RENE GUENON'S 'INITIATION AND SPIRITUAL REALISATION'

Started: 18/03/23
Completed: 26/03/23

1. Against Popularisation
- In Islamic tradition, haqiqatu-zakah (the "truth" of almsgiving) in its
inward and most real aspect consists in bearing human foolishness and ignorance
(haqiqah here is opposed to muzaherah, which is only the outward manifestation or
the accomplishment of the precept taken in its strictly literal sense). This
naturally arises from the virtue of patience (as-sabr), to which a very special
importance is attached, as is proved by the fact that it is mentioned 72 times in
the Quran. (1)

2. Metaphysics and Dialectic

- The "thinker," in the proper sense of the word, is Descartes, who does not
pass beyond rationalism and the exercise of the purely individual and human
faculties to the metaphysical and transcendent realm. (7)
- Dialectic is the use or practical application of logic, taken in the sense
given to it by Plato and Aristotle, and not in the sense attributed to it by
Hegel's philosophy. (8)
- Outside of a traditional organisation, there is no initiation. (11)

3. The Malady of Anguish

- Legitimate anxiety that belongs to a man motivated by discovering the truth
of things would be better called "wonder" in the Aristotelian sense. (13)
- All fear vanishes as soon as knowledge (of metaphysics) is attained; "anti-
metaphysical anguish" (considered a permanent fear) plays the role of the rope
mistaken for a serpent, and is the Hermetic "guardian of the threshold," forbidding
man all access to the domain of metaphysical knowledge. (14)
- The Veda expresses that fear is due to the feeling of duality. (15)
- The state of absolute "solitude" (kaivalya), which is beyond contingency,
is a state of pure impassibility. The ataraxy of the Stoics represents only a
deformed conception of such a state. (16)

4. Custom Versus Tradition

- It is said in traditional Arab countries that in the most ancient times men
were distinguished from one another by their knowledge; later birth and descent
were considered; later still, wealth became a mark of superiority; and in the last
times, men are judged solely on their outer appearances. This is an exact
description of the successive predominance, in descending order, of the respective
points of view of the four castes, or the natural divisions to which these
correspond. Custom belongs to the domain of purely outward appearance and is
therefore properly the action of a Shudra. (22)

5. Initiatic Affiliation
- It is not the Self that must be liberated, since it is never conditioned or
subject to any limitation, but rather the ego, and it can only be liberated by
dissipating the illusion that makes it seem separate from the Self. It is not the
link with the Principle that must be reestablished (through initiation), since it
always exists and cannot cease to exist, but for the manifested being, it is the
effective consciousness of this link that has to be realised; and in view of the
present conditions of humanity, there are no other possible means for this than
those provided by initiation. This link is basically none other that the Sutratma
of the Hindu tradition. (27)
- The word neophyte (convert to religion) means new plant; related to this is
the idea of spiritual posterity; the grains of wheat of Eleusis, or in Mansonry,
the password of the grade of Companion. (28)
 - A seed deriving from itself must have been a possibility of manifestation
at a certain distant time, for otherwise there could have been no beginining. (28)
- Understood in its strictest sense, initiation is the initial transmission
of a spirtual influence in its seed state, or in other words, initiatic affiliation
itself. (29)
- A Pir is the Persian equivalent to a Shaykh. (181)
- Al-Khidr is the designation given by Islamic esoterism to the anonymous
person mentioned in the Quran, surat 18 (surat of the Cave) with whom Moses, who is
considered as the law-bearing messenger and "Pole" of his age, appeared in a
relation of subordination, both of hierachy and knowledge, since the mysterious
person possessed the most transcendent traditional science, chez Nous (the science
of our Abode, of Allah) and since Moses only asks to teach him a part of the
teaching in his possession. (181)
- Al-Khidr is the Master of the Afrad, who are independent of the Qutb. (181)

6. Spiritual Influences and "Egregores"

- Egregore is the proper sense is Greek and means "watcher," it is known to
be found in the book of Enoch where it designates engimatic entities that seem to
belong to the "intermediary world." (37)
- The collective entity, psychic in nature, can be seen as the support
through which the spiritual influence exercises its influence; it is the collective
entity that is most immediately addressed during prayer. (38)
- Initiation is entirely independent of any psychic force since it consists
in the direct transmission of a spiritual influence. (38, 39)
- Egregore refers to a collective psychic entity (Guenon believes the name
"egregore" to be inappropriate in designating such things, as seen on page. 119).
(39)

