Carti si filme care au in subiect Spiritualitatea si/sau Religia

A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom: An Encyclopedia of Humankind's Spiritual Truth (Wisdom Foundation series) - Whitall N. Perry (Author), Marco Pallis (Foreword), Huston Smith (Introduction)

This extraordinary compendium gives access to what the greatest minds of all time and the various faith and philosophical traditions say on every aspect of the spiritual life, be it faith, patience, suffering, or mercy. Relevant passages are included, such as Eckhart, Philo, Rumi, the Talmud, Shakespeare, Rama Krishna, Black Elk, The Psalms, the Tao Te Ching, and Milarepa, among countless others.

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The Spiritual Ascent: A Compendium of the World's Wisdom (Paperback) - Whitall N. Perry (Author), Marco Pallis (Foreword), Huston Smith (Preface)

Product Description
Truly magisterial, this compendium of spiritual wisdom is organized according to the traditional religious concept of spiritual ascent—or, in Christian terms, the sequence of death, resurrection, and eternal life. Hundreds of selected passages represent many faiths and philosophical traditions, with insight from some of the world's greatest minds, including Black Elk, Confucius, Eckart, Muhammad, Philo, Rumi, and Shakespeare. The material itself is divided into three sections that correspond to the ascent, with the opening quotations treating suffering, sin, and obedience before giving way to the middle section's focus on mercy, love, and contemplation. Finally, the third set of quotations climbs aloft to investigate the subjects of truth, eternity, the shattering of forms, and the union with God.

About the Author
Whitall N. Perry was an expert on comparative religions and studied with A. K. Coomaraswamy, Rene Guenon, Frithjof Schuon, and other gurus, including Native American sages. He was also a contributor to articles on metaphysical and cosmological subjects to academic journals. Huston Smith has taught at Washington University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, and the University of California–Berkeley. He is internationally known for his bestselling book The World's Religions, the focus of a five-part PBS television series with Bill Moyers. He lives in Berkeley, California. Marco Pallis was an Englishman who studied under Tibetan lamas and was initiated into their order with the name Thubden Tendzinthe. He was the author of two popular books about Thailand, Peaks and Lamas and The Way and the Mountain, and was a friend of Thomas Merton.

Edited by popa_laurentiu, 14 October 2008 - 18:07.

Gurdjieff in the Light of Tradition (Paperback) - Whitall N. Perry

Product Description
An analysis of the life and teachings of G. I. Gurdjieff from the point of view of the traditional religious and metaphysical doctrines he claimed to represent.

Un review:
Although most of the information contained in this actually older book is not "new", the approach the author takes should be pointed out and applauded; warning the would-be explorer in the Gurdjieff Universe that not all is benign there. Mr. Perry uses his solid grounding in Orthodox Religious belief to smash many of the claims to legitimacy made by Gurdjieff cultists. The intention of this book is to warn against Gurdjieff; and I think that he accomplishes that ambition. There is a tendency growing to associate Traditionalist authors with a devient and extreme belief system; but beware of individuals making that claim...their real hatred (and Gurdjieff's!) is against Religion and the Author of Religion.

Reviews


Alchemy in Middle-Earth: The Significance of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings (Hardcover) - Mahmoud Shelton


Product Description
Never before has the esoteric significance of the "Novel of the Century" been explained. At last its profound symbolism is made clear in light of the Hermetic tradition, establishing The Lord of the Rings to be the work of an illuminated imagination. Alchemy in Middle-earth traces J.R.R. Tolkien's motifs to unexpected connections with Scotland, the Middle East, and legendary Atlantis, and unveils the ancient wisdom in Tolkien's great work not only with the Alchemy of the past, but also with the living spiritual alchemy of Sufism. In the process, the mysterious relationship between the spirituality of Islam and Tolkien's Christianity is revealed, signifying nothing less than the completion of the Grail quest at the end of an age.

Reviews

Edited by popa_laurentiu, 14 October 2008 - 19:07.

The Essential Frithjof Schuon (Library of Perennial Philosophy) (Paperback) - edited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Frithjof Schuon had a unique ability to penetrate to the heart if the world's great spiritual traditions, revealing new dimensions that astounded general readers and scholars alike. Schuon's insights on religion, prayer, the spiritual life, aesthetics and philosophy shine throughout this book.

From the Publisher
"His writings are universal, not only because the formless Essence is universal, but also because even on the level of forms he does not confine himself solely to a particular world, period or region. Schuon's works are also comprehensive and all-embracing in the sense that they include practically the whole mountain of knowledge understood in the traditional sense… From the point of view of sheer scholarly knowledge… it is hardly possible to find a contemporary corpus of writings with the same all-embracing and comprehensive nature combined with incredible depth."—Seyyed Hossein Nasr

About the Author
Seyyed Hossein Nasr is one of the world’s most respected authorities on traditional Islam and Sufism. He is University Professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University and author of over 30 books and 300 articles. He lives in Bethesda, MD.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
"One of the keys to the understanding of our true nature and of our ultimate destiny is the fact that the things of this world never measure up to the real range of our intelligence.… Among all the intelligences of this world the human spirit alone is capable of objectivity, and this implies—or proves—that what confers on our intelligence the power to accomplish to the full what it can accomplish to the full what it can accomplish, and what makes it wholly what it is, is the Absolute alone."

Reviews


The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (The Perennial Philosophy Series) (Paperback)  by Ananda Coomaraswamy (Author), Rama P. Coomaraswamy (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

"In Coomaraswamy…all the religious traditions of the world meet." -- Jean Borella, author and scholar

"The Essential Ananda K. Coomaraswamy is an incomparable anthology, a cause for thanksgiving." -- Philip Zaleski, editor of The Best Spiritual Writing series

Product Description
Ananda K. Coomaraswamy was engaged in the world not only as a scholarly expositor of traditional culture and philosophy, but also as a radical critic of contemporary life.

From the Publisher
The name of Ananda K. Coomaraswamy has become synonymous with an entire approach to art and of the civilization of which it is an expression. Coomaraswamy’s genius lay not only in presenting it to the modern Western world but also in demonstrating that this civilizational art and artistic civilization was contrapuntal and not necessarily antithetical to the modern West, as ears less gifted than his to hearing celestial harmonies might have proposed. His multi-splendored genius expressed itself in over a thousand published items. One might say that Coomaraswamy wrote more than many people read in the course of one life.

The publication of his seminal contributions in the form of the compendium of his essential writings that you hold in your hands is therefore to be greatly welcomed. It conveys to us the flavor of his thought, as water collected in a small shell on the shore conveys the flavor of the entire ocean. Of course it cannot convey a sense of the ocean’s magnitude, but it earns our gratitude in conveying a sense of its taste; of how the divine dialectic of the transformation of religion into art and art into religion might hold the key to the rejuvenation of both life and art in the modern world.

Our contemporary world is trying to rejuvenate itself not through God but through religion, thereby creating for itself the problem of fundamentalism, an outcome which would not have surprised Coomaraswamy, who insisted that the modern world must rejuvenate itself through God rather than religion, and bring its wasteland to life by irrigating it with the waters of Tradition. This Tradition offers perennial answers to contemporary questions whereas modernity has only been able, if at all, to offer contemporary (and fugitive) answers to perennial questions. It is not merely an accident then that while that great work of the Enlightenment, Voltaire’s Candide, ends with Dr. Pangloss cultivating his garden living in the best of all possible worlds, Coomaraswamy, when he sensed that his life was about to run its course, chose to leave his body in the manner of a Hindu renunciate, also in a garden, symbolizing the fact that he brought to us from all possible worlds the spiritual fragrance of humanity, fresh from the exquisite gardens of its various religions. And they are various. For none of the great expositors of the perennial philosophy—not Coomaraswamy in any case—made the mistake, to which some are prone, of imagining that just because all the religions say more or less the same thing that they are therefore all the same. Thus Coomaraswamy has rightly been hailed as a bridge-builder at a time when the West was acting like a steamroller in the rest of the world.

All the reader need do to verify what I have said, lest he or she be inclined to consider the thoughts and emotions I have just shared as too encomiastic or enthusiastic, is to read this book.

Arvind Sharma McGill University

About the Author
Born in 1877 in Ceylon, Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy was a multi-talented researcher, scientist, linguist, expert on culture and art, philosopher, museum curator, and author. He was the first well-known author of the modern era to expound the importance of traditional arts, culture, and thought as more than simply relics of a bygone past—in all that he wrote, he pointed to their critical role in restoring to modern man his true intellectual and spiritual birthright. Dr. Coomaraswamy has often been credited with reintroducing the concept of the "Perennial Philosophy" to a West dazed by the endless multiplicity of the modern world.

Dr. Rama P. Coomaraswamy, son of the renowned perennialist writer Ananda Coomaraswamy, received his early education in India in an orthodox Hindu setting. Graduating from Harvard University with a major in Geology, he went on to Medical School, graduating in 1959. He spent 8 years in post graduate training and then some 30 years as a Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon, holding the position of Assistant Professor of Surgery at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, as well as Chief of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery at Stamford Hospital.

