praxis
Spiritual Ascent
A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.
1,157 passages · 21 traditions
neoplatonism252
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter III
“In the first place, therefore, you say, “ it must be granted that there are Gods .” Thus to speak, however, is not right on this subject. For an innate knowledge of the Gods is coexistent with our very essence; and this knowledge is superio…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter V-a
“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 VIII-a
“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 X-a
“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 XI-b
“Things of this kind, therefore, are introduced for the sake of our soul, and of the diminution of the evils which adhere to it 55 through generation, and of a solution and liberation from its bonds.
On this account, also, they are very pro…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XII
“You also say, “ that invocations are directed to the Gods as to beings that are passive, so that not only dæmons are passive, but likewise the Gods .” This, however, is not the case. For the illumination which takes place through invocation…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XVII
“We will exchange, therefore, this division for the doubt which may be adduced by you against the present opinion. “ For ,” it may be said by you, “ how, conformably to what we assert, can the sun and moon, and the visible natures in the hea…”
Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter XIX-a
“In the next place, therefore, we shall answer your question, “ What it is which conjoins the Gods that have a body in the heavens with the incorporeal Gods.
” What this is, therefore, is evident from what has been before said.
For 72 if t…”
Show all 252 →western_esoteric166
The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) | Page 4 (part 3)
“The second respect in which the interests of the occult student have been considered is, however, of much more importance, though he may not be as ready to admit the suggestion, having regard to all that it implies.
Robert Turner, the Engl…”
The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) | Page 5 (part 1)
“Click to view THE TEMPTATION OF EVIL From Cædmon.
INTRODUCTION THE mystic tradition in Christian Times is preserved, apart from all questions and traces of Instituted Mysteries, in the literature of Christian Mystical Theology; it is a lar…”
The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) | Page 5 (part 5)
“The technicalities of the occult sciences may seem hard to the beginner, and they are actually hard like the wilderness, because they are barren wastes, but they are in words of one syllable if compared with the little catechisms of eternal…”
The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) | Page 5 (part 6)
“It is the calculus of probabilities on the basis of experience in respect of empirical things.
Putting it aside, on the fringe of the whole circle there are further a few score of follies which one would not term the grades of preparation…”
The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) | Page 5 (part 7)
“I should imagine that the Lords of its Convention are to be feared in a certain manner, like the Red and the Black Death.
But the versicles and aspirations and formulæ which must be strong enough at any moment to undo all the gates of hell…”
The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) | Page 6 (part 5)
“There is no extant Ritual, as there is no doctrine, which contains, or can possibly contain, the real secret of magical procedure or the essence of occult doctrine.
The reason--whatever may be said in the excess of some self-constituted ex…”
The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) | Page 9 (part 4)
“The sources of occult wisdom, it proceeds, are, firstly, in God; secondly, in spiritual essences--that is to say, the Angelical Hierarchy; thirdly, in corporeal creatures, the reference being probably to the signatura rerum of Paracelsus; f…”
The Kybalion (Three Initiates) | Chapter I (part 3)
“The legends of the "Philosopher's Stone" which would turn base metal into Gold, was an allegory relating to Hermetic Philosophy, readily understood by all students of true Hermeticism.
In this little book, of which this is the First Lesson…”
Show all 166 →egyptian145
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 4 (part 3)
“The earliest inscribed monuments and human remains found in Egypt prove that the ancient Egyptians took the utmost care to preserve the bodies of their dead by various processes of embalming.
The deposit of the body in the tomb was accompa…”
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 4 (part 24)
“A Hymn of praise to Ra when he setteth in the land of life.
Vignette: The deceased adoring Ra.
Chapter XV B .
2.
A Hymn of praise to Ra-Harmachis when he setteth in the western horizon of heaven.
Vignette: The deceased adoring Ra.
Cha…”
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 4 (part 25)
“Vignette: The deceased being weighed against his heart in the balance in the presence of Osiris, "the great god, the prince of eternity." Chapter XXXI.
The Chapter of repulsing the crocodile which cometh to carry the magical words ### from…”
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 4 (part 26)
“The Chapter of not going in to the divine block a second time.
Vignette: A man standing with his back to the block. Chapter LI.
The Chapter of not walking upside down in the underworld.
Vignette: A man standing.
Chapter LII.* The Chapte…”
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 4 (part 27)
“For the variant vignettes see Naville, Todtenbuch , Bd.
L, Bl.
8o.
2.
One of the two variant vignettes shows the deceased in the act of adoring Ra, and in the other the deceased kneels before Ra, Thoth, and Osiris; see Naville, Todtenbu…”
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 4 (part 28)
“The Chapter of bringing a boat in the underworld.
Vignette: A boat.
Chapter C.
The Chapter of making perfect the khu , and of making it to enter into the boat of Ra, together with his divine followers.
Vignette: A boat containing a comp…”
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 4 (part 30)
“It shall be recited on the ninth day of the festival.
Vignette: The deceased making offerings before a god.
Chapter CXLIV.
The Chapter of going in.
Vignette: Seven pylons.
Chapter CXLV A .
[Without title.] This Chapter has no vignette…”
The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 4 (part 31)
“Chapter CLXV.* The Chapter of arriving in port, of not becoming unseen, and of making the body to germinate, and of satisfying it with the water of heaven.
Vignette: The god Min or Amsu with beetle's body, etc.
Chapter CLXVI.
The Chapter…”
Show all 145 →gnosticism136
The Secret Writing According to John (Apocryphon of John), Codex II, 1 | The Savior Enters the Realm of Darkness
“Therefore, I, the perfect Providence of the all, transformed myself into my (own) seed, because I was the first to exist, traveling all paths, because I am the wealth of the light.
[IV, 47] I am the remembrance of the Fullness, but I enter…”
Gospel of Judas | Jesus and Judas
“And when Jesus [said] these things, he left, [taking] Judas Iscariot with him. He said to him, "The water on the exalted mountain is [from] 43 […] it didn't come to [water … the well] of the tree of [the fruit …] of this realm […] after a t…”
Gospel of Judas | The Betrayal
“Jesus said, "Truly I say [to you], this baptism 56 [which they've received in] my name […] will destroy the whole generation of the earthly Adam. Tomorrow they'll torture the one who bears me. Truly I [say] to you, no hand of a mortal human…”
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 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…”
Show all 136 →christian_mysticism126
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 10, Section 1c
“It is spoken of by ail the Christian Mystics as the root of our being, or as the spark, or the Synteresis, etc.
Our perfection consists in this ultimate reality, which is each man’s self, shining through his whole being and transforming it…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1a
“51 CHAPTER I Dionysius the Presbyter, to his fellow-Presbyter Timothy.
