Strictly speaking, Schuon wrote articles, not books. He makes that clear in the preface to this group of essays. It is also clear that Schuon is a "philosopher" in the ancient sense of this word, a "lover of wisdom." What may come as a surprise-to readers accustomed only to the modern concept of philosophy as a manipulation of mental notions-is the author's insistence on the inalienable reciprocity between wisdom and love. Even within Hindu philosophy, the two paths are often conceived as being mutually exclusive, yet Schuon insists on the complementarity of their relationship at the deepest level.

In some essays, this is discussed in the language of metaphysical principles. In others, it is its manifestation at the cosmic level which is considered. In either case, what is fundamental to understanding Schuon is that what is most real is not what can be perceived with our senses; it is the spiritual, the invisible sacred essence of things. He writes, "Spirit is Substance, matter is accident.... The sacred is the projection of the Immutable into the mutable."

This is no facile emanationism, nor is it simply a current elaboration of Platonic thought. There is something in Schuon going beyond erudition and eloquence that is irrefutable, and there are no contemporary categories in which to put him. His style is very condensed, for which he makes no apologies. The reader has to be willing to put aside the reflex of seeing everything only as a result of "horizontal" causes such as historical conditioning, "borrowings" and psychological influences. Schuon asks us to consider the "vertical" dimension, thus to look at the very nature of things: "Fundamental intelligence is manifested, not necessarily in the fact of accepting lofty ideas, but by the capacity to really understand them."

This is the most uplifiting collection of paintings, done by the greatest painter of the 20th century.

Schuon has a fascinating ability to look at how things are spiritually relevant to us here and now. It may be a philosophical idea, or a denominational world, or a work of art--his aim is to turn it to account in a way that brings us into contact with the rays of divine Reality that transpierce the husks of everyday life.
This book contains one of the seminal articles of the entire Schuon opus, "Atma-Maya." In it, he gives a description of the degrees of Being that is without exaggeration a philosophical masterpiece. Both the content and the style require some effort on the part of the reader, yet the ideas are at times conveyed with a lyricism of prose that is akin to the "music of the spheres": "Maya is the breath of Atma; Atma 'breathes' through Maya...The Universe proceeds from God and returns to Him; hence the cosmic cycles governing the microcosm as well as the macrocosm. Maya is the air breathed by Atma, and this air is a quality of His own Infinitude."
The universality of Schuon's perspective at the level of ideas is matched by a remarkable breadth of applications. Thus it is not surprising that his books are reviewed and appreciated by a wide range of serious readers, as the following reviews show:

"In the Face of the Absolute is prime Schuon. 'The modern spirit proceeds along the surface, hence a continual toying with mental images without awareness of the part these really play; the traditional spirit, on the other hand, proceeds in depth, whence arise doctrines that may be apparently "dogmatic" but which nonetheless remain fully satisfying and effective.' Schuon has given a centrality to the intellect and to the expression of that intellect that is positively spiritual. In the French style, eloquence is synonymous with transformation... His knowledge of Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, is holy."
--The Book Reader

"A collection of scholarly essays (translated from French) by a renowned and prolofic theologian. The author's general intent might be said to be a defense and explanation of the nature and necessity of religion in modern times. The 16 essays are divided into three parts: General Doctrine, Christianity, Islam. Each essay, while examining in depth a particular question, reveals the author's great knowledge of the world's major religions and includes major concepts, beliefs, and practices from both Western and Eastern religions. The impressive scholarship of the writer reflects the two principles of 'esoterism' of religion: namely, (1) 'fundamentally there is only one religion with various forms'; and (2) 'man bears everything within himself...by reason of the immanence of the one Truth.' This book is, indeed, a serious challenge to the 'modern spirit' whose 'ideas no longer bite.' Highly recommended for all who seek an understanding of the "traditional spirit."
--T.M. Pucelik, Bradley University

Schuon often expressed a deep appreciation for Advaita-Vedanta and characterized his perspective as that of the Sanatana Dharma, the "eternal religion." The articles here all have a connection with Hinduism, but they are not concerned with the historical unfolding of this universe. What interests Schuon is the operative "sap" of Hindu spirituality.

