Frithjof Schuon Archive

Necessity — that which must be — is the axle;Possibility is the wheel’s rim.The center is Being, which brings everything to pass;The revolving circumference is Being’s gift.Thou art both, and neither. God alone is real —But He lends to us from out of His...

Who says beauty, says woman —Cosmology teaches us this, without where or how.Who says woman, says weakness, wrote Shakespeare,And he knew whereof he spoke.Do not think that all this is unjust —He who thinks otherwise knows mankind poorly.

There is much beauty in the world —But much that one likes is vain.And this is a hard nut to crack —One cracks problems because one must.Ephemerality, the illusory nature of things —Only what bears witness to the eternal is justified.

Life is a dream; contingencies —Things that might be or might not be,And yet had to be what they were;Swinging between Reality and appearance —Between the humdrum and the wondrous:For God’s nearness looks into thee.