45 45 The name of St.
Paul’s companion is intended to give colour to the writer’s pseudonym.
See Introduction, p.
1; cf.
iii.
2.
What is the purpose of the discou…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1b
“For even as things which are intellectually discerned 52 52 i.
e.
The Transcendent Truths which are beyond ordinary knowledge.
νοητά .
The word νοῦς = Mind in the sense not merely of abstract intellect but of the spiritual personality.…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1c
“59 59 ὡς οὐκ ὄντος ἴχνους τῶν ἐπὶ τὴν κρυφίαν αὐτῆς ἀπειρίαν διεληλυθότων.
Two interpretations of this passage are possible: (1) Those who have penetrated the hidden Depths cannot describe the Vision (cf.
Dante, Par.
xxxiii.
55–66) ; (2…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1d
“And we press upwards to those beams which in the Holy Scripture shine upon us; wherefrom we gain the light which leads us unto 55 the Divine praises 64 64 πρὸς τοὺς θεαρχικοὺς ὕμνους.
Either (1) “leads us to declare the Divine praises”; or…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1f
“And in all the other Divine enlightenments which the occult Tradition of our inspired teachers hath, by mystic Interpretation, accordant with the Scriptures, bestowed upon us, we also have been initiated: apprehending these things in the pr…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1g
“But if It is greater than all Reason and all knowledge, and hath Its firm abode altogether beyond Mind and Being, and circumscribes, compacts, embraces and anticipates all things 87 87 παντῶν .
.
.
προληπτική—i.e.
contains them eternall…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1m
“65 In the whole of this passage God is spoken of as at the same time Efficient, Formal and Final Cause of the soul’s activity.
D.
teaches that God is present in all things, but not equally in all.
Cf.
Intr., p.
14 66 Gen.
i.
67 Three…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1n
“82 ἐν θειοτέρᾳ μιμήσει τῶν ὑπερουρανίων νοῶν—i.
e.
the angels.
83 Luke xx.
36 84 Meditation leads on to Contemplation; and the higher kind of Contemplation is performed by the Via Negativa.
85 i.e.
The Angels.
I have throughout trans…”
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 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 12, Section 1b
“Which meaneth that just as things that have no substantial Being 490 490 i.
e.
The material things (cf.
Myst.
Theol.
I.).
This is the ordinary meaning of the phrase in D.
are transcended by things that have such Being, together with…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 12, Section 1c
“For while this emanation can be communicated the Godhead cannot.
(Cf.
Via Negativa.
See esp.
Myst.
Theol.
I.).
492 i.
e.
The higher ranks whether among angels or among human souls.
(Cf.
“I have said, ‘Ye are gods,’” “hath made us…”
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…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 2, Section 1n
“200 Redemption is a work performed by the whole Trinity through the Second Person.
(So, too, is Creation.
Cf.
p.
65, n.
2).
201 i.
e.
We strive to distinguish the two planes of Being in God.
Cf.
Athan.
Creed: “Neither confounding…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 3, Section 1a
“CHAPTER III What is the power of Prayer?
Also concerning the Blessed Hierotheus and concerning Reverence and the Writing of Divinity.
1.
And first of all, if it like thee, let us consider the highest Name, even “Goodness,” by which all t…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 3, Section 1b
“Now perhaps there is need of an explanation why, when our renowned teacher Hierotheus hath compiled 236 236 τὰς θεολογικὰς στοιχειώσεις ὑπερφυῶς συναγαγόντος.
his wonderful Elements of Divinity, we have composed other Tractates of Divinity…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1a
“CHAPTER IV Concerning ” Good ,” ” Light ,” ” Beautiful ,” “ Desire ,” ” Ecstasy ,” “ Jealousy .” Also that Evil is neither existent nor Sprung from anything existent nor inherent in existent things .
1.
Now let us consider the name of “Go…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1b
“Hence have they their celestial orders, their self-unities, their mutual indwellings, their distinct Differences, the faculties which raise the lower unto the higher ranks, the providences of the higher for those beneath them; their preserv…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1c
“The Good is beyond this distinction, for nothing (on the ultimate plane) is outside It.
See Intr., p.
5.
and Lifelessness an excess of Life and Its Mindless state is an excess of Wisdom, 252 252 This apparently profitless speculation rea…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1e
“260 260 The light permeates water but it does not permeate a stone.
It passes over the stone and permeates the water beyond it.
Yea, and it contributes to the birth of material bodies and brings them unto life, and nourishes them that the…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1f
“But these things are dealt with in the “Symbolic Divinity.” Here I desire to declare what is the spiritual meaning of the name “Light” as belonging to the Good.
267 267 Two worlds: (1) Nature, (2) Grace.
God is revealed in both; the forme…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1h
“Hence comes the bare existence of all things, and hence their unions, 277 277 ἑνώσεις, διακρίσεις, ταὐτότητες, ἑτερότητες.
their differentiations, their identities, their differences, 278 278 Hence parts are united into wholes and wholes a…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1i
“an introversion 288 288 ἡ εἰς ἑαυτὴν εἴσοδος.
from things without and the unified concentration 289 289 In souls being unified and simplified.
See Intr., p.
25.
of its spiritual powers—which gives it a kind of fixed revolution, and, tur…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1k
“and all things are moved by a longing for the Beautiful and Good, to accomplish every outward work and form every act of will.
And true reasoning will also dare to affirm that even the Creator of all things Himself yearneth after all thing…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1l
“Need is there to understand that in proper truth we do but use the elements and syllables and phrases and written terms and words as an aid to our senses; inasmuch as when our soul is moved by spiritual energies unto spiritual things, our s…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1m
“See also the translator’s note on ἔρως .
Ed .] And in the “Introductions’ of Scripture 310 310 ἐν ταῖς προεισαγωγαῖς τῶν λογίων.
Apparently this was a title of the books ascribed to Solomon.
The present reference is Wisdom viii.
2 .
th…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1n
“And the Divine Yearning brings ecstasy, not allowing them that are touched thereby to belong unto themselves but only to the objects of their affection.
This principle is shown by superior things 106 through their providential care for the…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1o
“And herein the Divine Yearning showeth especially its beginningless and endless nature, revolving in a perpetual circle for the Good, from the Good, in the Good, and to the Good, with unerring revolution, never varying its centre or directi…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1p
“let us now yet further resume and compact them all together into the one and concentrated Yearning which is the Father of them all, and let us collect together into two kinds their general desiderative 109 powers, over which the entire mast…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1ae
“Intr., p.
5.
259 Here we get once more the Aristotelian classification of causes.
The Good is:— (i) Formal Cause (1) immanent in the world (Order— τάξις ); (2) containing the world (Embracing Power— περιοχή ).
