Frithjof Schuon Archive

Excerpts from Songs for a Spiritual Traveler: Selected Poems by Frithjof Schuon published by World Wisdom in 2002. Note: This is a bilingual German/English edition.

Songs for a Spiritual Traveler: Selected Poems by Frithjof Schuon

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This is the first chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Das Spiel der Masken“. This anthropological essay deals with the privileges of human beings that place them at the top of earthly creatures: comprehensive cognitive abilities, free will and altruistic feelings. ‘The substance of the soul is the unconscious search for the lost paradise that in reality lies “within us”.’ Our personality is based on what we know to be real; on the good that we want and the beauty that we love.

Das Spiel der Masken

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This is the last chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Wurzeln des Menschseins“. By loving a creature directly, we indirectly love the Creator. To say love is to say beauty. The Infinite turns its presence towards us and at the same time frees us from ourselves by bringing us back to our immortal essence. The metaphysical and, in a sense, abstract visions of God also point to beauties and reasons for love. ‘All my thoughts speak of love,’ says Dante in a sense that is both earthly and heavenly.

Wurzeln des Menschseins

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This is the last chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Geistige Sichtweisen und menschliche Tatsachen“. Spiritual life requires metaphysical truth and human virtue. The three cardinal virtues: truthfulness, charity, humility. Distinction between natural good qualities and spiritual virtues. Social morality and spiritual virtues. Intelligence, folly and cunning. Knowledge with the whole soul. Esoteric meaning of sin, examination of conscience and penance. Virtue, beauty and moralism. Esoteric meaning of humility. Pride. Dignity. Sin. The axiom of innocence of modern man. Contemplation and selflessness. Love. True and false life. Prayer: ‘He who lives in prayer has not lived in vain.

Geistige Sichtweisen und menschliche Tatsachen

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This is the fourteenth chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Logik und Transzendenz“. Understanding requires faith in order to be complete. Faith and symbolism, faith and miracles. All in all, perfect faith consists in becoming aware of the metaphysically miraculous character of natural phenomena. Faith as a spiritual quality forms the stabilising complement to the discriminating and, in a sense, explosive power of the intellect. The decisive factor is the ‘leap into the void’, namely the anchoring of the mind and soul in a dimension of reality that transcends thinking. A sense of the sacred is the key to complete faith. Reflections on the alchemical distinction between a ‘dry’ (knowledge) and a “wet” path (love). ‘Fire knowledge’ urgently needs ‘water knowledge,’ namely faith with all its stabilising and pacifying qualities. ‘Wine’ as the connection between the principles of “fire” and ‘water’. Faith, as a kind of ontological and pre-conceptual certainty, is superior to the power of reason as discriminating and speculative thinking, but intelligence as pure spiritual insight is superior to faith as mere emotional assent. Zen and Jôdo as two poles of faith.

Logik und Transzendenz

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This is the twelfth chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Christentum – Islam: Ausblicke auf eine esoterische Ökumene“. Contradictions in the Bible and the Koran regarding the divine ‘will’ are explained by the fact that this will exists on different levels: on the level of super-being, the deity wills itself and its radiance; as creator, God wills to bring the possible into existence; on this basis, he wills to manifest his own nature, which is goodness.

Christentum – Islam: Ausblicke auf eine esoterische Ökumene

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This is the tenth chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Das Spiel der Masken“ The purpose of human cognition is the awareness of divine reality, which must be maintained despite all the worries of the world and the soul, with resignation to God’s will, confidence, equanimity and gratitude. ‘We can only recognise and love that which is alone with all that we are.’

Das Spiel der Masken

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This is the eleventh chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Wurzeln des Menschseins“. The essay is a summary of ‘Sophia perennis’.

Wurzeln des Menschseins

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This is the last chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Metaphysik und Esoterik im Überblick“. It deals with the spiritual approach to life’s ‘trials’ and what happiness really means. Surrender to God’s will is the golden rule for happiness.

