The Spiritist Fallacy (Collected Works of Rene Guenon) [Paperback]

Rene Guenon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 25, 2004 | Series: Collected Works of Rene Guenon

Many readers of Guénon's doctrinal works have hoped for translations of his detailed exposés of Theosophy and Spiritism. Sophia Perennis is pleased to make available both these important titles as part of the Collected Works of René Guénon. Whereas Theosophy: History of a Pseudo-Religion centers primarily on historical details, The Spiritist Fallacy, though packed also with arcane facts, is unique in revealing how one of the greatest metaphysicians of our age interprets the phenomena, real or alleged, of Spiritism. The doctrinal expositions that accompany his astonishing account offer extraordinarily prescient insight into many deviations and 'psychological' afflictions of the modern mind, and will be as valuable to psychological practitioners and spiritual counselors as to historians of esoteric history. It also offers a profound corrective to the many brands of New Age 'therapy' that all too unwittingly invoke many of the same elements whose nefarious origins Guénon so clearly described many years ago.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

About the Author

René Guénon (1886–1951) was one of the great luminaries of the twentieth century, whose critique of the modern world has stood fast against the shifting sands of intellectual fashion. His extensive writings, now finally available in English, are a providential treasure-trove for the modern seeker: while pointing ceaselessly to the perennial wisdom found in past cultures ranging from the Shamanistic to the Indian and Chinese, the Hellenic and Judaic, the Christian and Islamic, and including also Alchemy, Hermeticism, and other esoteric currents, they direct the reader also to the deepest level of religious praxis, emphasizing the need for affiliation with a revealed tradition even while acknowledging the final identity of all spiritual paths as they approach the summit of spiritual realization. René Guénon, of whom Jacob Needleman wrote in The Sword of Gnosis that ‘no other modern writer has so effectively communicated the absoluteness of truth,’ is gradually being recognized by deeper thinkers as one of the few who have truly penetrated the seductive veil of the modern age. As an expositor of pure metaphysics and its application to the science of symbols, Guénon is without peer; and his extraordinarily prescient critique of the modern world is attracting more and more attention among cultural commentators. Little known in the English-speaking world till the recent appearance of his Collected Works in translation, Guénon has nevertheless long been recognized as a veritable criterion of truth by a vanguard of remarkable writers who evince that rare combination: intellectuality and spirituality. After a lonely childhood, often interrupted by ill health, Guénon navigated the seductive half-truths of occultism toward a deeper, unified vision offering a way out from the confusion and fragmentation of our time. Regarded by leading scholars as the first truly authentic interpreter of many Eastern doctrines in the West, Guénon never tired, in face of the seemingly inexorable process of dissolution in the twentieth century, of pointing to the transcendent unity of all religious faiths and the abiding Truth that contains them all.

Product Details

• Paperback: 364 pages
• Publisher: Sophia Perennis; 1st English Ed edition (June 25, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0900588713
• ISBN-13: 978-0900588716
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,419,973 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Modern Deviations and False Doctrines, May 5, 2011

By 

Tau Palingénius - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Spiritist Fallacy (Collected Works of Rene Guenon) (Paperback)

This book is written as a refutation of many false ideas that have spread widely the modern world, but as Guenon himself points out, this task provides the opportunity to simultaneously delineate the correct understanding of these things. In doing so, Guenon provides the most detailed exposition of nature of the corporeal world that he ever published (also see "The Conditions of Corporeal Existence" in Miscellanea and "The Hindu Theory of the Five Elements" in Studies in Hinduism to complete the picture; Guenon elsewhere alludes to his intention to devote an entire study to the conditions of corporeal existence and it is a real shame that he never finished this task). These considerations go well beyond even the most adventurous theories of modern physics in portraying the possibilities of the corporeal world. At the same time, however, Guenon is quick to point out that the domain of corporeal existence is itself but one in an indefinite number of degrees of Universal Existence and, as such, does not have the kind of inherent interest that motivates modern scientific inquiry in this domain. No doubt, any reader coming from a modern Western background will find many of the things Guenon affirms to be strange, fanciful or downright ludicrous (for instance, he speaks of magic as a perfectly viable empirical science, though certainly one which presents many dangers and without any interest as an end of itself). The important thing to remember is that all of these considerations ultimately rest on the doctrine (dealt with fully in The Symbolism of the Cross and The Multiple States of the Being) that holds the Infinite to be synonymous with Universal Possibility; in other words, the doctrine which affirms the identity of Reality and Possibility from a metaphysical standpoint. Anything which does not present a strict impossibility (a square circle, for example) is thus admitted into the realm of the possible. Any other view simply introduces an arbitrary limitation on Universal Possibility (many Western philosophical "systems" make this mistake, according to Guenon).

Some of the central Spiritist ideas that Guenon refutes (for he does not deny the reality of the phenomena spiritists claim to have produced, only the interpretation they give to them) are reincarnation, spiritual evolutionism and communication with the dead. The details of his demonstrations cannot be reproduced here, but they are demonstrations in the precise sense of the term: decisive and compelling. The real dangers of spiritism are also documented throughout and should be more than enough to turn any reasonable person away from its practice. Of course, the practice of trying to produce these phenomena (through seances and medium-ship) is probably not the greatest danger that Spiritism poses, at least not in the United States (apparently, Spiritism has a significant following in modern Brazil). Much more subtle, and for that very reason much more dangerous, are the ideas behind Spiritism. Their depictions of the afterlife, and the notions of reincarnation and communication with the dead that go hand in hand with them, have infiltrated pop-culture representations and thereby mislead people imperceptibly. Among others, the films The Sixth Sense, Ghost and The Others all depict aspects of Spiritist doctrine. It does not matter if one simply takes these films or other similar fictions to be mere fantasies; just being exposed to a false idea is harmful by itself, especially when one is not capable of clearly discerning its falsity--it places one at a disadvantage to understanding the truth. As with Guenon's corpus more generally, then, this book is invaluable for exposing the contradictions and falsehoods so prevalent in manifestations of the modern mentality.