glossary of terms used by frithjof schuon - Sophia Perennis

we would say this: 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. These are concrete realities, and
not sentimental evaluations or other reactions of human subjectivity.
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]
Morality (double significance): That is to say on the distinction between what is good
according to the law and what is good according to virtue. The two do not always
coincide, for a base man can obey the law, be it only through simple constraint, while a
noble man may be obliged, exceptionally, to transgress a law out of virtue, to put pity
above duty, for example.* Legal or objective morality has its source in a given
Revelation and also in the realities of social existence, whereas innate or subjective
morality derives, on the contrary, from our theomorphic substance, or from the Intellect,
as Socrates would say, and it is obviously this intrinsic morality that we have in view
when we speak of moral qualification.
(* Or on the contrary to put, without pity, spiritual duty above social duty, when the
alternative is forced upon him: “Honour thy father and thy mother,” but also: “If any man
come to me, and hate not his father, and mother . . . he cannot be my disciple” (Luke
14:26.) In other words: “He that loveth father and mother more than me is not worthy of
me” (Matthew 10:37).) [LT, The Problem of Qualifications]
Morality (intrinsic / extrinsic): There is an intrinsic morality and an extrinsic morality.
The first concerns innate laws, disposed with a view to the sacerdotal nature of man and
also with a view to the equilibrium of society;* the second concerns particular laws,
disposed in accordance with the objective and subjective conditions of a given traditional
humanity. Intrinsic or essential morality comprises the virtues; extrinsic morality, which
alone is relative, concerns actions. It is the confusion of actions in themselves with
inward values which constitutes moralism and gives rise to hypocrisy,^ and it goes
without saying that the moral qualification refers, not to actions as such, but to the
virtues.
The two great dimensions, the one vertical and the other horizontal, are interdependent.
One cannot follow the Divine Attraction without conforming to the cosmic Equilibrium,
and one cannot conform to this Equilibrium without following the Divine Attraction,
whence the two supreme commandments, namely, love of God and love of the neighbor,
in which are found “the Law and the Prophets.”
(* “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to
them: for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12).
^ A typical example of moralism is the altruism of Vivekananda with its absurd notion of
“egoistic salvation”: it is in the nature of heresy that it should obstinately inflate a relative
principle the meaning of which has been forgotten and the aberrant exaggeration of
which is presented as an end in itself.) [LT, The Problem of Qualifications]
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