For five years he was Professor of Ecclesiastical History at the St. Thomas Aquinas (Lefebrist) Seminary. He has published extensively both in the fields of medicine and theology. His works include, The Destruction of the Christian Tradition (1972) and The Invocation of the Name of Jesus (1999).

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 4: Excerpted from Ananda K. Coomaraswamy's essay Eastern Wisdom and Western Knowledge The issue of "East and West" is not merely a theoretical (we must remind the modern reader that from the standpoint of the traditional philosophy, "theoretical" is anything but a term of disparagement) but also an urgent practical problem. Pearl Buck asks, "Why should prejudices be so strong at this moment? The answer it seems to me is simple. Physical conveyance and other circumstances have forced parts of the world once remote from each other into actual intimacy for which peoples are not mentally or spiritually prepared … It is not necessary to believe that this initial stage must continue. If those prepared to act as interpreters will do their proper work, we may find that within another generation or two, or even sooner, dislike and prejudice may be gone. This is only possible if prompt and strong measures are taken by peoples to keep step mentally with the increasing closeness to which the war is compelling us." But if this is to happen, the West will have to abandon what Guénon calls its "proselytizing fury," an expression that must not be taken to refer only to the activities of Christian missionaries, regrettable as these often are, but to those of all the distributors of modern "civilization" and those of practically all those "educators" who feel that they have more to give than to learn from what are often called the "backward" or "unprogressive" peoples; to whom it does not occur that one may not wish or need to "progress" if one has reached a state of equilibrium that already provides for the realization of what one regards as the greatest purposes of life. It is as an expression of good will and of the best intentions that this proselytizing fury takes on its most dangerous aspects. To many this "fury" can only suggest the fable of the fox that lost its tail, and persuaded the other foxes to cut off theirs. An industrialization of the East may be inevitable, but do not let us call it a blessing that a folk should be reduced to the level of a proletariat, or assume that materially higher standards of living necessarily make for greater happiness. The West is only just discovering, to its great astonishment, that "material inducements, that is, money or the things that money can buy" are by no means so cogent a force as has been supposed; "Beyond the subsistence level, the theory that this incentive is decisive is largely an illusion." As for the East, as Guénon says, "The only impression that, for example, mechanical inventions make on most Orientals is one of deep repulsion; certainly it all seems to them far more harmful than beneficial, and if they, find themselves obliged to accept certain things which the present epoch has made necessary, they do so in the hope of future riddance ... what the people of the West call ‘rising’ would be called by some ‘sinking’; that is what all true Orientals think." It must not be supposed that because so many Eastern peoples have imitated us in self-defense that they have therefore accepted our values; on the contrary, it is just because the conservative East still challenges all the presuppositions on which our illusion of progress rests, that it deserves our most serious consideration.

There is nothing in economic intimacies that is likely to reduce prejudice or promote mutual understandings automatically. Even when Europeans live amongst Orientals, "economic contact between the Eastern and Western groups is practically the only contact there is. There is very little social or religious give and take between the two. Each lives in a world almost entirely closed to the other—and by ‘closed’ we mean not only ‘unknown’ but more: incomprehensible and unattainable." That is an inhuman relationship, by which both parties are degraded.

Neither must it be assumed that the Orient thinks it important that the masses should learn to read and write. Literacy is a practical necessity in an industrial society, where the keeping of accounts is all important. But in India, in so far as Western methods of education have not been imposed from without, all higher education is imparted orally, and to have heard is far more important than to have read. At the same time the peasant, prevented by his illiteracy and poverty from devouring the newspapers and magazines that form the daily and almost the only reading of the vast majority of Western "literates," is, like Hesiod’s Boeotian farmers, and still more like the Gaelic-speaking Highlanders before the era of the board schools, thoroughly familiar with an epic literature of profound spiritual significance and a body of poetry and music of incalculable value; and one can only regret the spread of an "education" that involves the destruction of all these things, or only preserves them as curiosities within the covers of books. For cultural purposes it is not important that the masses should be literate; it is not necessary that anyone should be literate; it is only necessary that there should be amongst the people philosophers (in the traditional, not the modern sense of the word), and that there should be preserved deep respect on the part of laymen for true learning that is the antithesis of the American attitude to a "professor." In these respects the whole East is still far in advance of the West, and hence the learning of the elite exerts a far profounder influence upon society as a whole than the Western specialist "thinker" can ever hope to wield.


Reviews


The Essential Titus Burckhardt: Reflections on Sacred Art, Faiths, and Civilizations (The Perennial Philosophy) (Paperback)
by Titus Burckhartd (Author), William Stoddart (Editor)

Review
"Burckhardt has always been a[n] inspiration...His... modesty and natural reticence hid his great stature as...[a] man of wisdom." -- Keith Critchlow, author of Islamic Patterns: An Analytical and Cosmological Approach

"Burckhardt looks at Islam and Christianity with the eyes of a scholar who combines...spiritual insight with...love of...Truth." -- Annemarie Schimmel, Harvard University, author of Mystical Dimensions of Islam

"The Essential Titus Burckhardt is a veritable theophany. Wherever you open the pages...[it] breathes all that is sacred." -- Sir John Tavener, composer, and author of The Music of Silence: A Composer's Testament

"This book is a spiritual and intellectual journey that...brings together the wisdom of the major religious traditions." -- Rama P. Coomaraswamy, M.D., F.A.C.S., author of The Destruction of the Christian Tradition

"This distillation of [Titus Burckhardt's] life's work is a precious memento." -- Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions and Why Religion Matters

Product Description
An introduction to the thought of one of the greatest perennialist authors of the twentieth century.

About the Author
William Stoddart was born at Carstairs in Scotland in 1925. He studied modern languages, and later medicine, at the universities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dublin. For many years he was assistant editor of the influential British journal Studies in Comparative Religion. He spent most of his working life in London, England, and retired to Windsor, Ontario in 1982.

Dr. Stoddart has made a life-long study of the great religious traditions of the world, and in this connection has traveled widely in Europe, North Africa, Turkey, India, and Ceylon. He has contributed many articles to international journals, and has translated books and articles from German and French into English. As an author he is probably best known for his short surveys of Sufism, Buddhism, and Hinduism aimed at Western readers.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The following excerpt is taken from the first two paragraphs of Chapter 1:

How to Approach Medieval and Oriental Civilizations

In order to understand a culture, it is necessary to love it, and one can only do this on the basis of the universal and timeless values that it carries within it. These values are essentially the same in all true cultures, that is to say, in cultures which meet not only the physical, but also the spiritual needs of man, without which his life has no meaning.

Nothing brings us into such immediate contact with another culture as a work of art which, within that culture, represents, as it were, a "center." This may be a sacred image, a temple, a cathedral, a mosque, or even a carpet with a primordial design. Such works invariably express an essential quality or factor, which neither an historical account, nor an analysis of social and economic conditions, can capture. A similarly rich insight into another culture can be found in its literature, especially in those works that deal with eternal verities. But such works are by definition profound and symbolical, and are mostly unintelligible to the modern reader without the aid of a detailed commentary. A work of art, on the other hand, can, without any mental effort on our part, convey to us immediately and "existentially" a particular intellectual truth or spiritual attitude, and thereby grant us all manner of insights into the nature of the culture concerned. Thus one can more readily understand the intellectual and ethical forms of a Buddhist culture if one is familiar with the Buddha-image that is typical of it; and one can much more easily form a picture of the religious and social life of the Middle Ages if one has first assimilated the architecture of a Romanesque Abbey or a Gothic cathedral—always assuming, of course, that one is sufficiently sensitive to the forms of an authentic traditional art.

Reviews

Edited by popa_laurentiu, 14 October 2008 - 19:34.

Logic & Transcendence (Paperback) - Frithjof Schuon

Editorial Reviews
Review
"Any serious person will feel grateful to be confronted by such a generously discerning intellect ... in this darkening time." -- Jacob Needleman, San Francisco State University

"If I were asked who is the greatest writer of our time, I would say Frithjof Schuon without hesitation." -- Martin Lings, author of A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century, and What is Sufism?

"Intellectually rigorous in the highest degree ... There is no other voice like that of Schuon." -- Arthur Versluis, Michigan State University

"The man is a living wonder; intellectually a propos religion, equally in depth and breadth, the paragon of our time." -- Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions

"This work is one of Schuon's metaphysical masterpieces ... one of the most important philosophical works of this century." -- Seyyed Hossein Nasr, George Washington University

About the Author
Frithjof Schuon is best known as the foremost spokesman of the religio perennis and as a philosopher in the metaphysical current of Shankara and Plato. Over the past 50 years, he has written more than 20 books on metaphysical, spiritual and ethnic themes as well as having been 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.

