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A Resource On Frithjof Schuon's Life & Teachings

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A New Collection of Letters from Frithjof Schuon on Important Aspects of the Inner Life:

Towards the Essential: Letters of a Spiritual Master

edited by Thierry Béguelin

This collection was published by the Matheson Trust in 2021. It is a translation from the French, also edited by Thierry Béguelin, with some additional materials from the editor to assist readers. This is a selection taken from letters that Schuon wrote over many years to disciples, seekers and spiritual authorities from all over the world and various religious paths. Each letter focuses on the different needs of these individuals, but today they give us powerful insights into how to progress on many universal aspects of the inner life. This collection offers many examples of a psychology of the initiatic progress in its deepest reaches, those of metaphysics and the alchemy of contemplative life.

A great benefit for readers of this book are the notes, index, and glossary added by the editor. The editor and publisher designed the collection so that it does not require continuous reading from beginning to end, because “each letter forms a whole, allowing both those readers unfamiliar with the author's thought and those interested in a particular topic to opt for a selective reading by referring to the table of contents or the index. Towards the Essential is a concrete illustration of Schuon's thought and also, due to its relative ease of access, a helpful introduction to a message which, in his books, sometimes approaches the limits of the expressible.”

This book promises to be one of the most important resources for readers who seek to understand in some depth the remarkable scope of Frithjof Schuon’s experience with and intimate knowledge of the many ways that can lead people of any persuasion to a rich contemplative life.

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This site is the most comprehensive repository of information pertaining to the life and work of Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998); materials include published articles, personal correspondence, private papers, poems, photographs, and works of art.

Frithjof Schuon is the preeminent spokesman of a school of thought that focuses on the expression and explanation of the Perennial Philosophy. This philosophy expresses the timeless metaphysical truths underlying the diverse religions; its written sources include 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." The Perennial Philosophy is an important perspective that can inform the study of Comparative Religion, Anthropology, Art, Literature, and many related areas.

Schuon was a philosopher in the tradition of Plato, Shankara, and Eckhart, and he wrote over two dozen books on religion, metaphysics, sacred art, and the spiritual path. Describing Schuon’s first book, The Transcendent Unity of Religions, Nobel laureate T. S. Eliot wrote, "I have met with no more impressive work in the comparative study of Oriental and Occidental religion", and world-renowned religion scholar Huston Smith said of Schuon, "The man is a living wonder; intellectually apropos religion, equally in depth and breadth, the paragon of our time". Schuon’s books have been translated into over a dozen languages and are respected by academic and religious authorities alike. Schuon’s writings remain unequaled in setting forth the principles of perennialist thought as well as their applications on the spiritual, aesthetic, and other related levels.

Besides his accomplishments as an author, Frithjof Schuon was also a gifted artist and poet. His art and his poetry flowed naturally from his awareness of God's Presence in creation. Catalogue notes from a museum display of Schuon’s art explain that “springing as they do from his rich and unique personality, Schuon’s paintings…have a rare value, not only as regards artistic merit but above all because of their gift for manifesting the human soul at its noblest and most beautiful—hence, as a vehicle for Truth.” The sense of the sacred figures as much in Schuon’s art and poetry as in his philosophical writings.

The story of Schuon’s life presented in these pages demonstrates how his own intellect, personality, and actions reflected the elevated metaphysics, spiritual insights, and artistic creations that comprised his body of work.

This online resource brings together, through a survey of his many-faceted dimensions, Frithjof Schuon’s important contributions to the manifestations of the timeless Truth.





Newest Postings

“To Have a Center”
Chapters in Books “The Problem of Moral Divergences”
“Concerning the Notion of Eternity”

Articles not in Books “Travel Meditations”
“The Three Dimensions of Sufism”
Slideshow of excerpts from “Concerning Forms in Art” with illustrations added

Letters First Line: “To return to the questions discussed in my preceding letters…”
First Line: “It is not easy to situate the problem of the resurrection in a few words…”

Statements / Texts “Against Subtle Worldliness”
“Two Unequal Heredities”

Articles on Schuon's Work “Introducing the Writings of Frithjof Schuon” (the full Introduction)
“‘Standing Unshakably in the True’ - A Commentary on the Teachings of Frithjof Schuon”

Articles on Schuon’s Life Biography of Frithjof Schuon

Film Clips of Schuon "Perennial Framework"
"Indian Qualities"

Film Clips about Schuon

"Defining Perennialism", with Martin Lings, William Stoddart, James Cutsinger, and Mark Perry

"Who is Frithjof Schuon?", with Houston Smith




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