if it is in eternal perfection, it has no points of time and place at which it will achieve perfection; it will, therefore, have no concern about attaining to any such points: it will, therefore, make no measurements of time or place; i…”
◆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…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 343 (part 1)
“Section 23 23.
A first principle is that the knowing of sensible objects is an act of the soul, or of the living conjoint, becoming aware of the quality of certain corporeal entities, and appropriating the ideas present in them.
This appr…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 351 (part 2)
“It is not to be thought that such beings engage themselves in human affairs in the sense of making men thieves, slave-dealers, burglars, temple-strippers, or debased effeminates practising and lending themselves to disgusting actions: that…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 362
“Section 42 42. It follows that, for the purposes which have induced this discussion, the stars have no need of memory or of any sense of petitions addressed to them; they give no such voluntary attention to prayers as some have thought: it…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 370 (part 1)
“Section 4 4.
But there is the question of the linked light that must relate the visual organ to its object.
Now, firstly: since the intervening air is not necessary- unless in the purely accidental sense that air may be necessary to light…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 398
“Section 14 14. (19) As for the souls of the other living beings, fallen to the degree of entering brute bodies, these too must be immortal. And if there is in the animal world any other phase of soul, its only possible origin, since it is t…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 401
“Section 1 1. Many times it has happened: Lifted out of the body into myself; becoming external to all other things and self-encentered; beholding a marvellous beauty; then, more than ever, assured of community with the loftiest order; enact…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 402 (part 1)
“Section 2 2.
Enquiring, then, of Plato as to our own soul, we find ourselves forced to enquire into the nature of soul in general- to discover what there can be in its character to bring it into partnership with body, and, again, what this…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 414
“Section 5 5. How then can a multitude of essential beings be really one? Obviously either the one essence will be entire in all, or the many will rise from a one which remains unaltered and yet includes the one- many in virtue of giving its…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 419
“Section 3 3. The Soul once seen to be thus precious, thus divine, you may hold the faith that by its possession you are already nearing God: in the strength of this power make upwards towards Him: at no great distance you must attain: there…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 428
“Section 12 12. Possessed of such powers, how does it happen that we do not lay hold of them, but for the most part, let these high activities go idle- some, even, of us never bringing them in any degree to effect? The answer is that all the…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 435
“Section 3 3. Sense sees a man and transmits the impression to the understanding. What does the understanding say? It has nothing to say as yet; it accepts and waits; unless, rather, it questions within itself "Who is this?"- someone it has…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 437 (part 1)
“Section 5 5.
Does it all come down, then, to one phase of the self knowing another phase?
That would be a case of knower distinguished from known, and would not be self-knowing.
What, then, if the total combination were supposed to be of…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 437 (part 2)
“It possesses self-knowing, thus, on every count; the act is itself; and the object seen in that act- self, is itself.…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 503
“Section 11 11. Now as to the arts and crafts and their productions: The imitative arts- painting, sculpture, dancing, pantomimic gesturing- are, largely, earth-based; on an earthly base; they follow models found in sense, since they copy fo…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 549 (part 2)
“In the first place, the point is common to lines and yet is not their genus, and this unity we are considering may also be common to numbers and not be their genus- though, we need hardly say, the unity of Unity-Absolute is not that of the…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 563
“Section 2 2. Our first observations must be directed to what passes in the Sensible realm for Substance. It is, we shall agree, only by analogy that the nature manifested in bodies is designated as Substance, and by no means because such te…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 585
“Section 24 24. With regard to locomotion: if ascending is to be held contrary to descending, and circular motion different [in kind] from motion in a straight line, we may ask how this difference is to be defined- the difference, for exampl…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 633 (part 1)
“Section 13 13.