(ii) Efficient Cause (Caus…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1af
“277 ἑνώσεις, διακρίσεις, ταὐτότητες, ἑτερότητες.
278 Hence parts are united into wholes and wholes articulated into parts, and hence each thing is identical with itself and distinct from everything else.
279 e.g.
Moisture interpenetrates…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1ag
“The types of things existent in the permanent spiritual world before the things were created in this transitory material world; the Platonic Ideas.
There was also a Jewish belief in such a pre-existence of things.
Cf.
Rev.
iv.
11 (R.…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1ah
“Aug., Transcende mundum et sape animum, transcende animum et sape Deum.
307 This shows that the Via Negativa starts from something positive.
It is a transcendence, not a mere negation.
308 Prov.
iv.
6, 8 .
309 ὁ ἐμὸς Ἔρως ἐσταύρωται&g…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 4, Section 1ai
“Spenser: “He loved Himself because Himself was fair.” CE Plato’s Doctrine of ἔρως.
This Yearning is eternally fulfilled in the Trinity.
Cf.
Dante: ”O somma luce che sofa in Te sidi / sola T’ intendi e da Te intelletta / ed intendente Te…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1a
“131 CHAPTER V Concerning ” Existence “ and also concerning ” Exemplars .” I.
Now must we proceed to the Name of “Being” which is truly applied by the Divine Science to Him that truly Is.
But this much we must say, that it is not the purpo…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1b
“367 367 Sense-perception is a direct apprehension of that which we actually touch, see, hear, taste, or smell; Reason or Inference is an indirect apprehension of that which we do not actually touch, see, etc.
Intuition is a direct apprehen…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1c
“You would have expected those which participate in God’s greater gifts to be the higher, and to surpass the rest.” Now if intelligent beings were defined as having no 134 Existence or Life, the argument would be sound; but since the divine…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1e
“And if these Universals exist by participating in Existence, far more is this true of the things which participate in them.
6.
Thus the first gift which the Absolute and Transcendent Goodness bestows is that of mere Existence, and so It d…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1h
“is attacking the irreligious attitude in science, philosophy, and life.
We must seek for all things (including our own personalities) not in themselves but in God.
The great defect of Natural Science in the nineteenth century was its fail…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1i
“364 The ultimate Godhead is reached only by the Negative Path, and known only by Unknowing.
The Affirmative Path of philosophical knowledge leads only to the differentiated manifestations of the Godhead: e.g.
the Trinity, in Its creative…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1j
“Hence the title “Existent” is not quite so general as the title “Good.” “Living” is a less general title still (since a stone, for instance, has no life), and “Wise” is yet less general (since a plant is not wise).
Thus we get the followin…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1l
“This apparent hair-splitting is really of the utmost practical importance.
D.
is attacking the irreligious attitude in science, philosophy, and life.
We must seek for all things (including our own personalities) not in themselves but in…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 6, Section 1a
“144 CHAPTER VI Concerning ” Life .” 1.
Now must we celebrate Eternal Life as that whence cometh very Life and all life, 392 392 The Godhead, though called Eternal Life, is really supra-vital, because life implies differentiations, and the…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 7, Section 1b
“(2) Wisdom as a whole = Wisdom embodied in the universe as a whole.
(3) Wisdom in each individual instance = Wisdom as shown in the structure of some particular plant or animal, or part of a plant or animal.
(1) Is an Emanation; (2) and (…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 7, Section 1d
“Furthermore, we must ask how it is that we know God when He cannot be perceived by the mind or the senses and is not a particular Being.
Perhaps ‘tis true to say that we know not God by His Nature (for this is unknowable and beyond the rea…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 9, Section 1b
“Dante passes outwards through the concentric spheres of space to the Empyrean which is beyond space and encloses it.
There he sees the Empyrean as a point and his whole journey from sphere to sphere as a journey inwards instead of outwards…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 9, Section 1c
“For just as, supposing we were in thought to represent the soul itself in bodily shape, and represent this indivisible substance as surrounded by bodily parts, we should, in such a case, give the surrounding parts a different meaning suited…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter I-a
“Wheat is the Divine Gloom.
T rinty, which exceedeth all Being, Deity, and Goodness!
514 514 Lit.
“Super-Essential, Supra-Divine, Super-Excellent.” Thou that instructeth Christians in Thy heavenly wisdom!
Guide us to that topmost height…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter I-b
“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.…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter II-a
“How it is necessary to be united with and render praise to Him Who is the cause of all and above all.
Unto this Darkness which is beyond Light we pray that we may come, and may attain unto vision through the loss of sight and knowledge, an…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter II-b
“but now ascending upwards from 196 particular to universal conceptions we strip off all qualities 528 528 The process from the universal to the particular is the process of actual development (existence before life, and life before rational…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter III-a
“What are the affirmative expressions respecting God, and what are the negative.
Now I have in my Outlines of Divinity set forth those conceptions which are most proper to the affirmative method, and have shown in what sense God’s holy natu…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter III-b
“Now in the former treatises the course of the argument, as it came down from the highest to the lowest categories, embraced an ever-widening number of conceptions which increased at each stage of the descent, but in the present treatise it…”
Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter V-a
“That He Who is the Pre-eminent Cause of everything intelligibly perceived is not Himself any one of the things intelligibly perceived.
Once more, ascending yet higher we maintain 537 537 It is not (1) a Thinking Subject; nor (2) an Act or…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | I-a
“THE ATTRACTIVE POWER OF GOD St John vi.
44.
—“No one can come unto Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him.” Our Lord Jesus Christ hath in the Gospel spoken with His own blessed lips these words, which signify, “No man can come…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | I-c
“In order that God may draw more to Himself, and forget His wrath, the Son saith, “Beloved Father, seeing that Thou wouldest not forgive sins because of all the former sacrifices offered, lo I, Thine Only begotten Son, Who resemble Thy Godhe…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | II-c
“No man desires anything so eagerly as God desires to bring men to the knowledge of Himself.
God is always ready, but we are very unready.
God is near us, but we are far from Him.
God is within, and we are without.
God is friendly; we ar…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | III-a
“THE ANGEL’S GREETING St Luke i.
28 .—“Hail, thou that art highly favoured among women, the Lord is with thee.” Here there are three things to understand: the first, the modesty of the angel; the second, that he thought himself unworthy to…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | III-b
“The earth cannot flee from heaven: whether it flee up or down, the heaven rains its influence upon it, and stamps its impress upon it, and makes it fruitful, whether it be willing or not.
