The Rediscovery of the Tradition in the 20th Century

The "Revival of the Tradition" started in the Western World with the works of three Sages at the beginning of the 20th Century: René Guénon, A. Coomaraswamy and F. Schuon. One ca 23423b16x n refer to them as the leaders of the "Perennialist School" although the word "school" was irrelevant. They are the exponents of the Sophia Perennis itself, the Divine Truth which constitutes the very heart and essence of every spiritual tradition.
René Guenon's intellectual authority dominates the entire school, especially in metaphysics and symbolism. However the so-called Perennialist school is open to other perpectives, sometimes very differents in forms from Guénon's works and some authors like F. Schuon disagrees with Guénon on some minor topics such as the Christian Sacrements. It is also judicious to discriminate between two kinds of authors within the perennialist school: those around F. Schuon and M. Valsan who share intricate initiatory connections, especially of Islamic nature and those who have only played a role in the intellectual influence of the perennialist School. In the following presentation, we will concentrate on the first group.

René Guénon

René Guénon (1886-1951) is the "founder" of the perennialist school. In France it is often referred to as Integral Traditionalism. According to Jean Borella, Guenon's work is organized around five central themes: a critique and reform of the modern world, the Tradition, symbolism, metaphysics and spiritual realization.

The critique of the modern world aims at creating the conditions for an intellectual reform of a Western world in the grips of the Dark Age (Kali Yuga). This reform implies the revival of an intellectual elite able to retrieve a knowledge long forgotten that once formed the core of all traditional societies.

Tradition, symbolism, and metaphysics are the three pillars of this knowledge. Guénon developed a non-dual metaphysics of the multiple states of being opposed to mere philosophical systems of modernity and to doctrines intellectually valid but limited, born with Aristotle. This metaphysics, whose various expressions are found in the Vedanta, Sufism, and Neoplatonism, is not the result of mental speculation but of a spiritual intuition which forms the foundation of traditional symbolism. Guenon also proposes to revive the intellectual meaning of this symbolism. According to him, a symbol is not only a "representation." A symbol is a presence of an intelligible archetype within the gross manifestation. Tradition refers to the many forms taken by traditional sciences, rites, and initiatory practices, as they link man to heaven. Tradition thus has a divine origin, transmitted from the Golden Age (Sattya Yuga) to the present day.

In the end, this knowledge aims at spiritual realization. For the human being two ends are conceivable: perfection of the human state (Salvation) or perfection of the divine state (Deliverance or Deification). All religions proffer the first end, but to attain the second end, a special rite is necessary given only to those who are "qualified" and which Guénon calls an initiatory rite because it inaugurates the beginning of the spiritual path and it confers the germ for deification. Guénon provides a complete typology of initiations (sacerdotal, knightly, craft), of the spiritual ways (way of action, love and knowledge) and of the spiritual steps (lesser and greater mysteries, Deliverance). He also defines a set of criteria to distinguish orthodox and regular initiations from their counterfeiting (pseudo-initiation) and their satanic caricatures (counter-initiation).

Considered mainly "theoretical" by F. Schuon, the work of René Guénon remains nonetheless the primary basis of the Perennialist school and he continues to play a major role in it. In Knowledge and the Sacred, S. H. Nasr writes : "Guénon, as he is reflected in his writing, seemed to be more an intellectual function than a man."

Who were Guénon's masters? When he was in Paris, Guénon came in contact with some Hindus of the Advaita Vedanta school, one of whom initiated him into their own Shivaite line of spirituality. However we don't have any other informations about Guénon's Hindu masters. Apart from them and the neo-Occultists, two contemporary figures have notably influenced Guénon.

Albert de Pouvourville (Matgioi) (1862-1939) French adventurer. He has been initiated by Taoist masters in Indochina. Guénon owes him directly for some information about Far-Eastern Traditions.

Ivan Agueli (Abdul Hadi) (1869-1917). Swedish painter converted to Islam and disciple of Sheik Elish El-Kebir (Shadhili). He initiated Guénon to Sufism in 1912. He authored many articles and translations from Arabic (sometimes eccentric), in the periodical La Gnose.