Metaphysik und Esoterik im Überblick

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This is the second chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Metaphysik und Esoterik im Überblick“. Basic metaphysical concepts: Absolute – Infinite; the ‘Highest Good’ as the first cause; transcendence and immanence; reason for universal manifestation; universal manifestation (Hindu) and creation (monotheistic); God and the world; heaven and earth; Logos: true God and true man; the four fundamental stages of the universe; the three cosmic aspirations (gunas); active – patient; consciousness – power – love; Masonic trinity ‘wisdom – power – beauty’; Symbolism of numbers; perfection and radiance; wholeness of knowledge: ‘The uniqueness of divine knowledge requires the wholeness of human cognition.’

Metaphysik und Esoterik im Überblick

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This is the ninth chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Gnosis – Göttliche Weisheit“. God reveals himself both through the existence and properties of things, and through the gift he gives us with them; He also reveals Himself through the opposite, namely through the limitations of things and their shortcomings, and then through the absence or disappearance of what is good, useful or pleasant for us. Every thing is, in its existence and through it, ‘unreal’ in relation to unconditional reality; one must therefore recognise in every thing not only its existence, but also the ‘nothingness’ before God or, in other words, the metaphysical unreality of the world. Symbolism, whether inherent or manifested in sacred art, also corresponds to a way of ‘seeing God everywhere’. The conditions of existence are characterised by principles that allow us to ‘see God in things’. ‘Seeing God everywhere’ also means seeing oneself (Âtmâ) in everything. Seeing God everywhere means seeing that we are not, that he alone is.

Gnosis – Göttliche Weisheit

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This is the second chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Form und Gehalt in den Religionen“. This chapter compares Christianity and Islam.

Form und Gehalt in den Religionen

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This is the tenth chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book ‘Gnosis – Göttliche Weisheit’. Behind this unassuming title lies an overview of the most important mysteries of Christianity, including their esoteric significance.

Gnosis – Göttliche Weisheit

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This is the eleventh chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Logik und Transzendenz“. It describes the symbolism of the hourglass. This is a prime example of symbolic thinking; in addition, the essay offers valuable insights into metaphysics, cosmology and spiritual life.

Logik und Transzendenz

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This is the thirteenth chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Form und Gehalt in den Religionen“. In this essay, the author not only presents his own teaching on the necessity of evil, but also outlines the views of various philosophers on this question.

Form und Gehalt in den Religionen

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This is the first chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Esoterik als Grundsatz und als Weg“ Epistemological questions; esotericism and exotericism; Christian esotericism; esotericism as the only key to understanding a religion; intellectual knowledge and pure spiritual knowledge; exotericism, esotericism and morality; subject, object, accident and substance.

Esoterik als Grundsatz und als Weg

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This is the sixth chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Christentum – Islam: Ausblicke auf eine esoterische Ökumene“. It compares Christianity and Judaism as well as Christianity and Islam in detail, particularly from the perspective that Christianity is the successor religion to Judaism and Islam is the successor religion to Christianity. The chapter ends with a look at the Blessed Virgin, who, from an esoteric point of view, belongs to both Christianity and Islam.

Christentum – Islam: Ausblicke auf eine esoterische Ökumene

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This is the ninth chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Vom Göttlichen zum Menschlichen“. The sense of the sacred is the awareness — in the world of what may or may not be — of that which cannot not be, and whose immeasurable distance and wonderful proximity we experience at the same time. We perceive the divine presence sacramentally in symbols and ontologically in everything. The various traditions of humanity are shaped by different mentalities regarding the sacred. There is no true metaphysician without a sense of the sacred. Miracles and faith belong to the sense of the sacred.

Vom Göttlichen zum Menschlichen

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This is the first chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Geistige Sichtweisen und menschliche Tatsachen“. The chapter contains meditations and aphorisms on epistemology and its connection to civilisations.

Geistige Sichtweisen und menschliche Tatsachen

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This is the fourth chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book „Vom Göttlichen zum Menschlichen“. This metaphysical chapter deals with trinities in various traditions. The concept of unity and the concept of the Trinity meet and dissolve into their archetype, which is nothing other than the simultaneously unchanging and radiant Unconditioned.