Schuon was born in 1907 in Basle, Switzerland, of German parents. As a youth, he went to Paris, where he studied for a few years before undertaking a number of trips to North Africa, the Near East and India in order to contact spiritual authorities and witness traditional cultures. Following World War II, he accepted an invitation to travel to the American West, where he lived for several months among the Plains Indians, in whom he has always had a deep interest. Having received his education in France, Schuon has written all his major works in French, which began to appear in English translation in 1953. Of his first book, The Transcendent Unity of Religions (London, Faber & Faber) T.S. Eliot wrote: "I have met with no more impressive work in the comparative study of Oriental and Occidental religion."

The traditionalist or "perennialist" perspective began to be enunciated in the West at the beginning of the twentieth century by the French philosopher Rene Guenon and by the Orientalist and Harvard professor Ananda Coomaraswamy. Fundamentally, this doctrine is the Sanatana Dharma--the "eternal religion"--of Hindu Vedantists. It was formulated in the West, in particular, by Plato, by Meister Eckhart in the Christian world, and is also to be found in Islam with Sufism. Every religion has, besides its literal meaning, an esoteric dimension, which is essential, primordial and universal. This intellectual universality is one of the hallmarks of Schuon's works, and it gives rise to many fascinating insights into not only the various spiritual traditions, but also history, science and art.

The dominant theme or principle of Schuon's writings was foreshadowed in his early encounter with a Black marabout who had accompanied some members of his Senegalese village to Switzerland in order to demonstrate their culture. When the young Schuon talked with him, the venerable old man drew a circle with radii on the ground and explained: "God is in the center, all paths lead to Him."

Reviews


In the Face of the Absolute (Library of Traditional Wisdom) (Paperback) - Frithjof Schuon

Editorial Reviews

"... a serious challenge to the 'modern spirit' ... Highly recommended for all who seek an understanding of the 'traditional spirit.'" -- T.M. Pucelik, Bradley University, in Choice Magazine

"He feeds my soul like no other living writer." -- Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions and Why Religion Matters

"In the Face of the Absolute is prime Schuon ... His knowledge of Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, is holy." -- The Book Reader

"Intellectually rigorous to the highest degree ... There is no other voice like that of Schuon." -- Arthur Versluis, editor of Esoterica, an on-line journal of traditional studies

"Schuon [is] a master of metaphysical reflection ... a voice is crying in our wilderness which we ignore at our peril." -- James Burnell Robinson, Associate Professor of Religion, University of Northern Iowa

Product Description
Presents and illustrates many concepts and distinctions essential to metaphysics, anthropology, and religious phenomology.

Reviews


Language of the Self (Paperback) - Frithjof Schuon


Editorial Reviews
Review
"Anyone ... who is an artist concerned with the sacred should read him ... I am eternally grateful to him." -- Sir John Tavener, composer and author

"Intellectually rigorous in the highest degree ... There is no other voice like that of Schuon." -- Arthur Versluis, Michigan State University

"Schuon is unsurpassed--and I would add unequalled--as a writer on comparative religion." -- Martin Lings, former Keeper of Oriental manuscripts at the British Museum, and author of What is Sufism?

"The man is a living wonder ... I know of no living writer who begins to rival him." -- Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions and Why Religion Matters

"[Schuon] has contributed in a unique way to the true understanding of Hinduism in the West." -- Dr. V. Raghavan (Foreword to the 1959 edition)

Product Description
Revised translation of essays elucidating the universal principles of Advaita Vedanta.


Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Foreword to the Revised Translation

At the beginning of the twentieth century, a school of thought arose with René Guénon and Ananda Coomaraswamy which has focused on the enunciation and explanation of the Philosophia Perennis; this philosophy is the timeless metaphysical truth underlying the diverse religions, and whose written sources are the revealed Scriptures as well as the writings of the great spiritual masters. Because these truths are permanent and universal, the point of view may thus be called "Perennialist." Frithjof Schuon is by far the pre-eminent spokesman and exponent of the "Perennialist Perspective," having written more than twenty books on this subject; these books as a whole can be said to contain the Perennialist Philosophy.

The first edition of Language of the Self appeared in 1959, published by Ganesh and Co. in Madras. Since that time, the importance of this perspective has become all the more clear in a world increasingly dominated by conflicting confessional fanaticisms and by unbelief. It is in the light of the Philosophia Perennis, which views every religion "from within," that may be found the keys for an adequate understanding which, joined to the sense of the sacred, alone can safeguard the irreplaceable values and genuine spiritual possibilities of the great religions.

Schuon's outlook is very much that of the Sanâtana Dharma, and his message has three main dimensions: comprehension, concentration, conformation. Comprehension of the Truth; concentration on the Truth through methodical and quintessential prayer; conformation to these dimensions through intrinsic morality, which means beauty of character. Without this beauty, there can be no serious assimilation of the metaphysical truth, nor any efficacious method of orison. To these may be added a fourth and more extrinsic element: the beauty of our ambiance and hence our affinity with virgin Nature. For as Plato expressed it: "Beauty is the splendor of the True."

Reviews of Schuon's works have recently begun to appear in Indian intellectual journals, with an evident appreciation for the re-establishment of the sapiential core of traditionalism. On this basis, the initial translation has been revised, adding to it selected articles written since the first edition and considered to be relevant to the content of the original chapters. The editors are pleased to present—simultaneous with a new Indian edition—this revised and augmented edition of Language of the Self.

Reviews


The Transfiguration of Man (Paperback) - Frithjof Schuon

Review
"If I were asked who is the greatest writer of our time, I would say Frithjof Schuon without hesitation." -- Martin Lings, author of What is Sufism? and A Sufi Saint of the 20th Century

"Intellectually rigorous in the highest degree ... There is no other voice like that of Schuon." -- Arthur Versluis, Michigan State University

"Schuon seems like the cosmic intellect itself impregnated by the energy of divine grace surveying the whole of reality..." -- Seyyed Hossein Nasr, George Washington University

"The man is a living wonder ... I know of no living thinker who begins to rival him." -- Huston Smith, University of California, Berkeley

Product Description
Schuon proposes a view of man contradictory to the image of modern psychology; he views human nature in relationship to God.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Foreword

The image of man presented to us by modern psychology is not only fragmentary, it is pitiable. In reality, man is as if suspended between animality and divinity; now modern thought - be it philosophical or scientific - admits only animality, practically speaking.

We wish, on the contrary, to correct and perfect the image of man by insisting on his divinity; not that we wish to make a god of man, quod absit; we intend simply to take account of his true nature, which transcends the earthly, and lacking which he would have no reason for being.

It is this that we believe we can call--in a symbolist language--the "transfiguration of man."

The Garden
An Excerpt from The Transfiguration of Man

A man sees a beautiful garden, but he knows: he will not always see these flowers and bushes, because one day he will die; and he also knows: the garden will not always be there, because this world will disappear in its turn. And he knows also: this relationship with the beautiful garden is the gift of destiny, because if a man were to find himself in the middle of a desert, he would not see the garden; he sees it only because destiny has put him, man, here and not elsewhere.

But in the innermost region of our soul dwells the Spirit, and in it is contained the garden, as it were, like a seed; and if we love this garden--and how could we not love it since it is of a heavenly beauty?--we would do well to look for it where it has always been and always will be, that is to say in the Spirit; maintain yourself in the Spirit, in your own center, and you will have the garden and in addition all possible gardens. Similarly: in the Spirit there is no death, because here you are immortal; and in the Spirit the relationship between the contemplator and the contemplated is not only a fragile possibility; on the contrary, it is part of the very nature of the Spirit and, like it, it is eternal.

The Spirit is Consciousness and Will: Consciousness of oneself and Will towards oneself. Maintain yourself in the Spirit through Consciousness, and approach the Spirit through the Will or through Love; then neither death nor the end of the world can take away the garden from you nor destroy your vision. Whatever you are in the Spirit now, you will remain so after death; and whatever is yours in the Spirit now, will be yours after death. Before God there is neither being nor ownership except in the Spirit; whatever was outward must become inward and whatever was inward will become outward: look for the garden within yourself, in your indestructible divine Substance, which then will give you a new and imperishable garden.


Reviews


To Have a Center (Library of Traditional Wisdom) (Paperback) - Frithjof Schuon

Editorial Reviews
"Any serious person will feel grateful to be confronted by such a generously discerning intellect ... in this darkening time." -- Jacob Needleman, San Francisco State University

"Intellectually rigorous in the highest degree ... There is no other voice like that of Schuon." -- Arthur Versluis, Michigan State University

"Prolific and scholarly . . . very challenging" -- Choice Magazine

"Schuon possesses the gift of reaching the very core of the subject he is treating, of going beyond forms." -- Seyyed Hossein Nasr, George Washington University

"The man is a living wonder ... I know of no living thinker who begins to rival him." -- Huston Smith, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley

Product Description
A collection of essays on a remarkable variety of subjects, from the order of first principles to a wide range of their applications.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Foreword

Quite paradoxically, it is sometimes more difficult to find a title than to write a book; one always knows what one wishes to say, but one does not always know what to call it. It is true that the difficulty does not result from the nature of things, for one could follow the example of Rumi and entitle a work A Book Which Contains What It Contains (Kitab fihi ma fihi); but we live in a world which is little inclined to accept such a defiance of usage and which obliges us to remain within a relative intelligibility. Thus we will choose the title of the first chapter: "To Have a Center," which introduces in its way the subsequent chapters, treating of anthropology at all its levels and also, further on, of metaphysics and spiritual life.