7. The Necessity of Traditional Exoterism

- The one first adhere to the exterior (exoterism) to penetrate into the
interior (esoterism), as one can only reach the kernel by way of the shell. (42)

8. Salvation and Deliverance

- Salvation refers to an end that is still of an individual order, contra
Deliverance, which is the attainment of the unconditioned state. (46)
- Beings who possess salvation, and therefore persist indefinitely in this
state, is the normal result of exoteric traditional observances; the advantage of
this is a great one, for being fixed thereby in the prolongation of the human state
as long as this state itself subsists in manifestation - which is equivalent to
perpetuity or an indefinite time - these beings will not be able to pass on to
another individual state, which otherwise would be the only possibility for them.
Man possesses the central position in the degree of existence to which he belongs;
when a being must pass to another individual state, there is no guarantee that it
will again occupy a central position relative to the possibilities of that state,
as it does in its present state; on the contrary, there is greater possibility that
it will encounter one of the innumerable peripheral conditions comparable ion our
world to those of animals or even vegetables. One can immediately understand how
serious a disadvantage this is, even if the degree of existence the being passed to
was one higher than our own. This is why certain oriental texts indicate that
"human birth is difficult to obtain." The "second death" is considered formidable
and even sinister, as thisd eath is the dissolution of the psychic elements by
which the being ceases to belong to the human state and thereby must necessarily
and immediately be born into another state; it would be otherwise is the second
death have access to a supra-individual state, but this is no longer the province
of exoterism. (46, 47)
- Attaining salvation for ordinary man means reaching the end of the human
cycle. (48)
- Mystics are concerned with nothing other than salvation, and therefore
belong to the exoteric order; what they mean by "union with God" is certainly not
Yoga. (48)
- There is a hierarchy of "saved beings." (48)

9. Ritual and Moral Points of View

- Phenomena are merely outward appearances. (49)

10. The "Glorification of Work"

- Work is not valid unless it conforms to the beings nature in such a way
that the being can realise this nature; this is in sum the very notion of
svadharma; related to this is what Aristotle has said about the accomplishment by
each being of its "proper activity." (55)
- Art is defined as the "imitation of nature (as cause) in its mode of
operation"; all that is produced "in conformity with order" merits consideration as
a work of art. (56)
- See Coomaraswamy's "Is Art Superstition or a Way of Life?" in his "Why
Exhibit Works of Art?" (57)
- Work is "glorified," or "transformed," when instead of being a merely
profane activity, it constitutes a conscious and effective collaboration toward the
realisation of the plan of the "Great Architect of the Universe." (57)

11. The Sacred and the Profane

- The authentic representatives of the Western tradtion's thinking does not
differ appreciably from that of their adversaries, which suggests a limited if any
vitality remains in the tradition. (60)

12. Conversion
- The original meaning of conversion comes from the Greek metanoia, which
expressed a change of nous, or as Coomaraswamy says, an "intellectual
metamorphosis." This interior transformation implies a concentration of the powers
of the being, and a certain "return" by which the being passes from "human thought"
to "divine contemplation"' metanoia or "conversion" is therefore the conscious
passage of the ordinary and individual mind, normally turned toward sensible
things, to its superior transposition, which is identified with Plato's hegemon and
the Hindu antaryami. It is a necessary phase in every process of spiritual
development. (61)
- The modern understanding of conversion is the passing from one traditional
form to another, typically as the result of proselytism, which is undesirable. (62)
- In principle, there is only one legitimate conversion, which is on the part
of someone who was previously lacking any traditional attachment. (62)
- Anyone with an understanding of the unity of traditions is by that fact
"unconvertible." (64)

13. Ceremonialism and Estheticism

- For those genuine in their intention to join an Eastern tradtion (being
themselves Western), it is necessary that they overcome all tendencies toward
"exoticism," which is for many not the least difficult to overcome. (71)

14. Recent Confusions

- There is perhaps the attempt at the establishment of a new pseudo-esoterism
to divert those not satisfied with exoterism away from true esoterism. (76)

15. "Intellectual Pride"