Vom Göttlichen zum Menschlichen

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This is the second chapter from Frithjof Schuon’s book “Esoterik als Grundsatz und als Weg”. The term ‘veil’ (Arabic Hijâb) is the Islamic counterpart to the Hindu term Mâyâ. The veil conceals the actual reality, but it also allows it to shine through. Numerous examples unfold the symbolism of the veil, proving it to be a key concept in metaphysics.

Esoterik als Grundsatz und als Weg

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Chapter 4 from “Forme et substance dans les religions”

Forme et substance dans les religions

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This is the preface to the book “Forme et Substance dans les Religions”

Forme et Substance dans les Religions

This is the preface to the book “De l’Unité transcendante des religions”

De l’Unité transcendante des religions

This article by Schuon never appeared in any of his books.

These excerpts, taken from several of his books, present Frithjof Schuon’s ideas on evolutionism.

Studies in Comparative Religion (1976) © World Wisdom, Inc.

http://www.frithjof-schuon.com/evolution-fr.htm

Chapter 4 of De l’Unité transcendante des religions

De l’Unité transcendante des religions

Excerpts from the book Les Perles du pèlerin which brings together more than 150 excerpts taken from Frithjof Schuon’s published and unpublished writings.

Les Perles du pèlerin

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Chapter 7 from Sur les traces de la Religion Pérenne

Sur les traces de la Religion Pérenne

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Chapter 2 of Sentiers de Gnose

Sentiers de Gnose

This is the foreword to Sur les traces de la Religion Pérenne

Sur les traces de la Religion Pérenne

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A recent translation of the essay, approved by the estate of Frithjof Schuon. The essay has appeared in the books Esoterism as Principle and as Way (Perennial Books, 1981), and in Prayer Fashions Man: Frithjof Schuon on the Spiritual Life (World Wisdom, 2005).

Prayer Fashions Man: Frithjof Schuon on the Spiritual Life

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The importance of belief and the relation between belief and understanding are discussed in this article. Schuon makes the point that it is important to believe in something, even if one doesn’t fully understand it. The distinction between symbol and faith are also discussed here; Schuon argues that faith is akin to love, and that a path of faith or love is often chosen over one of reason. Another distinction examined here is the one between the ‘dry’ and ‘moist’ paths, where the dry is of course one of reason and speculation on Truth, while the moist is focused on love and faith. The article concludes with an examination of some specific paths where these principles of ‘dry’ and ‘moist’, faith-based and reason-based paths are present.

Studies in Comparative Religion – Vol. 3, No. 3. ( Summer, 1969)

This essay first appeared in the journal Études Traditionnelles (mars-avril, 1962), then in translation in the journal Tomorrow (Autumn, 1964). It appeared as a chapter in the book Logic and Transcendence (1975, 1984). This version is a new translation from the most recent edition of that book (World Wisdom, 2009), which includes additional previously unpublished writings from Frithjof Schuon.

Logic and Transcendence

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These remarkable meditations were recorded by Frithjof Schuon during a trip to North Africa in 1963. The thoughts are aphoristic and in a voice not frequently found in his metaphysical writings. This piece has never been published in any of Schuon’s books.

Studies in Comparative Religion, Vol. 14, Nos. 1 & 2. (Winter-Spring, 1978)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/Travel_Meditations-by_Frithjof_Schuon.aspx

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Roots of the Human Condition

Philosopher Frithjof Schuon examines the “Virgin Mary not solely in her quality as Mother of Jesus, but above all as Prophetess for all the descendants of Abraham.” Schuon discusses her symbolic role as personification of Equilibrium in the Bible and Divine Generosity in the Koran, quoting extensively from both texts. He also expands on the ‘Marian knowledge’ to be gained from both of these texts, providing numerous passages

Studies in Comparative Religion – Vol. 2, No. 3. ( Summer, 1968)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/browse.aspx?ID=60

Citing examples from Islamic, Christian, and Buddhist doctrine, Schuon discusses various concepts of Reality, Goodness, Manifestation, the Absolute, Infinity, and All Possibility: “If in our daily experience we are confronted by things that are real at their own level—if ‘such and such’ realities actually exist in the world—this is because before all else there is Reality ‘as such’, which is not the world but by which the world comes to be. And if the world exists, it is because Reality as such, or the Absolute, includes Infinity or All-possibility, from which the world is a consequence and of which it is a content.”

