The Essential Rene Guenon: Metaphysics, Tradition, and the Crisis of Modernity (Rene Guenon)
Somewhat Better than Frithjof Schuon
[My 3-star Amazon review (NDA) of “The Essential Rene Guenon: Metaphysics, Tradition, and the Crisis of Modernity” bu Rene Guenon.]
A member of my Facebook group, Electrical-Hermetic Christianity [now Meditation-Consciousness-Spirituality], suggested that I read Rene Guenon, considered one of the founders, together with Frithjof
Schuon and Ananda Coomaraswarmy, of the "traditionalist" or "perennialist" school of thinking that flowered in the early to mid twentieth century.
I had already read Schuon (see my two-star review of "The Essential Frithjof Schuon") and Coomeraswamy, in addition to Aldous Huxley (see my four-star review of "The Perennial Philosophy"), Rudolf Otto (see my two-star review of "The Idea of the Holy"), and others, so I figured I might as well complete my study of the big name specialists in comparative religion by checking out Guenon. I procured a copy of "The Essential Rene Guenon: Metaphysics, Tradition, and the Crisis of Modernity," and began my study.
It didn't take long for me to become bored with the book, which reads like a quasi-academic history and sociology of select esoteric spiritual traditions, while essentially ignoring some important ones (such as Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity). Guenon's focus is on Hinduism and Islam (the religion he converted to to), though one of the chapters, Taoism and Confucianism, does consider Chinese spirituality. Guenon does have a chapter on Kabbalah, but it is short and crummy, shedding no light whatsoever on the subject.
I did find a couple of the chapters interesting and esoteric - The Vital Centre of the Human Being: Seat of Brahma, and The Heart and the Cave. But too many of the chapters made me feel like I was reading a sociology of religion textbook. And the names of these chapters - The Dark Age, Sacred and Profane Science, A Material Civilization, Civilization and Progress, What Is Meant by Tradition, Principles of Government and the Institution of Caste - give away the text's sociological emphasis.
As a long-time expert in the field of spirituality, I'm glad to be done reading all the big name perennial philosophers, none of whom impresses me. Eventually I'll write my own book on the subject, and I predict that it will revolutionize the study of the perennial philosophy.
To conclude, I found Rene Guenon somewhat better than Frithjof Schuon, which really isn't saying much.
[My 3-star Amazon review (NDA) of “The Essential Rene Guenon: Metaphysics, Tradition, and the Crisis of Modernity” bu Rene Guenon.]
A member of my Facebook group, Electrical-Hermetic Christianity [now Meditation-Consciousness-Spirituality], suggested that I read Rene Guenon, considered one of the founders, together with Frithjof
Schuon and Ananda Coomaraswarmy, of the "traditionalist" or "perennialist" school of thinking that flowered in the early to mid twentieth century.
I had already read Schuon (see my two-star review of "The Essential Frithjof Schuon") and Coomeraswamy, in addition to Aldous Huxley (see my four-star review of "The Perennial Philosophy"), Rudolf Otto (see my two-star review of "The Idea of the Holy"), and others, so I figured I might as well complete my study of the big name specialists in comparative religion by checking out Guenon. I procured a copy of "The Essential Rene Guenon: Metaphysics, Tradition, and the Crisis of Modernity," and began my study.
It didn't take long for me to become bored with the book, which reads like a quasi-academic history and sociology of select esoteric spiritual traditions, while essentially ignoring some important ones (such as Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity). Guenon's focus is on Hinduism and Islam (the religion he converted to to), though one of the chapters, Taoism and Confucianism, does consider Chinese spirituality. Guenon does have a chapter on Kabbalah, but it is short and crummy, shedding no light whatsoever on the subject.
I did find a couple of the chapters interesting and esoteric - The Vital Centre of the Human Being: Seat of Brahma, and The Heart and the Cave. But too many of the chapters made me feel like I was reading a sociology of religion textbook. And the names of these chapters - The Dark Age, Sacred and Profane Science, A Material Civilization, Civilization and Progress, What Is Meant by Tradition, Principles of Government and the Institution of Caste - give away the text's sociological emphasis.
As a long-time expert in the field of spirituality, I'm glad to be done reading all the big name perennial philosophers, none of whom impresses me. Eventually I'll write my own book on the subject, and I predict that it will revolutionize the study of the perennial philosophy.
To conclude, I found Rene Guenon somewhat better than Frithjof Schuon, which really isn't saying much.
