The classical Triad of the Chinese tradition is Heaven-Man-Earth. Rene Guenon places this ternary in the context of universal metaphysics by identifying Heaven with Essence and Earth with Substance, the mediator between them being Man, whose cosmic function is to embody spirit (Heaven) while simultaneously spiritualizing matter (Earth). Exploring Chinese cosmology further, Guenon sheds light on such archetypal polarities as Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang, Solve et Coagula, Celestial and Terrestrial Numbers, the Square and the Compass, the Double Spiral, and the Being and the Environment,...

In East and West Guenon diagnoses the fundamental 'abnormality' of Western civilization vis-a-vis the traditional civilizations of the East, suggests avenues by which the West might be 're-oriented' toward the fundamental metaphysical principles it has largely abandoned, and outlines the possible role of a restoration of true intellectuality in this task. Of course, East and West are no longer what they were in Guenon's time. The aggressive rationalism and materialism of post-Christian Western culture has become a worldwide phenomenon, and no longer corrodes the philosophical and cultural...

Examination of legends of the subterranean kingdom of Agarttha and The King of the World in the light of traditional metaphysics. Incidental subjects include Luz: The above of immortality; The Holy Grail, Melkizedek, The Omphalos and Sacred Stones, and general considerations on the sites of spiritual centers

Study of the ontological hierarchy of the states of being as taught in the traditional metaphyscial doctrines of East and West.

The Multiple States of the Being is the companion to, and the completion of, The Symbolism of the Cross, which, together with Man and His Becoming according to the Vedanta, constitute Rene Guenon's great trilogy of pure metaphysics. In this work, Guenon offers a masterful explication of the metaphysical order and its multiple manifestations-of the divine hierarchies and what has been called the Great Chain of Being-and in so doing demonstrates how jnana, intellective or intrinsic knowledge of what is, and of That which is Beyond what is, is a Way of Liberation. Guenon the metaphysical social...

The Reign of Quantity gives a concise but comprehensive view of the present state of affairs in the world, as it appears from the point of view of the 'ancient wisdom', formerly common both to the East and to the West, but now almost entirely lost sight of. The author indicates with his fabled clarity and directness the precise nature of the modern deviation, and devotes special attention to the development of modern philosophy and science, and to the part played by them, with their accompanying notions of progress and evolution, in the formation of the industrial and democratic society which...