Enjoying Guenon
December 16, 2010
KRISTOR writes:
Coincidentally, I am reading a book by René Guénon, The Symbolism of the Cross, one of his metaphysical works. It is the first time I have had the pleasure of reading Guénon. I am completely staggered with amazement. He is, without exaggeration, one of the most brilliant and learned men I have ever encountered. I can’t wait to start in on his other books. I’m learning a ton. I will say, however, that the book is challenging. A reader with no background in Greek metaphysics, particularly Neo-Platonism, might find it to be nothing but portentous sounding gibberish.
Many of Guénon’s books have appeared in English for the first time only in the last few years. Sophia Perennis has a Collected Works which I am now determined to own. My first volume of the set is already dog-eared, and heavily annotated, and I’m only halfway through.
Laura writes:
Isn’t it strange how you may be reading a fairly obscure book or author, or thinking about a particular theme, and suddenly you see references to it elsewhere? This happens to me all the time. It is very eery and has led me to wonder if there are bookish angels who watch and occasionally intervene in the course of our education.
Thomas F. Bertonneau writes:
Concerning Guénon, Kristor, and coincidence: Shortly after my attempt at reporting the gist of the rich view of René Guénon appeared at The Brussels Journal, I received two messages. One was from a professor of music at Colgate University who had just reviewed a book about Guénon; another was from one of my fellow contributors to the Journal who is currently working on a book in which Guénon figures. Of course the republication of Guénon’s work in English has something to do with this, but I take these coincidences of intelligent inquiry to signify more than that. In fact, they are not coincidences in the usual dismissive sense, but convergences on a higher level than the grossly material level. As Guénon says repeatedly, the education offered by the modern world dulls both mind and the senses and places severe limits on what most modern people are able to perceive and understand. I was particularly struck by Kristor’s remark that Guénon left him “completely staggered with amazement.” That was my reaction to The Crisis of the Modern World, which I started reading last summer. I was so struck by the power of Guénon’s insight that I could only read a few sentences at a time; I had to stop because my excitement was high and I needed time to assimilate what I had read. It came to the point where I took The Crisis with me to my habitual Saturday afternoon at the pub with my campus colleagues, so that I could read whole paragraphs aloud to them. I know exactly what Kristor means.
Peter S. writes:
As a primer on René Guénon’s metaphysical writings, the following article might be found helpful: The Logic of the Absolute: The Metaphysical Writings of René Guénon.
Roger G. writes:
Kristor needs to buy a TV. : – )