Thus doth God with men: whoever thinketh to escape…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | V-b
“It is necessary, therefore, for all the creatures which issued forth from God to co-operate earnestly with all their powers to form a Man who may again attain that union with God which Adam enjoyed before he fell, and who may again restore…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | V-c
“Thus happens it to the noble soul which goes to God to school, and learns there what God is in His essence, and what He is in the Trinity, and what He is in man, and what is most acceptable to Him.
St Augustine saith that the righteousness…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | VI-e
“Therefore sanctification is the best of all things, for it cleanses the soul, and illuminates the conscience, and kindles the heart, and wakens the spirit, and girds up the loins, and glorifies virtue and separates us from creatures, and un…”
Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation) | VII-c
“When a good work is done by a man, he is free of it, and through that freedom is liker and nearer to his Original than he was before.
The moral task of man is a process of spiritualization.
All creatures are go-betweens, and we are placed…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 1)
“p.
33 THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME.
"Our whole doctrine is nothing else but an instruction to show how man may create a kingdom of light within himself.
.
.
.
He in whom this spring of divine power flows, carries within himself the d…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 6)
“The human selfhood will then follow in its perceptions the Spirit of God, tremblingly and in the joy of humility, and become able to see what is contained in time and in eternity.
Everything is near to a soul in that state, for the soul is…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 7)
“It is well known that the light of the sun does .not shine upon the earth because we desire it to shine, neither can we attract the sunlight to us.
All we do is to step out of the darkness, or climb to the top of.
the mountain which rises…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 8)
“1 "When my spirit, full of sorrow, earnestly, and as if moving in a great storm, arose in God, carrying with it my whole heart and mind, with all my thoughts and with the whole of my will, and when I would not cease to wrestle with the love…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 11)
“54 From this it appears that truly inspired writings are quite different from those produced by ordinary mediumship; because in the former instance the seer perceives the truths which he is to express, while in the latter case the medium is…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 1 (part 12)
“56 Neither is such a state attained without a hard fight against the powers of darkness.
"If any one desires to follow me, let him not be intoxicated by terrestrial thoughts and desires, but girded with the sword of the Spirit, because he…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 2 (part 1)
“p.
58 CHAPTER II.
THE UNITY OF THE ALL.
"We are all one body in Christ, and have all the Spirit of Christ within our reach.
If, then, we enter into the Christ, we may see and know everything by the power of His Spirit." ( Forty Question…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 3 (part 4)
“The will cannot attain this light, and the more it desires for freedom the greater will be the attraction caused by the desire." ( Six Theosophical Points , i, 38.) "There must be au opposition, for the will desires not to be dark, and this…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 3 (part 5)
“The first of these three states, being a beginning of all power and strength, originates from the quality of the Father; the second, being the source of all activity and differentiation, comes from the quality of the Son; and the third, bei…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 3 (part 6)
“49.) Thus the light conquers the darkness, but does not destroy it; it merely becomes victorious over it and consumes it in a manner comparable to that of the assimilation of food by the organism which conquers and consumes that food by mea…”
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 1)
“p.
101 CHAPTER V.
THE ANGELS.
"If you wish to hear the Holy Ghost speak out of the mouth of another you must first enter yourself with your will into the spirit of holiness."— Jacob Boehme .
IT is perfectly useless to attempt to enter i…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 5 (part 5)
“109 the spirit of holiness cannot enter unless unholiness is chased away.
In this battle against evil the angels are always ready to assist man in an invisible manner against the temptations of the "devils," provided that he is willing to…”
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 5 (part 10)
“119 The evil spirits are especially inimical to man; but they cannot injure him if his will is directed towards the divine, and if he does not permit himself to be captured by evil desire.
No man, except he who is regenerated in the spirit…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 5 (part 11)
“Man must know evil for the purpose of becoming able to realise the good, after which he returns to the latter; but as everything seeks for its own corresponding principle, he in whom evil has become paramount will remain in evil.
p.
121 "…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 6 (part 1)
“p.
122 CHAPTER VI.
THE RESTORATION OF NATURE AND THE GENERATION OF MAN.
" If we speak about heaven and the birth of the elements, we are then not telling of things that are far away or foreign to us, but of that which is taking place wit…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 6 (part 2)
“"When the eternal Word moved, because of the malice of Lucifer, and for the purpose of expelling this evil guest from his residence into eternal darkness, the essence was rendered compact (coagulated).
God was not willing to leave the mani…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 6 (part 5)
“But when this took place the love in the light of God broke through that heaven of division and ignited the heat." ( Aurora , xxv.
68.) "God, the eternal light and the eternal will, shines within the darkness, and the darkness has captured…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 6 (part 8)
“They are fire-flames, illumined by the light of God, but we attain the great fountain of meekness and love which is welling up within the holy essentiality of God." 1 ( Menschwerdung , i.
5.) Man comprises all three principles: the princip…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 7 (part 5)
“13.) Man can attain real similarity to God and perfect beatitude only by decisively willing to put his will into the Son, as the Heart or Light of the Father.
"God has the eternal and unchangeable will to generate His Heart and his Son, an…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 7 (part 6)
“2.) There existed in man also the third principle, wherein resides sensual desire.
He was not endowed with this principle for the purpose of surrendering himself to it, but that he might introduce it into the light of God, and glorify Him…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 7 (part 8)
“15.) The forthcoming of the tree of temptation is not to be wondered at, because Adam was endowed with great powers, and an earthly form as a protection to him against the powers of hell.
1 "Reason (man's reasoning) says, 'Why did God perm…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 7 (part 11)
“162 [paragraph continues] Eve, the latter was the first to be seduced to fall away from God.
1 "The lust originated in Adam, but thereupon this perverted desire began to be excited in the woman." ( Stiefel , ii.
375.) "Eve was lusting aft…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 7 (part 12)
“145:1 This was the divine Man, out of whom the world was created, while the natural man is a product of the world.
145:2 Because everything was within his own will, within himself.
145:3 This celestial Adam has not died, but still exists…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 7 (part 13)
“154:1 This is the difference between life in the terrestrial and life in the celestial states of nature, that the former is differentiated into forms, each of which loves to live in the consciousness of its own illusive self— i.e.
, in a s…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 8 (part 5)
“Thus the earth is filled with hunger after the stars and after the spiritus mundi , so that they have no peace." ( Clavis , 110.) "The earth is turning around because she has both fires, the hot and the cold fire, and that which is below al…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 8 (part 6)
“1.) "The terrestrial consciousness corrupted the celestial one, and the former became the Turba of the latter.
Likewise, the Fiat made the earth and stones out of the eternal essentiality." ( Menschwerdung , i.
9.) "But in the earth we fi…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 9 (part 1)
“p.
180 CHAPTER IX.
GENERATION.
