Articles and Publications
There is nothing the One is not. Therefore all things unwind from it, so to speak.
This quotation from Damascius, Doubts and Solutions Concerning the First Principle, is taken from 'Unknowing and Unsaying', by Robert K. Clark. It is hoped that this fine article will be the first of many to be published over time, from a range of contributors. We are reminded of the injunction always to put God in the first place, whatever the nature of the undertaking. It is a timely reminder as this venture comes forth into daylight.
It is perhaps suitable that we should open with the subject of the ineffability of God. From the standpoint of the Unknown and Ineffable One, all human undertakings recede into utter insignificance, and the Divine Immensity casts all else by contrast with It into nothingness. Yet ‘there is nothing the One is not’, there is no other origin of worlds, and all that exists comes from It.
As Plotinus writes (Ennead IV. 8. 6-7), a multiplicity of real beings are generated from the One, and the manifestation of things is produced through souls, for it is in every nature to produce what comes after it, and to unfold as does a seed. Were this not so, all would have remained hidden and shapeless within the One. The greatest beauty in the world of sense is but a manifestation of the power and goodness of the intelligible world.
As human souls we have a twofold nature, and may participate both in the intelligible world above, and also in the world of form and sense below. The soul occupies ‘a middle rank among realities’. Let the soul not be dissatisfied with this, or with itself and its own imperfection, but let it only seek amid the movement and diversity of the world, amid activity and adventure, amid the ephemeral, to keep its eyes ever on the One in devout contemplation.
This quotation from Damascius, Doubts and Solutions Concerning the First Principle, is taken from 'Unknowing and Unsaying', by Robert K. Clark. It is hoped that this fine article will be the first of many to be published over time, from a range of contributors. We are reminded of the injunction always to put God in the first place, whatever the nature of the undertaking. It is a timely reminder as this venture comes forth into daylight.
It is perhaps suitable that we should open with the subject of the ineffability of God. From the standpoint of the Unknown and Ineffable One, all human undertakings recede into utter insignificance, and the Divine Immensity casts all else by contrast with It into nothingness. Yet ‘there is nothing the One is not’, there is no other origin of worlds, and all that exists comes from It.
As Plotinus writes (Ennead IV. 8. 6-7), a multiplicity of real beings are generated from the One, and the manifestation of things is produced through souls, for it is in every nature to produce what comes after it, and to unfold as does a seed. Were this not so, all would have remained hidden and shapeless within the One. The greatest beauty in the world of sense is but a manifestation of the power and goodness of the intelligible world.
As human souls we have a twofold nature, and may participate both in the intelligible world above, and also in the world of form and sense below. The soul occupies ‘a middle rank among realities’. Let the soul not be dissatisfied with this, or with itself and its own imperfection, but let it only seek amid the movement and diversity of the world, amid activity and adventure, amid the ephemeral, to keep its eyes ever on the One in devout contemplation.
Unknowing and Unsaying (Robert K. Clark) | |
File Size: | 241 kb |
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Words Cannot Name Thee (Robert K. Clark) | |
File Size: | 103 kb |
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The Shrine of Wisdom, the publishing arm of the Fintry Trust, produces spiritual works with commentaries, which are available for sale on the main Fintry Trust website. Between 1918 and 1947 the Shrine of Wisdom also produced a quarterly magazine, and back copies of the magazine are still available for sale. Articles are also available online: to access the archive, see Shrine of Wisdom Magazine Archive
The Fintry Trust Library has an extensive collection of books on philosophy and religion, including works on all the great world religions and religious thinkers. Its particular strengths are works in the Platonic and Neo-Platonic traditions, as well as a notable collection of books relating to Welsh history, language, and culture and the Celtic tradition. In this interview the Fintry Trust librarian Derek Parker talks about the library:
The Library Collection (2:10)
Online exhibitions (1:12)
The archive of online exhibitions can be viewed on our main website.
The Library Collection (2:10)
Online exhibitions (1:12)
The archive of online exhibitions can be viewed on our main website.