glossary of terms used by frithjof schuon - Sophia Perennis

wisdom. Esoterically, one can distinguish in Ihsan two accentuations, that of gnosis,
which implies doctrinal intellectuality and that of love, which demands the totality of the
volitive and emotive soul; the first mode operating with intellectual means – without for
all that neglecting the supports that may be necessitated by human weakness – and the
second, with moral and sentimental means. It is in the nature of things that this love may
exclude every element of intellection, and that it may readily if not always do so –
precisely to the extent that it constitutes a way – whereas gnosis on the contrary always
comprises an element of love, doubtless not violent love, but one akin to Beauty and
Peace. [SVQ, The Quintessential Esoterism of Islam]
Ihsan (hadith): “Spiritual virtue (ihsan = right doing) is that thou shouldst worship God
as if thou sawest Him, for, if thou seest Him not, He nevertheless seeth thee.” [SVQ, The
Quintessential Esoterism of Islam]
Ihsan (subjective / objective): Ihsan comprises the subjective meaning of “sincerity” –
to act as if we were seeing God, He who sees us – and the objective meaning of “action
productive of good”. [FDH, To Refuse or To Accept Revelation]
Illumination: It is true that the word “illumination” can have a superior meaning, in
which case it no longer designates a passive phenomenon; unitive and liberating
illumination is beyond the distinction between passivity and activity. Or more exactly,
illumination is the Divine Activity in us, but for that very reason it also possesses an
aspect of supreme Passivity in the sense that it coincides with the “extinction” of the
passional and dark elements separating man from his immanent Divine Essence; this
extinction constitutes receptivity to the Influx of Heaven – without losing sight of the fact
that the Divine Order comprises a “Passive Perfection” as well as an “Active Perfection,”
and that the human spirit must in the final analysis participate in both mysteries. [THC,
Gnosis Is Not Just Anything]
Image (simple / complex): An image is simple insofar as it represents a particular
heavenly reality, and complex insofar as it includes, as may be the case, a particular
group of symbols, indicating for example diverse attributes or functions. [LT, The Saint
and the Divine Image]
Immanence / Transcendence: Immanence is not only the presence of the divine in our
soul, it is also this presence around us, in the world, just as inversely, transcendence is the
inaccessibility of God, not only above us, in the Heavens, but also within us, in the depths
of the heart.*
(*At least a priori, leaving out of consideration mystical union or metaphysical
realization.) [THC, Degrees and Scope of Theism]
Immanent: We interpret the words “immanent,” “immanence” and “immanentism”
according to the etymological meaning: immanens means “dwelling within.” The modern
philosophical interpretation, starting with Spinoza, is abusive; immanence is neither
identity, nor negation of transcendence; nor epistemological subjectivism, of course.
[SME, Two Esoterisms]
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