There is the order of principles, which is immutable, and the order of information--traditional or otherwise--of which one can say that it is inexhaustible: on the one hand, not everything in this book will be new for our usual readers and, on the other hand, they will nonetheless find here precisions and illustrations which may have their usefulness. One never has too many keys in view of the "one thing needful," even if these points of reference be indirect and modest.

We acknowledge that this volume contains subjects which are very unequal: one will find a chapter on the art of translating, another on vestimentary art and another still on a question of astronomy. But in spirituality every thing is related: one always has the right to project the light of principles onto subjects of lesser importance, and it is a matter of course that one often is obliged to do so. As the Duke of Orleans said: "All that is national is ours" which we paraphrase in recalling that all that is normally human, hence virtually spiritual, enters ipso facto into our perspective; and "it takes all kinds to make a world."

After what we have just said, the question may be asked whether the sophia perennis is a "humanism", the answer would in principle be "yes," but in fact it must be "no" since humanism in the conventional sense of the term de facto exalts fallen man and not man as such. The humanism of the moderns is practically a utilitarianism aimed at fragmentary man; it is the will to make oneself as useful as possible to a humanity as useless as possible. As to integral anthropology, we intend, precisely, to give an account of it in the present book.

Excerpts from To Have a Center

"Man possesses a soul, and to have a soul means to pray.... The great lesson of prayer is that our relationship with the world depends essentially on our relationship with Heaven." --from "Fundamental Keys"

"What we wish to suggest in most of our considerations on modern genius is that humanistic culture, insofar as it functions as an ideology and therefore as a religion, consists essentially in being unaware of three things: firstly, of what God is, because it does not grant primacy to Him; secondly, of what man is, because it puts him in the place of God; thirdly, of what the meaning of life is, because this culture limits itself to playing with evanescent things and to plunging into them with criminal unconsciousness." -- from "To Have a Center"

"When God is removed from the universe, it becomes a desert of rocks or ice; it is deprived of life and warmth, and every man who still has a sense of the integrally real refuses to admit that this should be reality; for if reality were made of rocks, there would be no place in it for flowers or any beauty or sweetness whatsoever." --from "Primacy of Intellection"

"Every human being must, through love of God, strive to 'be what he is' to disengage himself from the artificial superstructures that disfigure him and which are none other than the traces of the Fall, in order to become once again a tree whose root is liberating certitude and whose crown is beatific serenity. Human nature is predisposed towards the unitive knowledge of its Divine Model." --from "Fundamental Keys".

Reviews


The Fullness of God: Frithjof Schuon on Christianity (Writings of Frithjof Schuon) (Paperback)
by Frithjof Schuon (Author), James S. Cutsinger (Editor), Antoine Faivre (Introduction)


Editorial Reviews
"This is "Understanding Christianity," to parallel the title of Schuon’s best-selling classic on Islam." -- Patrick Laude, Georgetown University

Product Description
For the first time, this book collects from Schoun's vast corpus his writings on Christianity, including selections from his personal correspondence and other previously unpunblished materials.

About the Author
Frithjof Schuon is best known as the foremost spokesman of the religio perennis and as a philosopher in the metaphysical current of Shankara and Plato. Over the past 50 years, he has written more than 20 books on metaphysical, spiritual and ethnic themes as well as having been 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 alike.

James S. Cutsinger is Professor of Theology and Religious Thought at the University of South Carolina. His recent works include Paths to the Heart: Sufism and the Christian East (2002), and Not of This World: A Treasury of Christian Mysticism (2003). The recipient of numerous teaching awards, he was honored in 1999 as a Michael J. Mungo University Teacher of the Year.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 1: 1. Outline of the Christic Message

If we start from the incontestable idea that the essence of all religions is the truth of the Absolute with its human consequences, mystical as well as social, the question may be asked how the Christian religion satisfies this definition; for its central content seems to be not God as such, but Christ—that is, not so much the nature of the divine Being as its human manifestation. Thus a Patristic voice aptly proclaimed: "God became man that man might become God"; this is the Christian way of saying that "Brahma is real; the world is appearance". Christianity, instead of simply juxtaposing the Absolute and the contingent, the Real and the illusory, proposes from the outset a reciprocity between the one and the other: it sees the Absolute a priori in relation to man, and man—correlatively —is defined in conformity with this reciprocity, which is not only metaphysical, but also dynamic, voluntary, eschatological. It is true that Judaism proceeds in an analogous fashion, but to a lesser degree: it does not define God in relation to the human drama, hence starting from contingency, but it does establish a quasi-absolute relationship between God and His people: God is "the God of Israel"; the symbiosis is immutable; however, God remains God, and man remains man; there is no "human God" or "divine man".

Be that as it may, the reciprocity posited by Christianity is metaphysically transparent, and it is necessarily so, on pain of being an error. Unquestionably, once we are aware of the existence of contingency or relativity, we must know that the Absolute is interested in it in one way or another, and this means first of all that contingency must be prefigured in the Absolute, and then that the Absolute must be reflected in contingency; this is the ontological foundation of the mysteries of Incarnation and Redemption. The rest is a matter of modality: Christianity proposes on the one hand an abrupt opposition between the "flesh" and the "spirit", and on the other hand—and this is its esoteric side—its option for "inward- ness" as against the outwardness of legal prescriptions and as against the "letter that killeth". In addition, it operates with that central and profoundly characteristic sacrament which is the Eucharist: God does not limit Himself to promulgating a Law; He descends to earth and makes Himself Bread of life and Drink of immortality.

In relation to Judaism, Christianity comprises an aspect of esoterism through three elements: inwardness, quasi-unconditional charity, the sacraments. The first element consists in more or less disregarding outward practices and accentuating the inward attitude: what matters is to worship God "in spirit and in truth"; the second element corresponds to the Hindu ahimsa, "non-harming", which can go so far as to renounce our legitimate rights, hence deliberately to step out of the mesh of human interests and social justice; it is to offer the left cheek to him who has struck the right and always to give more than one has to. Islam marks a return to Mosaic "realism", while integrating Jesus into its perspective as a prophet of Sufic "poverty"; be that as it may, Christianity itself, in order to be able to assume the function of a world religion, had to attenuate its original rigor and present itself as a socially realistic legalism, at least to a certain degree.

If "God became man", or if the Absolute became contingency, or if Necessary Being became possible being—if such is the case, one can understand the meaning of a God who became bread and wine and who made communion a condition sine qua non of salvation; not, to be sure, the sole condition, for communion demands the quasi-permanent practice of prayer, which Christ commands in his parable of the unjust judge and the importance of which is stressed by Saint Paul when he enjoins the faithful to "pray without ceasing". One can conceive of a man who, prevented from taking communion, is saved by prayer alone, but one cannot conceive of a man who would be prevented from praying and who would be saved through communion alone; indeed, some of the greatest saints, at the beginning of Christianity, lived in solitude without being able to take communion, at least for several years. This is explained by the fact that prayer takes precedence over everything, consequently that it contains communion in its own way and does so necessarily, since in principle we bear within ourselves all that we can obtain from without; "the kingdom of God is within you". Means are relative; not so our fundamental relationship with the Absolute.

Reviews


Gnosis: Divine Wisdom, A New Translation with Selected Letters (Library of Perennial Philosophy) (Paperback) - Frithjof Schuon

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
This new edition of Frithjof Schuon's classic work, Gnosis: Divine Wisdom, is a fully revised translation of the most recent French edition, and has an extensive Appendix containing previously unpublished letters and other private writings.

About the Author
Frithjof Schuon is best known as the foremost spokesman of the religio perennis and as a philosopher in the metaphysical current of Shankara and Plato. Over the past 50 years, he has written more than 20 books on metaphysical, spiritual and ethnic themes as well as having been 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. He died in 1998.

James S. Cutsinger is Professor of Theology and Religious Thought at the University of South Carolina. A widely recognized writer on the sophia perennis and the perennialist school, Professor Cutsinger is also an authority on the theology and spirituality of the Christian East. His publications include Advice to the Serious Seeker: Meditations on the Teaching of Frithjof Schuon, Not of This World: A Treasury of Christian Mysticism, Paths to the Heart: Sufism and the Christian East, The Fullness of God: Frithjof Schuon on Christianity, and Prayer Fashions Man: Frithjof Schuon on the Spiritual Life.

Reviews

The Eye of the Heart: Metaphysics, Cosmology, Spiritual Life (Library of Traditional Wisdom) (Paperback) - Frithjof Schuon

Editorial Reviews
Any serious person will feel grateful to be confronted by such a generously discerning intellect ... in this darkening time -- Jacob Needleman, San Francisco State University

Anyone who is an artist concerned with the sacred should read him ... [His] work has meant so much to me. -- Sir John Tavener, composer and author

I have met with no more impressive work in the comparative study of Oriental and Occidental religions. -- T. S. Eliot

Schuon possesses the gift of reaching the very core of the subject he is treating, of going beyond forms. -- Seyyed Hossein Nasr, George Washington University

Product Description
Essays covering a wide range of subjects: spiritual symbolism, the afterlife, and more.

