Browse This Book On Google
Roots of the Human Condition deals with the fundamental principles of universal and perennial metaphysics and their application on the level of spiritual and moral life. Simply put, this book reveals many answers to those seekers questing for knowledge of what lies behind the reality of our world and, more particularly, our own human souls. The book is divided into three sections: Principles and Roots, Fundamental Perspective, and Moral and Spiritual Dimensions. Roots of the Human Condition contains an introduction by Patrick Laude.
Thus, the reader is provided with an intellectual method – in the truest sense – with which to view the profound questions of existence, then is shown how authentic esoterism approaches the spiritual realization of these truths, and finally is immersed in compelling considerations of human virtue, the almost alchemical result of realizing those truths.
Schuon writes that people often seek certitude through phenomena of the external world, while instead we should be seeking it in our very being. This is where his books have been leading readers for generations, to a strong certitude of the realities and purpose of the world and of our own existence. In this, and indeed in all his books, Schuon leads readers to insights on the roots of the human condition, precisely.
Schuon’s writings appeal to philosophers, students of comparative religion, and to spiritual seekers, among others. Roots of the Human Condition offers each of these an opportunity to be guided through some of the profoundest human questions by one of the greatest intellects of the 20th century.
About the Author(s)
Frithjof Schuon
Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998) is best known as the foremost spokesman of the “Traditionalist” or “Perennialist” school and as a philosopher in the metaphysical current of Shankara and Plato. He wrote more than two dozen books on metaphysical, spiritual, artistic, and ethnic themes and was a regular contributor to journals on comparative religion in both Europe and America. Schuon’s writings have been consistently featured and reviewed in a wide range of scholarly and philosophical publications around the world, respected by both scholars and spiritual authorities. Besides his prose writings, Schuon was also a prolific poet and a gifted painter of images that always portrayed the beauty and power of the divine, and the nobility and virtue of primordial humanity.
World Wisdom features a series titled “The Writings of Frithjof Schuon”, which includes many new editions of classic books by Schuon in new translations and with additional materials. Our online Library contains many articles and poems written by Frithjof Schuon, allowing readers to see a representative sample of his remarkable body of work.
Read More
Patrick Laude
Patrick Laude is a writer, editor, professor, and researcher in the fields of language, literature, symbolism, and mysticism. He is a professor at Georgetown University, currently at their School of Foreign Service in Qatar. Laude's writings have been published in the US and Europe in numerous journals.
Read More
Reviews
- In reading Schuon I have the impression that I am going along parallel to him, and once in a while I will get a glimpse of what he means in terms of my own tradition and experience. I think that he has exactly the right view. I appreciate him more and more. I am grateful for the chance to be in contact with people like him.
Thomas Merton (from a letter to Marco Pallis published in Merton’s The Hidden Ground of Love
- The man is a living wonder; intellectually a propos religion, equally in depth and breadth, the paragon of our time. I know of no living thinker who begins to rival him.
Huston Smith, University of California, Berkeley
- Frithjof Schuon’s work has meant so much to me, and he has influenced my music perhaps more than anyone in recent years. Anyone, indeed, who is an artist concerned with the sacred should read him. One could say that my works of the last five years or more have been dedicated to, and inspired by, the very same truths expounded by Frithjof Schuon. I am eternally grateful to him.
- The highest praise that I can offer concerning the writings of Frithjof Schuon is that they are worthy of their subject matter — the teaching of the great spiritual traditions. Whether one’s views are supported or challenged by these writings, any serious person will feel grateful to be confronted by such a generously discerning intellect and to witness the emergence of authentic contemplative thought in this darkening time.
Sir John Tavener, composer and author
-
Jacob Needleman, San Francisco State University
