Select Works, Section 552
Active Contemplationpraxis
A form of meditation that uses imagery, imagination, or symbolic thought rather than purely empty stillness.
[auto] The reader is instructed to 'Fix it firmly' and 'look upon the hearth of Reality', indicating an active meditative gaze.
All passages →Apophatic Theologytheology
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The instruction to look 'not with the eyes of the body' suggests a negation of sensory categories in approaching the divine.
All passages →Body As Obstacleanthropology
The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
[auto] The text instructs the reader to fix their attention 'not with the eyes of the body' and contrasts Matter-bound things with the Intellect.
All passages →Correspondencecosmology
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The human intellect accommodates its attributes to the Archetypal, reflecting the structure of the higher realm within the lower.
All passages →Cosmic Dualismtheology
Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.
[auto] A clear ontological distinction is drawn between things bound up with Matter and the principles free of Matter in the Intellect.
All passages →Divine Lighttheology
The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
[auto] The passage explicitly describes the Intellect as containing a 'sleepless light' that is looked upon directly.
All passages →Divine Simplicitytheology
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
[auto] The Intellect is described as holding to itself and bearing on 'nothing outside of itself', indicating undivided unity.
All passages →Emanation Hierarchycosmology
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
The distinction between the Intellect and Matter implies a hierarchical structure of being where Intellect is superior.
All passages →Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
[auto] The passage emphasizes direct vision of Reality ('looking upon the hearth') rather than sensory or mediated knowledge.
All passages →Inner Lightanthropology
The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.
Being is revealed by the Being within ourselves, indicating a luminous quality residing inside.
All passages →Kingdom Withinanthropology
The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.
The hearth of Reality and sleepless light are described as being within the Intellect accessible to the self.
All passages →Living Godtheology
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
[auto] The Intellect is described as living a life that endures and keeps a thought acting, portraying the divine as dynamic.
All passages →Meditationpraxis
Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.
The reader is instructed to 'Fix it firmly' and look upon the hearth of Reality without bodily eyes.
All passages →Microcosm Macrocosmcosmology
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
[auto] The passage explicitly states that human being, motion, and stability accommodate those of the Archetypal, revealing the divine within ourselves.
All passages →Mystical Unionsoteriology
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
[auto] The text states 'We are in the presence of Intellect undefiled', implying a state of proximity or union with the divine principle.
All passages →Opposites Transcendedanthropology
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
Intellect bridges the dualism of agent and patient and abjures separation between Being and Act.
All passages →Self Knowledgesoteriology
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
[auto] The passage describes the Intellect as a 'thought self-centred' that 'thinks of itself as Being'.
All passages →Unity Of Beingtheology
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
[auto] The text asserts that in the realm free of Matter, 'to be thought is to be', equating existence with intelligibility.
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