This is the “Introduction” to Letters of Frithjof Schuon: Reflections on the Perennial Philosophy, by Frithjof Schuon, edited by Michael O. Fitzgerald, 2022. This is a rare view into the life and character of the metaphysician, artist, and poet Frithjof Schuon by his wife of almost fifty years, Catherine Schuon. In it, she provides vignettes from her life with Mr. Schuon as well as details of his earlier life which he related to her. The purpose of her approach in the piece is clear — it is not to divulge private moments or intimate details, but to expand a reader's understanding of the intellectual, moral, artistic, and above all the spiritual ground upon which the man and thus his voluminous works stood, and still stand. It is a remarkable view into the most remarkable expositor of the full dimensions of the philosophia perennis.

In this chapter from his book Men of a Single Book: Fundamentalism in Islam, Christianity, and Modern Thought, author Mateus Soares de Azevedo very clearly points out that just as there are various radical fundamentalisms that have arisen in the world's religions, so has a “secular or atheistic fundamentalism” arisen among various modern authors as a reaction “against religious fundamentalism; it is a new form of superficiality and intolerance advanced by a few anti-religious polemicists.” Soares de Azevedo then shows the inconsistencies and illogicalities that litter this atheistic doctrine. However, the author reserves much of his argument to pointing out real-world ramifications from the spread of these secular or atheistic fundamentalist concepts by illustrating how these “ideas have consequences,” and that those who spread such ideas should understand that their efforts at promulgating them bestow a heavy burden of responsibility, which “is the first thing an intellectual should know.”

It is generally recognized that Frithjof Schuon had a special interest in the spiritual traditions of the American Indians, but only some aspects of his relationship with them are well known. The online journal Vincit Omnia Veritas, which published six issues between 2005 and 2007, interviewed Michael Fitzgerald on the subject of Schuon's many decades of interest in, and study of, American Indian spirituality in its many dimensions. This interview, posted on the Religio Perennis website, remains one of the most in-depth explications of Schuon's frequent focus on many aspects of American Indian traditions. Fitzgerald also gives some important historical context to the life and times of Schuon, to his American Indian contacts and friends, and to the work of Joseph Epes Brown, a scholar of Indian Studies and a friend to both Black Elk and Schuon.

The American Indian Culture and Research Journal summarizes this article by Fitzgerald in this way: “This article provides new information that will oblige scholars to reassess the legacy of Black Elk (1863–1950), including excerpts from recently discovered unpublished letters written by Joseph Epes Brown while he was living with the Lakota holy man (1947–49). The author provides insights into Brown's personal philosophy and a clearer context for the editorial role he played in recording The Sacred Pipe: Black Elk's Account of the Seven Rites of the Oglala Sioux. Brown's letters also help to illuminate Black Elk's role in attempting to restore the sacred “religion of the Pipe” among the Sioux and to clarify controversies that include Black Elk's dual participation in Catholicism.” For readers of Perennialist writings, it is noteworthy that Fitzgerald's article also includes important new insight into Frithjof Schuon's role in the chain of events leading to the recording of Black Elk's teachings on the Seven Rites.

In “To Have a Center,” the signature essay of the book of the same name, Frithjof Schuon surveys the ambiguous phenomenon of modern genius, showing how Western humanistic society has replaced the time-honored veneration of the saint and the hero with the cult of individualistic “genius.”

The “Introduction” to Frithjof Schuon: Messenger of the Perennial Philosophy covers a summary of the three dimensions of Schuon’s work (comprehension, concentration, conformation), a brief discussion of how his own life was led in the light of these dimensions, and then presents the essential elements of Schuon’s message in some further details. These elements are discussed under sections titles “Metaphysical Truth,” “Life of Prayer,” and “Moral Conformity.” Besides Fitzgerald’s explication, his points are reinforced by extensive quotes from Schuon’s unique prose, and his poetry.