glossary of terms used by frithjof schuon - Sophia Perennis

ejoicing in the good which they enjoy, and having compassion in their misfortunes, as if
they were our own, and causing no offense whatsoever to anyone.” [CI, The Spiritual
Virtues According to St. Francis of Assisi.]
God (Personal): The “Personal God” is in fact none other than the personification of the
Essence. [LT, The Servant and Union]
The Absolute by definition comprises the “energy” or “shakti” that is Infinitude, and, as
All-Possibility, it projects Relativity, Maya. Now, the Personal God is the center or the
very summit of this extrinsic dimension; far from being able to determine the Absolute-
Infinite, His function is to bring about and govern existential projection; it is with regard
to this projection that God as Creator, Legislator and Retributor is omnipotent and
appears to be the Absolute itself. [SME, Dimensions of Omnipotence]
Good / Evil: In normal conditions, that may be considered to be good which, first, is in
conformity with the Divine Attraction, second, is in conformity with universal
Equilibrium, and third, provides a positive result in regard to the ultimate destiny of man;
and that may be considered to be evil which is contrary to the Divine Attraction and
universal Equilibrium, and produces a negative result.
Moreover, the sense of what is good or evil may be derived quite simply from the fact
that Heaven has ordered or permitted one thing and has forbidden another. [LT, The
Problem of Qualifications]
Goodness: Goodness is in the very substance of the Universe, and for that reason it
penetrates right into the matter we know, “accursed” though that matter be. The fruits of
the earth and the rain from the sky, which make life possible, are nothing if not
manifestations of the Goodness that penetrates everywhere and warms the world; and we
carry that Goodness within ourselves, at the bottom of our chilled hearts. [LAW, Man in
the Universe]
Gottheit / Gott: Let us recall here that Meister Eckhart very rightly brought out this
distinction in terming Beyond-Being die Gottheit, “the Godhood,” and in reserving the
word Gott, “God,” for Being, who is the Divine Self-personification. [CI, Dilemmas of
Moslem Scholasticism]
Gratitude: The grateful man is one who maintains himself in holy poverty, or, in other
words, in a sort of holy monotony in the midst of inevitable distractions and complex
occupations; he also maintains himself in a state of holy childhood, keeping blessedly
apart from every unhealthy curiosity, from every temptation that both imprisons and
pursues. The pious man knows that he lives in exile – but without bitterness and without
ingratitude – and he lives both on certainty and hope; and that man alone will go to
Paradise who is already in it here-below through his resignation to the will of God, and
through the graces that flow from this.
Gratitude is a virtue that allows us, not only to be content with little things – this is holy
childhood – but also to appreciate or respect little things or big things because they come
from God, beginning with the beauty and the gifts of nature; one must be sensitive to the
innocence and mystery of the divine works. Worship of the Divine Substance involves
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