The chapters on the Vedanta and on yoga are to a great extent the keystones in this book. The first answers the question of what spiritual life is in its essence. The second describes the aspects of a spiritual practice that can unite man with divine Reality. What makes Schuon unique is first his ability to describe what yoga is in itself and in principle, which provides a context for distinguishing among its many different forms and their use. Second--but no less important--is his insight into what the potential obstacles are for different human temperaments as they come into contact with a yogic discipline.

Schuon considers yoga as a spiritual exercise which results "not from a human willing, but from the nature of things," thus applying to the substance of the soul principles that are quasi-geometrical in their objectivity. For most Westerners, this tends to lead to a polemic between a "technique" that is impersonal in contrast to the "individual effort" of virtue that in the West has become almost synonymous with sanctity. The chapter is full of examples of how the human faculties of knowledge, will and sentiment are found in varying combinations in East and West, in the different denominational worlds and within each soul.

There is a very intriguing feature of Schuon that one encounters repeatedly throughout his books. It is his gift for showing how many seeming impasses or difficulties dissolve when we are able to pose questions in a way that allows for answers which can satisfy our need to know on the deepest level. When, with an attitude uncolored by any reflex of self-interest, we are receptive to the language of the Self.

Like the samurai of old Japan, the medieval crusaders had a saying concerning their swords: "Draw me not without provocation, sheathe me not without honor." The image inevitably comes to mind upon encountering the pen of Frithjof Schuon. It arises not because of any misplaced nostalgia for the past but precisely because here and now Schuon's weapon cuts through the lukewarmness, the dead-ends of the modern "-ism's"-materialism, relativism, determinism--with astonishing clarity and suppleness.

We live in a universe where everything meets and interpenetrates: ideologically, culturally and even sensorially. We are inundated with information, with experiences, but sorely lacking the unifying principles by which to assimilate these data. How can we steer a course that avoids the untenable rigidity of literalistic dogmatism on the one hand and the shapeless abyss of a relativism that accepts everything on the other?

Every stroke of Schuon's pen is in some sense a recalling to first principles. The way to these primary and unifying principles has become obscured by a plethora of errors affecting not just our thinking, but also our sentiments. Schuon clears the path in a series of brilliant essays that restore meaning to words. His fundamental message has been characterized variously as the "religio perennis" or "perennial philosophy," as quintessential esoterism, as universal metaphysics. What all these descriptions point toward is a perspective of "the Truth, the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth." What Schuon goes on to demonstrate with such masterful adroitness is how this Truth-which is synonymous with ultimate Reality-radiates and reverberates in the world around us as well as the world within us.

For readers just discovering Schuon, this may not be the book to begin with. But perseverance will reap a rich harvest.

