glossary of terms used by frithjof schuon - Sophia Perennis

other a belief in unreal or ineffectual things. Thus spiritualism is called “superstition”, but
rightly so only with respect to its interpretations of phenomena and its cult, and not with
respect to the phenomena themselves; on the other hand sciences like astrology are
perfectly real and effectual, and imply no deviation of a pseudo-religious kind. The word
“superstition” ought really not to be applied to sciences or facts that are unknown and are
ridiculed although not a single word about them is understood, but to practices that are
either intrinsically useless, or totally misunderstood and called upon to fill the gap left by
an absence of true spirituality or of effectual rites. No less superstitious is a false or
improper interpretation of a symbolism or of some coincidence, often in conjunction with
fantastic fears or scruples, and so on. In these days the word “superstition” no longer
means anything; when theologians use it – the point will bear repetition – one never
knows whether they are finding fault with a concrete diabolism or with a mere illusion; in
their eyes a magical act and a pretence at magic look like the same thing, and they do not
notice the contradiction inherent in declaring in the same breath that sorcery is a great sin
and that it is nothing but superstition. [LAW, Reflections on Naïvety]
Supreme Principle: The Supreme Principle is pure Substance, which is to say It is
without accident. Without accident, that is: without contingency, without limit and
without imperfection; contingency being opposed to Absoluteness as the accident is
opposed to the Substance; and similarly, limit being opposed to Infinitude, and
imperfection to Perfection, or the Potentiality of Good. [FDH, Structure and Universality
of the Conditions of Existence]
Symbol: A symbol is anything that serves as a direct support for spiritual realization, as,
for example, a mantra or a Divine name, or, in a secondary way, a graphic, pictorial or
sculptured symbol such as a sacred image (pratika). [LS, The Vedanta]
A symbol is intrinsically so concrete and so efficacious that celestial manifestations,
when they occur in our sensory world, “descend” to earth and “reascend” to Heaven; a
symbolism accessible to the senses takes on the function of the supra-sensible reality
which it reflects . . . The word “symbol” implies “participation” or “aspect”, whatever
difference of level may be involved. [LAW, In the Wake of the Fall]
A symbol is truly what it symbolizes as far as its essential reality is concerned. [TUR,
Concerning Forms in Art]
Symbol / Rite: Let us specify that the accident is to the Substance what ice or steam is to
water, and that the form is to the Essence what the reflection is to the sun; or again, on
quite a different plane, the relationship between the participle and the verb equals that of
the accident and the Substance, and the relationship between the word and the thing
signified equals that between the form and the Essence. And similarly in the spiritual
domain: when we distinguish between the symbol and its principial archetype, the “Idea”
(Eidos), we refer to the discontinuous and static relationship “form-Essence”; but when
we distinguish between the rite and its effect, we refer to the relationship “accident-
Substance,” which is continuous and dynamic. This is to say that the accident is a “mode”
of the Substance, whereas the form is a “sign” of the Essence.
Every sacred symbol is an “enlightening form” that invites to a “liberating rite”: the
“form” reveals the Essence to us, whereas the “rite” leads us back to the Substance; to the
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