Logic and Transcendence; also in Treasures of Buddhism

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/Dharmakaras_Vow-by_Frithjof_Schuon.aspx

In this article, which never appeared in any of his books during his lifetime, Schuon examines at multiple levels the traditional Sufi ternary of Fear-Love-Knowledge as the three dimensions or stations of the Sufi path. They are viewed in universal terms, applicable to the human being in general, and as “vocational” tendencies for various spiritual temperments, and then as successive degrees in a seeker’s spiritual development.

Studies in Comparative Religion, Vol. 10, No. 1. (Winter, 1976)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/The_Three_Dimensions_of_Sufism-by_Frithjof_Schuon.aspx

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The Feathered Sun: Plains Indians in Art and Philosophy

Frithjof Schuon utilizes the form of the hourglass (i.e. its narrow neck between two larger compartments), its content of sand, and its use for the telling the passage of time to explain the symbolism inherent in this simple device. The nature of Reality, the relationship between Spirit and form, and much else of spiritual import is illustrated through this symbolism.

Logic and Transcendence

This essay portrays the sacrificial Sun Dance of the North American nomadic Indians performed as an act of union with the Divine. It continues with a thorough description of the rhythmic dance itself, which allows the participant the crucial power needed in order to fully unite with the Universe. Schuon illustrates several other symbols that recreate this cosmic circle and connect it with the Sun Dance, including: the central tree, the rites of the Sacred Pipe, and the sacral image of the Feathered Sun.

Studies in Comparative Religion – Vol. 2, No. 1. ( Winter, 1968)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/browse.aspx?ID=34

Using St. Francis of Assisi’s writings, particularly his Laudes, Frithjof Schuon emphasizes the necessary interdependence of such virtues as Simplicity, Wisdom, Charity and Purity. Focusing on the Virgin Mary, both St. Francis and Schuon illustrate the ways in which the collaboration of these virtues opens the soul as a “receptacle of the Divine Presence.” In teaching both submission to God and detachment from the world, they affirm a necessary presence in the world and connection with other people, but without dependence on temporal things and with indifference toward egoism and self-fulfillment. No one can neglect one virtue without tainting all of them, and if one finds complete acceptance of one virtue, then all others are contained within it.

Studies in Comparative Religion – Vol. 4, No. 3. ( Summer, 1970)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/browse.aspx?ID=140

The Spiritual Virtues appears in Spiritual Perspectives and Human Facts: A New Translation with Selected Letters by Frithjof Schuon, published by World Wisdom.

Spiritual Perspectives and Human Facts: A New Translation with Selected Letters

The essay covers: The relationship of the sacred to the Real; an extended definition of “sacred”; the sacred and rituals; the sacred in diverse religions; the two poles of the sacred (i.e. truth and holiness); the sacred and miracles.

From the Divine to the Human: A New Translation with Selected Letters

The Quintessential Esoterism of Islam appears in Sufism Veil and Quintessence: A New Translation with Selected Letters by Frithjof Schuon, published by World Wisdom.

Sufism Veil and Quintessence: A New Translation with Selected Letters

http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/viewpdf/default.aspx?article-title=The_Quintessential_Esoterism_of_Islam_by_Frithjof_Schuon.pdf

In this article, Frithjof Schuon argues against Epicurus’ formulation of the problem of evil. As Schuon explains, the world’s remoteness from God necessarily implies a degree of perversion, making the concept of a world without evil absurd. Although God is all-powerful in relation to the world, Omnipotence does not imply the ability to will the absurd. Schuon’s perspective is presented alongside those of many other prominent philosophers, including Plato, Plotinus, and St. Thomas.

