glossary of terms used by frithjof schuon - Sophia Perennis

Trinity (Koranic): The Trinity “Father, Son, and Mother”, which the Koran attributes to
Christianity, has three meanings: first, it expresses a psychological situation de facto,
Mary being much more present to Christian people, so far as a truly divine function is
concerned, than is the Holy Ghost; second, it implies that the Holy Virgin is identified
with the Spirit insofar as she is the Wisdom that has been “set up from everlasting, from
the beginning, or ever the earth was” (Proverbs 8:23); third, the Koranic formulation has
to stress the exoteric incompatibility of Christian Trinitarianism with Islamic
Unitarianism. [LT, Evidence and Mystery]
Trinity (metacosmic, macrocosmic, microcosmic): The “Father” is God as such, that is
as metacosm; the “Son” is God insofar as He manifests Himself in the world, hence in the
macrocosm; and the “Holy Spirit” is God insofar as He manifests Himself in the soul,
hence in the microcosm. From another point of view, the macrocosm itself is the “Son”,
and the microcosm itself – in its primordial perfection – is identified with the “Holy
Spirit”; Jesus corresponds to the macrocosm, to the entire creation as divine
manifestation, and Mary corresponds to the “pneumatic” microcosm; and let us recall in
this respect the equation that has been made sometimes between the Holy Spirit and the
Divine Virgin, an equation that is linked, in some ancient texts, to the feminization of the
Divine Pneuma. [FSR, Form and Substance in the Religions]
Trinity (“vertical” and “horizontal”): The Trinity can be envisaged according to a
“vertical” perspective or according to either of two “horizontal” perspectives, one of
them being supreme and the other not. The vertical perspective – Beyond-Being, Being,
Existence – envisages the hypostases as “descending” from Unity or from the Absolute –
or from the Essence it could be said – which means that it envisages the degrees of
Reality. The supreme horizontal perspective corresponds to the Vedantic triad Sat
(supraontological Reality), Chit (Absolute Consciousness) and Ananda (Infinite
Beatitude), which means that it envisages the Trinity inasmuch as it is hidden in Unity.*
The non-supreme horizontal perspective on the contrary situates Unity as an Essence
hidden within the Trinity, which is then ontological and represents the three fundamental
aspects or modes of Pure Being, whence the triad: Being, Wisdom, Will (Father, Son,
Spirit).
(* The Absolute is not the Absolute inasmuch as it contains aspects, but inasmuch as it
transcends them; inasmuch as it is Trinity it is therefore not Absolute.) [UI, The Quran]
Truth (efficacious): A truth is efficacious to the extent that we assimilate it; if it does not
give us the strength we need, this merely proves we have not grasped it. It is not for the
truth to be “dynamic,” it is for us to be dynamic thanks to the truth. What is lacking in
today’s world is a penetrating and comprehensive knowledge of the nature of things; the
fundamental truths are always accessible, but they could not be imposed on those who
refuse to take them into consideration. [PM, No Initiative without Truth]
Truth (metaphysical): Metaphysical truth is in the first place discernment between the
Real and the unreal or the less real; and concentration or the operative act of the spirit –
prayer in the very broadest sense – is in a way our response to the truth which offers itself
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