The Play of Masks

The title of this book refers, in its most general sense, both to its metaphysical theme and to its dialectics. It most fundamentally expresses the multiplicity of the aspects of Mâyâ, the Universal Relativity, as they mask --both to veil and to reveal-- the Supreme and Only Subject, the Divine "I", Atmâ. Dialectically speaking, this title suggests the variety of ways in which Schuon proposes to approach the Ultimate Reality and its spiritual correlates. The diversity of approaches is motivated by a desire for clarity and integrality. In this work, maybe more emphatically than in others, Schuon deals with the human condition both in the "cosmogonic projection," as manifestation of Atmâ through Mâyâ, and in relation to the spiritually liberating doors --truth, prayer and beauty-- which give to human existence its meaning and its prerogatives. Transcendence and objectivity are the fundamental prerogatives of the human on the levels of intelligence, will and love. Objectivity is understood by Schuon as an integral conformity to the nature of things through which man reaches his "celestial potentiality." That potentiality is in a sense already included in the mystery of Manifestation which sees Atmâ become Mâyâ so that Mâyâ may become Atmâ: the Divine Whole Possibility entails that of being known "from outside," that is by a being who is "illusorily" different from God while being actively participant in the Divine Intellect. The intellective faculty is the very center of man and it can be identified as such with the "inner man", by contrast with the "outer man" who lives on the periphery of being. In that sense, the "outer man" is the "mask" of the "inner man." Only the Sage is fully aware of the relationship between these two dimensions because he is perfectly identified to the "inner man," which allows him to objectify his human "mask." Man must be a witness of Necessary Being in the world of contingency, and he does so, first by remembering the Absolute --in prayer-- through the "liberating passage" of the Divine Symbol --the sacramental vehicle of the Divine Presence--, and secondly by "bringing back" the positive contents of Mâyâ --inner and outer beauty-- to their roots in God. When unfaithful to this vocation, man remains "exteriorized" and "horizontal." These two vices characterize and manifest the Fall, or Original Sin, to which Schuon devotes an enlightening chapter. Dealing with the necessary spiritual and moral climate of man's return to God in two chapters on "intention" and "charity," Schuon dispels a series of modern prejudices which eliminate or vitiate the spiritual meaning of veracity and compassion by reducing them to psychological or political categories. The object of this book is, once again, to provide contemporary seekers with fundamental keys to help them rediscover their true nature: the awareness of the Real with their whole intelligence, will and soul.

Roots of the Human Condition

As its title indicates, this book deals with the fundamental principles of universal and perennial metaphysics and their application on the level of spiritual and moral life. The book is divided into three sections: the first dealing with metaphysics and epistemology, the second concerning esoterism and its interpretation of religions, while the third focuses on spiritual and moral life. Everything begins with intelligence as a principle of dicernment. Intelligence is defined by Schuon, in the wake of traditional wisdom, as an intuition of Reality, or as a discernment between Reality and illusion, which must manifest itself on all levels of being. Its primary organ is not the mind, which is akin to discursive reason, but the Heart, which is none other than the intuitive and existential center of man. Reason left to itself is unable to lift the "Veil of Isis" or the Mystery of Reality because it is always exterior to its object. In this connection, Schuon devotes an important chapter to the limits of modern science. The latter is doomed to fail because it proceeds through an indefinite exploration of phenomena and remains unaware of the Supreme Identity between Object and Subject in the Divine Unity. Given its epistemological a priori modern science cannot but be blind to the objective and subjective "proofs" of God. The former include pure existence, the indefinite extension of space and time and existential qualities, which bear witness respectively to the Absolute, Infinite and Perfect Reality of the One. On the side of the subject, the paradox of the plurality of the "I" ultimately point to the one and only reality of the Divine Self. The immanence of the Divine Self is also at the core of the saving dimension of the Divine, which is examined in two essential chapters devoted to the Divine Shakti --the celestial and cosmic energy which pulls us inward-- and to the complementarity between karma and grace --the first expressing the necessity of the Absolute, the second the freedom of the Infinite. The esoteric approach allows Schuon to provide the reader with a masterly and enlightening phenomenology of religions which takes him to the metaphysical and sapiential core of the various creeds. Two amazingly synthetic chapters are thus devoted to Christianity and Islam, unveiling the inner dimension and specificity of each of these religions. Schuon proposes to define Christianity by the patristic formula "God has become man so that man may become God." The first half of this formula is the key to a deeper understanding of the Eucharist, the Icon and the Divine Name as vehicles of Divine Presence. As for Islam, it is understood by Schuon as the religious form manifesting the substance of all religions through its simplicity, primordiality and terminality. Schuon's Islam is essential and universal as evidenced by the way in which he refers all five pillars of this religion back to their inner spiritual meaning. As in all of other Schuon's works, metaphysics and comparative religion find their spiritual and moral necessary complement in a profound science of virtues. For Schuon, the quintessence of virtues is veracity and sincerity, or conformity to Truth and its consequences. A final chapter devoted to the spiritual meaning of love shows how all terrestrial loves are fundamentally open doors onto the love of God which is their essence. In a world more and more engrossed by the phenomenal periphery of things, this book brings a much-needed message of return to the roots of our being.