- In the supra-individual order there is no "I" and the "other," because all
beings are one, "fused but not confused" in the words of Eckhart, and in the words
of Christ: "That they may be one even as the Father and I are one." (80)
- According to the Far-Eastern tradition, "normal" man must be yin with
respect to the Principle, but to the Principle alone, and by reason of his
"central" position he must be yang in relation to all manifestation. (81)
 - When the fall reaches its final stage, pride becomes the negation of the
Principle and humility the negation of hierarchy. (81)

16. Direct Contemplation and Reflected Contemplation

- Pure passivity belongs only to materia prima and can never be found
anywhere in manifestation. (84)
- Mystical contemplation, being indirect / reflected, never implies an
identification but on the contrary always leaves the duality between subject and
object. (84)
- Mysticism is never identification with the Principle or one of its non-
supreme aspects. The Christ Principle is the Logos in itself; Christ Jesus is the
"individualised" aspect of the Avatara. (85)

17. Doctrine and Method

- Each shaykh has his tariqah (method leading to the one goal). (86)
- There is one Yoga but many margas or paths leading to its realisation. (86)
- The dogmatic form is inapplicable outside of the religious form; in the
esoteric and initiatic order there never could have been any question of dogma.
(89, 90)
- Western "tolerance" is indifference to the truth. (90)

18. The Three Ways and the Initiatic Forms

- The Hindu tradition distinguishes three "paths" (margas) which are those of
Karma, Bhakti, and Jnana. (91)
- Jnana-marga is the path appropriate to sattvic beings, while Bhakti-marga
and Karma-marga suit those whoe nature is "rajasic," in a certain sense one could
say that in the last there is something closer to tamas, although no being with a
tamasic nature is qualified to follow any initiatic path at all. (92)
- Jnana corresponds to spirit, Bhakti to soul (psychic elements of the
beings) and Karma to body. The first corresponds to the greater mysteries and hence
attainment of supra-individual states whereas the latter to correspond to the
lesser mysteries, the expansion of the being on the level of individuality. (92)
- Jnana-marga is suited for Brahmins, Bhakti-marga for Kshatriyas (although
in the Bhagavad Gita there is a particular karma-marga suited for Kshatriyas also)
and Karma-marga for Vaishyas. (94)
- The chivalric initiations in the West were bhaktic in character whilst the
craft initiations were karmic in character; the Fedeli d-Amore was bhaktic,
although the jnanic element seems more developed here than in chivalry. (95)
- It is impossible for any of the paths to exist in a pure state. (97)

19. Ascesis and Asceticism

- Ascesis designates a methodical effort to attain a goal of a spiritual
order; whereas mysticism implies the absence of any definite method. (99)
- There is both initiatic ascesis and religious ascesis. (101)
- Sanskrit tapas corresponds in some way to Western ascesis. (101)
- Tapas in its first meaning is "heat" in the sense of an interior fire that
must consume what the Kabbalists would call the "shells" (any obstacle to spiritual
realisation); this interior fire is related to the "sulfur" of the Hermeticists
which is also conceived as a principle of an igneous nature. Tapas thus designates
all methods that are preparatory to realisation. (102)
- Sacrifice in tradition constitutes the ritual par excellence. What is
sacrificed in ascesis are all the contingencies from which a being must succeed in
disengaging itself as from so many bonds or obstacles preventing it from rising to
a higher state. (102, 103)
- Just as the individuality is itself a contingency, ascesis, in its complete
and deepest meaning, is ultimately nothing other than the sacrifice of the ego,
accomplished in order to realise a consciousness of the "Self." In this connection
one may recall the symbolism of the narrow gate that cannot be entered by one who,
like the rich man of the Gospel, has not been able to devest himself of
contingencies, and who having wished to save his soul (his ego), loses it, because
in these conditions he cannot unite himself effectively to the permanent and
immutable principle of his being. (103)

20. Guru and Upaguru

- Upaguru signifies every being, thing, or circumstance with whom an
encounter is for someone the occasion or starting point for a spiritual
development; upaguru is only secondary and auxiliary to the true guru, and is in a
sense the guru's "prolongations." (104, 105)
- The human guru is an exteriorised and "materialised" representation of the
inner guru, which is one with the Self. (106)

21. True and False Spiritual Teachers

- False spiritual teachers often exhibit developed psychic powers, by which
they deluded the public; whoever presents himself as a spiritual teacher without
attaching himself to a definite traditional form, or without conforming to the
rules established by the latter, cannot truly possess the qualifications he
attributes to himself. (109 ,110)
- It is not necessary for the spiritual teacher to have attained complete
realisation in order to guide the disciple through the first stages of his
initiatic journey. (111)