Ananda Coomaraswamy

Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877-1947). Of Indian origin, he was "Keeper of Indian and Mohammedan Art" at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Although he agrees with Guénon on the universal principles, his works are very different in form from Guénon's. By vocation, he was a scholar, who dedicated the last decades of his life to "searching the Scriptures" and a universal mind who spokes ten or more languages. His works are erudite and scholarly documented (whereas those of Guenon are lacking in this dimension).

Coomaraswamy offers a perspective on the Tradition which complements well that of Guénon. He had a very highly active aesthetic perceptiveness and he wrote dozen of articles on traditional arts and mythology. His works are also intellectually more balanced. Born in the Hindu Tradition, he had however a deep knowledge of the Western Tradition. He built a bridge between East and West that was designed to carry a two-way traffic: his metaphysical writings aimed, among other things, at "demonstrating" the unity of of the Vedanta and Platonism. His works also rehabilitated Buddhism, a tradition that Guénon has for a long time limited to a rebellion of the Ksatryas to brahamic authority.

F. Schuon

F. Schuon (1906-1998). Of German origin, he immigrated to France. He is the second greatest figure of the Perennialist School. Initiated by Sheikh Ahmad Al-Alawi, he directed a branch of the Shadhiliyya order in Europe and in the United States. In many ways, he carried the teachings of R. Guénon to their highest achievement, insisting on the moral and aesthetic dimension of the spiritual path. From a doctrinal standpoint, he insisted upon the function of the Intellect, "naturally supernatural", and upon the transcendence of quintessential esotericism as opposed to formal religions.

In the spiritual path, the Virgin Mary inspired him and was his invisible guide. He saw in Her the Mother of all Prophets and an Avatar of the Divine Shakti. His initiatory teachings centered on the recitation of the Divine Names. Very rapidly, points of divergence between him and Guénon appeared, especially on the question of Christian sacraments. This is why today Perennialism is polarized by these two tutelary figures.

Some of the major authors of Perennialism continue Schuon's heritage: Titus Burckhardt, Jean Borella, Georges Vallin, François Chénique, Martin Lings, and Leo Schaya. He has also many disciples in the U.S., especially the Iranian-born S. H. Nasr and James Custinger.

Michel Valsan

Michel Valsan (1907-1974) Of Roumanian origin, he was initiated to Sufism by Schuon but he rapidly disagrees with him on the question of the Christian Sacrements and of the spiritual Method and finally he separated from him. As a director of the french journal "Les Etudes Traditionnelles", he insisted almost exclusively on the Islamic component of Guenon's teachings. Precursor of the akbarian studies in France, he emphasized the "Function of René Guénon" conceived under the patronage of Ibn Arabi, and within the perspective of the "Supreme Center" and of the "Lord of the World."

His main disciples, Denis Gril and Michel Chodkiewicz, are today among the best known scholars of Ibn Arabi in France. The traditionalist author Charles André Gilis is also a disciple of Michel Valsan.

Others important authors

Julius Evola (1898-1974). An Italian aristocrat, he translated Guénon's works in Italian. He also claimed to be the founder of a doctrine of action, a politics of the Tradition based on the superiority of the Ksatrya over the Brahmans. Compromised by fascism during the war, he later influenced some European far-right groups. From an intellectual point of view, we are indebted to him for a doctrine of historical cycles based on a masculine/feminine polarity as well as for works on tantrism and ancient Buddhism.

Raymond Abellio (1907-1986) does not claim allegiance to the Perennialist school, although he had read some of Guénon's works. On the contrary, he takes Guénon's opposite view and considers that the modern word is not only the reign of the quantity but also the moment of a unique spiritual event: the disoccultation of traditional gnosis by modern man, the awakening of the transcendent Intellect that he identifies with the Husserlian transcendental consciousness. His inspiration is in fact more philosophical than esoterical, since for him this disoccultation means the end of esotericism.

Bibliography

Jean Borella, "René Guénon and the Traditionalist School" in Modern Esoteric Spirituality, Edited by Antoine Faivre, 1992
Kenneth "Harry" Oldmeadow, Traditionalism: Religion in the light of the Perennial Philosophy, The Sri Lanka Institute of Traditional Studies, 2000