"Let every Brahman, with fixed attention, consider all nature, both visible and invisible, as existing in the Divine Spirit.
For when he contemplates the boundless universe in the Divine Spirit, he cannot…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 9 (part 9)
“183:1 If man's imagination were not excited by the pictorial representations which the objects of the surrounding world call forth in his mind by means of his external senses, but if his mental activity were restricted to forming images by…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 9 (part 10)
“The conditions of these animal elementals in the constitution of man are some of those causes of his bodily ills of which modern medical science is entirely ignorant.
191:1 This is the way in which the "personalities" mentioned in the Book…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 10 (part 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,…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 10 (part 9)
“"All sacrificing without faith and divine desire is an p.
219 abomination before God, and does not reach the gate of divine glory; but if man enters therein with the power of faith, he surrenders to it his free will, and desires by that me…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 10 (part 10)
“Thus the desire of God in the Word perceived the desire of man through the fire; for in the (divine) fire was consumed the animal vanity in the will of man, by means of the wrath, and then the purified human will, with the incorporated para…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 10 (part 14)
“50.) 207:3 It should be remembered that these allegorical names do not refer to individual men, but to states of the universal mind.
208:1 " Seth " is a ray of love-light escaping from the fiery will.
( Mysterium Magnum , xxix.
24.) 209:…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 11 (part 5)
“If, then, the soul of the child is in the Holy Trinity, do you then not think that its glorious light beautifully illuminates the mother, and does not that mother rightfully put her feet upon the Moon, 1 as being exalted above all that is o…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 12 (part 2)
“1 "It was the will of God to transmute humanity, after it had become earthly, again into the celestial quality, to turn the human earth (material element) into heaven, to make out of the four elements only one, and to transform the wrath of…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 12 (part 3)
“He willingly surrendered Himself to the wrath (to the suffering caused by the lower principles that had been awakened to consciousness in consequence of the sin), and He extinguished it by His love.
He came from God into this world and too…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 12 (part 4)
“There was then no earthly food or drink, and the soul of Christ knew very well that she was in God, and that she could make terrestrial bread out of stones, as there was no other bread there.
But she did not desire to eat with her celestia…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 12 (part 7)
“All this He gave up entirely into the Father's hands as being the end of nature, the great mystery of the Father; but not so that it should be dead, but so that the Spirit of God should be therein all its life, and the divine regimen exist…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 12 (part 9)
“8.) "When the earth received the blood of Christ she trembled and shook, for the wrath of God was now conquered in her, and there entered into her the living blood which had come from heaven out of the substantiality of God." ( Menschwerdun…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 12 (part 12)
“255:1 However gratifying it may be for the curious seeker in history to know whether or when such an event has actually occurred in the history of the Jewish nation, such a historical belief would be of little benefit to him if he could not…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 1)
“p.
263 CHAPTER XIII.
REGENERATION.
"Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not of those things?" — John iii.
10.
"Whoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me."— Luke ix.
23.
No man c…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 2)
“265 To form a correct conception of the regeneration of man, and of what kind of a being it is which is to be brought to life in us, we must learn to know what is eternity and time, light and darkness, good and evil, and especially the orig…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 3)
“To accomplish this he must rise by the aid of the divine Spirit within himself above the inferior elements within his own nature, and thus surrender his whole self-will to God, an act which is expressed in the original meaning of the word "…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 4)
“will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of My Father in heaven." It would seem self-evident that no being inferior to the Father in heaven can possibly do the will of the Father, because no one can do the will of God unl…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 5)
“First, by the severe wrath of God, the abyss and dark world, which is the centre of the created life of the soul, whose innermost root is desire.
The second chain is the fiery longing of the devil for the soul, in consequence of which he t…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 6)
“Often she is deluded with sin, and everything seems to be against her.
You must continually battle against the devil.
Then will the pearl-tree grow like grass in storm and rain; but when it becomes big and brings forth flowers, you may th…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 8)
“A sprout grows from the earth, and thus the substance of which it is formed flies from the earth and is attracted towards the sunlight until it becomes a plant or a tree.
So does the divine Sun draw the human lily, i.e.
, the new man in h…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 9)
“279 free will already in the beginning (of a desire) destroys the desire, so that it does not become substantial, then is the physician (for the cure of that disease) already born, and there will not be needed such great earnestness as will…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 10)
“281 "The inner man continually kills the outer one by means of the love and sweetness of God, so that the external one cannot introduce into the soul-fire his earthly poisonous desire, which is infected by the devil; but the external man ca…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 11)
“27.) No Christian should contemplate his own holiness, or fancy himself to be better than others; but he should rather realise his own unworthiness, and regret the perverted state of himself and of humanity as a whole.
"No one should want…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 13)
“Nevertheless he has nothing (objectively), because that which is before Him is nothing in His comprehension, for it does not comprehend Him.
Likewise will this be the state of a person according to his submitted will if he entirely surrend…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 14)
“It would then be easy for us to grant our own desires, if in that divine state there could be room for personal desires of any kind.
268:1 True prayer is the bringing of will, thought, and word into one Δ by the power of the Spirit of God.…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 13 (part 15)
“If he then, in his imagination, sinks himself into the abyss, he is then already there, and in this abyss is his pearl (the celestial jewel)." ( Grace , ii.
43.) 279:1 This may be expressed in other words by saying that desire gives rise t…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 14 (part 1)
“p.
289 CHAPTER XIV.
DEATH AND ETERNAL LIFE.
"The mystic death is the beginning of eternal life." Man is a product of three worlds His spirit is of God, his soul from the constellation of the astral elements, his body from the elements of…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 14 (part 2)
“2.) During his terrestrial existence man can remain consciously in the three worlds, and by the power of the will with which he is endowed penetrate into either one or the other; but after the separation of the soul from the body has taken…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 14 (part 7)
“This light moderates the action of the fiery will still active in them, the blessings of their good deeds surround them, the hope for still greater glorification is their life, and from the trouble and persecution which they have suffered t…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 14 (part 8)
“, in the heavenly essentiality (Devachan)—cannot be disturbed by anybody, unless they should wish it themselves, in case that they were very favourably inclined towards some particular soul in harmony with their own.
They do not trouble th…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 14 (part 9)
“The faith of the living caught that of the saints, and the faith performed the miracle.
Faith can overthrow mountains.
