glossary of terms used by frithjof schuon - Sophia Perennis

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essentially subordinate to extrinsic principles of a higher order. [LS, Principles and Criteria of Art] Artist / Mystic: To creative exteriorization, which proceeds from the center to the periphery, responds an initiatory or mystical interiorization, which proceeds in the inverse direction, and whose psychological prefiguration is virtue. Actually, virtue tends from the accidental towards the substantial or from the contingent form to the archetype, to the “idea,” whose essence is the Sovereign Good, the Agathon. The same holds true for art, whose purpose is to transfer the archetype into contingency; and this is true “realism,” since the real lies above us, and not below us as the moderns would have it. But it goes without saying that artistic expression is no more than the prefiguration of spiritual alchemy, whose matter is the soul and which realizes, inwardly and in a fundamental manner, what art demonstrates and promises at the level of immediate perceptions and emotions. The artist brings the Divine into the world; the mystic reintegrates the world – his soul – into the Divine; always with the help of Heaven, for “Without me ye can do nothing.” [SME, Creation as a Divine Quality] Ascesis: There is an ascesis that consists simply in sobriety, and which is sufficient for the naturally spiritual man; and there is another which consists in fighting against passions, the degree of this ascesis depending upon the demands of the individual nature; finally, there is the ascesis of those who mistakenly believe themselves to be charged with all sins, or who identify themselves with sin through mystical subjectivism, without forgetting to mention those who practice an extreme asceticism in order to expiate the faults of others, or even simply in order to give a good example in a world that has need of it. [CI, The Question of Evangelicalism] Atma: The term Atma corresponds most nearly to “the Essence”. [LAW, Maya] Atma is beyond the opposition of subject-object; one can, however, call it pure Subject when one starts from the consideration of “objects,” which are so many superimpositions in relation to Atma. [LS, The Vedanta] Atma / Maya: Atma is pure Light and Beatitude, pure Consciousness, pure Subject. There is nothing unrelated to this Reality; even the “object” which is least in conformity with It is still It, but “objectified” by Maya, the power of illusion consequent upon the infinity of the Self. [LS, The Vedanta] Maya exists only through its contents, which prolong Atma; this is to say that Atma is conceivable without Maya, whereas Maya is intelligible only through the notion of Atma. [PM, In the Face of Contingency] Avatara: The Avatara “incarnates” God, while also personifying – since he is in the world – Creation, Universal Spirit, Man and Intellect; if he incarnates God he cannot be other than perfect, and if he is perfect – and he is so by definition – he cannot but incarnate the total cosmos, the primary manifestation of the Principle, with the subsequent manifestations that it implies. [SW, Manifestations of the Divine Principle] In the Avatara there is quite obviously a separation between the human and the divine – or between accident and Substance – then there is a mixing, not of human accident and 10
divine Substance, but of the human and the direct reflection of Substance in the cosmic accident; relatively to the human this reflection may be called divine, on condition that the Cause is not in any way reduced to the effect. For some, the Avatara is God “descended”; for others, he is an “opening” which allows God immutably “on high” to be seen. [EPW, The Mystery of the Veil] The Avatara is Divine Man and human God. [FSR, Insights into the Muhammadan Phenomenon] The Avatara does not convince by his words and his marvels alone, he transmits certainty to an equal extent by the visible harmony of his being, which allows us to glimpse the shores of the Infinite and revives the deepest yearnings while also appeasing them. [LT, Concerning the Proofs of God] Avidya: Ignorance that “Brahman is real, the world is illusory,” and that “the soul is not other than Brahman”; all actions or attitudes contrary to intrinsic and vocational Law (Dharma) result from this blindness of heart. [PM, Delineations of Original Sin] Barzakh: The Arabic word barzakh means “isthmus”: it is a dividing line between two domains, and this line appears, from the standpoint of each side, to belong to the other side. [IFA, Transcendence and Immanence in the Spiritual Economy of Islam] Barzakh (archetype of): The archetype of the barzakh is the half-divine, half-cosmic frontier separating, and in another sense uniting, Manifestation and the Principle; it is the “Divine Spirit” (Ruh) which, seen “from above” is manifestation, and seen “from below” is Principle. Consequently, it is Maya in both its aspects; the same thing appears, in a certain manner, in the Christian expression “true man and true God.” [IFA, Transcendence and Immanence in the Spiritual Economy of Islam] Baseness: Pascal thought that the worst baseness is to claim glory for oneself, which is inaccurate and unjust; the worst baseness is to discredit the glory of others and to glorify one’s own disgrace. [LS, A View of Yoga] Beautiful: The beautiful is not what we love and because we love it, but that which by its objective value obliges us to love it. [EchPW, 9] Beauty: “Beauty is the splendor of the true.” {Plato} [LT, Truths and Errors Concerning Beauty] Beauty is like the sun: it acts without detours, without dialectical intermediaries, its ways are free, direct, incalculable; like love, to which it is closely connected, it can heal, unloose, appease, unite or deliver through its simple radiance. [TB, Treasures of Buddhism] Beauty is a crystallization of some aspect of universal joy; it is something limitless expressed by means of a limit. [SPHF, Aesthetics and Symbolism in Art and Nature] Beauty (archetype of): The archetype of beauty, or its Divine model, is the superabundance and equilibrium of the Divine qualities, and at the same time the overflowing of the existential potentialities in pure Being. In a rather different sense, 11
