Robert Powell > Quotes

“Now, forgetting is the means of transition from one state of consciousness to another. Even in the case of sleep, which can be considered as a “natural ecstasy”, one has to forget the world of the day in order to be able to pass into the world of the night. In order to fall asleep one has to be able to forget. Insomnia is due to the inability to forget.”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

“The concept of Force is that of intermediary between pure consciousness and manifestation. It is the link between the idea and the phenomenon. Force has two aspects-that of electricity and that of life (or struggle on the one hand and cooperation on the other).”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

“The preceding arcanum-“The Moon”-confronted us with the task of human intelligence to liberate itself from the magical enchantment which separates it from spontaneous wisdom, and to unite itself with the latter, i.e. to arrive at intuition. The nineteenth arcanum-“The Sun”- is that of the accomplished union of intelligence and spontaneous wisdom: The Arcanum of Intuition.”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

“Right here and now, drop your identity with the body and sit still. Just drop this body like a discarded garment; drop also the identity with the name. And now you tell me about yourself.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“When the words have come out spontaneously through the life force, the breath, they are known as Vedas. When a stage is reached where the Vedas are no longer able to explain what happens, we call it Vedanta, which means the end of the Vedas. But the knower of this is totally separate and not concerned with the body. That is what is to be thoroughly understood.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“And the use that was made of the Major Arcana was that of a framework for an encyclopedic teaching concerning the Cabbala, magic, astrology and alchemy.”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

“I very clearly see that which has been born. And I also know that I am not that which is born. And that is why I am totally fearless. I am entirely without any reaction to a disease that would otherwise be traumatic.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“Whatever is dependent on the life force, including the Veda, exists only so long as the body and the breath last, and the consciousness. When that which is time-bound disappears, then everything else also disappears. Even the Veda disappears. But the knower of this is timeless, spaceless, and is not concerned with what happens to the body, vital breath and consciousness.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“When the words have come out spontaneously through the life force, the breath, they are known as Vedas. When a stage is reached where the Vedas are no longer able to explain what happens, we call it Vedanta, which means the end of the Vedas.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“Poverty is perpetual active vigil and expectation before the eternal sources of creativity; it is the soul awaiting that which is new and unexpected; it is the aptitude for learning always and everywhere; it is the conditio sine qua non of all illumination, all revelation and all initiation.”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

“Prior to the appearance of the beingness you did not have any problems; they started only after its appearance. To repeat: With the form, the beingness appeared-the knowledge that you exist-and along with that, came all the problems.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“When the body falls, the principle which always remains is You. If you identify yourself with the body, you will feel that you are dying, but in reality there is no death because you are not the body. Let the body be there or not be there, your existence is always there; it is eternal.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“So long as you identify yourself as the body, your experience of pain and sorrow will increase day by day. That is why you must give up this identification, and you should take yourself as the consciousness. If you take yourself as the body, it means you have forgotten your true Self, which is the atman. And sorrow results for the one who forgets himself.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“This "I am" is an announcement; it is not the real. It has come out of something else. What the real is, I am not telling you, because words negate that. Whatever I am telling you, is not the truth, because it has come out of that "I am." The fact is, I cannot describe reality to you, I cannot explain it, because it is beyond expression. So from that, everything flows; but every time I say something, I am aware that it is to be negated, "not this, not this" (netineti)... that is my experience.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“The fifty-six minor arcana of the Tarot are, therefore, simply a development from the last Major Arcanum of the Tarot, “The World”, developed Cabbalistically-rigorously and mathematically- where sytematisation is pushed so far that one asks oneself involuntarily if it is not a matter of rationalistic performance, pure and simple.”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

“Tradition, centuries of experience, teaches us what is necessary in order to protect oneself from the approach of demons-or, if one senses them approaching, what to do in order to drive them away-and gives the following practical advice: make the sign of the Cross towards the north, south, east and west, each time saying the first two verses of Psalm 68 (from David):

Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered;
let those who hate him flee before him!
As smoke is driven away, so drive them away;
as wax melts before fire,
let the wicked perish before God!”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