It could destroy the world, if God were so to direct it." 1 ( Forty Questions , xxvi.) In the above we have considered…”
The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 14 (part 11)
“309 As a matter of course, no dead soul can be made alive by prayer, neither can mere lip-prayer or any empty ceremony aid the soul in freeing herself from the bonds of matter, but the living may aid the "dead," and especially the dying, by…”
← Collapserenaissance_hermeticism86
Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter I — How Magicians Collect Virtues from the Three-Fold World is Declared in these Three Books | Chapter I, Section 1
“CHAPTER I. How Magicians Collect Virtues from the Three-Fold World is Declared in these Three Books . Seeing there is a Three-fold World—Elementary, Celestial and Intellectual—and every inferior is governed by its superior, and receiveth th…”
Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter LX — Of Madness, and Divinations which are made when men are awake, and of the Power of a Melancholy Humor, by which Spirits are sometimes induced into Men's Bodies | Chapter LX, Section 1b
“And this thing, they think, happens under a three-fold difference, according to a three-fold apprehension of the soul, viz., imaginative, rational, and mental; they say, therefore, that when the mind is forced with a melancholy humor, nothi…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTION-h
“The primal idea of Pythagoras, which Bruno worked out to a more distinct development is this: numbers are the beginning of things; in other words numbers are the cause of the existence of material things; they are not final, but are always…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTION-i
“The life of man is more than an experience or trial; it is an effort, a struggle to reproduce and represent upon earth some of that goodness, beauty, and truth which are diffused over the universe and constitute its harmony.
Long, slow, an…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | INTRODUCTION-j
“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 Dialogue-a
“.
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 Dialogue-c
“Hence he cries: "O mountain of Parnassus, where I abide!
Muses, with whom I converse!
Fountain of Helicon, where I am nourished.
Mountain, that affordest me a quiet dwelling-place!
Muses, that inspire me with pro found doctrines.
Fount…”
The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogue-d
“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…”
Show all 86 →platonism73
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1b
“I thought that in going to the other world he could not be without a divine call, and that he would be happy, if any man ever was, when he arrived there, and therefore I did not pity him as might seem natural at such a time.
But neither co…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1d
“Socrates replied: And have you, Cebes and Simmias, who are acquainted with Philolaus, never heard him speak of this?
I never understood him, Socrates.
My words, too, are only an echo; but I am very willing to say what I have heard: and in…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1e
“And I rather imagine that Cebes is referring to you; he thinks that you are too ready to leave us, and too ready to leave the gods who, as you acknowledge, are our good rulers.
Yes, replied Socrates; there is reason in that.
And this indi…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1f
“And being dead is the attainment of this separation; when the soul exists in herself, and is parted from the body and the body is parted from the soul-that is death?
Exactly: that and nothing else, he replied.
And what do you say of anoth…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1g
“And he attains to the knowledge of them in their highest purity who goes to each of them with the mind alone, not allowing when in the act of thought the intrusion or introduction of sight or any other sense in the company of reason, but wi…”
Plato: Phaedo | Section 1h
“And now that the hour of departure is appointed to me, this is the hope with which I depart, and not I only, but every man who believes that he has his mind purified.
Certainly, replied Simmias.
And what is purification but the separation…”
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 1k
“That is clear, he replied.
Then the inference is, that our souls are in the world below?
That is true.
And one of the two processes or generations is visible-for surely the act of dying is visible?
Surely, he said.
And may not the othe…”
Show all 73 →jewish_mysticism37
The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1g
“The four wheels are their correlatives under the second Sephira, on their four sides--namely, the four elements of the air, fire, water, and earth, which are the abodes of the spirits of the elements, the sylphs, salamanders, undines, and g…”
The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha) | 1h
“35: "Ye shall not do iniquity in judgment, in dimension, in weight, and in measure." (Where these four are mystically intimated.) 37.
(There is one) rigorous judgment (of severity),another that is not rigorous (that is, of the kingdom).
T…”
The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Page 3 (part 7)
“xix as Burkitt says, "most of the most convincing proofs that the Greek text of Enoch is a translation from a Semitic language fit equally well with a Hebrew or an Aramaic original"; his opinion is that Aramaic was the original language, "b…”
The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XIV (part 1)
“CHAPTER XIV.
1.
The book of the words of righteousness, and of the reprimand of the eternal Watchers in accordance with the command of the Holy Great One in that vision.
2.
I saw in my sleep what I will now say with a tongue of flesh an…”
The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XIV (part 2)
“None of the angels could enter and could behold His face by reason of the magnificence and glory and no flesh could behold Him.
22.
The flaming fire was round about Him, and a great fire stood before Him, and none around could draw nigh H…”
The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XX
“XX. Name and Functions of the Seven Archangels . CHAPTER XX. 1. And these are the names of the holy angels who watch. 2. Uriel, one of the holy angels, who is over the world and over Tartarus. 3. Raphael, one of the holy angels, who is over…”
The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XXI
“XXI. Preliminary and final place of punishment of the fallen angels (stars) . CHAPTER XXI. 1. And I proceeded to where things were chaotic. 2. And I saw there something horrible: I saw neither a heaven above nor a firmly founded earth, but…”
The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, Charles translation) | Chapter XXII (part 1)
“XXII.
Sheol, or the Underworld .
CHAPTER XXII.
1.
And thence I went to another place, and he showed me in the west ⌈ another ⌉ great and high mountain [ and ] of hard rock.
E 2 And there was in it †four† hollow places, deep and wide an…”
Show all 37 →greek_mystery28
Orphic Hymns | Hymn I. THE GODDESS PROTHYRÆA
“I. TO THE GODDESS PROTHYRÆA * . The FUMIGATION from STORAX. O venerable goddess, hear my pray'r, For labour pains are thy peculiar care; in thee, when stretch'd upon the bed of grief, The sex as in a mirror view relief. Guard of the race, e…”
Orphic Hymns | Hymn XXXVII. THE CURETES +
“XXXVII. TO THE CURETES + . The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. Brass-beating Salians, ministers of Mars, Who guard his arms the instruments of wars p. 168 Whose blessed frames, heav'n, earth, and sea compose, And from whose breath all animals…”
Orphic Hymns | Hymn LXXV. THE MUSES
“LXXV. TO THE MUSES. The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. Daughters of Jove, dire-sounding and divine, 1 Renown'd Pierian, sweetly speaking Nine; p. 206 To those whose breasts your sacred furies fire Much-form'd, the objects of supreme desire:…”
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 LXXVII. AURORA
“LXXVII. TO AURORA. The FUMIGATION from MANNA. HEAR me, O Goddess! whose emerging ray Leads on the broad refulgence of the day; Blushing Aurora, whose celestial light Beams on the world with red'ning splendours bright: Angel of Titan, whom w…”
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 5 (part 1)
“p.