The Eye of the Heart; also in SCR (Winter 1974)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/The_Question_of_Theodicies-by_Frithjof_Schuon.aspx

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Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism

The text is from Part Two of the book Christianity/Islam: Perspectives on Esoteric Ecumenism

Christianity/Islam: Perspectives on Esoteric Ecumenism, A New Translation with Selected Letters

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To Have a Center

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The Play of Masks

The Particular Nature and Universality of the Christian Tradition appears in The Fullness of God: Frithjof Schuon on Christianity selected and edited by James S. Cutsinger, published by World Wisdom.

The Fullness of God: Frithjof Schuon on Christianity

In this article, Frithjof Schuon examines the issue of disharmony found in the world and in human life, and he makes the point that all the sufferings found in life cannot be eased by worldly things. Physical “progress” according to Schuon has no power to reconcile inward struggles, only spiritual sanctification can. This article also examines how the effects of evil cannot be eliminated without understanding the cause, or the evil itself. This subject is analyzed primarily within the context and terminology of Christianity. Using the concept of ‘sin’ and quotes such as “seek ye first the Kingdom of God”, Schuon delves into the topic of finding cessation from worldly troubles.

Studies in Comparative Religion – Vol. 1, No. 4. ( Autumn, 1967)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/browse.aspx?ID=26

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Studies in Comparative Religion – Vol. 9, No. 3. ( Summer, 1975), also in the book “Esoterism as Principle and as Way“

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/The_Function_of_Relics-by_Frithjof_Schuon.aspx

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The Fullness of God; also in Light on the Ancient Worlds

The essay sets out “to state the principle and explain its essential meaning” of the appearance in various traditions of “a sort of demiurge…who is both beneficent and terrible and who functions as both an initiatic hero and a buffoon.” Focusing mostly on American Indian mythologies, but also employing examples from many other traditions, the author views the question from many angles but concludes that the forms of various traditional accounts of the demiurge may differ, but beyond all these, the “sole Revealer—the Logos—plays with mutually irreconcilable forms while offering a single content of dazzling self-evidence.”

Logic and Transcendence; also in The Feathered Sun

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Logic and Transcendence

This essay appeared in the collection of Schuon essays The Essential Frithjof Schuon, edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr. In his Introduction to the book, Dr. Nasr refers to this essay in these words: “As that perennial and universal wisdom which lies at the heart of all traditions, philosophia perennis can in fact be identified with metaphysics and its multifarious applications. Since this knowledge is related to spiritual practice and is not limited to theory—even theoria in its traditional sense — it can also be called sophia perennis in order to emphasize more the operative element related to realization. It is not accidental that Schuon has summarized his whole message in an essay entitled ‘Sophia perennis’. Certainly he is the foremost living expositor of this perennial wisdom, the philosophia perennis, interest in which has been resuscitated during this century, and which has seen its most powerful and eloquent contemporary spokesman in Schuon.”

Studies in Comparative Religion (Summer-Autumn, 1979)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/Sophia_Perennis-by_Frithjof_Schuon.aspx

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The Essential Frithjof Schuon

Selections from World Wheel Vol. I is extracted from World Wheel: Poems by Frithjof Schuon Volumes I-III by Frithjof Schuon, published by World Wisdom.

World Wheel: Poems by Frithjof Schuon Volumes I-III

Selections from Songs without Names Vol. VII is extracted from Songs without Names: Poems by Frithjof Schuon Volumes VII-XII by Frithjof Schuon, published by World Wisdom.

Songs without Names: Poems by Frithjof Schuon Volumes VII-XII

Selections from Songs without Names Vol VI has been extracts from Songs without Names: Poems by Frithjof Schuon Volumes I-VI by Frithjof Schuon, published by World Wisdom

Songs without Names: Poems by Frithjof Schuon Volumes I-VI

“Selections from World Wheel Vol. IV” is extracted from World Wheel: Poems by Frithjof Schuon Volumes IV-VII by Frithjof Schuon, published by World Wisdom in 2007.

