This revised edition of Schuon's writings on esoterism features a fully revised translation from the French original as well as over 60 pages of new material, including previously unpublished selections from the author's letters and other private writings, an editor's preface, editor's notes, a glossary of foreign terms and phrases, an index, and biographical notes.
Frithjof Schuon's works provide invaluable keys to understanding the formal contradictions between the world's religions as well as their transcendent unity. This revised edition of his writings on esoterism—the inward and universal dimension of religion, also called the sophia perennis (“perennial wisdom”)—features a new translation from the original French as well as more than 60 pages of new material, including previously unpublished selections from his letters and other private writings.
Frithjof Schuon’s perspective of pure esoterism focuses on the inward and universal dimension of religion, also referred to as the sophia perennis (“perennial wisdom”). His works provide invaluable keys to understanding the formal contradictions between the world’s religions as well as their transcendent unity. In Esoterism as Principle and as Way, readers will discover the essential truth that lies at the heart of the world’s religions, as well as the role of prayer, virtue, and beauty in the spiritual life.
Editor's Preface vii
Introduction xiii
I. Sophia Perennis
Understanding Esoterism 3
The Mystery of the Veil 37
Hypostatic and Cosmic Numbers 57
The Primordial Tree 71
II. Spiritual & Moral Life
The Triple Nature of Man 85
The Virtues in the Way 93
The Nature and Role of Sentiment 109
What Sincerity Is and What It Is Not 115
The Problem of Sexuality 121
Dimensions of the Human Vocation 139
The Supreme Commandment 143
The True Remedy 151
Criteria of Worth 161
III. Aesthetic & Theurgic Phenomenology
Foundations of an Integral Aesthetics 169
The Degrees of Art 177
The Role of Appearances 193
The Function of Relics 199
An Elementary Criteriology of Celestial Apparitions 205
The Sun Dance 215
IV. Sufism
The Religion of the Heart 225
The Way of Unity 231
Appendix
Selections from Letters and Other Previously 239
Unpublished Writings
Editor's Notes 249
Glossary of Foreign Terms and Phrases 283
Index 297
Biographical Notes 309