Frithjof Schuon Archive

Red Indians loved the profound words of Jesus —People sowed amongst them the seed of the Good News;But what they brought at the same timeWas an accursed framework of existence,A vile deceit called “civilization,”Which, instead of manifesting God’s way, mocked all...

When, O man, thou thinkest of God, understandest thou notThat thy prayer is more than thy countenance —More than thine individual ego, more than the whole world?For in prayer God is active in thy heart.

Eating, drinking, sleeping, loving,Working, praying, pleasures too;Part-animal and part-divine —We are men with both these natures,Because God fashionedUs for a double life —And man, whatever be his individual nature, Has but one meaning: to rise Upward.

God manifests Himself in man,And man manifests the Lord through prayer;Everything in this world is activity — even whenMan stands inwardly before the Most High —Contemplating without acting. For in activity,Our soul must repose in the First Mover.