Universal Doctrines
“Behind the veil of all mystical allegories of ancient doctrines [teachings], behind the darkness and strange ordeals of all initiations, under the seal of all sacred writings…in the cryptic emblems of our old books on alchemy, in the ceremonies practiced at reception by all secret societies, there are found indications of a doctrine which is everywhere the same.”
–Eliphas Levi (a.k.a. Alphonse Louis Constant, French Writer, Historian and Magician, 1810-1875)
Symbols of Oneness
“The common origin of the human race is proved by the universal themes of folklore [and] legend…. Orientalism, the study of comparative religion, mythology, cultural anthropology, the history of civilization and art, esotericism, psychoanalysis, and symbolological research have all combined to provide us with ample material to substantiate psychological truth, and this essential oneness.”
–J.E. Cirlot (a.k.a. Juan Eduardo Cirlot Laporta, Spanish Poet, Art critic, Hermeneutist, Mythologist, Musician and Writer, 1916-1973)
Symbols
“Symbols, images, and archetypes…are the key regulators and main ‘switches’ of human consciousness and of one’s inner life.
It is through them that all alterations, focusing, and expansion of human consciousness take place, for they are the regulators, accumulators, and transformers of human consciousness.
They enable a person to connect himself (and his field of consciousness) temporarily and to identify with something greater and larger than he is and, thus, slowly to transcend himself and actualize his latent energies, faculties, and potentialities.”
–Peter Roche de Coppens (American Writer and Professor of Sociology, Anthropology and Psychotherapy at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania)
Divine Light and Fire, Experiencing Esoteric Christianity
The Center
“The symbolism of the ‘Centre’, which plays a considerable part in every religion, is integral with the symbolism of Heaven: it is at the ‘Centre of the World’ that the break through the plane may take place, making it possible to enter into Heaven.”
–Mircea Eliade (Romanian Historian of Religion, Philosopher, Novelist and Professor at the University of Chicago, 1907-1986)
The Law of Correspondences
“The law of correspondences is the foundation of all symbolism and by virtue of it every thing proceeding essentially from a metaphysical principle, which is the source of its reality, translates and expresses this principle in its own way and according to its own level of existence, so that all things are related and joined together in total, universal harmony which is, in its many guises, a reflection of its own fundamental unity.”
–René Guénon (a.k.a. Shaykh `Abd al-Wahid Yahya, French Intellectual, Metaphysician and Writer on the Perennial Philosophy, 1886-1951)
