Latin terms
21 terms in Latin.
- absolutus
- Absolute. That which is unconditioned and depends on nothing else.
- anima
- Soul. The life and inner self of a person, in Greek philosophy and Christian thought.
- coincidentia oppositorum
- Coincidence of opposites (Christian Mysticism). The meeting of contraries in the ultimate, beyond the reach of reason: Nicholas of Cusa’s coincidentia oppositorum.
- contemplatio
- Contemplation (Christian Mysticism). Loving, attentive gazing on what is most real; in Christian use, a gift of prayer.
- deificatio
- Theōsis. Deification: in Eastern Christianity, the human being’s participation in God.
- deus
- God. The supreme being of theistic traditions: creator, sustainer and object of worship.
- docta ignorantia
- Learned ignorance (Christian Mysticism). The knowing recognition that the infinite exceeds all knowledge: Nicholas of Cusa’s docta ignorantia.
- emanatio
- Emanation. The procession of all things from a first principle, as light from a source.
- immanere
- Immanence. The presence of the divine or ultimate within the world and the self.
- intellectus
- Nous. Intellect: for Plato, the highest part of the soul; for Plotinus, the second principle.
- mens
- Philosophy of mind. Philosophical study of mind, consciousness and their place in nature.
- numen
- The numinous. Rudolf Otto’s term for the holy as wholly other, awesome and fascinating.
- philosophia perennis
- The perennial philosophy (Comparative mysticism). The claim that one wisdom underlies the world’s religious and mystical traditions.
- puritas cordis
- Apatheia (Desert Monasticism). Freedom from the passions: for the Stoics the calm of the sage, for the desert monks the health of soul that opens into love and prayer.
- sobria ebrietas
- Sobriety and intoxication (Christian Mysticism). Two Sufi descriptions of the mystic’s state: the ecstatic “drunkenness” of union, and the sober return to the world with God.
- transcendere
- Transcendence. Being beyond the world, or beyond all categories.
- via illuminativa
- The three ways (Christian Mysticism). Purgation, illumination and union: the classic stages of the Christian spiritual life.
- via negativa
- Apophatic theology (Christian Mysticism). Speaking of God by negation: saying what God is not.
- via purgativa
- The three ways (Christian Mysticism). Purgation, illumination and union: the classic stages of the Christian spiritual life.
- via unitiva
- The three ways (Christian Mysticism). Purgation, illumination and union: the classic stages of the Christian spiritual life.
- visio beatifica
- The beatific vision (Christian Mysticism). In Christian theology, the direct vision of God that is the soul’s final happiness.