From the Publisher
He feeds my soul...as does no other living religious writer

Reviews


Light on the Ancient Worlds: A New Translation with Selected Letters (The Library of Perennial Philosophy) (Paperback)
by Frithjof Schuon

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
These essays examines the spiritual patrimony of humanity.

From the Publisher
The title Light on the Ancient Worlds may at first seem obvious to many readers of the twenty-first century. We have in mind those who reflexively think of humanity as blazing a trail of ever-unfolding progress and who are convinced that people of today look out as from a very lofty and privileged eminence upon vistas never before beheld by mankind. Such a viewpoint will be brought up short in reading: "Contemporary man has collected a great mass of experiences and is therefore rather disillusioned, but the conclusions he draws from it are so false that they virtually reduce to nothing all that has been gained, or ought to have been gained." If it is not the discoveries and insights of the modern age that elucidate the past, then one may well wonder what this "light" is and where it comes from? The essays presented here all speak to this question. They do so by enunciating the spiritual patrimony, not of the humanity of any particular time or place, but of man as such in light of Truth as such. This patrimony has been variously called in the West, the "perennial philosophy" (philosophia perennis) or the "perennial religion" (religio perennis), and it corresponds to the Sanatana Dharma of the Vedantists.

From the Inside Flap
With adamantine clarity of expression and a vision which sees through the eye of the heart, these essays examine the spiritual patrimony of humanity. This wisdom transcends changing schools of thought, and may best be characterized as the Perennial Philosophy.

Light on the Ancient Worlds is a central example of the author’s thought. This new edition is fully revised and contains an Index and a valuable Glossary which clarifies many key ideas expressed in Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, and Arabic. It also includes a selection of previously unpublished correspondence, which provides striking insights into Schuon’s function as one of the great spiritual masters of our time.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
The whole existence of the peoples of antiquity, and of traditional peoples in general, is dominated by two key-ideas, the idea of Center and the idea of Origin. In the spatial world where we live, every value is related in some way to a sacred Center, which is the place where Heaven has touched the earth; in every human world there is a place where God has manifested Himself in order to pour forth His grace. And it is the same for the Origin, which is the quasi-timeless moment when Heaven was near and terrestrial things were still half-celestial; but in the case of civilizations having a historical founder, it is also the period when God spoke, thus renewing the primordial covenant for the branch of humanity concerned. To conform to tradition is to remain faithful to the Origin, and for this very reason it is also to place oneself at the Center; it is to dwell in the primordial Purity and the universal Norm. Everything in the behavior of ancient and traditional peoples can be explained, directly or indirectly, by reference to these two ideas, which are like land marks in the measureless and perilous world of forms and change.

Reviews


Stations of Wisdom (The Library of Traditional Wisdom) (Paperback) - Frithjof Schuon

Editorial Reviews
"Any serious person will feel grateful to be confronted by such a generously discerning intellect ... in this darkening time." -- Jacob Needleman, San Francisco State University

"If I were asked who is the greatest writer of our time, I would say Frithjof Schuon without hesitation." -- Martin Lings, author of What is Sufism? and Ancient Beliefs and Modern Superstitions

"Intellectually rigorous in the highest degree ... There is no other voice like that of Schuon." -- Arthur Versluis, Michigan State University

"Schuon seems like the cosmic intellect itself impregnated by the energy of divine grace surveying the whole of reality..." -- Seyyed Hossein Nasr, George Washington University

"The man is a living wonder ... I know of no living thinker who begins to rival him." -- Huston Smith, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley

Product Description
These essays go to the roots of the religious/science impass.

From the Publisher
He feeds my soul...as does no other living religious writer.

Reviews


The Transcendent Unity of Religions (Quest Book) (Paperback) - Frithjof Schuon

Product Description
A study of exoteric and esoteric aspects of religions.

Reviews

Edited by popa_laurentiu, 14 October 2008 - 20:27.

Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism (Paperback) - Frithjof Schuon

Editorial Reviews

"... any serious person will feel grateful to be confronted by such a generously discerning intellect in this darkening time." -- Jacob Needleman, Dept. of Philosophy, San Francisco State University

"A magnificent book ... Schuon proves ... [by] his Wisdom, how inexhaustibly beautiful is the Truth." -- James S. Cutsinger, Dept. of Religious Studies, University of South Carolina

"Once again one reaches for superlatives ... The author reveals himself ... as the most comprehensive and architectonic metaphysician of our century." -- Huston Smith, Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion, Emeritus, Syracuse University

"Schuon's Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism is a wonderfully lucid and compact presentation of the core of Perennial Philosophy." -- Sheldon R. Isenberg, Dept. of Religion, University of Florida

"The prolific pen of Frithjof Schuon has produced another stimulating work." -- P. Joseph Cahill, Chairman, Dept. of Religious Studies, University of Alberta --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
A near complete survey of Schuon's thought in the areas of cosmology and metaphysical principles.

Reviews


Treasures of Buddhism (Paperback) - Frithjof Schuon

Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Schuon is well respected as an authority on comparative religion and as a spokesperson for the philosophia perrenis , a point of view that attempts to illuminate a metaphysical truth underlying all religions. This book, while centered on Buddhism, moves freely among Christian, Islamic, Hindu, and Chinese religious concepts and employs the vocabulary of the Western philosophical tradition. Following the chapters on Buddhism, there is a short section on Shinto. Throughout, the reading is choppy owing to the profuse footnotes that often would have been more appropriate as a continuation of the text. This is not an easy book, and it presupposes a certain degree of knowledge. Still, for scholars of religion or followers of the work of Schuon, Coomaraswamy, or Guenon, it offers some interesting points, and Schuon is particularly entertaining when he examines the limitations of science. Recommended for academic collections with an interest in comparative religion.
- Mark Woodhouse, Elmira Coll. Lib., N.Y.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"... the brilliant manner in which he sheds light on the intellectual exposition of the Buddhist experience." -- World Buddhist

"... yet another profound work by Schuon ... repays repeated readings and meditations from time to time." -- World Faiths

"Schuon possesses the gift of reaching the very core of the subject he is treating, of going beyond forms." -- Seyyed Hossein Nasr, George Washington University

"The author is ... a fine scholar and, even more important, a man of profound religious sensibility." -- The Middle Way

"The man is a living wonder; intellectually a propos religion, equally in depth and breadth, the paragon of our time." -- Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions

Product Description
Elucidates notions crucial to Buddhism and points out key differences between Western philosophical individualism and the serenity of Eastern metaphysics.

Reviews


Understanding Islam (Paperback) - Frithjof Schuon

Editorial Reviews
A masterpiece of comparative religion ... Such objectivity as Frithjof Schuon's ... is exceedingly rare. -- Islamic Quarterly

Any serious person will feel grateful to be confronted by such a generously discerning intellect ... in this darkening time. -- Jacob Needleman, San Francisco State University

Schuon's book shows the essence of Islam ... one often finds passages which touch the heart. -- Annemarie Schimmel, Professor Harvard University (from the Foreword)

The best work in English on the meaning of Islam and why Muslims believe in it. -- Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University

[Schuon is] the most important religious thinker of our century. -- Huston Smith, author of The World's Religions, and Why Religion Matters

Product Description
a classic, written from the perspective of why Muslims believe in their faith.

Reviews


Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul (Paperback) - Titus Burckhardt (Author)

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Spiritual attainment has frequently been described as a transformation whereby a human's leaden, dull nature is returned to its golden state. This wonderfully insightful volume introduces some of the metaphors useful for establishing attitudes required for the soul's advancement: trust, confidence, hope, and detachment. It is a reminder that when any substance or entity undergoes dissolution, it must eventually be resolved or re-crystalized in a new, possibly higher and more noble form.

About the Author
Eminent Swiss metaphysician and scholar Dr. Titus Burckhardt was devoted to studies in art, art history, and oriental languages, and embarked upon journeys through North Africa and the Near East. In addition to writing books in German, he translated many important works from their original Arabic.

Reviews


Symbol & Archetype: A Study of the Meaning of Existence (Quinta Essentia series) (Paperback) - Martin Lings

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Every religious tradition or metaphysical worldview involves a system of powerful symbols, most of which bear common meanings across cultures, continents, and time. This volume, complete with a 9th century Quranic manuscript, explores the significance of the most recurrent symbols and archetypes in human history and elaborates a compelling theory for why symbolism plays such an essential role in human life. The work explores certain basic aspects of symbolism in relation to the Divinity, the hierarchy of the universe, the function of human faculties and qualities, the human condition, natural objects, works of art, and the final end—all with reference to the great living religions of the world, and in particular to Christianity and Islam.


Remembering in a World of Forgetting: Thoughts on Tradition and Postmodernism (Library of Perennial Philosophy) (Paperback) - William Stoddart

Product Description
This book contains a wide-ranging selection of writings by perennialist author William Stoddart that expose the many false ideologies of postmodernism (forgetting) and call for a return to traditional religion, especially in its mystical dimensions (remembering).