In daily life, it is interesting to see how the human soul likes to return to an idea or a feeling that is simple but somehow determinative. It is often the inward image of someone we love or a goal we are striving for. Media advertising techniques exploit this aspect of our nature at its crudest level. In the art of poetry, it is turned to account in a kind of apotheosis that verges on the magical. It is no accident that for millennia-when illiteracy was the norm for most people-the wisdom of civilizations was encapsulated, perpetuated and enjoyed through poetry.

This collection of "Songs" is a rare find. There is no poem more than one page in length, and yet it is as though Schuon the metaphysician has crystallized the entire content of his philosophical books into verse. Even so, this is much more than simply a clever recapitulation. The ideas, the images-and the realities they manifest-spring forth with the life and clarity of a fresh inspiration. And this is the point at which those of us who are not fluent in German cannot help feeling slightly left out. One is grateful to have the original German next to the English translations, but one also longs to "hear the music." Lacking a voice rendering of the German in the form of a compact disk, one can hope that at least a few of these gems might become accessible through an internet site.

As with Schuon's prose works, one is struck by the range of subjects, and in addition with the poetry, by the astonishing variety of styles and meters. The topics include such diverse interests as metaphysics, cosmology, sacred art, celestial femininity, hagiography, comparative religion, folk wisdom, fairy tales and certainly all aspects of German romanticism. The sense of nature as theophany is a major theme here, accompanied by a lyricism of heart-melting beauty.

This is the kind of book one likes to dip into, savor and come back to. Since the foreword mentions a corpus of some 3,500 poems, the only question to ask is when the publication date is for the next volume.

If for some reason I were limited to owning just one book by Frithjof Schuon, it would be "Spiritual Perspectives and Human Facts." There are several of his books that could be said to summarize his viewpoint, but this one is unique. Central to Schuon is Plato's dictum, "Beauty is the splendor of the True." Essentially, these are the two indispensable poles by which humanity lives. These six essays explain why and how.

On the one hand, Schuon is convincing through his dialectic, which is both concise and comprehensive-there are no wasted words. But he is no less so through his ability to evoke the life of the soul in its inmost: "Love is in the depths of man even as water is in the depths of the earth, and man suffers from not being able to enjoy this infinity which he bears in himself and for which he is made. It is necessary to dig deep into the soil of the soul through layers of aridity and bitterness in order to find love and to live on it."

The content of the essays includes the fundamental principles of metaphysics, an overview of the traditional worlds, the guiding themes of inward spiritual life and reflections on the beauty of art and nature. The style is almost aphoristic, so that in any chapter, the reader can choose to concentrate on the meaning expressed in a few paragraphs or to assimilate the whole ensemble of ideas in its entirety. In fact, one will find occasions for both, because there are jewels here that one wants to appreciate in their luminous kernel as well as in the radiance of their unfolding:

"Beauty is a crystallization of some aspect of universal joy; it is something limitless expressed by means of a limit."

This has to be one of Schuon's most fascinating and engaging books. The title is taken from the opening chapter which deals with, among other things, the phenomenon of genius. From Beethoven to Einstein, from Dante to Ghandi, Schuon looks at what famous men and women have bequeathed to us and why they are admired. The analyses are often surprising.

They arise from what Schuon describes in another chapter as "integral anthropology." This rather dry-sounding phrase in fact sums up an amazingly rich description of the very diverse possibilities of human nature. Body, soul, spirit, race, gender, age, caste, even astrological types are considered. This is a tapestry of all the many-hued "wefts" of humanity as they combine with the vertical "warp" of spirituality. As Schuon writes, "There is no science of the spiritual without a science of the human." This book reveals a very different side of Schuon's own genial talents.