“Truth is within ourselves.”
Part 1.
Paracelsus (1835)
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Robert Browning 179
English poet and playwright of the Victorian Era 1812–1889Related quotes
Source: Who Is Man? (1965), Ch. 5<!-- Existence and expediency, p. 86 -->
Context: Authentic existence involves exaltation, sensitivity to the holy, awareness of indebtedness.
Existence without transcendence is a way of living where things become idols and idols become monsters.
Denial of transcendence contradicts the essential truth of being human. Its roots can be traced either to stolidity of self-contentment or to superciliousness of contempt, to moods rather than to comprehensive awareness of the totality and mystery of being.
Denial of transcendence which claims to unveil the truth of being is an inner contradiction, since the truth of being is not within being or within our consciousness of being but rather a truth that transcends our being.
12 September 1936, Advice to the pupils of the Bishop Cotton School, Simla, also quoted in Speeches and Statements of the Marquess of Linlithgow, p. 19-20
Section 83
The Passionate State Of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)
“In truth the prison, unto which we doom
Ourselves, no prison is.”
Nuns Fret Not, l. 8 (1806).
“We taste and feel and see the truth. We do not reason ourselves into it.”
“Truth lies within a little and certain compass, but error is immense.”
Reflections upon Exile (1716)
“The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught.”
The Glass Bead Game (1943)
Context: "If only there were a dogma to believe in. Everything is contradictory, everything tangential; there are no certainties anywhere. Everything can be interpreted one way and then again interpreted in the opposite sense. The whole of history can be explained as development and progress and can also be seen as nothing but decadence and meaninglessness. Isn't there any truth? Is there no real and valid doctrine?"
The Master had never heard him speak so fervently. He walked on in silence for a little, then said, "There is truth, my boy. But the doctrine you desire, absolute, perfect dogma that alone provides wisdom, does not exist. Nor should you long for a perfect doctrine, my friend. Rather, you should long for the perfection of yourself. The deity is within you, not in ideas and books. Truth is lived, not taught. Be prepared for conflicts, Joseph Knecht — I can see they have already begun."