22. Innate Wisdom and Acquired Wisdom

- Confucius taught that there are two kinds of sages, one kind by birth and
the other, like himself, who attained the status of sage by their own efforts; the
sage (cheng) represents the highest degree of the Confucian hierarchy, and also
constitutes the first level of the Taoist hierarchy, thus occupying the limit as it
were where the exoteric and esoteric meet. (112)
- When a being passes on to the human state it is clear that realisation (for
the being) cannot have reached the point of liberation from individual existence,
but it can extend from the most elementary stages to the point nearest which, in
the human state, corresponds to the perfection of this state. (113)
- If the being perfects an individual state, such a being would no longer
have to pass to another individual state. (113)
- Men in the primordial state must have been born into the human state at a
point closest to the perfection of that state, for all attained it without any
effort, and were therefore "sages by birth" so to speak. (113)
- Chen jen is "true man." (114)
- One of the meanings of Platonic "reminiscense" is the realisation of the
being of states that are already exisiting within it. (115)

23. Collective Initiatic Work and Spiritual "Presence"

- Egregore is an inappropriate name for the collective "psychic entity."
(119)
- In the Hebrw Kabbalah it is said that when the sages converse about the
divine mysteries, the Shekinah is present among them, which is the spiritual
"presence." (119)
- Christ says: "When two or three come together in my name, I am in their
midst"; this is more striking if one understands the close connection between the
Messiah and the Shekinah. (120)
- The work of an initiatic organisation must always be accomplished "in the
name" of the spiritual principle from which it proceeds and which it is destined as
it were to manifest in some way in our world; related to this is the many "in my
name" references in the Gospels. (120, 121)

24. The Role of the Guru

- The first steps toward realisation require a guru. (122)
- In Islam, a Shaykh is a spiritual master; whereas a Khulafa is one who can
solely transmit the initiatic influence; baraqah is spiritual presence; silsilah is
traditional filiation. (123)

25. On the Initiatic Degrees

- The attaintment of the primordial state is called "true man." (129)
- There are degrees between the first initiation into an organisation and the
attainment of the primordial state, just as there are degrees between the
primordial state (true man) and the unconditioned state (transcendent man). (127,
128, 129)

26. Against Quietism

- Quietism is properly a form of aberrant mysticism. (130)
- Action in the west has always meant an outward activity that strictly
speaking belongs to the corporeal order alone, and is complementary to
contemplation; activity applies equally to all domains and at all levels of
existence, thus one speaks of mental activity but not mental action. (132)
- Comtemplation is spiritual activity. (132)
- Simple meditation is onyl one means for achieving contemplation and still
pertains to the domain of the individual mentality. (132)
- If one considers the complementary of active and passive in conjunction
with act and potency in the Aristotelian sense, what is most active is thereby
nearest to the purely spiritual order, whereas it is passivity that predominates in
the corporeal order. Activity is all the greater and more real the further it is
exercised from the domain of action. (132)
- Taoist "non-action" implies supreme activity, and detachment with respect
to outward action. (134)

27. Apparent Madness and Hidden Wisdom

- The majdhub, a member of the majadhib, belongs to a tariqah, and therefore
has followed an initiatic path; at a certain moment however he is overwhelmed from
the spiritual side by an "attraction" (jadhb, hence "majdhub"), which for lack of a
sufficiently active attitude, causes a disequillibrium among the different elements
of his being; the higher part, instead of carrying the lower part with it, so that
the latter might participate insofar as is possible in its development, on the
contrary weakens its link with it and leaves the latter behind so to speak, so that
what is realised in only fragmentary. From the point of view of normal realisation,
no element of the being is unimportant, even those belonging to a lower order has
its proper place at all times within the hierarchy of the degrees of existence.
(137, 138)
- A man who has attained a high degree of spiritual development, even a wali
(a Sufi saint) may conceal himself among the majadhib; this bears a likeness to the
"jugglers" of the Middle Ages, whose behaviour in all traditional forms is
considered as "disguise" for initiates of a high rank, especially when they had to
fulfill a worldly mission. By juggler is not meant only conjurer, the juggler was
one who amuses the crowd by accomplishing remarkable things (identified with the
"jester"). The jester was also called "mad." The juggler, as well as the majdhub,
is usually a wanderer. (138, 139)
- The extreme opposite of madness is wisdom, which is why it is one of the
most impenetable masks the latter can cover itself with; this is why in Taoism,
when the "Immortals" manifet themselves in our world, they are always described
under a somewhat extravagant and even ridiculous aspect, not free even from a
certain "vulgarity." (139, 140)

