Traditional Quotes and Symbols
The mystery lies, not in evil, but in infinity.
Anthropomorphism is inevitable in religions, but it is a two-edged sword. Inevitably it brings with it contradictions which can be only imperfectly neutralized, and that by calling them 'mysteries'.
What people fail to understand is that the divine nature implies manifestation, creation, objectivation, and what is 'other-than-the-Self', and that this projection implies imperfection and therefore evil, since what is 'other-than-God' cannot be perfect, God alone being good.
This goodness God projects into His manifestation in which,
by reason of the separative remoteness, imperfection is implicit. God never directly wills evil, but He accepts it inasmuch as it manifests by metaphysical necessity the world, the 'projection' of Himself willed by His infinity.
The mystery lies, not in evil, but in infinity. The divine Person never directly wills evil, except through justice for the re-establishing of equilibrium, and the possibility of evil comes, not from the will, from the Person of God, but from the infinity of His nature. The Vedantists express this mystery of infinity by saying that Maya is without origin.
The Infinite is what it is; one may understand it or not understand it.
Metaphysic cannot be taught to everyone but, if it could be, there would be no atheism.
Anthropomorphism cannot avoid attributing, indirectly, absurdities to God; now it is impossible to speak of God to most men without using an anthropomorphic symbolism and this is especially so since God really includes a personal aspect of which the human person is precisely a reflection.
When we say that God wills only what is good, that is only fully true if God is envisaged from a definite, and so a restricted, aspect, and if we specify that evil must be seen as such, that is to say as it appears to creatures. It must be added that, even in the world, good has the upper hand over evil in spite of the sometimes contrary appearances which a particular section of the cosmos may, in a particular existential situation, present.
Mercy is the first word of God; thus it must also be His last word. Mercy is more real than the whole world...
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Frithjof Schuon
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Quoted in: The Essential Frithjof Schuon (edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr)
The mystery lies, not in evil, but in infinity.
Anthropomorphism is inevitable in religions, but it is a two-edged sword. Inevitably it brings with it contradictions which can be only imperfectly neutralized, and that by calling them 'mysteries'.
What people fail to understand is that the divine nature implies manifestation, creation, objectivation, and what is 'other-than-the-Self', and that this projection implies imperfection and therefore evil, since what is 'other-than-God' cannot be perfect, God alone being good.
This goodness God projects into His manifestation in which,
by reason of the separative remoteness, imperfection is implicit. God never directly wills evil, but He accepts it inasmuch as it manifests by metaphysical necessity the world, the 'projection' of Himself willed by His infinity.
The mystery lies, not in evil, but in infinity. The divine Person never directly wills evil, except through justice for the re-establishing of equilibrium, and the possibility of evil comes, not from the will, from the Person of God, but from the infinity of His nature. The Vedantists express this mystery of infinity by saying that Maya is without origin.
The Infinite is what it is; one may understand it or not understand it.
Metaphysic cannot be taught to everyone but, if it could be, there would be no atheism.
Anthropomorphism cannot avoid attributing, indirectly, absurdities to God; now it is impossible to speak of God to most men without using an anthropomorphic symbolism and this is especially so since God really includes a personal aspect of which the human person is precisely a reflection.
When we say that God wills only what is good, that is only fully true if God is envisaged from a definite, and so a restricted, aspect, and if we specify that evil must be seen as such, that is to say as it appears to creatures. It must be added that, even in the world, good has the upper hand over evil in spite of the sometimes contrary appearances which a particular section of the cosmos may, in a particular existential situation, present.
Mercy is the first word of God; thus it must also be His last word. Mercy is more real than the whole world...
-----
Frithjof Schuon
-----
Quoted in: The Essential Frithjof Schuon (edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr)