{"id":4412,"date":"2012-06-24T14:30:37","date_gmt":"2012-06-24T18:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gornahoor.net\/?p=4412"},"modified":"2022-06-23T22:03:34","modified_gmt":"2022-06-24T02:03:34","slug":"guenon-and-islam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gornahoor.net\/?p=4412","title":{"rendered":"Guenon and Islam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regarding Rene Guenon<\/strong>\u2019s ultimate decision to follow a Sufi path<\/a>, he wrote:<\/p>\n

\nContrary to what takes place in \u2018conversion\u2019, nothing here implies the attribution of the superiority of one traditional form over another. It is merely a question of what one might call reasons of spiritual expediency, which is altogether different from simple individual \u2018preference\u2019.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It may be instructive to explore the reasons behind that \u201cspiritual expediency\u201d, which is not the same as psychoanalyzing Guenon from afar. No, it is a question only of intellectual reasons, not personal or psychological.<\/p>\n

For reasons of spiritual expediency, Guenon followed a path beginning with the French Hermetic revival. He came to reject this, but not in toto<\/i>, since he continued to refer to the writings of certain Hermetists. He then tried to influence Catholic circles. For example, Fundamental Symbols<\/cite> is replete with Christian symbolism. In Crisis of the Modern World<\/cite>, Guenon asserted that only a return to Catholicism could restore Tradition to the West. Eventually, however, Guenon was rejected by the Thomist philosopher Jacques Maritain<\/strong>, precipitating Guenon\u2019s break with this approach. Personal factors — the death of his wife followed by a trip to Egypt — provided the opportunity to adopt Islam totally. As we will see, certain characteristics of Islam fit perfectly into Guenon\u2019s idea of Tradition; we therefore suspect that he may even have generalized Islamic theology to provide his understanding of Tradition. Therefore, there is no surprise that most of his closest followers themselves adopted Islam.<\/p>\n

Tradition<\/h2>\n

We owe it to Guenon for delineating the features of religious traditions intellectually. This accounts for the variety of religious forms in a manner totally different from the historical, empirical, archaeological, empirical, and exegetical approaches appropriate to academic research. He identified several specific traditions, specifically, Taoism, Hinduism, certain pagan mystery schools, Medieval Christianity, and Islam.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, some traditions are more comfortable within the parameters specified by Guenon than others. In particular, Christianity, as conventionally understood, rejects certain aspects of it. The most prominent theologians favorable to Guenon — Jean Borella, Philip Sherrard, Seraphim Rose — eventually rejected the Traditional approach. Neo-pagan revivals, as long as they are bound to certain of Evola\u2019s heterodox notions, also reject some primary elements of Tradition, so are doomed to insignificance. Let\u2019s look at the lineaments of Tradition as Guenon outlined.<\/p>\n

Categorical<\/h2>\n

The fundamental point to grasp is that for Guenon, Tradition is categorical, not essential. That is, it categorizes traditions according to certain criteria, but is not a Tradition itself. Therefore, to call oneself a Traditionalist, \u201cat-large\u201d as it were<\/a>, represents a misunderstanding. Rather, one must follow a specific tradition, albeit understood within these categories. Under normal circumstances, that means a man follows the Tradition of his own place and time. Whether or not a specific religious form is a Tradition is a question decided by these categories.<\/p>\n