Page 1 and 2: GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED BY FRITHJOF
Page 3 and 4: Absolute: “In the Absolute, I am
Page 5 and 6: emains paradoxically attached out o
Page 7 and 8: knowledge which determines action,
Page 9: liturgical quality and - for all th
Page 13 and 14: ecause beauty is unitive and exclud
Page 15 and 16: consequently that Being is not othe
Page 17 and 18: said that the Buddhas bring salvati
Page 19 and 20: Charity means to lose oneself. [SPH
Page 21 and 22: Christianity: “God became man tha
Page 23 and 24: world which is its medium of manife
Page 25 and 26: democracy is possible; but then it
Page 27 and 28: True dignity could not be affected,
Page 29 and 30: total since this form is a symbol a
Page 31 and 32: Ellipsism (Oriental): Which consist
Page 33 and 34: use of the intelligence, and not on
Page 35 and 36: Now, if we start out from the idea
Page 37 and 38: material world. The answer to evolu
Page 39 and 40: Exoterism transmits aspects or frag
Page 41 and 42: certainly not their more or less na
Page 43 and 44: Faith / Intelligence: Unlike an int
Page 45 and 46: pure and simple, constitute what we
Page 47 and 48: Existence itself; now, no one can c
Page 49 and 50: Generosity (towards man): Generosit
Page 51 and 52: it is of this we are speaking - suc
Page 53 and 54: or this Divine Face turned towards
Page 55 and 56: ejoicing in the good which they enj
Page 57 and 58: If love takes precedence over hatre
Page 59 and 60: Holiness: Holiness is the sleep of
Page 61 and 62:
sham absolutes, which in addition a
Page 63 and 64:
“humble,” in relation to the su
Page 65 and 66:
wisdom. Esoterically, one can disti
Page 67 and 68:
whatever be its value, has no dogma
Page 69 and 70:
the cogito alone. From the point of
Page 71 and 72:
“activity,” the intelligence re
Page 73 and 74:
Intentionism / Sincerism: Intention
Page 75 and 76:
Jivan-mukta: According to Shankara,
Page 77 and 78:
intellectual or heart knowledge, th
Page 79 and 80:
The validity of a logical demonstra
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Substance; therefore it cannot beco
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It is in man’s nature to be able
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enveloped Christ’s ascension. Tha
Page 87 and 88:
Matter, in fact, refers in the fina
Page 89 and 90:
divine possibilities projected into
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Metaphysic: The science of the Abso
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hardly arises in pure metaphysics a
Page 95 and 96:
Morality (two sources): Morality ha
Page 97 and 98:
The mythological wording of a tradi
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space, and the immobility of the su
Page 101 and 102:
Nothing / Being: The notion of “n
Page 103 and 104:
“heart,” given that “the king
Page 105 and 106:
Orthodoxy (quintessential): Quintes
Page 107 and 108:
Passion, as it is to be understood
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principles, together with the scien
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illusory. The innovators, nihilists
Page 113 and 114:
Pneumatic / Psychic / Hylic: The
Page 115 and 116:
themselves; and the fact that they
Page 117 and 118:
Prophet: The Prophet is the human n
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should perceive without difficulty,
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absoluteness; it seeks to destroy e
Page 123 and 124:
ultimate purpose, it is difficult f
Page 125 and 126:
plane, but rather a sphere of reali
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Sacred Scripture: A sacred Scriptur
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and its ultimate effects cannot but
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logicians, whereas the Semites - if
Page 133 and 134:
horizontal and ambiguous faculty, w
Page 135 and 136:
Simplicity: Simplicity is indiffere
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liberating. Love, which responds to
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Path is effort; if as intelligence,
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- whether it is a question of the P
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other a belief in unreal or ineffec
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The Christians had no reason at all
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truths well enough in theory, has n
Page 149 and 150:
Transcendence / Immanence (objectiv
Page 151 and 152:
to us; it is Revelation entering in
Page 153 and 154:
a certain right to sacrifice the tr
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A spiritual virtue is nothing other
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Subject, which is immanent, while a
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The world is divine through its cha
Page 161 and 162:
BIBLIOGRAPHY Books by Frithjof Schu
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glossary of terms used by frithjof schuon - Sophia Perennis

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