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

Dies ist das erste Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Das Spiel der Masken“.

In diesem anthropologischen Aufsatz geht es um Vorrechte des Menschen, die ihn an die Spitze der irdischen Geschöpfe stellen: Umfassendes Erkenntnisvermögen, freier Wille und uneigennütziges Empfinden. „Die Substanz der Seele ist die unbewusste Suche nach dem verlorenen Paradies, das in Wirklichkeit ‚in uns‘ liegt.“ Unsere Persönlichkeit gründet auf dem, von dem wir wissen, dass es wirklich ist; auf dem Guten, das wir wollen und auf dem Schönen, das wir lieben.

Das Spiel der Masken

Dies ist das letzte Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Wurzeln des Menschseins“.

Indem wir unmittelbar ein Geschöpf lieben, lieben wir mittelbar den Schöpfer. Wer Liebe sagt, sagt Schönheit. Das Unendliche wendet uns seine Gegenwart zu und befreit uns gleichzeitig von uns selbst, indem es uns wieder in unsere unsterbliche Wesenheit zurückbringt. Die metaphysischen und gewissermaßen abstrakten Anblicke Gottes deuten ihrerseits ebenfalls auf Schönheiten und Gründe der Liebe hin. »All meine Gedanken sprechen von Liebe«, sagt Dante in einem zugleich irdischen und himmlischen Sinn.

Wurzeln des Menschseins

Dies ist das letzte Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Geistige Sichtweisen und menschliche Tatsachen“.

Das geistige Leben bedarf der metaphysischen Wahrheit und der menschlichen Tugend. Die drei Grundtugenden: Wahrhaftigkeit, Nächstenliebe, Demut. Unterscheidung zwischen natürlichen guten Eigenschaften und geistigen Tugenden. Gesellschaftliche Moral und geistige Tugenden. Intelligenz, Torheit und Schlauheit. Erkenntnis mit der gesamten Seele. Esoterische Bedeutung von Sünde, Gewissenserforschung und Buße. Tugend Schönheit und Moralismus. Esoterische Bedeutung der Demut. Hochmut. Würde. Sünde. Das Unschuldsaxiom des modernen Menschen. Beschaulichkeit und Selbstlosigkeit. Liebe. Wahres und falsches Leben. Das Gebet: »Wer im Gebet lebt, hat nicht vergebens gelebt.«

Geistige Sichtweisen und menschliche Tatsachen

Dies ist das vierzehnte Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Logik und Transzendenz“.

Das Verstehen bedarf zu seiner Vollkommenheit des Glaubens. Glaube und Sinnbild, Glaube und Wunder. Der vollkommene Glaube besteht alles in allem darin, sich des metaphysisch wunderbaren Charakters der Naturerscheinungen bewusst zu werden. Der Glaube als seelische Eigenschaft bildet die festigende Ergänzung zur unterscheidenden und gewissermaßen explosiven Verstandeskraft. Entscheidend ist der »Sprung ins Leere«, nämlich das Festmachen des Geistes und der Seele in einer das Denken übersteigenden Dimension des Wirklichen. Der Sinn für das Heilige ist der Schlüssel zum vollen Glauben. Betrachtungen über die alchemistische Unterscheidung zwischen einem »trockenen« (Erkenntnis) und einem »feuchten« Weg (Liebe). Die »Feuer-Erkenntnis« bedarf dringend einer »Wasser-Erkenntnis«, nämlich des Glaubens mit all seinen festigenden und befriedenden Eigenschaften. Der »Wein« als Verbindung der Grundsätze »Feuer« und »Wasser«. Der Glaube als gewissermaßen ontologische und vorgedankliche Gewissheit ist der Verstandeskraft als unterscheidendem und spekulativem Denken überlegen, die Intelligenz als reingeistige Einsicht aber ist dem Glauben als bloßer gefühlsmäßiger Zustimmung überlegen. Zen und Jôdo als zwei Pole des Glaubens.

Logik und Transzendenz

Dies ist das zwölfte Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Christentum – Islam: Ausblicke auf eine esoterische Ökumene“.

Widersprüchlichkeiten in Bibel und Koran bezüglich des göttlichen »Wollens« werden dadurch erklärt, dass dieses Wollen sich auf verschiedenen Ebenen befindet: Auf der Ebene des Über-Seins will die Gottheit sich selbst und ihre Ausstrahlung; als Schöpfer will Gott das Mögliche ins Dasein setzen; auf dieser Grundlage will er seine eigene Natur bekunden, die das Gute ist.

Christentum – Islam: Ausblicke auf eine esoterische Ökumene

Dies ist das zehnte Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Das Spiel der Masken“.

Der Sinn des menschlichen Erkenntnisvermögens ist das Bewusstsein der göttlichen Wirklichkeit, das trotz aller Sorgen der Welt und der Seele mit Ergebung in Gottes Willen, Zuversicht, Gleichmut und Dankbarkeit aufrechterhalten werden muss. „Wir können das, was allein ist, nur mit allem, was wir sind, erkennen und lieben.“

Das Spiel der Masken

Dies ist das elfte Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Wurzeln des Menschseins“.

