Frithjof Schuon Archive
A Resource on Frithjof Schuon’s Life and Teachings
This site is the most comprehensive repository of information pertaining to the life and work of Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998); materials include published articles, personal correspondence, private papers, poems, photographs, and works of art.
Frithjof Schuon is the preeminent spokesman of a school of thought that focuses on the expression and explanation of the Perennial Philosophy. This philosophy expresses the timeless metaphysical truths underlying the diverse religions; its written sources include the revealed Scriptures as well as the writings of the great spiritual masters. Because these truths are permanent and universal, the point of view may thus be called “Perennialist.” The Perennial Philosophy is an important perspective that can inform the study of Comparative Religion, Anthropology, Art, Literature, and many related areas.
Schuon was a philosopher in the tradition of Plato, Shankara, and Eckhart, and he wrote over two dozen books on religion, metaphysics, sacred art, and the spiritual path. Describing Schuon’s first book, The Transcendent Unity of Religions, Nobel laureate T. S. Eliot wrote, “I have met with no more impressive work in the comparative study of Oriental and Occidental religion”, and world-renowned religion scholar Huston Smith said of Schuon, “The man is a living wonder; intellectually apropos religion, equally in depth and breadth, the paragon of our time”. Schuon’s books have been translated into over a dozen languages and are respected by academic and religious authorities alike. Schuon’s writings remain unequaled in setting forth the principles of perennialist thought as well as their applications on the spiritual, aesthetic, and other related levels.
Besides his accomplishments as an author, Frithjof Schuon was also a gifted artist and poet. His art and his poetry flowed naturally from his awareness of God’s Presence in creation. Catalogue notes from a museum display of Schuon’s art explain that “springing as they do from his rich and unique personality, Schuon’s paintings…have a rare value, not only as regards artistic merit but above all because of their gift for manifesting the human soul at its noblest and most beautiful—hence, as a vehicle for Truth.” The sense of the sacred figures as much in Schuon’s art and poetry as in his philosophical writings.
The story of Schuon’s life presented in these pages demonstrates how his own intellect, personality, and actions reflected the elevated metaphysics, spiritual insights, and artistic creations that comprised his body of work.
This online resource brings together, through a survey of his many-faceted dimensions, Frithjof Schuon’s important contributions to the manifestations of the timeless Truth.
Featured Books
Geistige Sichtweisen und menschliche Tatsachen
Metaphysical knowledge and spiritual transformation of man are the main themes of this book, which is a collection of various short texts compiled by Frithjof Schuon himself, giving the reader a glimpse, as it were, into the workshop of this thinker.
Featured Poems
Adastra and Stella Maris: Poems by Frithjof Schuon-Praise and Thanks
Al-hamdu li’Llâh — one praises God for whatIn His Nature one with deep wonder loves;Ash-shukru li’Llâh — one thanks God for whatHis Goodness on our poverty bestows.Allah is good: He is pure Beauty in Itself,In His Essence, in His pure Being;And He is good in all that...
Adastra and Stella Maris: Poems by Frithjof Schuon-Society
Thou art a man, and among men thou must live;Perfection is quite rare, I have to say.Of differing substances most people are made —So bear with them, just as they bear with thee.Stand before God; perform thy duty well.How other people are is not so important.
Adastra and Stella Maris: Poems by Frithjof Schuon-Petition
Praise of God and thanks to God; and then anotherPrayer arises from our soul: petition.Ask not only for thyself, but for thy neighbor too;One asks not only for our daily bread.And do not think that thy plea is not needed —It too is remembrance of the Highest.And ask...
Adastra and Stella Maris: Poems by Frithjof Schuon-Ridgepath
Man must cling to the essentialAnd so transform his very nature.From the mere accident that he once was,He must be healed in the likeness of God.The world is crooked, the ridgepath is straight —Do what the Word ordains; the rest is grace.
Featured Articles
New Light on Black Elk and The Sacred Pipe
The American Indian Culture and Research Journal summarizes this article by Fitzgerald in this way: “This article provides new information that will oblige scholars to reassess the legacy of Black Elk (1863–1950), including excerpts from recently discovered unpublished letters written by Joseph Epes Brown while he was living with the Lakota holy man (1947–49). The author provides insights into Brown’s personal philosophy and a clearer context for the editorial role he played in recording The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk’s Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux. Brown’s letters also help to illuminate Black Elk’s role in attempting to restore the sacred “religion of the Pipe” among the Sioux and to clarify controversies that include Black Elk’s dual participation in Catholicism.” For readers of Perennialist writings, it is noteworthy that Fitzgerald’s article also includes important new insight into Frithjof Schuon’s role in the chain of events leading to the recording of Black Elk’s teachings on the Seven Rites.
A Profusion of Songs
This chapter from Michael Fitzgerald’s book Frithjof Schuon: Messenger of the Perennial Philosophy (World Wisdom, 2010), is a brief overview of how Frithjof Schuon came to write poetry, his reasons for doing so, and the nature of his work, including some examples of the Perennialist sage’s didactic verses.
Hommage d’un ami Indien
Signs of the Supra-Sensible: Frithjof Schuon on the Natural Order
Author Prof. Harry Oldmeadow states that the goal of this essay is to “provide a sketch, largely through direct quotation, of a few of the key principles and doctrines which govern Schuon’s understanding of the natural order.” This can assist us, because today we “witness a plethora of writings on the ‘ecological crisis,’ often well-intentioned and sometimes enlivened by partial insights, but fundamentally confused because of an ignorance of timeless metaphysical and cosmological principles. It has been the task of figures such as René Guénon, Ananda Coomaraswamy and Frithjof Schuon, authoritative expositors of the sophia perennis, to remind the modern world of those principles.”