Francisco Palau (1811–1872) Beatified Spanish Discalced Carmelite friar and priest
Letter to Juana Gratia (1857)
Letter to Juana Gratia (1857)
Context: Now for the other union. The first one sees God as infinitely lovable and beautiful; its aim is the contemplation of his attributes and perfections. The second union sees him as the creator, conserver, governor, redeemer, glorifier and vivifier of the whole world.
At certain moments, the spirit of the Lord will move and lead you towards this second union and you have to cooperate. He will be presented to you as the Lord, king and governor of the world, the Lord God of hosts, and wil take you to objects resembling this presence. Since the first union is not strengthened or prefected or completed except in the second, you need to start by this.
Francisco Palau (1811–1872) Beatified Spanish Discalced Carmelite friar and priest
Letter to Juana Gratia (1857)
“We like art forms that express our longing for union, and for a more perfect and beautiful world.”
Susan Cain book Bittersweet
Bittersweet, Chapter 2 at p. 36
Henry Edward Manning (1808–1892) English Roman Catholic archbishop and cardinal
Reported in Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), p. 456.
Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul
"The Sea" in The Philosophy of Elbert Hubbard (1916), p. 169.
Hermann Hesse book Gertrud
Gertrude (1910)
Context: If a man does not think too much, he rejoices at rising in the morning, and at eating and drinking. He finds satisfaction in them and does not want them to be otherwise. But if he ceases to take things for granted, he seeks eagerly and hopefully during the course of the day for moments of real life, the radiance of which makes him rejoice and obliterates the awareness of time and all thoughts on the meaning and purpose of everything. One can call these moments creative, because they seem to give a feeling of union with the creator, and while they last, one is sensible of everything being necessary, even what is seemingly fortuitous. It is what the mystics call union with God. Perhaps it is the excessive radiance of these moments that make everything else appear so dark. Perhaps it is the feeling of liberation, the enchanting lightness and the suspended bliss that make the rest of life seem so difficult, demanding and oppressive. I do not know. I have not travelled very far in thought and philosophy. However I do know that if there is a state of bliss and a paradise, it must be an uninterrupted sequence of such moments, and if this state of bliss can be attained through suffering and dwelling in pain, then no sorrow or pain can be so great that one should attempt to escape from it.
Naum Gabo (1890–1977) Russian sculptor
Source: 1936 - 1977, Circle: International Survey of Constructive Art, 1937, p. 116 as cited in: Melinda Baldwin (2012) " 'A review of Scientific Moderns', by Boris Jardine http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/1327" in dissertationreviews.org.
Karl Barth book The Epistle to the Romans
The Epistle to the Romans (1918; 1921)
Context: The known plane is God's creation, fallen out of its union with Him, and therefore the world of the flesh needing redemption, the world of men, and of time, and of things — our world. This known plane is intersected by another plane that is unknown — the world of the Father, of the Primal Creation, and of the final Redemption. The relation between us and God, between this world and His world presses for recognition, but the line of intersection is not self-evident. <!-- p. 29
Thomas Paine (1737–1809) English and American political activist
1790s, Discourse to the Theophilanthropists (1798)