It cannot reasonably be thought that the notion of unity is derived from the object since this is physical- man, animal, even stone, a presentation of that order is something very different from unity [which must be a thing…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 656
“Section 17 17. But in what mode are these secondaries, and Intellectual-Principle itself, within the First? They are not in the Filling Principle; they are not in the filled since before that moment it did not contain them. Giving need not…”
◆Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 696
“Section 14 14. Another approach: Everything to which existence may be attributed is either one with its essence or distinct from it. Thus any given man is distinct from essential man though belonging to the order Man: a soul and a soul's es…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 80
“Section 5 5. But, it will be objected, if this seeing and frequenting of the darkness is due to the lack of good, the Soul's evil has its source in that very lack; the darkness will be merely a secondary cause- and at once the Principle of…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 87
“Section 12 12. If the existence of Matter be denied, the necessity of this Principle must be demonstrated from the treatises "On Matter" where the question is copiously treated. To deny Evil a place among realities is necessarily to do away…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 326
“Section 6 6. Souls that descend, souls that change their state- these, then, may be said to have memory, which deals with what has come and gone; but what subjects of remembrance can there be for souls whose lot is to remain unchanged? The…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 410
“Section 1 1. That the Soul of every individual is one thing we deduce from the fact that it is present entire at every point of the body- the sign of veritable unity- not some part of it here and another part there. In all sensitive beings…”
◇Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 614
“Section 7 7. To Real Being we go back, all that we have and are; to that we return as from that we came. Of what is There we have direct knowledge, not images or even impressions; and to know without image is to be; by our part in true know…”
← Collapserenaissance_hermeticism46
◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONe
“"Altiora Peto" was Bruno's motto, and to realize it he had gone forth with the pilgrim's staff in his hand, sometimes covered with the cowl of the monk, at others wearing the simple habit of a schoolmaster, or, again, clothed with the doubl…”
◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTIONi
“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) | INTRODUCTIONj
“The body is in the soul, the soul is in the mind, the mind is in God.
The life of the soul is the true life of the man.
Of all his various faculties, that which rules all, that which exalts our nature, is Thought.
By means of it we rise…”
◆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…”
◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogued
“Some are called in vain to put in a ready appearance, and are chiefly those which proceed from the lower instincts, and which obey the reason either not at all, or very little; and forcing himself to prevent their actions and condemn those…”
◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogueg
“"Steals it from me," he says of Jealousy, not simply in order that it may not be present to me; removing it from my eyesight, but in order that good may not be good, but an acute evil; sweet, not sweet, but an agonized longing; while the he…”
◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialoguec
“I can very well conceive, from what you have said, the condition of that heroic enthusiast, who says, "My hopes are ice and my desires are glowing," because he is not in the temperance of mediocrity, but, in the excess of contradictions, hi…”
◆The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | Second Dialogued
“So that, finding himself thus ascending and descending, he feels within his soul the greatest dissension that is possible to be felt, and he remains in a state of confusion through this rebellion of the senses, which urge him thither where…”
Show all 46 →western_esoteric32
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolismw
“The Mysteries were the channels through which this one philosophic light was disseminated, and their initiates, resplendent with intellectual and spiritual understanding, were the perfect fruitage of the divine tree, bearing witness before…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Qabbalistic Keys to the Creation of Mane
“Philo Judæus considered Adam to represent the human mind, which could understand (and hence give names to) the creatures about it, but could not comprehend (and hence left nameless) the mystery of its own nature.
Adam was also likened to t…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Qabbalistic Keys to the Creation of Manf
“The Zohar holds the concept of two Adams: the first a divine being who, stepping forth from the highest original darkness, created the second, or earthly, Adam in His own image.
The higher, or celestial, man was the Causal sphere With its…”
◆The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | Qabbalistic Keys to the Creation of Manj
“Many of the early Church Fathers sought to establish a direct relationship between Adam and Christ, thereby obviously discounting the extremely sinful nature of man's common ancestor, since it is quite certain that when St.
Augustine liken…”
◆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 XIV (part 5)
“1 Behold!
human beings living in a sort of underground den; they have been there from their childhood, and have their legs and necks chained—the chains are arranged in such a manner as to prevent them from turning round their heads.
At a…”
◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XIV (part 6)
“And at last he will be able to see the sun, and not mere reflections of him in the water, but he will see him as he is in his own proper place, and not in another, and he will contemplate his nature.
Certainly.
And after this he will reas…”
◆Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky) | Chapter XV (part 5)
“When one encounters these perversions of love, one involuntarily calls to mind the words of Zarathustra: 2 Voluptuousness: unto all hair-shirted despisers of the body, a string p.
