The “presence” of the genio, the lares or the penates in the group to which it corresponded, was made aware and symbolized by the fire, the sacred flame, that had to burn uninterruptedly in the center of the patristic houses, in the temple placed in the atrium, the place where the pater familias celebrated the rites and in which the various members of the domestic or aristocratic group were gathered for meals. Continue reading
In a healthy civilization, the men of intellect would have supervised the building of the edifice of the Ekklesia, the Oikumene, or the Third Kingdom. This edifice would have centered around the natural revelation of a worldly order, a worldly order ultimately ruled through the self-sacrifice of the Empero Continue reading
“The ones who truly love their traditions don’t take them too seriously. They march to get their heads shot off with a joke on their lips. And the reason is that they know they’re going to die for something intangible, something sprung from their fancy, half humor, half humbug. Or … Continue reading
The higher order system defines its components, rather than the other way around. Continue reading
It’s October, and I am thinking, inexorably, of the Protestant Reformation, where my spiritual roots lie. In order to do those roots justice (it does no good to saw them in two), I have to understand the contention made against the Church of the West, the Latin Roman Catholic Church. … Continue reading
Before we proceed along the Arcana of the Meditations, it might be helpful to point out a link between “gnosis” and the “arcana”. In the very first chapter of his Meditations Tomberg highlights the truth that arcana represent “enzymes” or “ferment” which make the soul fruitful by awakening the deeper, … Continue reading
I want to call attention to an aspect of Tomberg’s work that is perhaps unnoticed. He writes so straightforwardly, so poetically, so lucidly, that one can obtain an illusion (particularly if you are only reading with your discursive intellect) that you are understanding him without, in fact, catching on. I … Continue reading
The appeal of liberation from the bonds of the world. Continue reading
Unrelated topics that somehow work well together. Continue reading
Valentin Tomberg (as any reader of this blog by now knows) plays a not insignificant role in linking Christianity with esotericism, even paganism (of the older kind). It would be easy to just go through and cherry pick random quotes from Tomberg: this would actually turn out much better than … Continue reading