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The Tarot of the Bohemians (Papus) · 129 of 134 · tr. A.P. Morton

Chapter XXI (part 4)

But one priest, observing that virtue is a most fragile thing, and most difficult to find, at all events in a continuous line, proposed to confide the scientific traditions to vice. The latter, he said, would never fail completely, and through it we are sure of a long and durable preservation of our principles. This opinion was evidently adopted, and the game chosen as a vice was preferred. The small plates were then engraved with the mysterious figures which formerly taught the most important scientific secrets, and since then the players have transmitted this Tarot from generation to generation, far better than the most virtuous men upon earth would have done. Such is the story or the history confided to me by this old manuscript, upon the origin of the father of our great games, and I am very glad that it provided me with the means of proving my perhaps paradoxical assertion of their original unity.
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Themes
Esoteric Lineagesoteriology

A historical or mythical chain of transmission for secret wisdom from master to disciple across time and cultures — the credential of the teaching, not merely its content. Distinct from oral_tradition (the spoken-not-written modality of transmission, which a lineage may or may not use) and hidden_sayings (the concealment-for-readiness of a teaching's meaning, independent of who transmitted it or in what unbroken chain).

The text explicitly discusses the transmission of scientific traditions and Tarot from generation to generation via a specific historical/mythical chain.

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Hidden Sayingssoteriology

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

The passage describes how mysterious figures on plates taught scientific secrets hidden within a game, implying an outer form concealing inner truth.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

The central narrative relies on the paradoxical assertion that vice (gambling) preserves virtue/scientific tradition better than virtue itself.

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Unity Of Beingtheology

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

The author mentions proving the 'original unity' of great games, suggesting a underlying singular source or principle behind diverse manifestations.

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Related passages · 4 parallels
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Shared concept: Paradox As Teaching — Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight. (derived)
christian_mysticism|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…”
Shared concept: Paradox As Teaching — Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight. (derived)