Russian Orthodox icon of the Transfiguration (Theophanes the Greek, ca. 1408).
Can we replace faith in G-d with direct knowledge? The Perennial Philosophy, or religioperennis, invites us to do just that.
Rene Jean Marie Guenon, ’Abd al-Wâhid Yahyâ, an important proponent and student of metaphysics, focused his prayerful attention on the esoteric and universal aspects of world religious traditions. He himself, a European, chose to focus on Hinduism, and was later received as an initiate in the Sufi tradition.
Guenon talked about the “mystical infinite” and “mystical zero.” The Infinite embraces all possibilities. Mystical zero is non-being and, so, has in it no possibilities.
We see the sacred infinite in humanity’s use of symbols that serve as windows into mystery. The icons of Orthodox Christianity are a case in point. The venerated images represent portals into divine space & time.
Our acts of bowing before the Buddha or before icons, the power of prostrations to change one’s state of mind, the fingering of the rosary beads, and so many other similar practices, make the Infinite fully present for us. We can imagine infinity, though we are ourselves finite.
The Infinite and the transcendent become concrete in our experience. We feel it. We sing about it. We write about it, and our dreams are limitless tapestries.
We can look out to the cosmos and, through the invention of mathematics, look more deeply into the idea of time, and contemplate the large-scale structure of the universe. We infer physical attributes based on known laws and theory that lead us to reflect on the condition of the universe in its first microseconds.
This is all heady stuff. It does suggest that the Infinite is undeniably within us, wrapped around us, and that it is personal. The mystical infinite is not an abstract idea, just like my love for my family is not abstract. It is self-evident. The Mystical Infinite is deeply personal.
The products of imagination, coupled with our rich observations and imaginative hypotheses and insight, are concrete evidence of the pulse of the Infinite resident in the human spirit.
To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour. – William Blake
The Mystical Infinite emerges continuously in our thoughts and interactions.
- our capacity to transcend natural self-interest and altruism;
- our poetry opening phenomena to reveal the Spirit;
- our works of fiction creating alternate worlds, populated with colorful characters, and through whom we live multiple lives in diverse times and places;
- our science opening up our minds to ever deeper mystery;
- our finite and limited senses opening up our consciousness to the infinite gradations and finer nuances;
- Cantor’s set theory and mathematical work on infinity proving that there are even different kinds of infinity (e.g., the infinity between two real numbers, and the entire set of all integers, etc.) also suggests perception that goes beyond the usual.
The universe is alive, emerged from mystical zero, to complexify, and express itself in many diverse forms of Being. How, then, can there be any doubt whatsoever of the Presence of the Mystical Heart of Infinity.
Love, true agape, is itself sufficient demonstration of a transcendent function. Add to it the powerful emergence of the collective archetypes in every facet of our lives, and we experience the Beloved as lovers. It is not an object of study, but a dance of eternal intimacy.
How beautiful to be conscious and to know without doubt that infinity is within us, among us, and is our true home: our origin and our destination. QED
© Brother Anton and The Harried Mystic, 2009. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.
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