173 and stake; and cursed as "the world" by all backworldsm…”
Show all 32 →finnic28
◆The Kalevala | Rune Ia
“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…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune Ic
“Wainamoinen, old and trusty, Lingering within his dungeon Thirty summers altogether, And of winters, also thirty, Peaceful on the waste of waters, On the broad-sea's yielding bosom, Well reflected, long considered, How unborn to live and fl…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune IVc
“Deck thy brow with silken ribbon, Trim with gold thy throbbing temples, And thy neck with pearly necklace, Hang the gold-cross on thy bosom, Robe thyself in pure, white linen Spun from flax of finest fiber; Wear withal the richest short-fro…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune Vc
“Finally the ancient minstrel, Mind depressed, and heart discouraged, Spake these words, immersed in sorrow: "Fool am I, and great my folly, Having neither wit nor judgment; Surely once I had some knowledge, Had some insight into wisdom, Had…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune VIIb
“What will happen if I perish, If I sink below the billows, Perish here from cold and hunger?" Thus the bird of Ether answered "Be not in the least disheartened, Place thyself between my shoulders, On my back be firmly seated, I will lift th…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune VIIc
“Thereupon she hastens homeward, Hastens to her mother's dwelling, These the words the maiden utters: "I have heard a wail from ocean, Heard a weeping from the sea-coast, On the shore some one lamenting." Louhi, hostess of Pohyola, Ancient,…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune VIId
“This the reason for my weeping; I have lived in toil and torture, Since I left my home and country, Left my native land and kindred, Came to this the land of strangers, To these unfamiliar portals.
All thy trees have thorns to wound me, Al…”
◆The Kalevala | Rune XId
“If ye do not heed this order, Ye shall badly fare as maidens; I shall sing to war your suitors, Sing them under spear and broadsword, That for months, and years, and ages, Never ye will see their faces, Never hear their merry voices, Never…”
Show all 28 →platonism21
◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1l
“But if, said Socrates, you are still incredulous, Simmias, I would ask you whether you may not agree with me when you look at the matter in another way; I mean, if you are still incredulous as to whether knowledge is recollection.
Incredul…”
◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1m
“And yet from these equals, although differing from the idea of equality, you conceived and attained that idea?
Very true, he said.
Which might be like, or might be unlike them?
Yes.
But that makes no difference; whenever from seeing one…”
◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1n
“For this is clear, that when we perceived something, either by the help of sight or hearing, or some other sense, there was no difficulty in receiving from this a conception of some other thing like or unlike which had been forgotten and wh…”
◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1
“I dare say that the simile is not perfect-for I am very far from admitting that he who contemplates existence through the medium of ideas, sees them only "through a glass darkly," any more than he who sees them in their working and effects.…”
◆Plato: Phaedo | Section 1
“In any way that you like; only you must get hold of me, and take care that I do not walk away from you.
Then he turned to us, and added with a smile: I cannot make Crito believe that I am the same Socrates who have been talking and conduct…”
◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1d
“But the non-lover has no such tormenting recollections; he has never neglected his affairs or quarrelled with his relations; he has no troubles to add up or excuse to invent; and being well rid of all these evils, why should he not freely d…”
◆Plato: Phaedrus | Section 1k
“I thought that you were only halfway and were going to make a similar speech about all the advantages of accepting the non-lover.
Why do you not proceed?
Soc.
Does not your simplicity observe that I have got out of dithyrambics into hero…”
◆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…”
Show all 21 →greek_mystery13
◆Orphic Hymns | Front Matter, p. 4 (part 7)
“And although the same employment is common both to the ruler, and those who are ruled; yet the latter, if destitute of a leader, could no longer conspire together in one occupation; as the concord of the fingers and ` dancers, and the exped…”
◆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 | Hymn XXXIII. APOLLO (part 3)
“Ζεὺς δέ τε πάντων ἐςὶ ϑεὸς, πάντων τε κεραςὴς, Πνέυμασι συζι#ων, ( ) φωναῖσι τε ἀερομικτοις· That is, "But Jupiter is the God of all, and the mingler of all things; whistling with the breathing winds and aerial voices." And this perfectly a…”
◆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…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXXXVI. DEATH (part 1)
“LXXXVI.
TO DEATH.
The FUMIGATION from MANNA.
HEAR me, O Death, whose empire unconfin'd, Extends to mortal tribes of ev'ry kind.
On thee, the portion of our time depends, Whose absence lengthens life, whose presence ends.
p.
225 Thy sl…”
◆Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXXXVI. DEATH (part 2)
“The waters of Thames, heavy laden with the wealth of merchandize, and sonorous with the din of trade, may devolve abundance in a golden tide; but we must remember that the Dæmon of commerce is at the same time advancing with giant strides,…”
◆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.…”
◆The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 10 (part 1)
“p.
53 SELECT SENTENCES OF SEXTUS THE PYTHAGOREAN 1.
To neglect things of the smallest consequence, is not the least thing in human life.
2.
The wise man, and the despiser of wealth, resemble God.
