Virtus

Principia Philosophika

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Esperanza Hope

Fe Faith

Caridad Charity

Gracia Grace

Amor Love

Comprensivo Understanding

Compasion Compassion

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!"#$%&'(& Esperanza

Lasciate Ogni Speranza Voi Ch’entrate

All Hope Abandon Ye Who Enter Here Dante Alighieri

Hope that most persistent and pervasive of qualities haunts the human spirit as though it served as a survival strategy in the light of all that unfolds. The eternal quality of optimism wherein the logical quakes in the presence of the irrational. The divine Dante, as quoted above, presented the loss of hope as an inscription above the gates of hell. Were we to examine the existence of hell itself we would very soon conclude that many exist in hell without leaving their homes and it is to the loss of hope that this is to be attributed. Many deaths occur within the span of a human lifetime, be it the death of a loved one, that of an idea or project or the end of ones life itself. It has been opined that the death of hope is the foremost and all consuming mask worn by this most mysterious of beings, for without hope all is rendered to the mechanical and life becomes a haunting. A moment to moment struggle to survive in the presence of so called reality’s unfolding tapestry.

Hope springs eternal from the wellspring of the human heart and though irrational serves as the foundation of our very existence in its continuance. Look into the eyes of those bereft of hope and you will look upon a corpse to whom death would be a blessing.

So how is hope to be measured? A biochemical status of some and not others? A divine quality? The product of self deceit?

One thing is certain, as a characteristic it defines the difference between heaven and hell and those blessed by it know that things will always improve whilst those denied it know the truth of things?

As we navigate the ocean of possibility in our ill formed craft the wind carries us from port to port and as hope, our sail, holds the wind and guides us onwards we arrive at our destination. Absent our sail we are becalmed and listlessly drift in ever reducing circles and as a consequence reality conspires to delivers us to our one remaining port, that of hell itself.

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)$ Fe

I slept with faith and found a corpse in my arms on awakening. I drank and danced all night with doubt and found her a virgin in the morning.

To Mega Therion

Faith a purely metaphysical quality which along with its twin sister belief serves to keep reason imprisoned within its velvet folds and like hope, the property of the irrational. Knowledge, its contrast and mortal foe converts knowledge into personal power based upon direct experience and once we claim it as such do we truly possess a craft that has both sail and rudder.

We place our faith in many things ranging from that of people and ideas to religion and its associated heresies. Upon the beast called faith millions have shed their blood to deities of mans creation and self deceit is never more evident than when we examine faith and expose it for the spectre it is. Serving as the instrument of the uneducated it strides the world and in its blindness would have all believe as it does. Deny this and the beast turns and its bloodied claw rends flesh, consumes and consigns its foe to the anonymity of oblivion.

At its most rampant it serves the few to gain dominance over the many and evolution stalls and for centuries have we existed in the darkest of ages wherein the still voice of reason is quenched in the waters of mediocrity and uniformity.

Civilisations without count have raised the rag of their god and conquered in its name only to be overthrown by another with a bigger stick. Human history bears witness to this and no age has been exempt from this and as such serves as the measure of a species in its decline.

For the species to continue to exist and evolve fundamental shifts in consciousness are demanded and the first of these is the abandonment of faith and its unconscious directives and the replacement of this soporific sleep state with that of the wakefulness that evolves as a consequence of knowledge.

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*&%+,&, Caridad

Generosity Is Its Own Reward Damiana Evohe

Charity is to be understood as the natural outpouring of the human heart that is measured by innate generosity or its absence rather than in the sense of giving to the needy. What constitutes being human? An organic birth or the characteristics that make for the manifestation of a noble soul? The principles of all faiths share one thing in common, a sense of unity, maintained by most as an abstract construct which serves as the foundation for the numerous platitudes that pour forth from a font arid of meaning. Instead were we take the concept literally then religion and its kin would be banished and mankind would take the first step towards enlightenment, a natural consequence of evolution within the realm of the spirit.

By contrast impoverished mankind struggles for existence and hordes what is deemed to be its property and as a consequence the great divide exists and is maintained with intent, for whilst we struggle to survive we become preoccupied with the inconsequential and miss the fact that we are alive in the first place. It is not sufficient to been seen as spiritual or evolved for deceit and self deceit are rampant within a failing culture. Instead let us examine and practice the charity that we speak of, for to do so renders each person and thing to be equal. Many will argue against this but then argument itself is futile in the light of the few absolutes that exist within the vale of tears across which we walk.

Charity is generosity incarnate and its voice though a whisper renders all else mute by its presence. We seek no reward but naturally as a consequence of our deeds are we made whole in the eyes of life, our sole witness and in the chambers of our beating hearts do we witness the purity of our deeds. A gentleness of spirit evolves, one which is capable of grasping the important as opposed to the trivia that is deemed so. Only then may a soul ascend from brute existence and bask beneath a sun both warming and protecting. All else is the paranoid delusion of a fearfull species drawing the rags of its raiment around its emaciated limbs and seeking protection.

All things are equal and treated accordingly are we made pure in the light of truth.

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Gracia

By Grace Alone Is All Redeemed Damiana Evohe

Grace alone is the marker by which we measure a soul. As a quality subtle and yet possessed of a strength that transcends all of its pretenders.

Hope becomes a hollow whisper cast upon deaf aethyrs. Faith dare not present itself. Charity its sister holds out its hand in friendship. Knowledge bends its knee and averts its gaze. Power dissolves in a lake of divine nectar.

It is grace alone that grants us vision and entrance into the fabled city and by grace do we enter edens gates. The grace that attends nature is self evident and the nobility of the children of the goddess. Were we to possess but a sliver of grace we would be shamed into silence. However lacking grace, displaced as it were, we fall back to hollow attributes, blow our horns of triumph and strut across the holy one as if she were ours to claim as dominion. Shame upon us.

