4 quotes found
"... the study of Nature was not simply the striving of a small part to appreciate the whole. It was the cosmos contemplating itself, the universe creating a mirror image of its own magnificent order and manifesting it in the human mind."
"No one has the right to decide for another the best approach to the Infinite—and no one else can dictate how best to implement, down here in the actual world, what one learns in the divine realm. What you hold in your hands is only a handbook pointing to these higher things—an enchiridion of the Infinite that highlights the striking potential of the human spirit. It is no substitute for actual experience. All interpretations and all explanations are as nothing compared to the epopteia that every soul must seek for itself."
"Despite all the religious propaganda about full enlightenment and infallible prophets, probably no one has ever perfectly embodied Infinity. And it doesn’t matter. Total transcendence is unnecessary, because even a transient experience of the eternal has enormous transformative potential. Any encounter with the Infinite, however fleeting, initiates an inner metamorphosis. All subsequent experience is endowed with subtle new shades of meaning; all subsequent action is held to a higher standard; and all subsequent thought must now be measured against the magnificent wisdom of the empyrean."
"Infinity is immanent everywhere and accessible, in principle, to all. But no one can ever be fully purified, or fully prepared, for an encounter with the Infinite. Accept it. Embrace imperfection as the starting point in any ascent. The lotus flower ascends and emerges into the sunlight upon a stem that stretches down into the darkest depths."