Der Aufsatz ist eine zusammenfassende Darstellung der „Sophia perennis“.

Wurzeln des Menschseins

Dies ist das letzte Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Metaphysik und Esoterik im Überblick“.

Es geht um den geistigen Umgang mit den „Prüfungen“ des Lebens und um das, was Glück im eigentlichen Sinne bedeutet. Ergebenheit in den Willen Gottes ist die goldene Regel zum Glück.

Metaphysik und Esoterik im Überblick

Dies ist das zweite Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Metaphysik und Esoterik im Überblick“.

Metaphysische Grundbegriffe: Unbedingt – Unendlich; das “Höchste Gut” als erste Ursache; Transzendenz und Immanenz; Grund der allheitlichen Kundgebung; allheitliche Kundgebung (Hindu) und Schöpfung (monotheistisch); Gott und die Welt; Himmel und Erde; Logos: Wahrer Gott und wahrer Mensch; Die vier grundlegenden Stufen des Alls; die drei kosmischen Strebungen (Gunas); tätig – duldig; Bewusstsein – Macht – Liebe; Freimaurerische Dreiheit “Weisheit – Kraft – Schönheit”; Sinnbildlichkeit der Zahlen; Vollkommenheit und Ausstrahlung; Ganzheit der Erkenntnis: »Die Einzigkeit des göttlichen Erkannten erfordert die Ganzheit des menschlichen Erkennenden.«

Metaphysik und Esoterik im Überblick

Dies ist das neunte Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Gnosis – Göttliche Weisheit“.

Gott offenbart sich gleichzeitig durch das Dasein und die Eigenschaften der Dinge, und durch die Gabe, die er uns damit gibt; er offenbart sich auch durch das Gegenteil, nämlich durch die Begrenztheit der Dinge und ihre Mängel, und dann durch die Abwesenheit oder das Verschwinden dessen, was als Gutes für uns nützlich oder angenehm ist. Jedes Ding ist in seinem Dasein und durch es »unwirklich« in Bezug auf die unbedingte Wirklichkeit; man muss daher in jedem Ding nicht nur das Daseinsmäßige erkennen, sondern auch das »Nichts« vor Gott oder, anders gesagt, die metaphysische Unwirklichkeit der Welt. Die Sinnbildlichkeit, ob sie nun der innewohnt oder ob sie sich in der heiligen Kunst zeigt, entspricht ebenfalls einer Weise, »Gott überall zu sehen«. Die Daseinsbedingungen kennzeichnen lauter Grundsätze, die es erlauben, »Gott in den Dingen zu sehen«. »Gott überall sehen« heißt auch, sich selbst (Âtmâ) in allem zu sehen. Gott überall zu sehen heißt zu sehen, dass wir nicht sind, dass er allein ist.

Gnosis – Göttliche Weisheit

Dies ist das zweite Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Form und Gehalt in den Religionen“.

In diesem Kapitel werden das Christentum und der Islam miteinander verglichen.

Form und Gehalt in den Religionen

Dies ist das zehnte Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Gnosis – Göttliche Weisheit“.

Hinter diesem unscheinbaren Titel verbirgt sich ein Überblick über die wichtigsten Mysterien des Christentums einschließlich deren esoterischer Bedeutung.

Gnosis – Göttliche Weisheit

Dies ist das elfte Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Logik und Transzendenz“.

Es wird die Sinnbildlichkeit der Sanduhr dargestellt. Dies ist ein Musterbeispiel für sinnbildliches Denken; daneben bietet der Aufsatz wertvolle Einblicke in Metaphysik, Kosmologie und geistiges Leben.

Logik und Transzendenz

Dies ist das dreizehnte Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Form und Gehalt in den Religionen“.

In diesem Aufsatz vertritt der Autor nicht nur seine eigene Lehre von der Notwendigkeit des Übels, sondern er stellt auch die Auffassung verschiedener Philosophen zu dieser Frage dar.

Form und Gehalt in den Religionen

Dies ist das erste Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Esoterik als Grundsatz und als Weg“.

Erkenntnistheoretische Fragen; Esoterik und Exoterik; christliche Esoterik; Esoterik als einziger Schlüssel zum Verständnis einer Religion; Verstandeserkenntnis und reingeistige Erkenntnis; Exoterik, Esoterik und Moral; Subjekt, Objekt, Akzidens und Substanz.

Esoterik als Grundsatz und als Weg

Dies ist das sechste Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Christentum – Islam: Ausblicke auf eine esoterische Ökumene“.

Es werden Christentum und Judentum sowie Christentum und Islam ausführlich miteinander verglichen, insbesondere unter dem Gesichtspunkt, dass das Christentum Nachfolgereligion des Judentums und der Islam Nachfolgereligion des Christentums sind. Das Kapitel endet mit einem Blick auf die Heilige Jungfrau, die aus esoterischer Sicht sowohl zum Christentum als auch zum Islam gehört.