28. The "Popular" Mask

- "Vulgarity" and "popularity" are basically synonymous. (141)
- The "masses" are the plastic / substantial aspect of the social entity.
(142)
- It was in the middle class that rationalism and materialism took root, for
this class is passive too, at least relatively. (142, 143)
- The masses, or the "lower class," are an obscure and inverse reflection of
the elite, which explains why the elite can use the masses as a repository for
spiritual truths which will be thereby be transmitted; this is the raison d'etre of
"folklore." (142, 143)
- The masses correpond to the body, whereas the "mental" corresponds to the
middle class. (143)
- The multitude (of the masses) is a support and base for the elite as is the
body for the spirit in human individuality. (143)
- The two bows in "And he was distant by two lengths of a bow or even
closer," from the Quran are the al-'Ilm and the al-Wujud, that is, Knowledge and
Being. (183)
- The apparent identification of the elite with the multitude corresponds to
what in Islamic esoterism is called Malamatiyah or "the Perfect Ones," who as a
rule adopt an outward appearance that is all the more ordinary and common as their
interior state is more perfect and their spirituality more elevated. (143)
- The whole is more than any of its parts, even if the part is the most
eminent of all; it is in this manner one must understand the superiority of man's
nature to that of the angels, such as it is envisaged in the Islamic tradition.
(144)

29. The Meeting of Extremes

- There is a different meaning attributed to the word "vulgarity" that is
closer to the perjorative and is applied to the "middle class." (147)
- The passage from the lowest to the highest, such as is effected at the end
of a cycle, is properly speaking "instantaneous," which is to say outside of all
duration, which implies a passage through the non-manifested; this constitutes the
"interval" (sandhya), which, according to Hindu tradition, always exists between
two cycles or states of manifestation. If it were otherwise, the beginning and the
end would not coincide in the Principle. This furnishes an understanding of the
meeting of the extremes. And for this reason it is said that any change in state
can only be accomplished in darkness. (149)
- Since every reflection is necessarily an image of what is reflected, the
inferior aspect may be considered as representing the superior aspect in its own
relative order, on condition of course that we not forget the "principle of
inversion"; this is true of the relationship between the spirit and the body as
well as the elite and the people. (150)
- The Hermetic "black blacker than black" is the obscurity or chaos of the
"lower darkness," but is also a symbol of the "higher darkness." (151)
- The "higher darkness" is the Light that surpasses all light (beyond all
manifestation and every contingency, the principial aspect of light itself), in the
same way that silence comprises all sound in their non-manifested modality. It is
here only that the true meeting of the extremes is finally accomplished. (151)

30. Is the Spirit in the Body or the Body in the Spirit?

- Anything not belonging to the corporeal world could by this very fact be
neither in space nor in time (Seems to suggest the non-corporeal modalities of man,
such as the "mental," is not subject to time, perhaps it can be said to be subject
to a certain duration, but this duration not being specifically temporal). (153)
- Jivatma is Atma considered more particularly in relation to the human
individuality. (153)
- Jivatma does appear to be individualised and embodied, but is illusory with
respect to Atma, although it does nonetheless exist from a point of view. (154)
- The subtle modalities cannot be conceived of as being contained within the
corporeal modality, the body, of individual man, as they are the immediate
principle of the corporeal modality. (154)
- When the integral individuality is realised, the corporeal modality is felt
to be enveloped by the subtle modalities, which is contrary to the experience of
ordinary man; likewise, when the total being is realised, comprising therein all
states, Atma is conceived of as enveloping all states, contrary to the common
perception, in which jivatma is conceived as "individualised." (154, 155)
 - The so called "reversal" experienced by the being who realises supra-
individual states is really only a "rectification." (156)
- The Universe is the macrocosm in relation to the total being which is the
microcosm. (156)
- In the Islamic tradition the Prophet is at once the first of God's creation
(as to his principial reality) and the seal (the last of the messengers of God, as
to his terrestrial manifestation), just as Allah is the First and the Last in the
absolute sense. In the Christian tradition the Word is the Alpha and Omega, the
beginning and end of all things. (157)

