“What struck me on the beach–and it struck me indeed, so that I staggered as at a blow–was that if the Eternal Principle had rested in that curved thorn I had carried about my neck across so many leagues, and if it now rested in the new thorn (perhaps the … Continue reading
Category Archives: Christianity
Gleanings about the Field of Pearls
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
The Hidden Tradition
Let me affirm that divine union is a work which can be accomplished only by the strong and constant resolution of those who desire it; that there is no other means to this end but the persevering use of a pure will, aided by the works and practice of every virtue, fertilized by prayer, that divine grace may come to help our weakness and lead us to the term of our regeneration. ~ Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin 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
Absence as presence: the resurrection and exaltation of Christ
When the Divine Light penetrates the soul, it is united with God as light with light. This is the light of faith. Faith bears the soul to heights unreachable by her natural senses and faculties. Meister Eckhart — Resurrection and faith are a critical matter for Christians; especially in this … Continue reading