The clever, the wise, the powerful know naught of grace for their self importance blinds them to reality and whilst they dream their vision of success, bloated they drift upon the current and enter oblivion, the natural domain of such.

The innocent upon whose lips is the nectar distilled, though they drink of an ocean of tears and pass through the fires of redemption their hearts remain true and as children they walk the surface of the bright globe and are blessed by the rays of an ever present sun, moon and stars.

An age but sustains few, if any, for as mirrors they go forth and into their reflective surfaces are the true likenesses of all revealed. Some have been avatars and paid the price of blood for their labours. Others raise their visors and become invisible and of these we know not.

By the embrace of grace are the faltering steps guided. The lost souls reclaimed and the innocent cast into the plenitude that is eden, our heaven upon the earth.

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/µ0% Amor

... … … Though I speak with the tongue of angels if I have not love I am become as hollow brass. Though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge and though I have enough faith to move the mightiest mountain, if I have not love, I am nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It bears all things. It hopes all things. Love never fails. For prophecies shall fail. Tongues shall cease, knowledge shall wither away and now shall abide faith, hope and love, but the greatest of these three is Love… … …

Origin uncertain – 3 Colours Blue.

Love manifested as eros and agape are the two faces of life’s greatest mystery and within the book of life are scribed the tales of this wonder. As eros are the stories universal and speak to all nations and tongues in a singular syntax. Here the brute monster is granted repose and may bask in the warmth of possibility. Here the poet resides and knows little else. Here the quest for union at its base fundamental is achieved and yet ironically like faith has it created monsters when confused with lust, its primary manifestation within the vale of tears.

Unlike eros stained as it is by human want agape transcends and ennobles all it touches. It becomes fierce as in the love of a mother for her child and the love of a universal mother that would sacrifice her children that others might survive as with the predator and prey paradigm of nature.

The stars themselves whisper of this love to each other across the endless reaches of space and a petal on the face of a rose nestles with its kin and knows this intimately. Love conquers all and we, however mighty or humble become but expressions of loves divine heart in manifestation.

The very atoms that constitute all things be but the dance within loves secret domain and time and space, its handmaidens and the twin books of life and death are but records of the dust that would obscure the divine in its absence.

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*0µ#%$'"+10 Comprensivo

Understand The Nature Of A Thing Marcus Aurelius

Understanding, the provenance of the divine serves as a precursor to wisdom and unlike knowledge which leads to power is an emergent quality which though innate is rarely fully realised, for it results as a consequence of a lifetimes pursuit. It is the essence of a thing that understanding perceives and whilst we might choose to fail in its appreciation it none the less bears witness to what is real rather than what is fancied or how we might choose a thing to be. Graced by such we acquire the humility which wisdom demands. Not the servility of the broker of baubles but the gift of one whose home is the palace of knowledge wherein all is revealed. For understanding to exist then and only then can we manifest the compassion which brings our series of virtues to an appropriate conclusion at this time.

In the everyday sense understanding serves as our map whereby our fully fitted craft, no longer adrift has a destination and the means of arriving at such. The vexations that stem from the inconsistencies of others no longer serve to distract for once we truly understand the nature of a thing we release it from the chains of our expectations and grant it the freedom we would also claim as ours. To experience the world through the eyes of another though alien to us widens and deepens our comprehension and in this respect all phenomena serves as our education were we to be congruent upon our path. Understanding leads to tolerance, not the tolerance of mute acceptance but the positive attribute of galvanized intent which surveys all, assimilates all and constantly dips into this vast reservoir of impressions and thus develops an encyclopedic reference set.

As an emergent quality in and of itself it does not exist and as such cannot be traded or acquired by the acquisitive mind for in the presence of grace and love does it emerge from the cauldron wherein the elixir is formulated and we are granted but a single drop of this ambrosial nectar and with this are we transformed for all time and can begin our journey in earnest. All else is sham and though entertaining serves no other purpose than that of distraction.

One bright sliver of understanding overthrows an empire of power. Quells the flames of power and softens the membrane of knowledge and delivers us to our destination intact.

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Compasion

The bodhisattva vows to work for the relief and liberation, moksha, of all sentient beings as long as samsara persists. This can be done by venerating all Buddha’s and by cultivating supreme moral and spiritual perfection, to be placed in the service of others. In particular, Bodhisattvas promise to practice the "six perfections" of giving, moral discipline, patience, effort, concentration and wisdom in order to fulfill their bodhicitta aim of attaining enlightenment for the sake of all beings.

Buddhist Teaching

Compassion our final destination results from the transformation of power into knowledge which fueled by grace, love and understanding brings us to awareness of unity and as a consequence the knowledge that none of us live within a vacuum. How might i, singular, know freedom in the light of the non existence of the personalized self? It is compassion that now serves as our craft and where once we may have possessed qualities all encompassing they are revealed as the forgeries which they, in essence, can only be. The final stage of our journey into evolution is embarked upon and the world of everyday affairs whilst calling to us incessantly no longer constrains us to its purpose for in the liberation that compassion facilitates we can but stand in awe and wonder at the antics of our species, a species born as angel and reduced to beast existence within the vale of tears and yet each atom, each coagulated self divine in essence. The saint, the murderer, the merchant, the whore, the child and all that has sentience possesses this divine birthright and though those with the will to power have subsumed this beneath their yoke of servitude, ultimately they are doomed to failure for they too were granted this birthright.

Compassion, the greatest mystery reveals herself in the silence of the heart wherein all is revealed in the light of truth and the shadows, long in the casting are dissolved in the breath of grace, love understanding and compassion.

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Being A Prelude To

The Prophet By Kahlil Gibran

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