glossary of terms used by frithjof schuon - Sophia Perennis

Outward / Inward: For the Intellect or for the spiritual act conforming to it, there is no
difference between the outward and the inward: the outward is also within, since the soul
is everywhere the soul, on the macrocosmic scale as well as in the microcosm, while the
inward for its part has an aspect of outwardness since phenomena are everywhere
phenomena, within us and around us. In practice and “alchemically,” it is thus impossible
to speak of the world and of life without at the same time taking account of the soul and
the flux of thought. The world is the soul and the soul is the world. From this it follows,
and herein lies the whole interest of a distinction that might seem to be tautological, that
in acting on the inward we act upon the outward: we hold both the world and our life
within our soul. However, when we speak about the “world,” the question of knowing
whether we are thinking of the outward or the inward does not arise, because outward
things come before what is within; our earthly environment existed before we were born,
and a tree exists prior to our looking at it. The world is always a priori the realm of
existence surrounding us; it is never, unless expressly specified, our inward cosmos only.
[LT, Man and Certainty]
Pantheism: (To believe that) God is all that exists, no more no less [THC, Degrees and
Scope of Theism]
In reality, pantheism consists in the admission of a continuity between the Infinite and the
finite; but this continuity can only be conceived if it is first admitted that there is a
substantial identity between the ontological Principle – which is in question in all forms
of theism – and the manifested order, a conception that presupposes a substantial, and
therefore false, idea of Being, or the confusing of the essential identity of manifestation
and Being with a substantial identity. Pantheism is this and nothing else. [TUR,
Transcendence and Universality of Esoterism]
Paradise: Paradise, precisely, is above all a dimension which unites us to God . . .
Paradise is a reflection of God and not a veil which conceals Him. [CI, Paradise as
Theophany]
Passion / Pride: In the fallen nature of man there is a double infirmity and, spiritually
speaking, a double obstacle: on the one hand passion, which draws man outside himself
while at the same time compressing him, and on the other hand pride, which shuts man
within himself, while at the same time dispersing him. Passion reveals itself by
attachment, and pride by ambition; even if the latter were spiritual, it still would be
worldly, unless one were to give the word ambition – as is sometimes done – a
transposed and neutral meaning. In an analogous way, if one understands by the word
passion a force in itself neutral and of potential value one can evidently speak of holy
passions, or passions sanctified by their object; but it is obviously not this conversion of a
natural energy that is in question when we speak here of infirmities or obstacles. In this
connection it must be pointed out that pride does not admit of such a conversion; it can
only be destroyed or dissolved – the first term indicating a privative or penitential ascesis
and the second an alchemy of love able to “melt the heart” – depending upon the degrees
or modes of hardness. It is true that one can sometimes speak of “legitimate pride,” but
this is situated on an inoffensive plane having nothing to do with vice or sin.
106