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Author: Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Publisher: Philaletheians UK
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 50
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Book Description
Esoteric Science strives to enlarge the domain of physical science by trespassing on the forbidden grounds of metaphysics, so distasteful to some materialists. Though modern scientists, learned as they may be, all their wonderful discoveries would go for nothing, and they themselves remain for ever headless bodies, unless they lift the veil of matter and strain their eyes to see beyond. The extent, depth, breadth, and length of the mysteries of Nature are to be found only in Eastern Esoteric Sciences. So vast and so profound are these that hardly a few, a very few of the highest Initiates are capable of assimilating that which is good, pure, and holy, and penetrate into the arcana behind the veil. Without throwing any discredit upon time-honoured beliefs, we draw a line between blind faith, evolved by theologies, and the knowledge compiled and validated by generations of eastern adepts and seers; in short, between faith and true philosophy, i.e., the Wisdom of Love not the “love of wisdom” as the term is commonly interpreted. The ten precious Cosmic Seeds, brought to Magna Graecia from old India by the great Ionian Sage, eclipsed all those Theogonies and angelologies that ever emanated from the theological brain. The ten mathematical points inscribed within the Pythagorean Triangle transcend the limits of the lower mind and elevate the apperceptions of the spiritual thinker into the realm of primal causes. Along with the plane Cube and Circle, the Abstract Triangle is the cornerstone of cosmic philosophy and symbol of the manifested universe. The equilateral Triangle is the trinity of the first differentiated Substance, or the consubstantiality of Spirit-Matter-Universe, the Son, who unfolds from the Unity of Logos. Aristotle was not an initiate. He misrepresented Plato, mocked Pythagoras, and by omitting the Point and the Circle, and by ignoring the Apex, he demeaned the application of geometry to Cosmic and Divine Theogony. Thus the pupil of Plato succeeded in dwarfing the Majesty of the Ideal Triangle to a simple triad: line, surface, body. His modern heirs, who play at Idealism, have interpreted these geometrical figures as space, force, matter. Those like Aristotle and others, who did not adhere the mathematical correctness of Plato’s deductive reasonings, and did not proceed top-down, from universals down to particulars, begun symbolizing their philosophies and religions by sexual emblems! As an emblem applicable to the objective idea, the Triangle became a solid. When repeated in stone on the four cardinal points, it assumed the shape of the Pyramid — symbol of the phenomenal merging into the Noumenal Universe of Thought — at the Apex of the four triangles. The Apex itself is lost in the Unseen Universe from whence started the first race of the spiritual prototypes of man. The protyle, or undifferentiated cosmic matter, of our most eminent chemists and physicists is the basic line of the Pythagorean Triangle, the grandest conception imaginable, for it symbolizes both the Ideal and the Visible Universes. In the realm of the Esoteric Sciences the unit divided endlessly, instead of losing its unity, approaches with every division the planes of the only eternal Reality, which the Seer can follow and behold it in all its pregenetic glory. The Monads in the present dissertation are distinct atomic Souls, before they descend into terrestrial form. Their descent into concrete matter marks the medial point of their own individual pilgrimage. Here, losing in the mineral kingdom their individuality, they begin ascending through the seven states of terrestrial evolution to that point where a correspondence between the human and divine consciousness is firmly established. At present, however, we are not concerned with their terrestrial trials and tribulations, but with their life and behaviour in Space, on planes wherein the eye of the most intuitional chemist and physicist cannot reach them. Leibniz was not an Initiate, not even a mystic, only a very intuitional philosopher. Yet no psycho-physicist ever came nearer than he has to the mysteries of cosmic evolution. Let not the word “Psychology” cause the reader to carry his thought by an association of ideas to modern “Psychologists,” so-called, whose