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René Guénon (1886-1951) was one of the founders of the Perennialist/Traditionalist school of comparative religious thought. In a time of unquestioning belief in the dogmas of progress and evolution, Guénon issued a devastating critique of the modern world. A pioneering philosopher, he also provided the intellectual keys for a reclamation of the West’s spiritual riches through an exposition of the Eastern metaphysical doctrines. This anthology of his essential writings is divided into four parts: 1. The Modern World; 2. The Metaphysical World; 3. The Hindu World; and 4. The Traditional World.
About the Author(s)
John Herlihy
John Herlihy was born into an Irish-American family in Boston, Massachusetts. Herlihy completed studies at a Paulist seminary. He works in Abu Dhabi at the University of Science, Technology and Research as a special advisor to the President. In addition to writing for such traditional journals as Sacred Web and Sophia, his publications include In Search of the Truth, Veils and Keys to Enlightenment, Modern Man at the Crossroads, and Near and Distant Horizons, all of which reflect upon the disparity between modernity and tradition and the pursuit of spirituality in today’s anti-spiritual world. He is also the author of Borderlands of the Spirit: Reflections on a Sacred Science of Mind and Wisdom’s Journey: Living the Spirit of Islam in the Modern World. Mr Herlihy is also the editor of The Essential René Guénon: Metaphysics, Tradition and the Crisis of Modernity.
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Martin Lings
Martin Lings (1909-2005) was a leading member of the “Traditionalist” or “Perennialist” school and an acclaimed author, editor, translator, scholar, Arabist, and poet whose work centers on the relationship between God and man through religious doctrine, scripture, symbolism, literature, and art. He was an accomplished metaphysician and essayist who often turned to the world’s great spiritual traditions for examples, though he is probably best known for his writings on Islam and its esoteric tradition, Sufism.
Dr. Lings co-edited The Underlying Religion (2007) with Clinton Minnar. This book is a survey of central perennialist ideas and authors. Dr Lings contributed the following essays to various World Wisdom books:
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Reviews
- The Essential René Guénon brings together the broad and illuminating spectrum of Guénon’s corpus in a single volume like no other anthology currently available, which could very well realign the collective nucleus of sapiential wisdom to truly and integrally shift the predominant paradigm. Paradoxically, the more the current dissolution of what appears as the — ‘eleventh hour’ — gains way, the evermore relevant and indispensable Guénon’s work is. It is with our hope that this recent anthology will provide an antidotal remedy to the ‘intellectual myopia’ of the times in order to reaffirm the sophia perennis — ‘multiple paths all leading to the same end.’
From a review by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos in the journal Parabola
- This remarkable selection of excerpts is an excellent and surprisingly comprehensive introduction to the life and work of René Guénon. For someone who had read Guénon before it is a great way to reintroduce yourself with the wide range of his works. To someone new to the unique vision Guénon offers, this is a great way to get acquainted with the Primordial wisdom.
From a review in Living Traditions Magazine
- In a time of unquestioning belief in the dogmas of progress and evolution, [Guénon] issued a devastating critique of the modern world. A pioneering philosopher, he provided the intellectual keys for a reclamation of the West’s spiritual riches through an exposition of the Eastern metaphysical doctrines.
Watkins Review
