In the Face of the Absolute (Library of Traditional Wisdom) [Paperback]

Frithjof Schuon (Author)

Book Description

Series: Library of Traditional Wisdom | Publication Date: September 6, 2003

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

Editorial Reviews

Review

"... 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

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 250 pages
• Publisher: World Wisdom; 2nd edition (September 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941532070
• ISBN-13: 978-0941532075
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,011,010 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Born in Basle, Switzerland in 1907, Frithjof Schuon was the twentieth century's pre-eminent spokesman for the perennialist school of comparative religious thought.
The leitmotif of Schuon's work was foreshadowed in an encounter during his youth with a marabout who had accompanied some members of his Senegalese village to Basle for the purpose of demonstrating their African culture. When Schuon talked with him, the venerable old man drew a circle with radii on the ground and explained: "God is the center; all paths lead to Him." Until his later years Schuon traveled widely, from India and the Middle East to America, experiencing traditional cultures and establishing lifelong friendships with Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim, and American Indian spiritual leaders.
A philosopher in the tradition of Plato, Shankara, and Eckhart, Schuon was a gifted artist and poet as well as the author of over twenty books on religion, metaphysics, sacred art, and the spiritual path. Describing his first book, The Transcendent Unity of Religions, 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.
More than a scholar and writer, Schuon was a spiritual guide for seekers from a wide variety of religions and backgrounds throughout the world. He died in 1998.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A philosophical masterpiece, March 13, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: In the Face of the Absolute (Library of Traditional Wisdom) (Paperback)

Schuon has a fascinating ability to look at how things are spiritually relevant to us here and now. It may be a philosophical idea, or a denominational world, or a work of art--his aim is to turn it to account in a way that brings us into contact with the rays of divine Reality that transpierce the husks of everyday life.
This book contains one of the seminal articles of the entire Schuon opus, "Atma-Maya." In it, he gives a description of the degrees of Being that is without exaggeration a philosophical masterpiece. Both the content and the style require some effort on the part of the reader, yet the ideas are at times conveyed with a lyricism of prose that is akin to the "music of the spheres": "Maya is the breath of Atma; Atma 'breathes' through Maya...The Universe proceeds from God and returns to Him; hence the cosmic cycles governing the microcosm as well as the macrocosm. Maya is the air breathed by Atma, and this air is a quality of His own Infinitude."
The universality of Schuon's perspective at the level of ideas is matched by a remarkable breadth of applications. Thus it is not surprising that his books are reviewed and appreciated by a wide range of serious readers, as the following reviews show:

"In the Face of the Absolute is prime Schuon. 'The modern spirit proceeds along the surface, hence a continual toying with mental images without awareness of the part these really play; the traditional spirit, on the other hand, proceeds in depth, whence arise doctrines that may be apparently "dogmatic" but which nonetheless remain fully satisfying and effective.' Schuon has given a centrality to the intellect and to the expression of that intellect that is positively spiritual. In the French style, eloquence is synonymous with transformation... His knowledge of Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, is holy."
--The Book Reader

"A collection of scholarly essays (translated from French) by a renowned and prolofic theologian. The author's general intent might be said to be a defense and explanation of the nature and necessity of religion in modern times. The 16 essays are divided into three parts: General Doctrine, Christianity, Islam. Each essay, while examining in depth a particular question, reveals the author's great knowledge of the world's major religions and includes major concepts, beliefs, and practices from both Western and Eastern religions. The impressive scholarship of the writer reflects the two principles of 'esoterism' of religion: namely, (1) 'fundamentally there is only one religion with various forms'; and (2) 'man bears everything within himself...by reason of the immanence of the one Truth.' This book is, indeed, a serious challenge to the 'modern spirit' whose 'ideas no longer bite.' Highly recommended for all who seek an understanding of the "traditional spirit."
--T.M. Pucelik, Bradley University

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb Schuon, March 18, 2011

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S. Meimaris (Salamis, Greece) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: In the Face of the Absolute (Library of Traditional Wisdom) (Paperback)

"In the Face of the Absolute" is essential Schuon, a compilation of his whole teachings on immutable truths. A great pleasure to read, I find it sets my mind straight, it offers perfect spiritual balance at a time of dissolution and descent into material chaos.
I would suggest to anyone interested in Perennial Philosophy to delve into it, maybe before any other Schuon book. This man was God's gift to Humanity, along with Rene Guenon and a few others like Ananda Coomaraswamy and Martin Lings. Enjoy!