idealism is another name for uncompromising Materialism, and whose pretended Monism is no better than a mask to conceal the void of final annihilation — even of consciousness. An idea has no subsistence by itself, but gives figure and form unto shapeless matter, and becomes the cause of the manifestation. Once the idea of protyle is accepted, Chemistry will have virtually ceased to live: it will reappear in its reincarnation as New Alchemy, or Metachemistry. For what are the manifested Mother, the Father-Son-Husband,” and the Son — the three First-born — but Hydrogen, Oxygen, and that which, in its terrestrial manifestation, is called Nitrogen? The Monads of Leibniz may, from one point of view be called force; from another, matter. To Occult Science, force and matter are two sides of the same Substance. These Monads, every one of which is a living mirror of the universe, each Monad reflecting each other, are hidden in a veil of thick darkness, forming mirrors of the atoms of the world, and casting reflections from its own face on every atom. Where, then, is the Ultimate Element? As we advance, it recedes like the tantalizing mirage lakes and groves seen by the tired and thirsty traveller in the desert. The very idea of an element, as something absolutely primary and ultimate, seems to be growing less and less distinct. Occult Science teaches that “Mother” lies stretched in infinity, during Pralaya, as the Great Deep, the “dry Waters of Space,” and becomes wet only after the separation and the moving over its face of Narayana, the Spirit which is an Invisible Flame that never burns, but which sets on fire all that it touches, and gives it life and generation. Hydrogen and oxygen (which instil the fire of life into the Mother) is Spirit, the noumenon of that which becomes in its grossest form oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen on earth — nitrogen being of no divine origin, but merely an earth-born cement to unite other gases and fluids, and serve as a sponge to carry in itself the breath of Life — pure air. The is no such thing in Nature as inorganic (inanimate) substances. Stones, minerals, rocks, and even chemical “atoms” are simply organic units in profound lethargy. Their coma comes to an end when their inertia becomes activity. The divisions made by Leibniz, however incomplete and faulty from the standpoint of Occultism, show a spirit of metaphysical intuition to which no man of science, not Descartes, not even Kant, has ever reached. With him there always existed an infinite gradation of thought. Only a small portion of the contents of our thoughts rises into the clearness of apperception, “into the light of perfect consciousness.” From the shock of Leibniz’ and Spinoza’s systems (as opposed to the Cartesian system) emerge the truths of the Archaic doctrine. Both opposed the metaphysics of Descartes: his idea of the contrast of two substances — extension and thought — radically differing from each other and mutually irreducible, was too arbitrary and too unphilosophical for them. What Leibniz calls Monads, and Eastern philosophy Jivas, is the Unity of units, immaterial and infinite. They are with us, as with Leibniz, “the expression of the universe,” and every physical point is but the phenomenal expression of the noumenal, metaphysical point. Leibniz’s distinction between perception and apperception is the philosophical, though dim expression, of the Esoteric teachings. Every Monad differs from each other qualitatively, and every one is a peculiar world to itself. But this is not so with atoms: they are absolutely alike quantitatively and qualitatively, and possess no individuality of their own. To Leibniz atoms and elements are centres of force, or rather “spiritual beings whose very nature is to act.” The molecules of materialistic philosophy are extended and divisible, while Monads are mere mathematical points and indivisible. At this point, the Monads of Leibniz closely resemble the Elementals of mystic philosophy. Every Monad or Elemental is a speaking mirror. Esoteric philosophy, teaching an objective Idealism, draws a practical distinction between collective illusion, from the purely metaphysical standpoint, and the objective relations in it between various conscious Egos so long as this illusion lasts. The adept, therefore, may read the future in an Elemental Monad, but he has to draw for this object a great number of them, as each Monad represents only a portion of the Kingdom it belongs to.
