Editorial: “Standing Unshakably in the True”:
A Commentary on the Teachings of Frithjof Schuon
by M. Ali Lakhani
Drawing from Frithjof Schuon’s poetry in the World Wheel series to illustrate his teachings, the Editorial provides a commentary on his teachings under the Schuonian schematic of Truth-Prayer-Virtue-Beauty.
Primordial Meditation: Contemplating The Real
by Frithjof Schuon
Translated by Gillian Harris and Angela Schwartz
Sacred Web is honored to present the first English translation of this important work—the only book by Frithjof Schuon previously unpublished in English. The book, originally published in German in 1935 (when Schuon was 28 years old) under the title “Leitgedanken zur Urbesinnung”, is the first formal exposition of a primordial worldview based on Schuon’s extraordinary spiritual insights recorded in his notebooks between the ages of 21 and 28, and presented here in four separate collections—a remarkable testament to his spiritual genius.
A Portfolio of Photographs of Frithjof Schuon
Sacred Web is indebted to the Estate of Frithjof Schuon to permit it to publish this portfolio of photographs of the great metaphysician, whose striking appearance was a reflection of his extraordinary nature.
Four Poems in Memory of Frithjof Schuon
by Barry McDonald
Barry McDonald, who was privileged to know Frithjof Schuon, was encouraged by him to write poetry. Now, on the occasion of Schuon’s birth centenary, McDonald has produced a selection of four poems dedicated to his patron’s memory and inspired by his teachings.
Beauty and the Sense of the Sacred:
Schuon’s Antidote to the Modern World
by Michael Fitzgerald
Drawing largely on Schuon’s own words, and accompanied by a selection of images that illustrate Schuon’s teachings about Beauty and the sense of the Sacred, this is the text of a presentation delivered at the on “Tradition in the Modern World,” held in Edmonton at the University of Alberta, September 2006. [The full audio-visual presentation by Michael Fitzgerald is available on the Conference DVD .]
Quintessential Esoterism and the Wisdom of Forms:
Reflections on Frithjof Schuon’s Intellectual and Spiritual Legacy
by Patrick Laude
This essay surveys Schuon’s nuanced teachings about the hierarchies of form in the context of his metaphysical explanation of the architecture of reality. Patrick Laude writes: “(T)he notion of form reveals an undeniable richness and complexity in Schuon’s works. It bears witness both to the liberty of the Spirit that ‘burns’ forms to reduce them to their essence, to the Eckhartian breaking of the shell that is a requirement for reaching the core, but also to a keen awareness of forms as testifying to degrees of reality, and therefore necessary elements of sacred mediation and balancing wisdom”, opening the way “to an inner transcending of forms on the secure ground of a keen discernment of formal qualities”.
“Made in the Image”:
Schuon’s Theomorphic Anthropology
by Timothy Scott
Commencing from the traditional viewpoint of Man’s theomorphic nature in which Universal Man is made in the Divine Image, this essay proceeds to survey Schuon’s key teachings related to this anthrolopgy, focusing on three topics: the tensions between man’s divinity and animality, the symbolism of the sexes, and Schuon’s primordial understanding of nudity. The essay emphasizes the underlying connection between the theomorphic nature of Man, as represented by the human body, and the theocentric purpose of human existence: the “remembrance” of Man’s essential nature through the unifying vision of the Intellect.
The Milk of the Virgin:
The Prophet, the Saint and the Sage
by Renaud Fabbri
This essay explores certain misunderstandings about Schuon’s position: was he a prophet (instituting a new transcendent religion or primordial message), a saint (some have portrayed him as a Muslim saint operating within the structures of Sufism), or, as the author contends, a sage (based on the Platonic or Hindu model)? Emphasizing the Marian foundation of his teachings, the author argues that Schuon is best understood as being a paracletic spokesman of the sophia perennis and a shakta.