“All these difficulties that come and go should be merely watched like something in a play. When one scene is finished, another scene takes place, going on like an act. Then, the entire act and the entire play, does it take place anywhere but in yourself? If she did not have this consciousness, would she be aware of this play that is going on? So ultimately, whatever the play, whatever scenes and acts that take place, they are merely movements in her own consciousness.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“With regard to the sixteen Cards of figures, the correspondence between the four worlds and figures is: knave-world of action; knight-world of formation; queen-world of creation; king-world of emanation. Concerning the four “suits”- pentacles, swords, cups and wands- they correspond exactly to the structure of the sacred name YHVH and, consequently, to the four elements.”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

“If someone asks, "What is this Parabrahman like?" the answer is it is like Bombay. Don't give me the geography of Bombay, don't tell me about the atmosphere in Bombay, but tell me what is Bombay? Is it possible to say? You cannot. So also there is nothing you can say, this is Bombay, or this is Parabrahman, If I ask you: Give me a handful of Bombay! you cannot oblige. Similarly, there is no giving or taking of Parabrahman: you can only be that.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“When the breath disappears, this apparatus is also useless. And the one who knows this will not identify himself with the psychosomatic process or the apparatus. If he knows this intuitively and very clearly, he can be said to have had jnana. The knower has been given various names-atman, paramatman, Ishwara, God. Names have been given only for the purpose of communication.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“Truth to tell, the principal reason as to why occultism is “occult” and esotericism is “esoteric”, i.e. demanding protection through secrecy, is the concern to protect “free spirits” above all against the dangers of enslavement through “inflation”, as Carl Gustav Jung called it, which is an aspect of the sphere of mirages.”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

“The other characteristic trait of the spiritual man is that he is upside down. This means to say, firstly, that the “solid ground” under his feet is found above, whilst the ground below is only the concern and perception of the head.”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

“Source, law, method and aim constitute the “Tetragrammaton” of every living spiritual tradition.”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

“Sacred art, which imitates the way in which the divine spirit works, requires that the soul of the artist rids itself of its own inclinations and habits, i.e. that it becomes poor so as to be able to receive the wealth of the divine spirit…that it reduces its own phantasy and its own predilections to silence, i.e. that it is chaste, so as not to disturb the limpid waters flowing from the divine source…and that it is obedient, so as to be able to imitate the divine spirit at work, i.e. to be able to work in concert with the divine spirit.”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

“The knowledge "I am" is the same in all sentient creatures, whether it be an insect, a worm or a human being, or even an avatar, the highest kind of being. I do not consider this basic consciousness in one form as being different in any way from the consciousness in another form. But in order to manifest itself, consciousness needs a base, a particular construct in which it can appear. That base can be anything, it may be any form, but the manifestation can last only so long as that particular form endures.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“Now who or what has heard my talk? It is not the ear, not the physical body, but that knowledge which is in the body; that has heard me. So identify yourself with that knowledge, that consciousness. Whatever happiness we enjoy in this world is only imaginary. The real happiness is to know your existence, which is apart from the body. You should never forget the real identity that you possess. Consider a patient on his deathbed, certain to die.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“Hermetic Philosophy is the “book” which the High Priestess holds on her knees, whilst the three layers on her tiara represent the stages of the descent of revelation from the mystical plane to the gnostic plane, then from the gnostic plane to the magical plane and lastly, from the magical plane to the philosophical plane-to the plane of the “book” or the “doctrine.”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

“[I]n order to manifest itself, consciousness needs a base, a particular construct in which it can appear. That base can be anything, it may be any form, but the manifestation can last only so long as that particular form endures.”
― Robert Powell, The Ultimate Medicine: As Prescribed by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

“Spiritual asphyxia menaces he who does not practice some form of prayer; he who practices it receives vivifying benediction in some form.”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism

“Hermetic Philosophy is the “book” which the High Priestess holds on her knees, whilst the three layers on her tiara represent the stages of the descent of revelation from the mystical plane to the gnostic plane, then from the gnostic plane to the magical plane and lastly, from the magical plane to the philosophical plane-to and the plane of the “book” or the “doctrine.”
― Robert Powell, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism