Strictly speaking, there is but one sole philosophy, the Sophia Perennis; it is also — envisaged in its integrality — the only religion. Sophia has two possible origins, one timeless and the other temporal: the first is "vertical" and discontinuous, and the second, "horizontal" and continuous; in other words, the first is like the rain that at any moment can descend from the sky; the second is like a stream that flows from a spring. Both modes meet and combine: metaphysical Revelation actualizes the intellective faculty, and once awakened, this gives rise to spontaneous and independent intellection.

The dialectic of the Sophia Perennis is "descriptive," not "syllogistic," which is to say that the affirmations are not the product of a real or imaginary "proof," even though they may make use of proofs — real in this case — by way of "illustration" and out of a concern for clarity and intelligibility. But the language of Sophia is above all symbolism in all its forms: thus the openness to the message of symbols is a gift proper to primordial man and his heirs in every age; Spiritus ubi vult spirat.