Reviews


As the Stoddart states, in a world of error, reading books that expound truth is of prime importance, but "difficult" books tend to be the only ones worth reading. Do not cheat yourself by reading anything less.

Edited by popa_laurentiu, 14 October 2008 - 20:53.

Nimicirea de Sine - COOMARASWAMY ANANDA KENTISH - Ed. Herald

Traducerea de fata isi propune sa prezinte cititorului roman o serie de probleme din sfera metafizicii traditionale si deci a gandirii traditionale crestine, islamice, hinduse si buddhiste. Volumul grupeaza urmatoarele studii si eseuri:  

1. „Vedānta si traditia occidentala” - initial o cuvan­tare tinuta in fata membrilor filialei Radcliffe College a Societatii Phi Beta Kappa, textul a fost publicat in The American Scholar, VIII (1939).

2. „Semnificatia mortii” - eseu manuscris, compus probabil spre sfarsitul anilor 1930 sau in perioada anilor 1940 (publicat postum).

3. „Cine este ‘Satana’ si unde este ‘Iadul’?” - eseu pu­bli­cat pentru prima data in Review of Religion, XI (1947).

4. „Nimicirea de sine” - eseu publicat prima oara in New Indian Antiquary, III (1940).

5. „Unicul si singurul transmigrant” - studiu publicat prima data in suplimentul cu nr. 3 de la Journal of the American Oriental Society LXIV (1944).

6. „Reamintirea la hindusi si platonicieni” - idem.

7. „Despre psihologia (sau mai degraba pneumatologia) indiana si traditionala” - studiu scris in 1943 (publicat postum).

8. „Gradatie si evolutie” - eseu publicat prima data in Isis, vol. 35, nr. 1 (1944).

9. „Gradatie si evolutie - II” - studiu aparut prima data in Isis, vol. 38, nr. 1/2 (1947).  
Toate aceste probleme pot constitui, asa cum se exprima Coomaraswamy, esenta unei „pregatiri intelectuale” necesare pentru „intrarea si ina­in­tarea pe Cale”.

Despre autor:
Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy s-a nascut in Ceylon (Sri Lanka) in 1877, din mama englezoaica si tata hindus. Dupa moartea tatalui sau, fiind inca destul de mic, pleaca cu mama sa in Anglia, ea urmand sa se ocupe in continuare de educatia tanarului Coomaraswamy. In 1889 se inscrie la Wycliffe Collage, iar in 1909 intra la Universitatea din Londra, unde alege sa studieze geologia si stiintele naturale. Isi obtine doctoratul in geologie si pleaca pentru o perioada in Ceylon pentru a intreprinde cercetari in domeniul specializarii sale.
Aceasta vizita, spune un biograf de-al sau, „i-a schimbat intreaga viata. A fost extrem de uimit de splendoarea artistica a ruinelor. Se simtea dator sa studieze aceasta arta magnifica si sa explice frumusetea si semnificatia ei restului omenirii”. De aici, a continuat sa studieze si traditia indiana, mai ales hinduismul si buddhismul si, tot asa, observand ca se pot gasi paralele si in alte traditii, a depasit aceste „granite”, ajungand sa se ocupe in paralel de arta si filozofia occidentala antica si medievala. Aceasta situatie si rigoarea ce il caracteriza l-au determinat sa abordeze sursele cercetate in limbile in care au fost redactate; astfel, cronologic, s-a specializat in limbile italiana, spaniola, olandeza, persana, sinhaleza, franceza, germana, latina, greaca, sanskrita, pāli, si hindi, fiul sau, Rama Coomara­swamy, ajungand sa spuna despre tatal sau ca „citea si vorbea in jur de 30 de limbi”.
In anul 1917, Coomaraswamy este invitat sa preia postul de director de cercetare in artele indiana, persana si musulmana, la Muzeul de Arte Frumoase din Boston, SUA. Isi continua cercetarile pe care le incepuse si publica articole in diverse reviste si jurnale de specialitate, atat din America cat si din India. Moare in anul 1947, la varsta de 70 de ani.
Preocuparile lui Ananda K. Coomaraswamy manifestate inca din perioada tineretii se inscriu in sfera istoriei artei, teoriei esteticii, criticii sociale, religiei comparate, simbolismului si metafizicii traditionale. Opera sa numara peste 600 de titluri, printre care carti, majoritatea constituind articole si volume ce grupeaza articole.
Cateva din lucrarile sale mai importante sunt: Medie­val Sinhalese Art (1908), The Indian Craftsman (1909), Buddha and the Gospel of Buddhism (1916), A New Approach to the Vedas (1933), Hinduism and Buddhism (1934) The Transformation of Nature in Art (1934), Ele­ments of Buddhist Iconography (1935), Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power in the Indian Theory of Government (1942), Why Exhibit Works of Art? (1943; reeditata in 1956 cu titlul: Christian and Oriental Philosophy of Art), Figures of Speech of Figures of Thought (1946), Time and Eternity (1947); printre alte lucrari importante aparute postum si care cuprind diverse articole scrise de acesta de-a lungul timpului, se numara: The Dance of Shiva (1948), The Bugbear of Literacy (1949), Guardians of the Sun Door.


Varstele vietii spirituale - Paul Evdokimov  - ed. Humanitas

Intelepciunea e savoare: ea inseamna a gusta din cunoasterea Celui cu totul altul. Credinta inseamna certitudinea ca aceasta cunoastere e nesfarsita, ca savoarea ei e inepuizabila. Textele acestei colectii se refera la o asemenea cunoastere, la stradania de a o atinge, de a-i simti gustul veritabil. Ele vorbesc, cel mai adesea, in numele unei experiente personale si au, de aceea, simplitatea, precizia si prospetimea unei cunoasteri vii.
„Lucrarea de fata constituie unul dintre roadele cele mai bune pe care le-a dat pana acum gandirea teologica ortodoxa in stradania ei de a crea ceea ce s-ar putea numi «sinteza neopatristica», sinteza ce a inceput sa se contureze in urma intalnirii marilor ganditori si teologi rusi din exil (Berdiaev, Bulgakov, Lossky, Afanasiev, Florovski etc.) cu duhul occidental, cu realitatea civilizatiei apusene, in spatiul Apusului. Confruntarea i-a determinat pe ortodocsi sa caute, sa redescopere, sa constientizeze si sa revalorifice cuvantul pe care Rasaritul ortodox il are de spus, iar aceasta într-un limbaj contemporan.
Cartea e un itinerariu ametitor, construind cu o uimitoare usurinta punti spirituale intre cele mai variate conceptii, vremuri, nume, spatii: de la Sfantul Irineu la Freud, de la Kierkegaard la Sfantul Nicodim Aghioritul, de la Sfantul Varsanufie la Sartre. […] Este un mesaj care inaugureaza dialogul unor oameni liberi si maturi, ortodocsi si neortodocsi, credinciosi sau necredinciosi, dar sinceri si sensibili la cele mai adanci probleme ale existentei." (Pr. Prof. Ion Buga)

Edited by popa_laurentiu, 14 October 2008 - 21:52.