Author: Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Publisher: Philaletheians UK
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 50
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Book Description
Esoteric Science strives to enlarge the domain of physical science by trespassing on the forbidden grounds of metaphysics, so distasteful to some materialists. Though modern scientists, learned as they may be, all their wonderful discoveries would go for nothing, and they themselves remain for ever headless bodies, unless they lift the veil of matter and strain their eyes to see beyond. The extent, depth, breadth, and length of the mysteries of Nature are to be found only in Eastern Esoteric Sciences. So vast and so profound are these that hardly a few, a very few of the highest Initiates are capable of assimilating that which is good, pure, and holy, and penetrate into the arcana behind the veil. Without throwing any discredit upon time-honoured beliefs, we draw a line between blind faith, evolved by theologies, and the knowledge compiled and validated by generations of eastern adepts and seers; in short, between faith and true philosophy, i.e., the Wisdom of Love not the “love of wisdom” as the term is commonly interpreted. The ten precious Cosmic Seeds, brought to Magna Graecia from old India by the great Ionian Sage, eclipsed all those Theogonies and angelologies that ever emanated from the theological brain. The ten mathematical points inscribed within the Pythagorean Triangle transcend the limits of the lower mind and elevate the apperceptions of the spiritual thinker into the realm of primal causes. Along with the plane Cube and Circle, the Abstract Triangle is the cornerstone of cosmic philosophy and symbol of the manifested universe. The equilateral Triangle is the trinity of the first differentiated Substance, or the consubstantiality of Spirit-Matter-Universe, the Son, who unfolds from the Unity of Logos. Aristotle was not an initiate. He misrepresented Plato, mocked Pythagoras, and by omitting the Point and the Circle, and by ignoring the Apex, he demeaned the application of geometry to Cosmic and Divine Theogony. Thus the pupil of Plato succeeded in dwarfing the Majesty of the Ideal Triangle to a simple triad: line, surface, body. His modern heirs, who play at Idealism, have interpreted these geometrical figures as space, force, matter. Those like Aristotle and others, who did not adhere the mathematical correctness of Plato’s deductive reasonings, and did not proceed top-down, from universals down to particulars, begun symbolizing their philosophies and religions by sexual emblems! As an emblem applicable to the objective idea, the Triangle became a solid. When repeated in stone on the four cardinal points, it assumed the shape of the Pyramid — symbol of the phenomenal merging into the Noumenal Universe of Thought — at the Apex of the four triangles. The Apex itself is lost in the Unseen Universe from whence started the first race of the spiritual prototypes of man. The protyle, or undifferentiated cosmic matter, of our most eminent chemists and physicists is the basic line of the Pythagorean Triangle, the grandest conception imaginable, for it symbolizes both the Ideal and the Visible Universes. In the realm of the Esoteric Sciences the unit divided endlessly, instead of losing its unity, approaches with every division the planes of the only eternal Reality, which the Seer can follow and behold it in all its pregenetic glory. The Monads in the present dissertation are distinct atomic Souls, before they descend into terrestrial form. Their descent into concrete matter marks the medial point of their own individual pilgrimage. Here, losing in the mineral kingdom their individuality, they begin ascending through the seven states of terrestrial evolution to that point where a correspondence between the human and divine consciousness is firmly established. At present, however, we are not concerned with their terrestrial trials and tribulations, but with their life and behaviour in Space, on planes wherein the eye of the most intuitional chemist and physicist cannot reach them. Leibniz was not an Initiate, not even a mystic, only a very intuitional philosopher. Yet no psycho-physicist ever came nearer than he has to the mysteries of cosmic evolution. Let not the word “Psychology” cause the reader to carry his thought by an association of ideas to modern “Psychologists,” so-called, whose idealism is another name for uncompromising Materialism, and whose pretended Monism is no better than a mask to conceal the void of final annihilation — even of consciousness. An idea has no subsistence by itself, but gives figure and form unto shapeless matter, and becomes the cause of the manifestation. Once the idea of protyle is accepted, Chemistry will have virtually ceased to live: it will reappear in its reincarnation as New Alchemy, or Metachemistry. For what are the manifested Mother, the Father-Son-Husband,” and the Son — the three First-born — but Hydrogen, Oxygen, and that which, in its terrestrial manifestation, is called Nitrogen? The Monads of Leibniz may, from one point of view be called force; from another, matter. To Occult Science, force and matter are two sides of the same Substance. These Monads, every one of which is a living mirror of the universe, each Monad reflecting each other, are hidden in a veil of thick darkness, forming mirrors of the atoms of the world, and casting reflections from its own face on every atom. Where, then, is the Ultimate Element? As we advance, it recedes like the tantalizing mirage lakes and groves seen by the tired and thirsty traveller in the desert. The very idea of an element, as something absolutely primary and ultimate, seems to be growing less and less distinct. Occult Science teaches that “Mother” lies