glossary of terms used by frithjof schuon - Sophia Perennis

Charity means to lose oneself. [SPHF, The Spiritual Virtues]
The word “charity” signifies goodness that makes itself known, goodness in action.
Theologically, by charity is meant the love of God and neighbor; in ordinary language,
the word charity, considered in isolation, means beneficial action in relation to those who
need it; but in certain contexts, this word also means: to be considerate of others’
feelings. Thus it is commonly said: “Out of charity, do not tell him that, it could make
him sad,” or: “Be good enough to please him in this way”; all of which has nothing to do
with caring for the sick or with giving alms. [PM, Remarks on Charity]
Charity is to freely, and really, help those who need and deserve it. [PM, Remarks on
Charity]
Charity starts from the truth that my neighbor is not other than myself, since he is
endowed with an ego; that in the sight of God he is neither more nor less ‘I’ than I am
myself; that what is given to ‘another’ is given to ‘myself’; that my neighbor is also made
in the image of God; that he carries within him the potentiality of the Divine presence and
that this potentiality must be revered in him; and that the good which is done to our
neighbor purifies us from egoistic illusion and virtually frees us from it when it is done
for God’s sake. [SPHF, Thought and Civilization]
The supreme Law is the perfect love of God – a love that must engage our whole being,
as the Scripture says – and the second Law, that of love of the neighbor, is “like unto” the
first. Now “like unto” does not mean “equivalent to”, and still less “superior to”, but “of
the same spirit”; Christ means that the love of God manifests itself extrinsically by love
of the neighbor, wherever there is a neighbor; that is to say that we cannot love God
while hating our fellow-creatures. In conformity with our full human nature, love of the
neighbor is nothing without the love of God, the one draws all its content from the other
and has no meaning without it; it is true that to love the creature is also a way of loving
the Creator, but on the express condition that its foundation be the direct love of God,
otherwise the second Law would not be the second but the first. It is not said that the first
law is “like unto” or “equal to” the second, but that the second is equal to the first, and
this signifies that the love of God is the necessary foundation and conditio sine qua non
of all other charity. [LAW, The Ancient Worlds in Perspective]
Charity (essence): Most of our contemporaries seem to forget that in true charity God is
“served first,” as Joan of Arc used to say: in other words they forget that charity is, in
essence, to love God more than ourselves, to love our neighbor as ourselves, thus to love
ourselves, but less than God; not to love our neighbor more than ourselves, and not to feel
ourselves obliged to give him what, in our opinion, we would not deserve if we were in
his place. Love of God possesses an element of the absolute deriving from the divine
Absoluteness, but love for the neighbor – and love for ourselves – although recalling the
relationship between man and God, has a relative character deriving from human
relativity; the relationship remains similar thanks to the analogy, but the mode changes
with the object. [SW, Complexity of the Concept of Charity]
Charity (first act of): The first act of charity is to rid the soul of illusions and passions
and thus rid the world of a maleficent being; it is to make a void so that God may fill it
and, by this fullness, give Himself. A saint is a void open for the passage of God. [SW,
Complexity of the Concept of Charity]
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