glossary of terms used by frithjof schuon - Sophia Perennis

Intelligent Error: It is only too evident that mental effort does not automatically give
rise to the perception of the real; the most capable mind may be the vehicle of the
grossest error. The paradoxical phenomenon of even a “brilliant” intelligence being the
vehicle of error is explained first of all by the possibility of a mental operation that is
exclusively “horizontal,” hence lacking all awareness of “vertical” relationships;
however, the definition “intelligence” still applies, because there is still a discernment
between something essential and something secondary, or between a cause and an effect.
A decisive factor in the phenomenon of “intelligent error” is plainly the intervention of an
extra-intellectual element, such as sentimentality or passion; the exclusivism of
“horizontality” creates a void that the irrational necessarily comes to fill. It should be
noted that “horizontality” is not always the negation of the supernatural; it may also be
the case of a believer whose intellectual intuition remains latent, this being precisely what
constitutes the “obscure merit of faith”; in such a case one may, without absurdity, speak
of devotional and moral “verticality.” [RHC, On Intelligence]
Intention: The primacy of intention stems from the fact that one and the same action –
we are not saying every action – may be good or bad according to the intention, whereas
the inverse is not true: an intention is not good or bad according to the action. It is not
actions that matter primarily, but rather intentions, as common sense as well as traditional
wisdom tell us; however, it goes without saying that this could not mean, as some people
imagine, that every imperfect or even bad action can be excused by supposing that the
intention was good or even by arguing that every intention is basically good merely
because it is subjective and that, according to some people, subjectivity is always right . .
. and also that subjectivity has priority over objective reality; whereas “there is no right
superior to that of the truth.” [PM, On Intention]
The fixed idea that the argument of intention is a panacea has become so habitual that too
many people abuse it without reflecting, by protesting their good intention in cases where
the question of intention could not even arise. Quite generally, it is all too clear that good
intentions in no way constitute a guarantee of a man’s worth, nor even, consequently, of
his salvation; in this sense, intention is worthy only through its actualization.*
(*As the German – or the analogous English – proverb has it: “The road to hell is paved
with good intentions” (Der Weg zur Holle ist mit guten Vorsatzen gepflastert); doubtless
they derive from this saying of Ecclesiasticus (21:10): “The way of sinners is smoothly
paved with stones, but at its end is the pit of Hades.” And according to the Epistle of
Saint James (4:17), “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”)
[PM, On Intention]
Intention determines not only actions, but obviously also moral attitudes. There is a
humility, a charity and a sincerity – but these are then merely appearances – stemming
from hypocrisy, hence properly from satanism, namely: egalitarian and demagogic
humility, humanistic and basically bitter charity, and cynical sincerity. There are false
virtues whose motives are basically to demonstrate to oneself that one has no need of
God; the sin of pride consists here in believing that our virtues are our property and not a
gift of Heaven; which is all the more wrong in that, in this case, the virtues are imaginary,
since pride perverts them. [PM, On Intention]
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