glossary of terms used by frithjof schuon - Sophia Perennis

emains paradoxically attached out of atavism and sentimentality, or even out of sheer
lack of imagination. [TB, A Defense of Zen]
Aesthetics: By ‘integral aesthetics’ we mean in fact a science that takes account not only
of sensible beauty but also of the spiritual foundations of this beauty, these foundations
explaining the frequent connection between the arts and initiatic methods. [EPW,
Foundation of an Integral Aesthetics]
Alternativism: Alternativism – that is, the prejudice of seeing in every relative and
therefore reconcilable opposition a fundamental and irreconcilable one that would force
us spiritually and morally to a violent choice – induced the early rationalists of Islam,
namely the Mutazilites, to see an incompatibility between the Qualities of God and His
Unity; from this there resulted a tendency either to deny the diversity of these qualities or
even to deny them altogether. With the Mutazilites, one finds the same alternative
between Justice and Predestination, and the same incapacity to see that here are two faces
of a single reality, or two different relationships. The inability to reconcile the pure
spirituality of God – or His “non-materiality” – with the possibility of a beatific vision
stems from the same intellectual limitation. [CI, Dilemmas of Moslem Scholasticism]
Analogy / Identity: Analogy is a discontinuous identity, and identity a continuous
analogy. [UI, The Path]
The relationship of analogy is that of discontinuity between center and periphery: created
things, including thoughts – everything indeed that constitutes cosmic manifestation – are
separated from the Principle . . .
The relationship of identity on the contrary is that of continuity between center and
periphery, it is consequently distinguished from the relationship of analogy as radii are
distinguished from concentric circles. Divine manifestation, around us and in us, prolongs
and projects the Principle and is identified with it precisely in respect of the immanent
divine quality. [EPW, Understanding Esoterism]
Ancestor: Among the peoples of the Far East, the ancestor is at once the origin and the
spiritual or moral norm; he is, for his descendants, the essential personality, that is to say
the substance of which they are like the accidents; and piety consists precisely in viewing
him thus and in seeing in him but the bridge connecting them – his descendents – with
the Divine . . . Ancestors are the human imprints of angelic substances and, for that
reason, also of divine Qualities; to be true to them is to be true to God; they oblige us to
remain in conformity with the eternal “idea” whence we came forth, and which is the law
of our existence and the goal of our life.
This connection between the ancestor and his angelic and divine prototypes is moreover
apparent in the Japanese word kami, which denotes the ancestor and the literal meaning
of which is “located above”; in sacred language, this word means “divine aspect,”
“cosmic principle,” “spirit.” The Shinto tradition is called Kami-no-Michi or “Way of the
Gods,” which implies that it is also the way of the ancestors. [TB, The Meaning of
Ancestors]
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