glossary of terms used by frithjof schuon - Sophia Perennis

enveloped Christ’s ascension. That is to say, our conception of the origin of mankind is
based on the doctrine of the projection of the archetypes ab intra; thus our position is that
of classical emanationism – in the Neoplatonic or gnostic sense of the term – which
avoids the pitfall of anthropomorphism while agreeing with the theological conception of
creatio ex nihilo. [THC, Survey of Integral Anthropology]
Man (primordial / fallen): Primordial man knew by himself that God is; fallen man does
not know it; he must learn it. Primordial man was always aware of God; fallen man,
while having learned that God is, must force himself to be aware of it always. Primordial
man loved God more than the world; fallen man loves the world more than God, he must
therefore practice renunciation. Primordial man saw God everywhere, he had the sense of
archetypes and of essences and was not enclosed in the alternative “flesh or spirit”; fallen
man sees God nowhere, he sees only the world as such, not as the manifestation of God.
[RHC, On Intelligence]
Man (spiritual / worldly): The spiritual man is one who transcends himself and loves to
transcend himself; the worldly man remains horizontal and detests the vertical dimension.
[EPW, Sincerity: What it Is and What it Is Not]
Man (supreme function): Something must be said about the priority of contemplation.
As one knows, Islam defines this supreme function of man in the hadith about ihsan
which orders man to “adore Allah as though thou didst see Him,” since “if thou dost not
see Him, He nonetheless seeth thee.” Christianity, from its angle, calls first for total love
of God and only after this for love of the neighbor; now it must be insisted, in the interest
of the first love, that this second love could not be total because love of ourselves is not
so; whether ego or alter, man is not God. In any case it follows from all traditional
definitions of man’s supreme function that a man capable of contemplation has no right
to neglect it but is on the contrary called to dedicate himself to it; in other words, he sins
neither against God nor against his neighbor – to say the least – in following the example
of Mary in the gospels and not that of Martha, for contemplation contains action and not
the reverse. If in point of fact action can be opposed to contemplation, it is nevertheless
not opposed to it in principle, nor is action called for beyond what is necessary or
required by the duties of a man’s station in life. In abasing ourselves from humility, we
must not also abase things which transcend us, for then our virtue loses all its value and
meaning; to reduce spirituality to a “humble” utilitarianism – thus to a disguised
materialism – is to give offense to God, on the one hand because it is like saying it is not
worthwhile to be overly preoccupied with God, and on the other hand because it means
relegating the divine gift of intelligence to the rank of the superfluous. [UI, The Path]
“Man of Faith” / “Man of Gnosis”: It is the difference between the believer, who in all
things has in view moral and mystical efficacy to the point of sometimes needlessly
violating the laws of thought, and the gnostic, who lives above all from principial
certitudes and who is so made that these certitudes determine his behavior and contribute
powerfully to his alchemical transformation. [SME, Confessional Speculation: Intentions
and Impasses]
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