Eternal Recurrence of the Same | Friedrich Nietzsche

» I am all the names in history. «

» What, if some day or night, a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: ‘This life, as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh … must return to you — all in the same succession and sequence — even this spider and this moonlight between the trees and even this moment and I myself. 

The eternal hourglass of existence is turned over again and again — and you with it, speck of dust!’ Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: ‘You are a god, and never have I heard anything more divine!’ If this thought were to gain possession of you, it would change you as you are, or perhaps crush you. The question in each and every thing, “do you want this once more and innumerable times more?” would lie upon your actions as the greatest weight. Or how well disposed would you have to become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal? «

Aphorism § 341 - Die fröhliche Wissenschaft

Friedrich W. Nietzsche

1882

Philosophia Perennis: Uncreated Wisdom and the Subtle Contours of Truth

One cannot meaningfully or effectively practice a craft without understanding its foundation. Above all, one cannot practice a spiritual method except on the basis of a previously comprehended doctrine, which provides both the motivation and the paradigm for the work. Doctrine without method is hypocrisy, while method without doctrine leads to error. This underscores why doctrine must be "orthodox"—that is, in essential conformity with the subtle contours of truth. A doctrine born of mere human invention is one of the most potent catalysts for going astray.

 

Philosophia perennis refers to the uncreated wisdom taught by Platonism, Vedanta, Sufism, Taoism, and other authentic sapiential traditions. Meister Eckhart articulates the perennialist understanding of the "Intellect" (intellectus) in the sense of spiritus when he writes: "There is something in the soul which is uncreated and uncreatable; if the whole soul were such, it would be uncreated and uncreatable; and this is the Intellect." 

Intellectus is derived from the Latin verb intelligere, meaning "to recognize" or "to understand." Mysticism is the pursuit of communion with an ultimate reality, divinity, or spiritual truth through direct experience, intuition, or insight. It encompasses both mystical doctrine and mystical experience; the latter being the inward and unitive "realization" of the former. This realization is the domain of spiritual method. In Hinduism, spiritual method is represented by raja-yoga, the "royal art" of contemplation and union. Here, the Veda—or wisdom—constitutes the scientia sacra (sacred science): ars sine scientia nihil est—art without science is nothing.