Christentum – Islam: Ausblicke auf eine esoterische Ökumene

Dies ist das neunte Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Vom Göttlichen zum Menschlichen“.

Der Sinn für das Heilige ist das Bewusstsein — in der Welt dessen, das sein kann oder nicht — dessen, das nicht nicht sein kann, und dessen unermessliche Entferntheit und wunderbare Nähe wir zur gleichen Zeit erfahren. Wir empfinden die göttliche Gegenwart sakramental in Sinnbildern und ontologisch in allem. Die verschiedenen Überlieferungen der Menschheit sind durch unterschiedliche Mentalitäten bzgl. des Heiligen geprägt. Es gibt keinen echten Metaphysiker ohne Sinn für das Heilige. Wunder und Glaube gehören zum Sinn für das Heilige.

Vom Göttlichen zum Menschlichen

Dies ist das erste Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Geistige Sichtweisen und menschliche Tatsachen“.

Das Kapitel enthält Meditationen und Aphorismen zur Erkenntnistheorie und deren Zusammenhang mit Zivilisationen.

Geistige Sichtweisen und menschliche Tatsachen

Dies ist das vierte Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Vom Göttlichen zum Menschlichen“.

Dieses metaphysische Kapitel beschäftigt sich mit Dreifaltigkeiten in verschiedenen Überlieferungen. Die Einheitsauffassung und die Dreifaltigkeitsauffassung treffen sich und lösen sich auf in ihrem Urbild, das nichts anderes ist als das gleichzeitig unwandelbare und ausstrahlende Unbedingte.

Vom Göttlichen zum Menschlichen

Dies ist das zweite Kapitel aus Frithjof Schuons Buch „Esoterik als Grundsatz und als Weg“.

Der Begriff „Schleier“ (arabisch Hijâb) ist das islamische Pendant zum hinduistischen Begriff Mâyâ. Der Schleier verhüllt die eigentliche Wirklichkeit, er lässt sie aber auch durchscheinen. In zahlreichen Beispielen wird die Sinnbildlichkeit des Schleiers entfaltet und erweist sich als ein Schlüsselbegriff der Metaphysik.

Esoterik als Grundsatz und als Weg

…

Forme et substance dans les religions

…

Forme et Substance dans les Religions

…

De l’Unité transcendante des religions

Cet article de Schuon n’est jamais apparu dans aucun de ses livres.

frithjofschuon.info

Une explication profonde du commandement suprême qui se trouve dans la Bible: « Tu aimeras Yahweh, ton Dieu, de tout ton coeur, de toute ton âme et de toute ta force ».

L’Ésotérisme comme Principe et comme Voie

http://www.frithjof-schuon.com/LE%20COMMANDEMENT%20SUPREME.pdf

Ces extraits, pris de plusieurs de ses livres, présentent les idées de Frithjof Schuon sur l’évolutionisme.

frithjof-schuon.com

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

…

De l’Unité transcendante des religions

…

Les Perles du pèlerin

…

Sur les traces de la Religion Pérenne

…

Sentiers de Gnose

…

Racines de la condition humaine

http://www.frithjof-schuon.com/intelligence.pdf

…

Sur les traces de la Religion Pérenne

…

Prayer Fashions Man: Frithjof Schuon on the Spiritual Life

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

“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.” In this article, Frithjof Schuon goes on to examine all the different ways in which passionate, sentimental and ignorant man betrays the true sense of proportion in idolizing his country, his civilization and modern dogma, to the ruin of himself, his religion and other peoples, and in forgetting, all the while, that “my kingdom is not of this world.”

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

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/browse.aspx?ID=45

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)

http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/articles/browse.aspx?ID=99

…

Logic and Transcendence

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

This is another of Schuon’s informative essays about the nature and necessity of tradition and revelation. It includes numerous aspects of a spiritual tradition and contrasts it with the false promise of modern science and its version of truth.

Sample articles taken from the online archive of the journal Sacred Web

http://www.sacredweb.com/articles/sw1_schuon.html

…

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

…

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

The Question of Protestantism by Frithjof Schuon appears as chapter 3 of Christianity/Islam: Perspectives on Esoteric Ecumenism, A New Translation with Selected Letters edited by James S. Cutsinger, published by World Wisdom.

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

…

Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism

…

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

…

To Have a Center

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

…

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

…

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

…

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

…

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

…

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

…

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

…

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

…

Stations of Wisdom; also in Language of the Self

…

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

…

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

…

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

…

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

…

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

In “To Have a Center,” the signature essay of the book of the same name, Frithjof Schuon surveys the ambiguous phenomenon of modern genius, showing how Western humanistic society has replaced the time-honored veneration of the saint and the hero with the cult of individualistic “genius.”

To Have a Center: A New Translation with Selected Letters

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

PDF File

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)

PDF file

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)

PDF File

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

PDF file