stretched in infinity, during Pralaya, as the Great Deep, the “dry Waters of Space,” and becomes wet only after the separation and the moving over its face of Narayana, the Spirit which is an Invisible Flame that never burns, but which sets on fire all that it touches, and gives it life and generation. Hydrogen and oxygen (which instil the fire of life into the Mother) is Spirit, the noumenon of that which becomes in its grossest form oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen on earth — nitrogen being of no divine origin, but merely an earth-born cement to unite other gases and fluids, and serve as a sponge to carry in itself the breath of Life — pure air. The is no such thing in Nature as inorganic (inanimate) substances. Stones, minerals, rocks, and even chemical “atoms” are simply organic units in profound lethargy. Their coma comes to an end when their inertia becomes activity. The divisions made by Leibniz, however incomplete and faulty from the standpoint of Occultism, show a spirit of metaphysical intuition to which no man of science, not Descartes, not even Kant, has ever reached. With him there always existed an infinite gradation of thought. Only a small portion of the contents of our thoughts rises into the clearness of apperception, “into the light of perfect consciousness.” From the shock of Leibniz’ and Spinoza’s systems (as opposed to the Cartesian system) emerge the truths of the Archaic doctrine. Both opposed the metaphysics of Descartes: his idea of the contrast of two substances — extension and thought — radically differing from each other and mutually irreducible, was too arbitrary and too unphilosophical for them. What Leibniz calls Monads, and Eastern philosophy Jivas, is the Unity of units, immaterial and infinite. They are with us, as with Leibniz, “the expression of the universe,” and every physical point is but the phenomenal expression of the noumenal, metaphysical point. Leibniz’s distinction between perception and apperception is the philosophical, though dim expression, of the Esoteric teachings. Every Monad differs from each other qualitatively, and every one is a peculiar world to itself. But this is not so with atoms: they are absolutely alike quantitatively and qualitatively, and possess no individuality of their own. To Leibniz atoms and elements are centres of force, or rather “spiritual beings whose very nature is to act.” The molecules of materialistic philosophy are extended and divisible, while Monads are mere mathematical points and indivisible. At this point, the Monads of Leibniz closely resemble the Elementals of mystic philosophy. Every Monad or Elemental is a speaking mirror. Esoteric philosophy, teaching an objective Idealism, draws a practical distinction between collective illusion, from the purely metaphysical standpoint, and the objective relations in it between various conscious Egos so long as this illusion lasts. The adept, therefore, may read the future in an Elemental Monad, but he has to draw for this object a great number of them, as each Monad represents only a portion of the Kingdom it belongs to.
Author: Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Publisher: Philaletheians UK
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 81
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Book Description
The Christian Fathers applied the sacred name Daimonia of the Greeks (the divine Egos of man) to their “devils,” a fiction of diseased brains, and thus dishonoured the anthropomorphized symbols of wise antiquity, and made them all loathsome in the sight of the ignorant and the unlearned. Daimonium was ascribed by the ancients to all kinds of spirits, whether good or bad, human or otherwise, but the term was often synonymous with gods or angels. The Indian Daimonia and Deities are thirty-three millions. The two most important Elemental classes, as well as the least understood by the Orientalists, are the Devas (Shinning Ones) and the Pitris (Ancestors). Deva Yonis such as gnomes, sylphs, fairies, djinns, etc., belong to the three lower kingdoms of elementals and pertain to the Mysteries on account of their dangerous nature. The Pitris or Lunar Ancestors are not the forefathers of the present living men but those of the first human race. Pitris are Devas, Lunar and Solar. It is the Lunar Pitris who gave images of their astral body (chhayas) as models of the first race in the Fourth Round, while the Solar Pitris informed and endowed man with intellect — a Great Sacrifice! The Pitris have naught to do with juggling, tricks, and other phenomena, nor are the “spirits of the departed” concerned in them. There are three main classes of Elementaries: (1) of the spiritually dead; (2) of the spiritually poor but materially rich; and (3) of those whose bodies perished by violence. The ancients taught that while man is a septenary trinity of body, astral spirit, and immortal soul, the animal has only five instead of seven principles in him. Apes have as much intelligence as some men. Why, then, should these men who are no way superior to the apes, have Immortal Spirits and the apes none? One may search for months and never find the demarcation in the “Comte de Gabalis” between the spirits of the séance-rooms and the Sylphs and Undines of the French satire. Theosophists believe in spirits no less than Spiritualists do, but as dissimilar in their variety as are the feathered tribes in the air. Countless generations of buffoons, appointed to amuse Majesties and Highnesses, had the inestimable privilege of speaking truth at the Courts, yet those truths have always been laughed at. A strict rule, common to both Right and Left Paths, is the renunciation of carnal commerce with male or female Elementals. Certain mediums boast of Spirit husbands and wives. Consultation and deliberation with “spirits” spells