The many and the mirror

[boccaderlupo]

God reveals Himself to each person according to each person's mode of conceiving Him. To those whose aspiration transcends the complex structure of matter, and whose psychic powers are fully integrated in a single unceasing gyration around God, He reveals Himself as Unity and Trinity. In this way He both shows forth His own existence and mystically makes known the mode in which that existence subsists. To those whose aspiration is limited to the complex structure of matter, and whose psychic powers are not integrated, He reveals Himself not as He is but as they are, showing that they are completely caught in the material dualism whereby the physical world is conceived as composed of matter and form. —St. Maximus the Confessor, "Various Texts on Theology, the Divine Economy, and Virtue and Vice"

Emphases mine. The latter point brings to mind the "mirror" concept sdi shared, I believe, from Taoism.

Comments

[sdi]

Continuing to make my way through Manly P. Hall's whirlwind tour of Neoplatonism. This paragraph from Pathways of Philosophy, talking about the philosophy of Paracelsus, speaks to many of the points you raise on this blog (including the above one):

By visualizing inwardly the purpose of life and the goal of human effort man can bring to himself a good or evil destiny according to his use of the imaginative power. The human being images or imagines the form of the world in which he lives. We do not perceive things as they are, but as we imagine them to be. Thus if we imagine the world to be evil it becomes evil for us; if we imagine ourselves the victims of injustice this imagining will depress our spirits and cause us to interpret everything that occurs as a personal injustice to ourselves. But Paracelsus went still further; he believed that the imaginations of one person could be transferred to another through the mystery of the astral light. In this way our most secret convictions and beliefs have a power for public woe or weal. This is magic. It is not necessary to draw circles at crossroads or conjure up spirits to do our bidding; the supreme magical art is the control of the imagination by the will of the adept.

[boccaderlupo]

Very good! I have only read "The Secret Teachings..." by Hall, but this one sounds interesting. Thank you.