' The Real cannot be stated '...

The Real can never be stated because it can never be thought.

Therefore it is quite clear that ordinary means of knowledge are unable to grasp it.

But such knowledge is not useless.

For if religion can give us a symbolic idea and mysticism an intuitive idea of the Infinite, metaphysical knowledge can give us a rational idea of it.

And to possess such an idea keeps us at least from falling into errors about the reality behind it.

If metaphysics can never perform the task it sets itself--to know reality--it can perform the task of knowing what is not reality.

And such a service is inestimable.

The function of reason is ultimately a negative one; it cannot provide a positive apprehension of the Overself, but it can provide a clear declaration of what It is not.

Reason can demonstrate that the Overself can possess no shape and can in no way be imagined.



-Paul Brunton Philosophic Foundation homepage > Notebooks of Paul Brunton > Category 7:
The Intellect > Chapter 8: Intellect, Reality, and The Overself