3.
Do not investigate the name of God,…”
Show all 13 →sufism13
◆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) | PROLOGUEb
“Knowest thou why thy mirror reflects not?
Because the rust has not been scoured from its face.
If it were purified from all rust and defilement, It would reflect the shining of the SUN Of GOD.6 O friends, ye have now heard this tale, Whic…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY Ia
“The Prince and the Handmaid.
A prince, while engaged on a hunting excursion, espied a fair maiden, and by promises of gold induced her to accompany him.
After a time she fell sick, and the prince had her tended by divers physicians.
As,…”
◆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 IV
“Another Tyrannical Jewish King. A certain Jewish king, the same who is referred to in the Sura "Signs of the Zodiac," I made up his mind to utterly exterminate the Christian faith, and with that view he set up a huge idol, and issued comman…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY Vc
“The skill taught by God to the silkworm Is a learning beyond the reach of the elephant.
The earthly Adam was taught of God names, 4 So that his glory reached the seventh heaven.
He laid low the name and fame of the angels, 5 Yet blind ind…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY VIa
“Omar and the Ambassador.
The hare, having delivered his companions from the tyranny of the lion, in the manner just described, proceeds to improve the occasion by exhorting them to engage in a greater and more arduous warfare, viz., the st…”
◆The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY VIIa
“The Merchant and his Clever Parrot.
There was a certain merchant who kept a parrot in a cage.
Being about to travel to Hindustan on business, he asked the parrot if he had any message to send to his kinsmen in that country, and the parrot…”
Show all 13 →jewish_mysticism10
◆The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1f
“[The letters of the Hebrew alphabet are divided into three classes, the three mothers as they are called, AMSh; the seven duplex letters, BGDKPRTh, so called because they are sometimes tenues and sometimes aspirates, according to whether th…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XII
“XII-XVI. Dream Vision of Enoch: his intercession for Azâzêl and the fallen Angels: and his announcement to them of their first and final doom . CHAPTER XII. 1. Before these things Enoch was hidden, and no one of the children of men knew whe…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XIII
“CHAPTER XIII. 1. And Enoch went and said: 'Azâzêl, p. 40 thou shalt have no peace: a severe sentence has gone forth against thee to put thee in bonds: 2. And thou shalt not have toleration nor †request† granted to thee, because of the unrig…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XV
“CHAPTER XV. 1. And He answered and said to me, and I heard His voice: 'Fear not, Enoch, thou righteous man and scribe of righteousness: approach hither and hear my voice. 2. And go, say to ⌈⌈ the Watchers of heaven ⌉⌉ , who have sent thee t…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XXXII
“CHAPTER XXXII. E 1. And after these fragrant odours, as I looked towards the north over the mountains I saw seven mountains full of choice nard and fragrant trees and cinnamon and pepper. G g 1. To the north-east I beheld seven mountains fu…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XLII
“XLII. The Dwelling-places of Wisdom and of Unrighteousness . CHAPTER XLII. 1. Wisdom found no place where she might dwell; Then a dwelling-place was assigned her in the heavens. 2 Wisdom went forth to make her dwelling among the children of…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter LXIII
“LXIII. The unavailing Repentance of the Kings and the Mighty . CHAPTER LXIII. 1. In those days shall the mighty and the kings who possess the earth implore (Him) to grant them a little respite from His angels of punishment to whom they were…”
◆The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter LXXXIX (part 2)
“And a sheep which had been saved from the wolves fled and escaped to the wild asses; and I saw the sheep how they lamented and cried, and besought their Lord with all their might, till that Lord of the sheep descended at the voice of the sh…”
Show all 10 →hermeticism9
◆Corpus Hermeticum 4: The Epistles | Section 1b
“And having raised themselves so far they sight the Good; and having sighted it, they look upon their sojourn here as a mischance; and in disdain of all, both things in body and the bodiless, they speed their way unto that One and Only One.…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 6: The All-Father | Section 1b
“So then, Asclepius, the name alone of Good is found in men, the thing itself nowhere [in them], for this can never be.
For no material body doth contain It - a thing bound on all sides by bad, by labors, pains, desires and passions, by err…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 7: The Seven Powers | Section 1
“The Greatest Ill Among Men is Ignorance of God 1. Whither stumble ye, sots, who have sopped up the wine of ignorance and can so far not carry it that ye already even spew it forth? Stay ye, be sober, gaze upwards with the [true] eyes of the…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 8: The Eight Sphere | Section 1a
“That No One of Existing Things doth Perish, but Men in Error Speak of Their Changes as Destructions and as Deaths <The idea of cyclic change central to CH III, "The Sacred Sermon", also takes center stage here.