the end of wisdom. The truthfulness of Spiritualists is always tempered by enthusiasm. The only character of Truth, is its capability of enduring the test of universal experience, and coming unchanged out of every possible form of fair discussion. Spiritualism is a philosophy of yesterday. But the philosophy of the East comes to us from an immense antiquity. Theosophists share only the product of corroborated experience, hoary with age; Spiritualists hold to their own views, that are based on their unflinching enthusiasm and emotionalism. Holy spirits will not visit promiscuous séance rooms, nor will they intermarry with living men and women. Monotheism, proclaiming in one place God, whom “no man shall see and live,” shows him at the same time so petty a god as to concern himself with the breeches of his chosen people. Polytheism is based upon a fact of nature. Spirits mistaken for gods, have been seen in every age by men — hence the universal belief in many and various gods, who are the personified powers of nature. Man is made up of a spiritual and of a fleshly body; Angels are pure spirits but are created and finite in all respects, whereas God is infinite and uncreated. Therefore the masses are well justified in believing in a plurality of gods. While Pagans are sincere in calling their religion Polytheism, the Churches put a mask on theirs by claiming for it the title of a monotheistic Church. Christian angel-worship is plainly idolatrous. The Devas are the embodied powers of states of matter. Every Deva has a direct connection with its bodily fabric, in invisible atoms and visible molecules, and also physical and chemical particles. Although gods are superior to man in some respects, it must not be concluded that the latent potencies of the human spirit are inferior to those of the Devas. Their angelic faculties are more expanded than those of ordinary men; but with the ultimate effect of prescribing a limit to their expansion, to which the human spirit is not subjected. There are high Devas and lower ones, higher Elementals and those far below man and even animals. But all these have been or will be men, and the former will again be reborn on higher planets and in future manvantaras. Dugpas are the “Brothers of Shadow,” possessed by earth-bound Elementaries. A highly developed Intellectual Soul (manas) is quite compatible with the absence of Spiritual Soul (Buddhi). The Sorcerer, who always performs his rites on the day of the new moon, when the benign influence of the Pitris is at its lowest ebb, crystallizes some of the satanic energy of his predecessors in evil; while the Brahman pursues a corresponding benevolent course with the energy bequeathed him by his Pitris. The only difference between the spirits of other Societies and ours lies in their names, and in dogmatic assertions with regard to their natures. In those whom the Spiritualists call the “Spirits of the Dead,” and in whom the Roman Church sees the Devils of the Host of Satan, we see neither. We call them, Dhyani-Chohans, Devas, Pitris, Elementals — imperfect at times, but never wholly imperfect. With a 36-page extended conversation about Elementals and Elementaries with a Student of Occultism.
Author: H. P. Blavatsky
Publisher: Theosophy Trust Books
ISBN: 0979320542
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 370
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Book Description
Any attempt to explain the mysterious connections between consciousness and matter, and self-consciousness in particular, necessarily involves much complexity. Because all levels of relative reality are present here and now, the human being embodies the whole hierarchy of the cosmos: a microcosm of the macrocosm, to use an insightful Renaissance expression. Besides the physical human body, there is the dynamic structural plan of that body (called the 'astral body'), the desire nature, the life force that permeates all living creatures, consciousness involved in sense perception and practical operations, consciousness capable of universal thought and awareness, and pure consciousness manifest in pristine intuition. Above these six principles of human nature broods the luminous spirit called the Atman. Many people are seldom aware of anything more in themselves than the first five of these principles, although many also have intuitive glimpses of universal understanding, often as transcendent experiences which cannot be sustained. Because understanding cannot be separated from experience, and experience cannot be divorced from the way we live, think, feel and have our being, various spiritual traditions have offered practices to nurture these inner awakenings to our higher natures and to a greater awareness of spiritual reality. Theosophy connects together how we live our lives, what we think and how we focus our attention, the bold exploration of our inner natures, how we react to what comes to us (karma), and how we can build depth of awareness across lifetimes, with Enlightenment. Theosophy, therefore, connects ethics and action, including both physical action in the world and the action of our own thoughts. Where we are ignorant of all the dimensions of our circumstances-and, short of Enlightenment, we are all ignorant-motive for thought and action is fundamental for altering one's karmic trajectory and future incarnations. The selections from The Secret Doctrine in this book are gathered with a focus on the consciousness exhibited in Nature, its origin and destiny, and on human self-consciousness, in particular. This book therefore explores one vital current in the Ocean of Wisdom that is Theosophy. A thoughtful and persistent reading of these texts will radically transform one's understanding of the unity of self-consciousness and the world around us, and of one's place in the greater scheme of things.
