A study of the traditional metaphysics of the Taoist tradition, with many comparisons made to Western esoteric traditions, such as Alchemy, Hermeticism, and Freemasonry, as well as parallels with Christian and Islamic doctrine.

René Guénon (1886-1951) is undoubtedly one of the luminaries of the twentieth century, whose critique of the modern world has stood fast against the shifting sands of recent philosophies. His oeuvre of 26 volumes is providential for the modern seeker: pointing ceaselessly to the perennial wisdom found in past cultures ranging from the Shamanistic to the Indian and Chinese, the Hellenic and Judaic, the Christian and Islamic, and including also Alchemy, Hermeticism, and other esoteric currents, at the same time it directs the reader to the deepest level of religious praxis, emphasizing the...

Rene Guenon (1886-1951) is undoubtedly one of the luminaries of the twentieth century, whose critique of the modern world has stood fast against the shifting sands of recent philosophies. His oeuvre of 26 volumes is providential for the modern seeker: pointing ceaselessly to the perennial wisdom found in past cultures ranging from the Shamanistic to the Indian and Chinese, the Hellenic and Judaic, the Christian and Islamic, and including also Alchemy, Hermeticism, and other esoteric currents, at the same time it directs the reader to the deepest level of religious praxis, emphasizing the need...

The articles collected in this volume represent some of the most unusual from Guenon's pen. They could be described as fragments of an unknown history, a history reaching back through prehistory to protohistory, for they begin with the Primordial Tradition contemporaneous with the beginnings of present humanity. The text opens with a study on cosmic cycles, taking as point of departure the Hindu doctrine of the Manvantara, though similar doctrines appear in Greco-Roman antiquity, among Jewish Kabbalists, Islamic Sufis and Ismailis, and in the Hopi, Lakota, and Maya nations of the New World....

Critique of the modern world from the point of view of traditional metaphysics, with special reference to the Oriental doctrine of cosmic cycles.

This small volume brings together a number of Guenon's early articles relating to Sufism (tasawwuf), or Islamic esoterism. A later article, 'Islamic Esoterism', has also been included, since it articulates so well the particularities of initiation in Islam by defining the fundamental elements of tasawwuf: shari'ah, tariqah, haqiqah. The first constitutes the necessary fundamental exoteric basis; the second, the Way and its means; the third, the goal or final result. In the other chapters, Guenon expresses with his usual synthetic clarity what tawhid and faqr are, and gives examples of...

This book investigates differences between East and West in connection with the preservation of traditional principles, with a special view to envisioning how such differences affect the possibilities for the restitution of such principles in each domain. Special attention is given to various aberrant 'spiritualities' in the West, and how they might be overcome by reference to teachinigs still extant in the East, and a rejuvenation of what remains in the West of organizations retaining at least a core of the metaphysical teachings that were in full bloom in the medieval West.

The present volume is a companion volume to Guenon Perspectives on Initiation, in which Guenon carefully defined the nature of initiation and of the organizations qualified to transmit it. In Initiation and Spiritual Realization he adds many details on related subjects, including various inner and outer obstacles the aspirant may face, the need for attachment to a traditional exoterism, the role of the spiritual master, and a closer examination of the degrees of spiritual realization.