World Wheel: Poems by Frithjof Schuon Volumes IV-VII

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Echoes of Perennial Wisdom: A New Translation with Selected Letters

In this essay Frithjof Schuon clarifies common misconceptions among Westerners concerning the apparently “absurd” and “paradoxical” nature of the koan in Zen Buddhism. Its essential nature is not its “absurdity” or illogicality. Its role, rather, is to express “the spiritual experience of a given master in a symbolical—and intentionally paradoxical—form, the significance of which is only verifiable by undergoing the selfsame experience” of satori (illumination). The fundamental intention of Zen and the koan is thus the supernatural perception of things in the “Eternal Present”, a state wherein the mind “finds itself rooted in the Absolute, both intellectually and existentially”. As a corrective to current individualistic and anti-traditional misunderstandings of Zen in the West, Schuon also emphasizes the essential relationship between traditional Zen practice and the use of canonized sacred texts taught and read within the community of Buddhist practitioners.

Treasures of Buddhism; also in In the Tracks of Buddhism

From Schuon’s book Light on the Ancient Worlds, this essay defines the central traditionalist concept of the religio perennis and then explains how this universal concept fits with the existence of the separate religions.

The online library of articles at religioperennis.org

http://religioperennis.org/documents/Schuon/religioperennis.pdf

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The Transfiguration of Man

Given the fundamental importance of art both in the life of a collectivity and in the contemplative life, Schuon reveals the fundamental distinctions between sacred and profane art. This important article opens new vistas in the understanding of the relationship between art, symbolism, and the spirit.

Language of the Self; also in Castes and Races, Images, and Art from the Sacred to the Profane

http://www.religioperennis.org/documents/Schuon/PrinciplesCriteria.pdf

Outline of the Christic Message appears in The Fullness of God: Frithjof Schuon on Christianity Selected and Edited by James S. Cutsinger, published by World Wisdom.

The Fullness of God: Frithjof Schuon on Christianity

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Stations of Wisdom; also in Language of the Self

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Treasures of Buddhism: A New Translation with Selected Letters

By first observing the difference in critical faculty between Eastern and Western thought, Frithjof Schuon considers the use of truisms in religious literature as they affect religious thought and action. The hyperbolic nature of religious writings and truisms contain more than moral lessons particular to a certain faith, but also include implications that relate to a wider realm of faith and belief. The impracticalities of religious teachings, in such parables as the camel passing through the eye of a needle or the spiritual man who is perfect to the point of disappearance speak less about spiritual effort then about the Divine existence. The tendency in religious practice to interpret these sayings as literal is derived from a tendency toward intellections and therefore results in religious moralism. Schuon explores the balance between this intellectualism and more typically Eastern thought.

Studies in Comparative Religion – Vol. 5, No. 1. ( Winter, 1971)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/browse.aspx?ID=149

Frithjof Schuon examines the criteria for changing the liturgy – by wishing to preserve its primitive simplicity or by ridding it of redundant accretions from past ages. Schuon explains the possible dangers of trying to return to the origin while ignoring the flowering of the sacred within the tradition over time for “it possesses the intrinsic value of a tangible crystallization of the supernatural.” He points out that the error of today is in seeing in the liturgy something that can be invented and that it must be conformed to “our times.” He also considers the importance of language in the liturgy and what makes one language more sacred than another as well of the error of vulgarization and pedantry.

Studies in Comparative Religion – Vol. 4, No. 4. ( Autumn, 1970)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/browse.aspx?ID=150

In this article Schuon discusses the role of the spiritual master by drawing from various religions including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity. He uses these traditions to examine the role and authority of the spiritual master in regard to the disciple. The symbolism of the spiritual master is also discussed here using the Hindu terms of Being, Consciousness and Bliss. According to Schuon the master provides the disciple with a “spiritual existence” and a doctrine that he would not otherwise have. Schuon also makes the point that a spiritual master may not “unveil totally” or make completely clear the truth that he understands. Finally, the author points out that the term “spiritual master” is a broad one, and includes a range of people who are not necessarily equal to each other.

Studies in Comparative Religion – Vol. 1, No. 2. ( Spring, 1967)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/browse.aspx?ID=13

Modes of Prayer appears in Prayer Fashions Man: Frithjof Schuon on the Spiritual Life selected and edited by James S. Cutsinger, published by World Wisdom.