Author: G. De Purucker
Publisher: Foley Press
ISBN: 1406707430
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 600
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Book Description
PREFACE. THE Author of this very practical treatise on Scotch Loch - Fishing desires clearly that it may be of use to all who had it. He does not pretend to have written anything new, but to have attempted to put what he has to say in as readable a form as possible. Everything in the way of the history and habits of fish has been studiously avoided, and technicalities have been used as sparingly as possible. The writing of this book has afforded him pleasure in his leisure moments, and that pleasure would be much increased if he knew that the perusal of it would create any bond of sympathy between himself and the angling community in general. This section is interleaved with blank shects for the readers notes. The Author need hardly say that any suggestions addressed to the case of the publishers, will meet with consideration in a future edition. We do not pretend to write or enlarge upon a new subject. Much has been said and written-and well said and written too on the art of fishing but loch-fishing has been rather looked upon as a second-rate performance, and to dispel this idea is one of the objects for which this present treatise has been written. Far be it from us to say anything against fishing, lawfully practised in any form but many pent up in our large towns will bear us out when me say that, on the whole, a days loch-fishing is the most convenient. One great matter is, that the loch-fisher is depend- ent on nothing but enough wind to curl the water, -and on a large loch it is very seldom that a dead calm prevails all day, -and can make his arrangements for a day, weeks beforehand whereas the stream- fisher is dependent for a good take on the state of the water and however pleasant and easy it may be for one living near the banks of a good trout stream or river, it is quite another matter to arrange for a days river-fishing, if one is looking forward to a holiday at a date some weeks ahead. Providence may favour the expectant angler with a good day, and the water in order but experience has taught most of us that the good days are in the minority, and that, as is the case with our rapid running streams, -such as many of our northern streams are, -the water is either too large or too small, unless, as previously remarked, you live near at hand, and can catch it at its best. A common belief in regard to loch-fishing is, that the tyro and the experienced angler have nearly the same chance in fishing, -the one from the stern and the other from the bow of the same boat. Of all the absurd beliefs as to loch-fishing, this is one of the most absurd. Try it. Give the tyro either end of the boat he likes give him a cast of ally flies he may fancy, or even a cast similar to those which a crack may be using and if he catches one for every three the other has, he may consider himself very lucky. Of course there are lochs where the fish are not abundant, and a beginner may come across as many as an older fisher but we speak of lochs where there are fish to be caught, and where each has a fair chance. Again, it is said that the boatman has as much to do with catching trout in a loch as the angler. Well, we dont deny that. In an untried loch it is necessary to have the guidance of a good boatman but the same argument holds good as to stream-fishing...