31. The Two Nights

- Pure potentiality, called hyle or materia prima, is like an inverted
reflection of the principial state of non-manifested possibilities. (160)
- The lower darkness is of a cosmological meaning whereas the higher darkness
is of a metaphysical meaning. (160)
- The development of manifestation can be envisaged at one and the same time
in an ascending and descending sense; manifestation does not only proceed from
Prakriti, from which its development is a gradual passage from potency to act and
can be described as an ascending process; in reality it proceeds from the two
complementary poles of Being, that is from Purusha and Prakriti, and with regard to
Purusha its development is a gradual separation from the Principle, thus a true
descent. (161)
- The higher face is turned toward the non-manifested whereas the lower face
is turned toward manifestation; although this image of two faces implies a kind of
symmetry which cannot truly exist between Principle and manifestation, and further
from the point of view of the Principle itself there can be no distinction between
higher and lower. (162)
- The two faces exist only when the Principle is considered in relation to
manifestation. (162)
- It would be an error to think that pure potentiality could be found at the
origin of our world, which is but one degree of existence among others; despite its
state of indifferentiation, the akasha is nevertheless not devoid of all quality,
and is already specified in view of the production of corporeal manifestation
alone; it can therefore never be confused with Prakriti, which, being absolutely
undifferentiated, thereby contains in itself the potentiality of all manifestation.
(163)
- In the universal or metaphysical order all states contain in themselves the
same virtualities. (165)
- In the human individuality it is the corporeal modality that is the
reflection of the non-manifested. (165)
- The corporeal and the spiritual appear to one another as night. (165)
- In Islamic tradition the two nights represent the descending and ascending
movement, the second (laylatul-miraj) is the Prophets return to the Principle
through the different heavens; the first (laylatual-qadr) is the descent of the
Quran, which is said to be the Prophet's body. The Gospel says "And the Word was
made Flesh." (166)

32. Ascending and Descending Realisation

- The first three states in the Mandukya Upanishad are represented in the
human state as the wakeful state, the dream state, and the state of deep sleep,
which correspond to corporeal manifestation, subtle manifestation, and the
unmanifested; but the fourth state is beyond the unmanifested, which can be called
neither manifested nor unmanifested, since it is beyond both. (168)
- The being attains his Self in the third state of Atma, but the ultimate end
is not that state (of the unmanifested) but the fourth, in which alone the Supreme
Identity / Universal Man is fully realised, for Brahma is both "being and non-
being," "manifested and non-manifested," "sound and slience," without which It
would not be truly absolute. (168, 169)
- See Coomaraswamy's "New Indian Antiquity." (168)
 - Manifestation is not strictly negligible, although it seems so in relation
to the unmanifested. (169)
- The life of Plotinus offers a well known example of a partial realisation.
(170)
- The life of the Bodhisattva has a properly "avataric" character, "avatara"
having the meaning of "descent," by which a principle, or a being representing the
latter, is manifested in the exterior world. (173)
- The wali or Sufi has attained total realisation for himself so to speak,
but has not redescended (attained the third state, and hence one face, the one
turned toward al-Haqq, the Truth, but not the fourth state, and hence the second
face also, the one turned toward al-Khalq, creation); the nabi or Prophet has
attained realisation and helps beings of a certain state; the rasul manifests the
divine attribute of ar-Rahman (the Compassionate) in all the worlds; it is the
rasul who is truly and totally Universal Man. (174, 175)
- The descend of the principle is one of the benefic aspects of the downward
triangle. (174)
- The being having realised its identity with Atma and its "redescent" into
manifestation (or what appears as such from the point of view of the latter, but
which is effectively only the full universalisation of that very identity) is then
none other than Atma "incorporated into the worlds." This amounts to saying that
for it the "redescent" is nothing different from the very process of universal
manifestation. This process is traditionally described as a "sacrifice." In the
Vedic tradition it is the sacrifice of Marapurusha, who is Universal Man. (176)
- Dante never smiled, this apparent sadness should be attributed to the fact
that he has "redescended from Heaven." This is a sacrifice only in the ritual
sense, and is the protoype of every sacrificial rite. (176, 177)
- All Prophets are the eternal Avatara in their most inner Truth. (177)
- It is the sacrifice that confers the sacred character; all Prophets are
symbolically considered as victims. (177, 178, 179)
- In one state or another, every being has the possibility of reaching this
supreme degree of the spiritual hierarchy. (179)