I have been reading The Way of a Pilgrim, recently, which is a Russian peasant’s account of his discovery of the prayer of the heart. The anonymous author had lost his father and wife to an illness, and been dispossessed by a worthless brother, who had also crippled him when … Continue reading
If You Like, Esoteric Christianity
Tomberg criticizes Gurdjieff’s aims in Meditations on the Tarot as being without grace, and aimed at building a resurrection body apart from Initiation-from-above, although he freely admits the possibility of doing such, tacitly. In Ouspensky’s The Fourth Way, we are given a more detailed, in depth treatment of Gurdjieff’s … Continue reading
Phantastes
It must be said (for subscribers to the Sintesi) that the Inkling project manifests a decidedly “Dionysian” accent: that is, it is the spiritual striving of those who do not possess the Truth innately, but are able to aspire, yearn, and perhaps awaken to that Truth through art and particularly … Continue reading
A Higher Imagination
Typically, as Mihai has pointed out, the imagination functions to degrade man. It offers him pornography, violence, and all other species of lust: a 24/7 cinema strip of running images. If it’s not doing this, it’s running narcissistic movie clips of nonstop happy endings for the engrossed slave, who lives … Continue reading
Poets of the Reunion
Here is Chesterton: The originality of George MacDonald has also a historical significance, which perhaps can best be estimated by comparing him with his great countryman Carlyle. It is a measure of the very real power and even popularity of Puritanism in Scotland that Carlyle never lost the Puritan mood … Continue reading
Finishing What the Inklings Started
Given the level of interest in Christian circles in the Inklings, as well as the responsive reading of articles on Tolkien or Lewis at this site, it might be helpful to pinpoint what the perennial appeal of the Inklings is, wherein the power lies, and how one might recover and … Continue reading
Putting a Rose Back on the Cross
Cologero has been very generous in allowing many of us to write on Gornahoor. For that reason, I’ve sometimes repaid him by not posting anything, when I was sure I had nothing important or clear to say. I am ending the series on Iamblichus; the reader will have to write … Continue reading
Our Thoughts Determine Our Lives
Cologero had mentioned this book, coincidentally, at the same time that I had stumbled across it myself, so I finally made the purchase, and finished reading it. I found it most helpful; Elder Thaddeus is simultaneously very strict (insofar as he sets out an arduous teaching) and yet very compassionate, … Continue reading
Octad
The Octad is a short chapter. Iamblichus continues his march through numbers noting that all men, without exception, count 1-10. The empiricist says this is because they have 10 fingers, and the Hermeticist says “why do you suppose that is?”. In any case, it is not impossible to conceive attempts … Continue reading