Author: J.S. Krüger
Publisher: AOSIS
ISBN: 1928396593
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 570
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Book Description
Signposts to Silence provides a theoretical map of what it terms ‘metaphysical mysticism’: the search for the furthest, most inclusive horizon, the domain of silence, which underlies the religious and metaphysical urge of humankind in its finest forms. Tracing the footsteps of pioneers of this exploration, the investigation also documents a number of historical pilgrimages from a variety of cultural and religious backgrounds. Such mountaineers of the spirit, who created paths trodden by groups of followers over centuries and in some cases millennia, include Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu, Siddhattha and Jesus, Sankara and Fa-tsang, Plato and Plotinus, Isaac Luria and Ibn Arabi, Aquinas and Hegel. Such figures, teachings and traditions (including the religions of ‘Judaism’, ‘Christianity’ and ‘Islam’; ‘Hinduism’, ‘Buddhism’ and ‘Taoism’) are understood as, at their most sublime, not final destiny and the end of the road, but signposts to a horizon of ultimate silence. The hermeneutical method employed in tracking such pioneers involves four steps: • sound historical-critical understanding of the context of the various traditions and figures • reconstruction of the subjective intentional structure of such persons and their teachings • design, by the author, of a theoretical map of the overall terrain of ‘metaphysical mysticism’, on which all such journeys of the spirit are to be located, while providing a theoretical context for understanding them tendentionally (i.e. taking the ultimate drift of their thinking essentially to transcend their subjective intentions) • drawing out, within the space available, some political (taken in a wide sense) implications from the above, such as religio-political stances as well as ecological and gender implications. Continuing the general direction of thought within what the author endorses to be the best in metaphysical mysticism in its historical manifestations, the book aims to contribute to peace amongst religions in the contemporary global cultural situation. It relativizes all claims to exclusive, absolute truth that might be proclaimed by any religious or metaphysical, mystical position, while providing space for not only tolerating, but also affirming the unique value and dignity of each. This orientation moves beyond the stances of enmity or indifference or syncretism or homogenisation of all, as well as that of mere friendly toleration. It investigates the seemingly daunting and inhospitable yet immensely significant Antarctica of the Spirit, the ‘meta’-space of silence behind the various forms of wordy ‘inter’-relationships. It affirms pars pro toto, totum pro parte, and pars pro parte: that each religious, mystical and metaphysical orientation in its relative singularity represents or contains the whole and derives value from that, and that each represents or contains every other. This homoversal solidarity stimulating individual uniqueness is different from and in fact implies criticism of the process of globalisation. While not taking part in a scientific argument as such, Signposts to Silence aims at promoting an understanding of science and metaphysical mysticism as mutual context for each other, and it listens to a number of voices from the domain of science that understand this.
Author: M. M. Sharif Sharif
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781976842887
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 147
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Book Description
About four years ago I received a letter from Mr. S. M. Sharif, Educational Adviser to the Government of Pakistan and now Secretary in the Ministry of Education, drawing my attention to the fact that there was no detailed History of Muslim Philosophy in the English language and inviting me to draw up a scheme for the preparation of such a History. The scheme prepared by me envisaged the collaboration of eighty scholars from all over the world. The blue‑prints of the plan were placed by Mr. S. M. Sharif before the Government of Pakistan for approval and provision of funds. The Cabinet by a special ordinance deputed me to edit the History, and appointed a Committee consisting of the following to steer the scheme through:
Author: Jeffery D. Long
Publisher: MDPI
ISBN: 3038975354
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 201
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Book Description
This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue "Perspectives on Reincarnation: Hindu, Christian, and Scientific" that was published in Religions
Author: Helena Petrovna Blavatsky
Publisher: Philaletheians UK
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 33
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Book Description
The Tetragrammaton is a mere mask concealing its connection with the supernal and the infernal worlds. Four statements, allegedly from the Kabbalah, which have been brought forward to oppose our septenary doctrine, are completely wrong. Ignorance is the curse of God. Knowledge barely understood is like a headstrong horse that throws the rider. Admitting ignorance is the first step to enlightenment. The four letters of the Tetragrammaton is a mere mask concealing its polar connection with the supernal and the infernal worlds. The Tetragrammaton is Microprosopus, a “Lesser Face,” and the infernal reflection of Macroprosopus, the “Limitless Face.” AHIH and IHVH are glyphs of existence and symbols of terrestrial-androgynous life; they cannot be confounded with EHEIEH which is the Parabrahman of the Vedantist, That of the Chhandogya Upanishad, The Absolute of Hegel, The One Life of the Buddhist, the Ain-Soph (the Hebrew Parabrahman). They are transient reflections of EHEIEH, and therefore illusions of