In 1938 the Catholic esotericist Valentin Tomberg gave a series of seven lectures on inner development, his fifth lecture being on Christ’s temptations in the wilderness. The devil’s three temptations in reverse order of Matthew’s Gospel account are as follows:1. The world and its glories, if he worships him2. Testing God by jumping from the … Continue reading Three Temptations
Metaphysics
What to Make of the Flowers
Aristotle, and some 1,500 years later Aquinas, would call the vegetative soul the most basic aspect of the living hierarchy, with Plato too before them attributing the ‘appetitive’ aspect of the tripartite soul to the vegetative principle. Iamblichus the Neoplatonist would say as well that the vegetative lies at the minimal extreme of life. The … Continue reading What to Make of the Flowers
Man the Animal
Science and the materialists say we’re apes. Traditional teachings say the same, to a point. This shouldn’t be an observation that alarms anyone, though of course it’s a common tendency to desire to be special and view oneself as somehow separated from the animal; and we are, ideally. Part of what sets us apart from … Continue reading Man the Animal
Yin and Yang – 陰陽
The concept of Yin and Yang is most often illustrated within a symbol called a "Taijitu", which represents Taiji, "great pole", in both its monist (Wuji) and its dualist (Yin and Yang) aspects. And so represented is the ultimate, supreme Principle that is unmanifest, Wuji, and from this comes the creator which indicates it is … Continue reading Yin and Yang – 陰陽
Sum Ergo Oro 