Islamul - Introducere in doctrinele esoterice - TITUS BURCKHARDT - ed. Herald
Despre autor:
Titus Burckhardt (Florenta, 1908 – Lausanne, l984) Nascut intr o familie de elvetieni protestanti de origine germana, Titus Burckhardt continua stralucit preocuparea, de traditie, pentru arta a acesteia: fratele bunicului sau fiind celebrul Iacob Burkhardt, important istoric al artei, iar tatal sau, Carl Burckhardt, un sculptor cu renume in epoca. Locuind la Basel, il intalneste pe Fritjof Schuon – cunoscut exeget al traditiei islamice si conducatorul de mai tarziu al grupului initiatic alawit din Elvetia. Urmeaza mai multe scoli de arta din Elvetia si Italia, dar atractia Islamului, mai ales prin preocuparea pentru arta islamica, este foarte puternica. De aceea pleaca in Maroc, la Fez, unde ramane mai mult timp, invatand temeinic limba araba si contactand mediile initiatice existente la vremea aceea in Magreb. O data cu primire sa in ramura alawita, face parte din grupul initiatic si de studii ale esoterismului din diferite religii si traditii format in jurul revistei Voile d'Isis – ulterior Etudes Traditionnelles – care il are in frunte pe René Guénon. Exista un amanunt in viata sa, pe care credem ca este util sa l mentionam: un stramos al sau, pe nume Louis Ibrahim Burckhardt, a fost unul din primii occidentali care au „vizitat” Mecca in jurul anului 1820. Din perioada interbelica dateaza si legatura sa cu Vasile Lovinescu – cel mai important exeget al traditiilor din cultura romaneasca – , legatura ce va dura mult timp si care a capatat o consistenta cu totul exceptionala prin integrarea acestuia in aceeasi ramura initiatica. Intre 1950 1960 Burckhardt este directorul artistic al editurii Urs Graf din Olten, langa Bale. In aceasta perioada principala sa preocupare a fost pregatirea si publicarea unor manuscrise miniate din Evul Mediu, indeosebi manuscrisele celtice ale Evangheliei. Siddi Ibrahim (Titus Burckhardt) a indeplinit si o serie de functii publice culturale: reprezentant UNESCO pentru inventarierea patrimoniului arhitectonic al orasului Fez, director de expozitii de arta islamica la Hayward Gallery, organizator al Festivalului „Lumea Islamica” la Londra, etc. Moare la Lausanne in anul 1984; in acelasi an se stinge din viata si Vasile Lovinescu. * Intr o perioada in care tonul il dadeau existentialismul si psihanaliza, Titus Burckhardt se face interpretul acelei autentice philosophia perennis care se exprima in platonism, Vedanta, sufism, taoism si in alte invataturi esoterice si sapientiale. In lucrarile sale, el se dovedeste unul din cei mai subtili interpreti ai adevarului universal in domeniul metafizicii, precum si in cel al cosmologiei si artei traditionale. Dintre cartile si traducerile lui Titus Burckhardt amintim: 1950 – Clé spirituelle de l'astrologie musulmane d'après Muhy d din Ibn Arabi, Etudes Traditionelles, Paris; 1952 – Introduction aux doctrines esoteriques de l'Islam, Messerschmidt & Alger. Este principalul expozeu metafizic al lui Burckhardt, care completeaza in mod stralucit opera lui Schuon. Printr o serie de definitii lucide si sobre, autorul precizeaza care este natura esoterismului in general, apoi cerceteaza temeiurile doctrinare ale esoterismului islamic (sau sufismul), si incheie cu o admirabila descriere a „alchimiei spirituale” sau a caii contemplative ce duce la realizarea interioara. 1953 – De l’Homme Universel (Al Insan al Kamil), Derain, Lyon; traducere din opera lui Abd al Karim al Jili; 1955 – La Sagesse des prophetes, Albin Michel, Paris. Traducere (partiala) a lucrarii lui Muhy d din Ibn Arabi, Fusûs al Hikam. 1958 – Principes et methodes de l'art sacrée, Paul Derain, Lyon. Este socotita principala lucrare a lui Burckhardt din domeniul artei traditionale, cuprinzand totodata importante capitole dedicate metafizicii si esteticii hinduismului, buddhismului, taoismului, crestinismului si islamului. 1958 – Siena: Stadt der Jungfrau, U Graf Verlag, Olten; 1958 – Siena, the City of the Virgin, Oxford, London; 1960 – Alchemie, Sinn und Weltbild, Olten: Walter; 1967 – L'alchimie, science et sagesse, Planète, Paris; 1960 – Fes, Stadt des Islams. U Graf Verlag, Olten, 1992, Fes, City of Islam, Cambridge, ITS. Este considerata capodopera lui; cam prin anii 1930, Burckhardt a trait mai multi ani in Maroc, cunoscand in profunzime realitatile lumii isalmice si legand stranse prietenii cu reprezentanti de marca ai mostenirii spirituale magrebine. 1962 – Chartres und die Geburt der Kathedral,: U Graf Verlag, Olten. 1970 – Die maurische Kultur in Spanien. Munich: Callwey; 1972, Moorish Culture in Spain, Allen & Unwin, London. 1976 – Art of Islam: Language and Meaning. London: World of Islam Festival Publishing Company;1985 – L'art de l'Islam: langage et signification, Paris: Sinbad. Ultima mare lucrare a lui Burckhardt, care trateaza despre principiile intelectuale si functia spirituala a creatiei artistice. 1978 – Lettres d'un maitre soufi, le shaykh al Arabi ad Darqawi, Dervy, Paris; 1989, Cartas de un maestro sufí, Olañeta, Palma de Mallorca (traducere); 1987 (postum) – Aperçues sur la connaissance sacré. Arche, Milan; 1987 – Mirror of the Intellect: Essays on Traditional Science and Sacred Art, Albany: SUNY P.

Despre carte:
Prezenta lucrare este o introducere in studiul doctrinei sufite. Este important, inainte de toate, a defini punctul de vedere conform caruia abordam acest subiect: acest punct de vedere nu este cel al eruditiei pur si simplu, oricare ar fi interesul stiintific pentru rezumatele doctrinare care figureaza in acest studiu; noi intelegem, mai degraba, sa contribuim la eforturile celor care, in lumea moderna, cauta sa inteleaga adevarurile permanente si universale al caror mod de expresie este orice doctrina sacra. Vom spune mai intai ca stiinta academica nu este decat un ajutor cu totul secundar si indirect pentru asimilarea continutului intelectual al doctrinelor orientale, si nu acesta este scopul unei metode stiintifice, care abordeaza in mod necesar lucrurile din exterior, deci sub un aspect pur istoric si contingent.
Exista doctrine care nu se inteleg decat „din interior”, printr un efort de asimilare sau de patrundere ale carui modalitati, care sunt in mod esential intelectuale, depasesc prin aceasta gandirea discursiva; aceasta devine chiar un obstacol in masura in care este impregnata de conventii mentale, fara a mai vorbi de prejudecatile agnostice si evolutioniste care determina modul de gandire al majoritatii occidentalilor. Aceasta este explicatia faptului ca, aproape toti eruditii europeni, care au studiat sufismul, se inseala asupra adevaratei sale naturi: omul de cultura modern nu este obisnuit sa gandeasca in simboluri. Asa fiind, cercetarile moderne nu pot distinge ceea ce tine, in doua expresii traditionale analoge, de forma exterioara si ceea ce constituie elementul esential; datorita acestui fapt, eruditii sunt tentati sa vada imprumuturi de la o traditie la alta, cand, in fond, nu este vorba decat de o coincidenta de puncte de vedere spirituale, si divergente fundamentale acolo unde nu intervine decat o diferenta de perspective sau de modalitati de expresie. Astfel de confuzii se produc in mod necesar, deoarece formatia universitara si cunoasterea livresca autorizeaza aici cercetarea (lucrurilor de aceasta natura), care, in Orient, raman in mod natural rezervate acelora care sunt dotati cu intuitie spirituala si care se consacra studiului acestora in virtutea unei afinitati reale si sub indrumarea celor care continua o traditie vie.
In ceea [aceasta carte] vom incerca sa aratam care este perspectiva intelectuala a Sufismului, din care vom adopta modul propriu de exprimare, oferind, pe cat posibil, precizarile necesare cititorului european; in acelasi timp, vom arata care sunt analogiile dintre notiunile sufite si cele ale altor doctrine traditionale; astfel, nu ne vom abate de la punctul de vedere propriu Sufismului, care a recunoscut totdeauna principiul conform caruia Revelatia divina, transmisa prin intermediul marilor mediatori, imbraca forme diverse corespunzatoare aptitudinilor diferitelor colectivitati umane menite sa o primeasca. Comparatiile intre diferitele simboluri traditionale risca sa fie gresit intelese – stim asta; in acest sens vom spune ca maestrii spirituali sufiti s-au limitat, adesea, doar la a indica principiul de universalitate traditionala, fara a arata toate consecintele in raport cu alte religii, respectand astfel credinta oamenilor simpli. Daca credinta religioasa este, virtual, o cunoastere – fara de care ea nu ar fi decat o simpla parere – lumina sa este totusi invaluita de un domeniul afectiv, domeniu care este atasat unei traduceri determinate a Adevarului transcendent, si tinde astfel sa nege tot ceea ce se iveste dintr un alt mod inspirat de expresie. In acelasi timp, prudenta fata de credinta unei colectivitati nu se impune decat atat timp cat civilizatia sacra care protejeaza aceasta colectivitate reprezinta o lume quasi impermeabila; aceasta situatie se poate schimba in cazul unei intalniri inevitabile intre doua civilizatii sacre diferite, cum este cazul Islamului si Hinduismului sub imparatii Moguli, de exemplu; ea se schimba, cu atat mai mult, cand are loc contactul dintre marile civilizatii traditionale. In haosul in care traim, anumite comparatii se impun, cel putin pentru cei care sunt sensibili la formele spirituale si este imposibil in ziua de astazi de a trece sub tacere toate problemele care rezulta din aceasta. Ceea ce este important inainte de orice pentru a intelege, este ca recunoasterea – de catre cei ce adopta o perspectiva esoterica – a unitatii esentiale a tuturor formelor traditionale sa nu ii conduca nici la stergerea specificului acestora, nici la neintelegerea necesitatii, in ordinea respectiva, a uneia sau a alteia dintre Legile sacre, ci dimpotriva; caci diversitatea formelor traditionale nu indica numai insuficienta oricarei expresii formale fata de Adevarul total, ci ea acuza, de asemenea, indirect, originalitatea spirituala a fiecarei forme, adica, ceea ce fiecare dintre ele comporta ca inimitabil, in care se afirma unicitatea principiului lor comun: centrul unei roti, care uneste spitele, este in acelasi timp, ceea ce le fixeaza directiile divergente. Introducerea noastra in studiul doctrinei sufite va ramane incompleta; poate vom avea ocazia mai tarziu de a o completa. Vom vorbi mai degraba despre metafizica, aceasta fiind fundamentul; nu va fi vorba de metoda decat in linii mari si nu vom mentiona cosmologia decat in treacat. Pentru anumite aspecte ale doctrinei al carei rezumat il facem, ne vom referi, in primul rand, la opera lui Muhyi d din ibn ' Arabi , „Cel mai mare maestru (spiritual)”, al carui rol, in Sufism, este comparabil cu cel al lui Shri Shankaracharya in Vedantism.
Fata de prima versiune a acestui studiu, publicata in 1953, textul de fata a fost completat din multe puncte de vedere; am adaugat, in special, anumite consideratii despre realizarea spirituala. De vreme ce Sufismul este o traditie, adica transmiterea unei intelepciuni de origine divina, el este totodata si perpetuare in timp si reinnoire neincetata prin contactul cu izvorul sau atemporal. Orice doctrina traditionala este, prin definitie, imuabila in esenta sa, dar formularea sa se poate innoi in cadrul unui „stil conceptual” dat – deci pe baza constantelor traditiei – in functie de diferite moduri posibile ale intuitiei si conform circumstantelor umane.

