Light on the Ancient Worlds: A New Translation with Selected Letters (Library of Perennial Philosophy) [Paperback]

Frithjof Schuon (Author)

Book Description

Series: Library of Perennial Philosophy | Publication Date: November 4, 2005

These essays examines the spiritual patrimony of humanity.

Editorial Reviews

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 It also includes a selection of previously unpublished correspondence, which provides striking insights into Schuon’s function as one of the great spiritual masters of our time.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: World Wisdom; Tra edition (November 4, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0941532720
• ISBN-13: 978-0941532723
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,906,237 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

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We are falling away from the divine Center., June 27, 2007

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OAKSHAMAN "oakshaman" (Algoma, WI United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Light on the Ancient Worlds: A New Translation with Selected Letters (Library of Perennial Philosophy) (Paperback)

Better than any other, this book makes the case that mankind is not evolving into anything higher, but is rather consistently degenerating into something lower. Progress is an illusion. Through a series of falls Western civilization has succeeded in moving farther and farther from the Absolute. Seeing that humankind's one great purpose is to Know the Absolute, then one must conclude that we are growing less and less human in any meaningful sense. Yes, there is Promethean progress in science and material matters, but this is merely an inadequate compensation for the much greater loss. The majority sees scientific knowledge and material wealth and power as the totality of human purpose. This results in degenerate creatures with not only the ability to destroy the planet, but with the total separation from their Creator that makes them so totally unbalanced as to actually do so.

In addition, the essay showing that there was no fundamental irreconcilable gulf between Hellenism and Christianity was enlightening. Moreover, the Hellenist is shown to have been essentially monotheistic and not pantheistic in its views. At least the sages understood this to be so. Philosophers like the Platonists emphasized the faculty to directly Know the absolute through intuitive Intellect. The Christian insisted upon the supernatural phenomenon of Grace. The former possessed the ability and will to swim towards God, while the latter waited for a pole to be extended for him...

This book also has an excellent section on shamanism as practiced by the Native Americans. It is shown to be the primordial tradition from Siberia, to Tibet, to China and Japan. It is the pure root and as such in conformity with the Religio Perennis.

Also, the essay on Maya explains the nature of the universal illusion that obscures the true nature of this world.

The essay on naivety is a well-needed slap in the face. He who seeks to gain all things by his own cleverness ends by losing all in blindness and ineffectuality.

Then again the essay on the universality of monasticism provides hope. While modern civilization considers the hermit no better than a savage, he is in realty the earthly witness of Heaven. The monk or hermit lives as if he is already in the antechamber of heaven. Monasticism aims to restore to man his primordial solitude before the throne of God. Indeed, a perfect society would be a society of hermits.

The human race is moving away from the divine Center and not towards it during this fallen age. Yet, there are still sages being raised among us with the Intuitive faculty- by the Grace of God.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Coming at this book from a different direction..., November 12, 2008

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Michael A. Duvernois (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Light on the Ancient Worlds: A New Translation with Selected Letters (Library of Perennial Philosophy) (Paperback)

I'm looking at the Perennial Philosophy and the anti-modernist movement from the outside, in an academic context. This is an excellent book to look at the founding ideas of Schuon on religion and philosophy.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Schuon is brilliant as usual, March 27, 2008

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K. Arsala (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Light on the Ancient Worlds: A New Translation with Selected Letters (Library of Perennial Philosophy) (Paperback)

Similar to other writings on Schuon, once one becomes familiar with the terminology he uses, it opens up many profound ideas and truths. Some of his most eloquent arguments against the dark side of modernity are to be found here. Definately worth reading and rewarding.