9 NOTES ON THE GOLDEN VERSES OF PYTHAGORAS FROM THE COMMENTARIES OF HIEROCLES.
The Golden Verses may be divided into two parts, the first treating of the Practical or Human Virtues, whose aim is the making of Good Men; and the second,…”
The Golden Verses of Pythagoras | Section 5 (part 2)
“The mortal Oath--that used amongst men--has to be reverenced as an image of the other, and as leading to the greatest strength and stability of character.
And if man would reverence the Oath, then must he do all in his power to understand…”
Show all 28 →hinduism24
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I | Sutra 6
“These activities are: Sound intellection, unsound intellection, predication, sleep, memory. We have here a list of mental and emotional powers; of powers that picture and observe, and of powers that picture and feel. But the power to know a…”
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I | Sutra 20
“For the others, there is spiritual consciousness, led up to by faith, valour right mindfulness, one-pointedness, perception. It is well to keep in mind these steps on the path to illumination: faith, velour, right mindfulness, one-pointedne…”
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I | Sutra 22
“The will may be weak, or of middle strength, or intense. Therefore there is a spiritual consciousness higher than this. For those of weak will, there is this counsel: to be faithful in obedience, to live the life, and thus to strengthen the…”
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I | Sutra 28
“Let there be soundless repetition of OM and meditation thereon. This has many meanings, in ascending degrees. There is, first, the potency of the word itself, as of all words. Then there is the manifold significance of the symbol, as sugges…”
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I | Sutra 29
“Thence come the awakening of interior consciousness, and the removal of barriers. Here again faith must be supplemented by works, the life must be led as well as studied, before the full meaning can be understood. The awakening of spiritual…”
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I | Sutra 37
“Or the purging of self-indulgence from the psychic nature. We must recognize that the fall of man is a reality, exemplified in our own persons. We have quite other sins than the animals, and far more deleterious; and they have all come thro…”
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I | Sutra 45
“Subtle substance rises in ascending degrees, to that pure nature which has no distinguishing mark. As we ascend from outer material things which are permeated by separateness, and whose chief characteristic is to be separate, just as so man…”
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book II | Sutra 27
“His illuminations is sevenfold, rising in successive stages. Patanjali's text does not tell us what the seven stages of this illumination are. The commentator thus describes them; First, the danger to be escaped is recognized; it need not b…”
Show all 24 →hermeticism21
Corpus Hermeticum 1: Poimandres | Section 1a
“Poemandres, the Shepherd of Men <This is the most famous of the Hermetic documents, a revelation account describing a vision of the creation of the universe and the nature and fate of humanity.
Authors from the Renaissance onward have been…”
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 1: Poimandres | Section 1f
“All this befell me from my Mind, that is Man-Shepherd, Word (Logos) of all masterhood, by whom being God-inspired I came unto the Plain of Truth.
Wherefore with all my soul and strength thanksgiving give I unto Father-God.
31.
Holy art T…”
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 5: The Discourse of Hermes to Asclepius | Section 1a
“Though Unmanifest God Is Most Manifest 1.
I will recount to thee this sermon (logos) too, O Tat, that thou may'st cease to be without the mysteries of the God beyond all name.
And mark thou well how that which to the many seems unmanifest…”
Corpus Hermeticum 5: The Discourse of Hermes to Asclepius | Section 1b
“Would that it were possible for thee to get thee wings, and soar into the air, and, poised midway 'tween earth and heaven, behold the earth's solidity, the sea's fluidity (the flowings of its streams), the spaciousness of air, fire's swiftn…”
Corpus Hermeticum 5: The Discourse of Hermes to Asclepius | Section 1c
“And for this cause hath He all names, in that they are one Father's.
And for this cause hath He Himself no nome, in that He's Father of [them] all.
Who, then, may sing Thee praise of Thee, or [praise] to Thee?
Whither, again, am I to tur…”
Show all 21 →mandaean15
Gnostic John the Baptizer — Portents at John's Birth | Section 3
“Then all of the priests arose and said to Old Father Zakhriā, [they
said] in reproach: "Be at rest and keep thy seat, Old Father, and let the
calm of the Good (pl.) rest upon thee. Old p. 39 Father, if there were no dreams
in Judća, then wo…”
Gnostic John the Baptizer — Portents at John's Birth | Section 4
“Yahyā proclaims in the nights, Yōhānā on the Night's evenings. 4
YAHYĀ proclaims in the nights and says: "Through my Father's discourses I give light and through the praise of the Man, my creator, I have freed my soul from the world and fr…”
Gnostic John the Baptizer — Portents at John's Birth | Section 9
“JOHN AND THE BAPTISM OF JESUS (§ 30).
Yahyā proclaims in the nights, Yōhānā on the Night's evenings.
YAHYĀ proclaims in the nights.—Glory rises over the worlds.
Who told Yeshu (Eshu)? Who told Yeshu Messiah, son of Miryam, who told Yeshu…”
Gnostic John the Baptizer — Portents at John's Birth | Section 10
“"A blind man who writes a letter: a villain who has become virtuous. He
abandoned wantonness and abandoned theft and reached unto faith in almighty
Life.
"A desolate house who ascends again to the height: one of position who
has become hum…”
Gnostic John the Baptizer — Portents at John's Birth | Section 12
“Thereon they 3 fashioned for Yahyā a wife out of thee, thou Region of the Faithful. 4 From the first conception were Handan and Sharrath born. From the middle conception were Birhām and R'himath-Haiyē born. From the last conception were Nṣa…”
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 6
“"Go, go," says she unto them, "ye fools, ye abortions, 4 ye who were not of the world. 5 I am no woman who is
stripped for wantoning; and it is not that I have fallen in love with a man.
Stripped am I not for returning to you and for again…”
Gnostic John the Baptizer — Some Typical Extracts | Section 4
“But I made answer unto them: "O ye fishers, who lap up your filth, no
fisher am I who fishes for fish, and I was not formed for an eater of filth.
A Fisher am I of souls who bear witness to Life. A Poor Fisher am I who calls
to the souls, c…”
Show all 15 →sufism13
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | PROLOGUE-a
“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) | PROLOGUE-b
“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 I-a
“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 II
“The Oilman and his Parrot. An oilman possessed a parrot which used to amuse him with its agreeable prattle, and to watch his shop when he went out. One day, when the parrot was alone in the shop, a cat upset one of the oil-jars. When the oi…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY III-a
“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 V-b
“Again, know that self-exertion springs from weakness; Relying on other means is a blot upon perfect trust.
Self-exertion is not more noble than trust in God.
What is more lovely than committing oneself to God?
Many there are who flee fro…”
The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) | STORY V-c
“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…”
Show all 13 →theosophy13
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 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 4 (part 3)
“T HEY MAKE OF HIM THE MESSENGER OF THEIR WILL.