separateness. The Tetragrammaton is a phantom veiled with four breaths. It is dual, triple, quaternary, and septenary. Man is cube unfolding as cross. The One is She, the Spirit of the Elohim of Life. The “lesser countenance” of the Tetragrammaton is the fourth kabbalistic world. “Father-Mother,” being of bisexual material, belong to the creative world, out of which the “Son” or Universe is formed. This “Son” is Microprosopus, a blind to conceal the septenary constitution of man from the profane. The Tetragrammaton is “Father-Mother-Son” or Jehovah, whose name is IHVH and whose letters, when read symbolically, can be interpreted in two or twelve ways. Jehovah is merely a composite name for membrum virile and Eve, a hermaphrodite. He is, in one sense, Noah (Hebrew Yah) or, literally translated, inch — the British inch! Jehovah-Tsebaoth refused to create, as the seven mind-born sons of Brahmā did, but instead fought and conquered the Dragon of Wisdom. Thus the child of matter and sin was born, and Divinity was hurled down into the bottomless pit. The Theosophist’s Deity is not the two-faced Tetragrammaton, but the Crown, which has nought to do with the material world. Madame Blavatsky declined union with the lower sevenfold and seven-lettered Jehovah, and preferred pinning her faith to Ain-Soph — Pure and Simple. The nature of the material world is also seven-fold. Is the Tetragrammaton in the midst of us, or the Negatively Existent One? Shekinah is primordial light emanating from the ever-concealed Ain-Soph. In the archetypal world she is Sephirah. In the material and formative worlds she becomes Shekinah, which is latent life and light. She is the Buddhi of the physical body. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil has seven branches, on each of which are four leaves and three fruits. Anyone endowed with a moderate dose of ingenuity can make what he likes of the unpointed Hebrew words and letters. But the explanations herewith presented require nothing but knowledge of the Seventh Esoteric Key. There now follow six different readings of the first word only (B’rashith) in Genesis — one of countless examples of Christian deceit and scriptural manipulation. Madame Blavatsky always sought conciliation with disputants over doctrinal mistakes or misinterpretations, and shunned quarrels and point-scoring. The Occultist prefers working for the Cause and the triumph of Truth with all his heart and soul, than prevailing over piffling disputations. Materialism is raising its ghastly head higher than ever. Pontifications of an anti-kabbalistic champion of modern science. The whole essence of Truth cannot be transmitted from mouth to ear. Nor can any pen describe it, not even that of the recording Angel, unless man finds the answer in the sanctuary of his own heart, in the innermost depths of his divine intuitions. A spurious prophecy attributed to Hosea See how, by the Notarikon method of kabbalistic reading, one could make biblical sentences read almost anything. The Seven Scales of Consciousness Every sense is primarily a mental sense. The transference of a sensation from any organ to consciousness is nearly instantaneous. The Occultist should train himself to receive and transmit along the line of the seven scales of his consciousness every impression simultaneously. He who does this quicker progresses faster. The consciousness of the Higher Ego is atomic and spiritual, and so are the atoms which form the higher principles of the man. That of the lower ego is molecular, forming around the atoms, and is normally invisible unless condensed. The Higher Ego, being the subject of every state of consciousness, is Absolute Unity. Knowing, feeling, and willing are not faculties of the lower mind.
Author: Troy Wilson Organ
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Hindu philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 192
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Book Description
Author: Toshihiko Izutsu
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520292472
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 502
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Book Description
In this deeply learned work, Toshihiko Izutsu compares the metaphysical and mystical thought-systems of Sufism and Taoism and discovers that, although historically unrelated, the two share features and patterns which prove fruitful for a transhistorical dialogue. His original and suggestive approach opens new doors in the study of comparative philosophy and mysticism. Izutsu begins with Ibn 'Arabi, analyzing and isolating the major ontological concepts of this most challenging of Islamic thinkers. Then, in the second part of the book, Izutsu turns his attention to an analysis of parallel concepts of two great Taoist thinkers, Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu. Only after laying bare the fundamental structure of each world view does Izutsu embark, in the final section of the book, upon a comparative analysis. Only thus, he argues, can he be sure to avoid easy and superficial comparisons. Izutsu maintains that both the Sufi and Taoist world views are based on two pivots—the Absolute Man and the Perfect Man—with a whole system of oncological thought being developed between these two pivots. Izutsu discusses similarities in these ontological systems and advances the hypothesis that certain patterns of mystical and metaphysical thought may be shared even by systems with no apparent historical connection. This second edition of Sufism and Taoism is the first published in the United States. The original edition, published in English and in Japan, was prized by the few English-speaking scholars who knew of it as a model in the field of comparative philosophy. Making available in English much new material on both sides of its comparison, Sufism and Taoism richly fulfills Izutsu's motivating desire "to open a new vista in the domain of comparative philosophy."
