"Finding Love in Electoral Politics", AlterNet (13 November 2004)
“The desire to vanquish faults because it is "I" who have them is ineffectual, since it falls within the same category as the faults themselves. Indeed, every fault is a form of egoism or even pride. We must tend towards Perfection because we understand it and therefore love it, and not because we desire that our ego should be perfect. In other terms, we must love and realize a virtue because it is true and beautiful, and not because it would become us if we possessed it; and we must hate and fight against a fault because it is false and ugly, and not because it is ours and because it disfigures us. To possess a virtue is first and foremost to be without the fault which is contrary to it, for God created us virtuous. He created us in His image; faults are superimposed. Moreover it is not we who possess virtue, it is virtue which possesses us.”
[2012, Echoes of Perennial Wisdom, World Wisdom, 65, 978-1-93659700-0]
Spiritual path, Virtue
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Frithjof Schuon 82
Swiss philosopher 1907–1998Related quotes
[2005, Stations of Wisdom, World Wisdom, 94, 978-0-94153218-1]
God, Reverential fear and love
“Our lives become beautiful not because we are perfect.”
Isha Insights Magazine, Spring Edition 2009
Sourced from newspapers and magazines
Context: Our lives become beautiful not because we are perfect. Our lives become beautiful because we put our heart into what we are doing. -Sadhguru
The Lesson, Stanza 8 (1899-1902).
Other works
Source: Reflections and Maxims (1746), p. 175.
“You don’t love because: you love despite; not for the virtues, but despite the faults.”
“Why should we hate the people we once loved because of a war that mars even our memories?”
Source: Frouzanda Mahrad (an Arabic poem, translated by Mike Maggio in: Buckley, Jorunn Jacobsen (2002). The Mandaeans: ancient texts and modern people. New York: Oxford University Press.)