Quotations relevant to the Path

[obnoxion]

Devotion frees.

- Vigyan Bhairav Tantra -

[obnoxion]

The great ambiguity of the human phenomenon resides in the fact that man is divine without being God: Koranically speaking, man gives all the creatures their names, and that is why the angels must prostate before him - except the supreme Angel, which indicates man's divinity, and consequently his authority and autonomy, are relative, although "relatively absolute". Thus the fall of man as such could not be total, as is proven a priori by the nature and destiny of the patriarch Enoch, father of all "pneumatics", so to speak.

For exoterist ideology, esoterism - gnosis - can orginate only from darkness, since it seems to claim the prerogative of the forbidden tree, spontaneous and autonomous discernment between "good and evil". But this is to overlook the essential, namely, that aliquid est in anima quos est increabile... et hoc est Intellectus. [There is something in the soul which is uncreated and uncreatable...and this is the Intellect. - Maister Eckhart-]. The fall was, precisely, the rupture between reason and Intellect, the ego and the Self; one could speculate forever on the modes and degrees of this rupture, which on the one hand involves the human species and on the other hand could not be absolute.



- Frithjof Schuon: "The Fullness of God - Frithjof Schuon on Christianity" (World Wisdom, 2004; pages 58 - 59).


P.S. There is an interesting footnote on the "supreme Angel":
Or the Archangels, which amounts to the same thing: it is the divine Spirit that is mirrored directly at the center or summit of universal Manifestation.

[Angolmois]

"But I always liked side-paths, little dark back-alleys behind the main road- there one finds adventures and surprises, and precious metal in the dirt."

- Fedor Dostojevski, The Brothers Karamazov

[obnoxion]

In the stage beyond manifestation the yoni is represented by the circle, the central pointi being the root of linga. But in differentiated creation, the three qualities become distinct and the circle changes to a triangle. These are the essential figurations in the symbolism of yantras... [T]he linga stands for liberation in all the triangles of nature.

- Alan Danielou: "The Gods of India, Hindu Polytheism" (Inner Traditions, 1985; p. 231).

This quote is taken from Mark S. G. Dyczkowski's "A Journey in the World of the Tantras" (Indica, 2004; p. 179, 10th footnote). This magnificently lucid quote on sacred geography is used to explain how the tantric goddess Kubjika bents over to her "crooked form" (kubjikarupa). Essentialy, she becomes a triangle.

[Angolmois]

"And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world."

- Joseph Campbell

[Angolmois]

"Extended practice of prayer nurtures our intellect, enlarges very greatly our soul's receptivity to the Gods, reveals to men the life of the Gods, accustoms their eyes to the brightness of the divine light, and gradually brings to perfection the capacity of our faculties for contact with the Gods, until it leads us up to the highest level of consciousness (of which we are capable); also, it elevates gently the disposition of our minds, and communicates to us those of the Gods, stimulates persuasion and communion and indissoluble friendship, augments divine love, kindles the divine element in the soul, scours away all contrary tendencies within it, casts out from the aetherial and luminous vehicle surrounding the soul everything that tends to generation, brings to perfection good hope and faith concerning the light; and, in a word, it renders those who employ prayers, if we may so express it, the familiar consorts of the Gods."

- Iamblichus, De Mysteriis

[Angolmois]

“The more I love humanity in general the less I love man in particular. In my dreams, I often make plans for the service of humanity, and perhaps I might actually face crucifixion if it were suddenly necessary. Yet I am incapable of living in the same room with anyone for two days together. I know from experience. As soon as anyone is near me, his personality disturbs me and restricts my freedom. In twenty-four hours I begin to hate the best of men: one because he’s too long over his dinner, another because he has a cold and keeps on blowing his nose. I become hostile to people the moment they come close to me. But it has always happened that the more I hate men individually the more I love humanity.”

- Fedor Dostoyevsky

[Nefastos]

The anguished cellar man in Notes from Underground, yes?

[obnoxion]

I see a red door and I want it painted black.

- "Pain it Black": Rolling Stones

[Angolmois]

The anguished cellar man in Notes from Underground, yes?

I can't really tell, I was just reading Dostoyevsky quotes from the Goodreads site and this really caught my eye.