T HE D ZYU BECOMES F OHAT, THE SWIFT SON OF THE D IVINE SONS WHOSE SONS ARE THE L IPIKA, RUNS CIRCULAR ERRANDS.
F OHAT IS THE STEED AND THE THOUGHT IS THE RIDER.
H E PASSES LIKE LIGHTNING TH…”
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 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 13 (part 7)
“Three further higher grades have to be conquered by the Arhan who would reach the apex of the ladder of Arhatship.
There are those who have reached it even in this fifth race of ours, but the faculties necessary for the attainment of these…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 14 (part 4)
“I am merged in Sekten." This last sentence gives the corroboration of, and repeats the doctrine of, esoteric Buddhism, for it alludes directly to the fifth principle (Manas), or the most spiritual part of its essence rather, which merges in…”
The Secret Doctrine | Page 15 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 238 THE SECRET DOCTRINE.
STANZA VII.
-- Continued.
(5) T HE SPARK HANGS FROM THE FLAME BY THE FINEST THREAD OF F OHAT.
I T JOURNEYS THROUGH THE S EVEN W ORLDS OF M AY…”
Show all 13 →taoism8
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 16
“The (state of) vacancy should be brought to the utmost degree, and that of stillness guarded with unwearying vigour. All things alike go through their processes of activity, and (then) we see them return (to their original state). When thin…”
Tao Te Ching | Chapter 33
“He who knows other men is discerning; he who knows himself is intelligent. He who overcomes others is strong; he who overcomes himself is mighty. He who is satisfied with his lot is rich; he who goes on acting with energy has a (firm) will.…”
The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book I (part 1)
“p.
164 THE WRITINGS OF KWANG-DZE.
BOOK I.
PART I.
SECTION I.
Hsiâo-yâo Yû, or 'Enjoyment in Untroubled Ease 1 .' 1.
In the Northern Ocean there is a fish, the name of which is Khwän 2 ,--I do not know how many lî in size.
It changes…”
The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book II (part 7)
“How do you know that when I say "I know it," I really (am showing that) I do not know it, and that when I say "I do not know it," I really am showing that I do know it 1 .' And let me ask you some questions:--'If a man sleep in a damp place…”
The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book IV (part 3)
“Doing what other men do, they would have no occasion to blame me.
This p.
208 is what is called being a fellow-worker with other men.
'Fully declaring my sentiments and substantiating them by appealing to antiquity, I shall be a co-worke…”
The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book VI (part 4)
“245 got It, and by It dwelt in the Dark Palace.
Yü-khiang 1 got It, and by It was set on the North Pole.
Hsî Wang-mû 2 got It, and by It had her seat in (the palace of) Shâo-kwang.
No one knows Its beginning; no one knows Its end.
Phäng…”
The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book VI (part 9)
“257 [paragraph continues] 'I have lost all thought of ceremonies and music.' 'Very well, but that is not enough., A third day, Hui again saw (the Master), and said, 'I am making progress.' 'What do you mean?' 'I sit and forget everything 1…”
The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters) | Book VI (part 10)
“The Shwo Wän dictionary defines the name by , 'a recluse of the mountain, whose bodily form has been changed, and who ascends to heaven;' but when this account was made, Tâoism had entered into a new phase, different from what it had in the…”
buddhism6
The Dhammapada | Chapter II, Section 1a
“p.
9 CHAPTER II.
ON EARNESTNESS .
21.
Earnestness is the path of immortality (Nirvâ n a), thoughtlessness the path of death.
Those who are in earnest do not die, those who are thoughtless are as if dead already.
22.
Those who are adv…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter IX, Section 1
“p. 34 Chapter IX. Evil. 116. If a man would hasten towards the good, he should keep his thought away from evil; if a man does what is good slothfully, his mind delights in evil. 117. If a man commits a sin, let him not do it again; let him…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter XIII, Section 1a
“p.
47 CHAPTER XIII.
THE WORLD.
167.
Do not follow the evil law!
Do not live on in thoughtlessness!
Do not follow false doctrine!
Be not a friend of the world.
168.
Rouse thyself!
do not be idle!
Follow the law of virtue!
The vir…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter XVI, Section 1
“p. 56 CHAPTER XVI. PLEASURE. 209. He who gives himself to vanity, and does not give himself to meditation, forgetting the real aim (of life) and grasping at pleasure, will in time envy him who has exerted himself in meditation. 210. Let no…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter XVII, Section 1a
“p.
58 CHAPTER XVII.
ANGER.
221.
Let a man leave anger, let him forsake pride, let him overcome all bondage!
No sufferings befall the man who is not attached to name and form, and who calls nothing his own.
222.
He who holds back risi…”
The Dhammapada | Chapter XVIII, Section 1a
“p.
60 CHAPTER XVIII.
IMPURITY.
235.
Thou art now like a sear leaf, the messengers of death (Yama) have come near to thee; thou standest at the door of thy departure, and thou hast no provision for thy journey.
236.
Make thyself an isl…”
mesopotamian3
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…”
Adapa and the Food of Life | Section 1b
“Adapa, For whom art thou clad in a mourning garment?" In the country two gods have vanished; therefore am I clad In mourning garments." "Who are the two gods, who have vanished from the land?" "Tammuz and Gishzida." They looked at one anoth…”
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…”
native_american2
The Soul of the Indian | Chapter I-a
“THE GREAT MYSTERY Solitary Worship.
The Savage Philosopher.
The Dual Mind.
Spiritual Gifts versus Material Progress.
The Paradox of “Christian Civilization.” The original attitude of the American Indian toward the Eternal, the “Great My…”
Myths of the Cherokee | Myth 10
“ORIGIN OF THE PLEIADES AND THE PINE Long ago, when the world was new, there were seven boys who used to spend all their time down by the townhouse playing the gatayû′stĭ game, rolling a stone wheel along the ground and sliding a curved stic…”
biblical1
The Revelation of John (American Standard Version, 1901) | 10:6-11:12
“[10:6] and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created the heaven and the things that are therein, and the earth and the things that are therein, and the sea and the things that are therein, that there shall be delay no longer:…”
finnic1
The Kalevala | Rune XV-g
“God anoints his faithful children, With the honey of his wisdom, When they feel the pangs of sorrow, When they meet the powers of evil.
Dip thy winglets in this honey, Steep thy plumage in His sweetness, Hither bring the all-sufficient Bal…”
norse1
The Poetic Edda: Hovamol | Section 1m
“I ween that I hung | on the windy tree, Hung there for nights full nine; With the spear I was wounded, | and offered I was To Othin, myself to myself, On the tree that none | may ever know What root beneath it runs.
[138.
In the manuscrip…”