Prayer Fashions Man: Frithjof Schuon on the Spiritual Life

This significant article summarizes the Traditionalist/Perennialist view of the positive (and negative) characteristics of the civilizations of antiquity as opposed to modern collectivities. The fundamental factors, Schuon tells us, are that “the whole existence of the peoples of antiquity, and of traditional peoples in general, is dominated by two key ideas, the idea of Center and the idea of Origin.” The author examines the many aspects of these two factors, and reveals many key concepts of Traditionalism regarding human civilizations, historical Christianity, imperialism, ethnicity, paganism, laws of morality, progress, charity, nobility, aristocracy, and more.

Light on the Ancient Worlds: A New Translation with Selected Letters

Schuon begins this brief survey: “The Western mentality has given rise to four metaphysical perspectives which are either perfect or at least satisfactory as the case may be, namely: Platonism, including Neo-Platonism; Aristotelianism; Scholasticism; Palamism.” The author then suggests where the philosophers Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Pascal (particularly the first of these) are situated in regard to those four metaphysical perspectives.

The Essential Frithjof Schuon; also in “SCR“, Vol. 9, No. 2. (Spring, 1975)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/Letter_on_Existentialism-by_Frithjof_Schuon.aspx

Frithjof Schuon states that “in order to understand the nature of the Bible and its meaning, it is essential to have recourse to the ideas of both symbolism and revelation. Without an exact and, in the measure necessary, sufficiently profound understanding of these key ideas, the approach to the Bible remains hazardous and risks engendering grave doctrinal, psychological, and historical errors.” So that the scripture might retain “all its vitality and all its liberating power,” Schuon’s essay explains the critical points of the Bible’s use of symbolism and its sacred origin.

Studies in Comparative Religion, Vol. 1, No. 1. ( Winter, 1967)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/browse.aspx?ID=5

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In the Face of the Absolute; also in SCR (Winter-Spring 1983)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/Islam_and_Consciousness_of_the_Absolute-by_Frithjof_Schuon.aspx

From Schuon’s book “Form and Substance in the Religions,” this essay explores how Muslims view sacred history, and Muhammad’s place in it, as well as how the Prophet can be both humble human and exalted manifestation of the Logos at the same time.

Form and Substance in the Religions; also in Dimensions of Islam

http://www.religioperennis.org/documents/Schuon/InsightsM.pdf

In this short piece, Frithjof Schuon relates the mutual respect shown between a Cheyenne holy man and the Jagadguru, who, though they never met, were able to perceive the holiness of the other through photos. In addition, Schuon makes some comments on the “unity of the primordial Sanatana Dharma, and notes that “in prayer all earthly differences such as space and time are transcended,” as evidenced by the incidents he shares with us.

the website of the Shri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham

http://www.kamakoti.org/souv/5-24.html

In this excerpt from a longer chapter, Schuon begins his examination of the place of the Quran in Islam by providing insights on, first, its form, and then on the principles determining that form. He summarizes general principles regarding all sacred scriptures and how these are manifested in the religion of Islam. Schuon then turns to three aspects of the Quran: its doctrinal content, its narrative content, and its “divine magic or its mysterious and in a sense miraculous power.”

Understanding Islam: A New Translation with Selected Letters

Diversity of Revelation appears in Gnosis, Divine Wisdom: A New Translation with Selected Letters by Frithjof Schuon, published by World Wisdom.

Gnosis, Divine Wisdom: A New Translation with Selected Letters

Dimension of Prayer appears in Prayer Fashions Man: Frithjof Schuon on the Spiritual Life selected and edited by James S. Cutsinger, published by World Wisdom.

Prayer Fashions Man: Frithjof Schuon on the Spiritual Life

Schuon discusses the limitations and issues that stem from restrictive theories in Moslem scholasticism with particular focus on Ash‘arite theology. Schuon follows Ash‘arite theology from founding principles through to conclusions, describing the logical flaws inherent in ‘totalitarian obedientialism.’

Studies in Comparative Religion – Vol. 3, No. 2. ( Spring, 1969)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/browse.aspx?ID=90

Citing examples from Islamic, Christian, and Buddhist doctrine, Schuon discusses various concepts of Reality, Goodness, Manifestation, the Absolute, Infinity, and All Possibility: “If our day-to-day experience confronts us with things that are real at their own level—that is to say, if in the world ‘such and such’ realities exist, that is because Reality ‘as such’ comes first of all, which is not the world but by which the world is.”

