His intellectual life becomes so fascinating and pleasurable, the memories of sweet love begin to fade. Instead, he longs for a higher connection. His desire is to share ideas on music, literature, poetry, history, metaphysics, and the like. Procreation reappears as intellectual creation at this stage. Continue reading
Diotima, in the Symposium, describes the ladder of ascent to the knowledge of the eternal idea of Beauty. Sometimes in order to know where you are, it is necessary to know where you were. Since the ideas are eternal, prophecy is outside of time. Prophecy therefore can be a revelation of the past as well as of the future. To forget the past is to have no future.
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Know, truly, that I have never written a word in my books except under the direction of the Holy Spirit. In all men is found, by the same nature, a triple unity which, among the righteous, is moreover supernatural. ~ John of Ruysbroeck Continue reading
Forgetting is analogous to death so remembering is life giving. Some memories arise spontaneously. Others take some effort. One should not stop at intellectual memory. It may take more effort to expand that memory to deeper levels. This essay has been some time in planning. The events mean nothing to you, but each time I’ve relived them, there is more intensity. Humor may be used to hide it. Nevertheless, over time, a common thread has been revealing itself to me. Continue reading
Contemplation of God without formal support is not possible… Since therefore some form of support is necessary, the best and most perfect kind is the contemplation of God in women. ~ Ibn Arabi Continue reading
Plato famously claimed the knowing is remembering. In particular, we have forgotten the world of essences, that is, the ideas in the mind of God; Hence, knowing an essence is just a recall of that which was forgotten. A fortiori, knowledge of the Self, our essence, and our destiny must also be a form of remembering. But memory of the forms takes place in stages. We understand more as we rise up through the states of being. Continue reading
Tradition describes the world of Being, essences, the necessary, which alone is fully real. The rest can only see the world of Becoming, the accidental, the contingent. It is imperative to shift one’s perspective. Continue reading
There is a greater probability that the being will encounter one of the innumerable peripheral conditions comparable in our world to those of animals or even vegetables. Continue reading
The Feminine is the esoteric and the esoteric is Feminine. It is the part of the Self that is most hidden. Conversely, the Masculine is exoteric, the Law. The Virginal Conception means that Christianity originates in the purely esoteric. Without a male father, then, Jesus does not bring a new … Continue reading
The end of the year is customarily the time to review the past year and plan for the next. Because of the personal equation, there is no yellow brick road to follow. Instead, a man must be a wanderer, following instincts and intuitions. Continue reading