A current of ancient specula…”
◆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 1a
“About The Common Mind <The "common mind" discussed in this dialogue is the same Mind which appears as a divine power in other parts of the Hermetic literature.
It is identical, as well, with the "Good Daimon" whose words are quoted at seve…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 13: The Discourse of Hermes to Tat | Section 1d
“<lacuna in text>, though this Sermon (Logos) on Rebirth, on which I did not comment - in order that we may not be calumniators of the All unto the multitude, to whom indeed God Himself doth will we should not.
14.
Tat: Tell me, O father:…”
◆Corpus Hermeticum 13: The Discourse of Hermes to Tat | Section 1e
“Sing praise, my Self-control; sing thou through me, my Righteousness, the praises of the Righteous; sing thou, my Sharing-all, the praises of the All; through me sing, Truth, Truth's praises!
Sing thou, O Good, the Good!
O Life and Light,…”
Show all 9 →mesopotamian8
◆Adapa and the Food of Life | Section 1a
“ADAPA AND THE FOOD OF LIFE .
TABLET NO.1 He possessed intelligence .
.
.
, His command like the command of Anu ...
He (Ea) granted him a wide ear to reveal the destiny of the land, He granted him wisdom, but he did not grant him eterna…”
◆The Descent of the Goddess Ishtar into the Lower World | Section 1c
“Sprinkle Ishtar with the waters of life and take her out of my presence.
Namtar went, knocked at the strong palace, Tapped on the threshold of precious stones.
He brought out the Anunnaki and placed them on golden thrones, He sprinkled Is…”
◆Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet I — The Tyranny of Gilgamish and the Creation of Enkidu | Tablet I, Section 1d
“Drank he his fill , with the beasts did his heart delight at the water, So beheld him the courtesan-girl, the lusty great fellow, (O but) a monster (all) savage from out of the depths of the desert!
"’Tis he, O girl!
O, discover thy beaut…”
◆Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet II — The Meeting of Gilgamish and Enkidu | Tablet II, Section 1a
“THE SECOND TABLET OF THE MEETING OF GILGAMISH AND ENKIDU.
2.
While Gilgamish (thus) is the vision revealing Enkidu sitteth before the hetaera, and she [displaying her] bosom, 5.
Shewing [her beauty (?)], the place of his birth he forgett…”
◆Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet III — The Expedition against Humbaba | Tablet III, Section 1a
“THE THIRD TABLET.
THE EXPEDITION TO THE FOREST OF CEDARS AGAINST HUMBABA.
.
.
"He lifted up [his foot, to the door .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
21.
(?) They raged furiously .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Enkidu hath not [his e…”
◆Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet VII — The Death of Enkidu | Tablet VII, Section 1b
“(Aye), by the road on the passage whereof there can be no returning, Unto the Dwelling whose tenants are (ever) bereft of the daylight, Where for their food is the dust, and the mud is their sustenance: bird-like 40.
Wear they a garment of…”
◆Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet IX — Gilgamish in Terror of Death Seeks Eternal Life | Tablet IX, Section 1
“THE NINTH TABLET. GILGAMISH IN TERROR OF DEATH SEEKS ETERNAL LIFE. . Gilgamish bitterly wept for his comrade, (for) Enkidu, ranging Over the desert: "I, too—shall I not die like Enkidu also? 5. Sorrow hath enter’d my heart; I fear death as…”
◆Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet XII — Gilgamish Enquires of the Dead | Tablet XII, Section 1c
“"Tell, O my friend, O tell, O my friend, (O) tell (me, I pr’y thee), What thou hast seen of the laws of the Underworld?" "(Nay, then,) O comrade; 90.