Studies in Comparative Religion – Vol. 4, No. 1. ( Winter, 1970)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/browse.aspx?ID=120

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From the Divine to the Human: A New Translation with Selected Letters

The author undertakes to reconcile some of the contradictory notions concerning states of the afterlife, noting, for example, that “to attribute eternity to the infernal fire is…a two‑edged sword.” Applying metaphysical principles and viewing some eschatological notions from various levels of being, Schuon situates for readers some of the most perplexing dogmatic positions of primarily Islam and Christianity.

In the Face of the Absolute; also in SCR (Summer-Autumn 1980)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/Concerning_the_Notion_of_Eternity-by_Frithjof_Schuon.aspx

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Logic and Transcendence; also in Studies, Vol. 7, No. 1 (Winter, 1973)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/Concerning_Proofs_of_God-by_Frithjof_Schuon.aspx

In this article, Schuon discusses the implications of Dante’s placing a saint (Celestine V) in hell in the “Divine Comedy.” Schuon argues that Dante wished to “replace the illegitimate worldliness of the popes with the legitimate lay status of the emperors” (69). The author believes that this pope would not have favored the worldly and humanist revolution of the Renaissance.

Studies in Comparative Religion – Vol. 4, No. 2. ( Spring, 1970)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/browse.aspx?ID=130

In this piece on the phenomena of celestial appartions, Schuon clarifies “the right attitude towards an apparition — or some other grace” and the criteria by which a person might judge whether a vision or some other seeming grace is of truly heavenly origin or not. Included in this brief overview is the important insight that “one must be aware that the spokesmen of Heaven never give lessons in ‘universalist erudition’: they do not speak of Vedanta or of Zen in a Semitic climate, any more than they speak of Spanish mysticism or of Hesychasm in a Hindu or Buddhist climate.”

Esoterism as Principle and as Way; also in SCR, Vol. 10, No. 2 (Spring, 1976)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/Celestial_Apparitions-by_Frithjof_Schuon.aspx

Seyyed Hossein Nasr summarized this essay as describing “the metaphysical significance of mâyâ as both veil and principle of relativization and manifestation of the Absolute.” Although the terms Âtmâ and mâyâ come from the Vedantic tradition, the essay includes examples of a number of Christian doctrines considered from the standpoint of these metaphysical principles.

Form and Substance in the Religions; also in SCR, Vol. 7, No. 3 (Summer, 1973)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/Atma-Maya-by_Frithjof_Schuon.aspx

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The Feathered Sun: Plains Indians in Art and Philosophy; also in SCR (Winter-Spring 1983)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/A_Message_on_North_American_Indian_Religion-by_Frithjof_Schuon.aspx

To be normal is to be homogeneous, and to be homogeneous is to have a center. A normal man is one whose tendencies are, if not altogether uniform, at least concordant—that is to say, sufficiently concordant to convey that decisive center which we may call the sense of the Absolute or the love of God.

To Have a Center: A New Translation with Selected Letters

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IN his Laudes, St. Francis of Assisi extols the virtues “with which the most holy Virgin was adorned, and with which every holy soul must also be adorned (Laude delle virtù delle quali fu adornata la Santissima Vergine, e deve esserne l’anima santa)”.

Studies in Comparative Religion – Vol 4, No. 3 (Summer, 1970)

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ONE of the abuses indirectly bequeathed to us by the Renaissance is the confusion, in one and the same sentimental cult or in one and the same “humanism,” of religion and fatherland: this amalgam is all the more deplorable in that it occurs in men who profess to represent traditional values and who thus compromise what by rights they should defend.

Studies in Comparative Religion – Vol 2, No. 2 (Spring 1968)

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Christianity is divided into three great denominations: Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism, not to mention the Copts and other ancient groups close to Orthodoxy.

Christianity/Islam: Perspectives on Esoteric Ecumenism, A New Translation with Selected Letters

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