Description
Book SynopsisRene Guenon is a major figure for anyone who recognises a need to rediscover the spiritual roots from which Western society has become so comprehensively alienated. Immersing himself in the search for spiritual truth, he chose Islam as the vehicle for his spiritual life. Settling in Egypt, he clarified and deepened our understanding of the teachings of traditional metaphysics, his central message being that there is at the source of all humanity's traditions a 'Primordial Tradition' -- a Universal Metaphysics which sets out the principles that underlie this Tradition. The truths it embodies are universal and unchanging, and form part of a unified body of higher knowledge which transcends the multiplicity of religious dogmas and philosophical systems that abound in Western society. He wrote about the need to transcend the formal and emotional aspect of religion in order to prepare ourselves for an understanding of 'pure metaphysics'. He explained how traditional societies achieved this, exploring the symbols used, in order to help individuals forward to levels of understanding which are otherwise inaccessible to minds blinkered by the limitations of the currently prevailing Western approach to existence and its meaning.
Table of ContentsPART 1: THE PRIMORDIAL TRADITION AND RELIGION -- The Primordial Tradition; Religion; The Oriental Traditions; The Monotheistic Religions. PART II: THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY AND THE INTEGRAL BEING -- The Spiritual Journey; The Integral Being and its Multiple States. PART III: WESTERN SOCIETY AND THE EMERGENCE OF MODERNITY -- Aspects of Western Society; Modernity; The Humanities; Psychology; Philosophy, Logic and Metaphysics; Mathematics and Geometry. PART IV: SYMBOLISM and SYMBOLS. Index.