Edited by popa_laurentiu, 14 October 2008 - 22:30.

Advice to the Serious Seeker: Meditations on the Teaching of Frithjof Schuon (Paperback) - James S. Cutsinger

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Two books in one, Advice to the Serious Seeker is an introduction for scholars to the perennialist school of comparative religious philosophy and at the same time a guidebook for the general reader who is looking for intellectually serious but accessible answers to questions about the spiritual life. Scholars will find a comprehensive introduction to the work of Frithjof Schuon, the leading contemporary figure in the perennialist or traditionalist school of comparative religion. Written by James S. Cutsinger, one of the world's foremost academic authorities on the perennial philosophy, the book provides a detailed commentary on the full range of Schuon's spiritual writings. But the book is also intended for inquisitive and searching readers in general. Composed in a style that is simple and conversational, it reads as an open letter to the author's students. The aim is to cut through the banality of much that passes for spiritual instruction today and to provide intellectually serious but accessible answers to questions typically posed by cynics and skeptics, conservative believers, and persons attracted to the so-called "new age" religions.

About the Author
James S. Cutsinger is Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Thought at the University of South Carolina. His previous work includes The Form of Transformed Vision: Coleridge and the Knowledge of God. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reviews


Sufism: Veil and Quintessence A New Translation with Selected Letters (The Writings of Frithjof Schuon) (Paperback)
by Frithjof Schuon (Author), Seyyed Hossein Nasr (Foreword), James S. Cutsinger (Editor)

Product Description
This new edition of Frithjof Schuon's important work, Sufism: Veil and Quintessence, is a fully revised translation from the French original and has an extensive Appendix containing previously unpublished letters and other private writings.

About the Author
Frithjof Schuon, philosopher and metaphysician, is the best known proponent of the Perennial Philosophy. He wrote more than 30 books on spirituality and faith during his lifetime. He died in 1998.

Fragment
"The intrinsic orthodoxy of Islam results from its Message: God (Allah), the Prophet (Muhammad), Prayer (Salat), Almsgiving (Zakat), the Fast (Siyam), the Pilgrimage (Hajj); to which the Holy War (Jihad) may be added on occasion. God: the Absolute, is Real; that is to say, He is Reality (Haqq), Necessary Being (al- Wujud al-Mutlaq), therefore That which cannot not be, whereas things can either be or not be; being unique, He excludes all that is not He; being total, He includes all that is possible or existent; there is nothing "alongside" Him and nothing "outside" Him. -- The Prophet: this thesis states the very principle of Revelation, its modes and its rhythms; if there is a God and if there are men, there must necessarily also be Messengers of God. --Prayer: likewise, if there is a God and if there are men, there is necessarily a dialogue; it is given by this very confrontation. --Almsgiving: this principle results from the fact that man in not alone, that he lives in society and that he must know, and feel, that "the other" is also "I"; whence the necessity for charity at all levels. -- The Fast: this principle is founded on the necessity for sacrifice; whoever receives must also give, and further, the body is not everything, any more than is the world; the spirit can ennoble matter but matter is nonetheless fallen. --The Pilgrimage: this is the principle of the return to the source, to the primordial sanctuary, and thus also to the heart. --Holy War: this results from the right, and in certain cases the duty, to defend the Truth; esoterically or even morally, it becomes the struggle against passional and mental darkness; one must overcome the inborn worship of the world and the ego so as to be integrated into the reign of Peace (dar as-Salam)... The Islamic religion is divided into three constituent parts: Iman, Faith, which contains everything that one must believe; Islam, the Law, which contains everything that one must do; Ihsan...Ihsan is right-believing and right-acting, and at the same time it is their quintessence: the quintessence of right-believing is metaphysical truth, the Haqiqah, and that of right-acting is the practice of invocation, the Dhikr. Ihsan comprises so to speak two modes, depending on its application: the speculative and the operative, namely intellectual discernment and unitive concentration; in Sufi language this is expressed exactly by the terms Haqiqah and Dhikr, or by Tawhid, "Unification," and Ittihad, "Union." For the Sufis, the "hypocrite" (munafiq) is not only the one who gives himself airs of piety in order to impress people, but in a general way, one who is profane, who does not draw all the consequences that are implied in the Dogma and the Law, hence the man who is not sincere, since he is neither consequential nor whole; now Sufism (tasawwuf) is nothing other than sincerity (sidq) and the "sincere" (siddiqan) are none other than the Sufis."

Reviews

Edited by popa_laurentiu, 14 October 2008 - 23:10.

Introduction to Hindu Dharma: Illustrated - Michael Oren Fitzgerald

Editorial Reviews
This book [the unedited discourses] is a universal scripture. It contains eternal truths which apply to all countries, in all climes and to all people irrespective of differences in race, religions, language, customs, and traditions. It enunciates the fundamental unity of life and the principles that should inform human behavior. -- R. Venkataraman, former President of India

Product Description
Understand authentic Hinduism directly from one of the most revered Hindu spiritual leaders of the twentieth century. This book consists of selections from the more than 2,000 discourses of Kanchi Sankaracharya (1894-1994). This book has the distinction of introducing both the sage and his spiritual legacy to the Western world in the form of an irreplaceable introduction to Hinduism.

http://www.geocities...40/dharma1.html
http://www.geocities...40/dharma2.html

Edited by popa_laurentiu, 16 October 2008 - 03:39.

popa_laurentiu, on Oct 14 2008, 16:50, said:

Asta nu cred ca e Robert Lazu... cred ca mai de graba e Daniel Hoblea.

Fa o comparatie:

 robert_lazu.jpg   30.77K   7 downloads

Edited by Megara, 16 October 2008 - 03:50.

normal că e Hoblea, cealaltă poză era coperta cărții lui Lazu... de ce mă urmărești la ora asta?

popa_laurentiu, on Oct 16 2008, 04:50, said:

Trebuia sa faci nota sau sa inserezi poza dupa fiecare articol.

Nu te amagi ca nu te urmaresc... aruncam si eu o privire si mi-a sarit poza in ochi. Cu Hoblea ma stiu de ani buni de zile si am avut oarece tangente si cu Lazu.

Edited by Megara, 16 October 2008 - 03:54.

pe coperta de la cartea lui Lazu scrie clar... ce explicații mai vroiai... d-alea cu nod în papură?

Hoblea e bun, dar am impresia că a pierdut timpul prea mult prin teologie, dar el e cel care l-a tradus la Herald (și Aion) pe Guenon într-adevăr... pe Lazu nu-l știu...

ps: avem oamini dăștepți în țara asta slavă Domnului!

Edited by popa_laurentiu, 16 October 2008 - 04:01.

popa_laurentiu, on Oct 16 2008, 04:55, said:

Pozele inserate una langa alta dau impresia ca e fata si versoul cartii.

Hoblea nu e teolog si nici nu a terminat filozofia (sau probabil a facut-o in ultimii ani). Pentru el e pasiune. Lazu a terminat filozofia si e si teolog romano-catolic.

Edited by Megara, 16 October 2008 - 04:03.

Cam așa... de Mihnea Căpruță ce știi?

ps: vezi caiete silvane

Edited by popa_laurentiu, 16 October 2008 - 04:03.

popa_laurentiu, on Oct 16 2008, 05:02, said:

Nu il stiu... Iar in ceea ce priveste Caiete Silvane... cunosc toata istoria lor cu dedesupturi cu tot. Cand a aparut, cine au fost initiatorii pe care ii cunosc si personal, cine i-a sustinut etc

ghini, pe Silvia Chițimia?

popa_laurentiu, on Oct 16 2008, 05:07, said:

In Caiete Silvane sunt publicate articole ale autorilor din toata tara. Nu-i cunosc pe toti... am zis ca ii cunosc pe initiatorii proiectului.