The Enlightenment liberal believes that if the disputing parties engage in a rational discussion of ideas, then they will come to a satisfactory conclusion. However, everyone else knows better. Continue reading →

One of the central teachings of Confucianism is that one should remonstrate with authority. Many Confucians throughout history disputed their superiors in order to not only prevent the superiors and the rulers from wrongdoing, but also to maintain the independent spirits of the Confucians. Continue reading →

Everything in Rome comes from a sacred, supernal sense of life: the foundation of the city is a constructive act that moves from an order of purely spiritual necessity: it is the result of a religious ideal harmony constituted among a group of men, warriors and priests, who seek to establish a new unity, a creative force, and intend primarily to locate the sanctuary of common worship in the city. Continue reading →

This darkness is ignorance or, more precisely, unconsciousness of ignorance — that is to say the natural man is in a state of ignorance and cannot even be conscious of that state. To free himself from it, he must pass to the darkness; this is a terrifying and painful experience, for it ruins and destroys all the patencies and norms on which the natural man lived and depended — a true “descent into hell”, the hell of the unconscious. Continue reading →

An Intellectual elite will be called upon to play a role in the West. A genuine and profound study of the Eastern doctrines is indispensable in preparing for its formation. Continue reading →

To speak with spirits and angels was also common on this earth in ancient times, and for the same reason, namely, because they then thought much of heaven and little of the world. But that living communication with heaven in process of time was closed, as man from internal became external, or what is the same, as he began to think much about the world and little about heaven. Continue reading →

Contemplation of God without formal support is not possible… Since therefore some form of support is necessary, the best and most perfect kind is the contemplation of God in women. ~ Ibn Arabi Continue reading →

Don Quixote chose to be a Knight Errant. He ventured out into the world to right wrongs, defend widows and orphans, and earn the love of a beautiful woman. He found out that the path is hardly easy. Continue reading →

By Thomas Aquinas Introduction Since we cannot be present at the holy ceremonies in honor of the angels, we should not let this time of devotion go by fruitlessly; rather, such time as we do not spend in singing their praises, we should spend in writing about them. And because … Continue reading →

by Solange Herz A frustrated wag in these confused times is said to have asked his Bishop, “Your Excellency, does attendance at the black Mass satisfy my Sunday obligation?” In view of the ceremonies now permitted in many Catholic churches, the question may not be as flippant as it sounds. … Continue reading →