I will not tell thee, (yea,) I will not tell thee—(for), were I to tell thee, What I have…”
taoism6
◆Tao Te Ching | Chapter 18
“When the Great Tao (Way or Method) ceased to be observed, benevolence and righteousness came into vogue. (Then) appeared wisdom and shrewdness, and there ensued great hypocrisy. When harmony no longer prevailed throughout the six kinships,…”
◆Tao Te Ching | Chapter 26
“Gravity is the root of lightness; stillness, the ruler of movement. Therefore a wise prince, marching the whole day, does not go far from his baggage waggons. Although he may have brilliant prospects to look at, he quietly remains (in his p…”
◆Tao Te Ching | Chapter 53
“If I were suddenly to become known, and (put into a position to) conduct (a government) according to the Great Tao, what I should be most afraid of would be a boastful display. The great Tao (or way) is very level and easy; but people love…”
◆Tao Te Ching | Chapter 70
“My words are very easy to know, and very easy to practise; but there is no one in the world who is able to know and able to practise them. There is an originating and all-comprehending (principle) in my words, and an authoritative law for t…”
◆The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book 124 (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 125 (part 2)
“or from Man?' Then he added 2 , 'It must be from Heaven, and not from Man.
Heaven's making of this man caused him to have but one foot.
In the person of man, each foot has its marrow.
By this I know that his peculiarity is from Heaven, a…”
celtic5
◆The Mabinogion | Tale THE LADY OF THE FOUNTAINl
““My lord Arthur,” said Gwalchmai, “here is Owain, who has vanquished me, and will not take my arms.” “My lord,” said Owain, “it is he that has vanquished me, and he will not take my sword.” “Give me your swords,” said Arthur, “and then neit…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale BRANWEN THE DAUGHTER OF LLYRi
““And take you my head,” said he, “and bear it even unto the White Mount, in London, and bury it there, with the face towards France.
And a long time will you be upon the road.
In Harlech you will be feasting seven years, the birds of Rhia…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale MANAWYDDAN THE SON OF LLYRa
“HERE IS THE THIRD PORTION OF THE MABINOGI When the seven men of whom we spoke above had buried the head of Bendigeid Vran, in the White Mount in London, with its face towards France; Manawyddan gazed upon the town of London, and upon his co…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale THE DREAM OF MAXEN WLEDIGc
“And in the dream I beheld a maiden, and because of the maiden is there neither life, nor spirit, nor existence within me.” “Lord,” they answered, “since thou judgest us worthy to counsel thee, we will give thee counsel.
And this is our cou…”
◆The Mabinogion | Tale TALIESINl
“And then said Taliesin, “Elphin, behold a payment and reward unto thee, for having taken me out of the weir, and for having reared me from that time until now.” And on this spot stands a pool of water, which is to this time called Pwllbair.…”
mandaean5
◆Gnostic John the Baptizer — Portents at John's Birth | Section 8
“[What follows is presumably the beginning of the Letter.]
Gnosis of Life 8 who is far from the height [writes]:
"I have come unto thee, O Soul, whom Life has sent into this world. In
robes of the Eight 9 went I into the world. I went in t…”
◆Gnostic John the Baptizer — Portents at John's Birth | Section 16
“When Messiah said this, Yahyā cries aloud; tears come to him without
ceasing, and he speaks: "[God] forbid that the high King of Light should look
for lot in deceivers. The soul is not like the blood, that it should become
heated in the bod…”
◆Gnostic John the Baptizer — The Story of the Breach with Judaism | Section 3
“Thou hast won the victory, Gnosis of Life, and helped all thy friends
to victory.
And Life is victorious.
p. 65
THE EXILED COMMUNITY SETTLE ON THE EUPHRATES (§ 35).
In the Name of Great Life, may hallowed Light be glorified.
MIRYAI am…”
◆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…”
◆Gnostic John the Baptizer — Some Typical Extracts | Section 1
“p. 71
UNDER the first two headings readers have been made acquainted with all
those pieces from the Mandæan John-Book that can be held to have in any sense
a historic intention. To these are now added a few extracts of such specimens
of th…”
buddhism2
◆The Dhammapada | Chapter V, Section 1b
“In Manu IV, 172, where a similar sentence occurs, the commentators are equally doubtful: Nâdharma s k arito loke sadya h phalati gaur iva, 'for an evil act committed in the world does not bear fruit at once, like a cow;' or 'like the earth…”
◆The Dhammapada | Chapter XVIII, Section 1b
“On the five principal commandments which are recapitulated in verses 246 and 247, see Buddhaghosha's Parables, p.
153.
248.
Cf.
Mahâbhârata XII, 4055, yeshâ m v ri ttis k a sa m yatâ.
See also verse 307 .] p.
62 249.
The world gives…”
egyptian1
◆The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 5 (part 3)
“When Isis heard of this she went to Byblos, and, gaining admittance to the palace through the report of the royal maidens, she was made nurse to one of the king's sons, Instead of nursing the child in the ordinary way, Isis gave him her fin…”