Theosophy: History of a Pseudo-Religion (Collected Works of Rene Guenon) [Paperback]

Rene Guenon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 24, 2004 | Series: Collected Works of Rene Guenon

Many readers of Guénon's later doctrinal works have longed to hear the tale of his earlier entanglement, and disentanglement, from the luxuriant undergrowth of so-called esoteric societies in late nineteenth-century Paris and elsewhere. The present work documents in excoriating detail Guénon's findings on what did, and did not, lie behind the Theosophical Society founded by Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott in 1875. Much further information has of course come to light since this book was written, but it has never been superseded as a fascinating record of the path of a master metaphysician through this maze. A particularly unusual feature is its extensive treatment of the Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor, which has recently attracted the attention of scholars of the occult.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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: 352 pages
• Publisher: Sophia Perennis (June 24, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0900588799
• ISBN-13: 978-0900588792
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,398,784 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Underground" History, April 24, 2011

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Tau Palingénius - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Theosophy: History of a Pseudo-Religion (Collected Works of Rene Guenon) (Paperback)

First of all, please disregard the review by J. Bielawski. In the footnote to which the reviewer refers, Guenon clearly states that Bo Yin Ra is "outside Theosophy in the strict sense of the word." And in any event, one need only make a cursory glance through Bo Yin Ra's works to see that he deserves to be classed in the same vein as properly Theosophic "thinkers," (see, for instance, his book on the Gospel of John where he calls Christ one of the "Masters," and where he tries to argue that the current text of the Gospel is a corruption--in other words, the same nonsense that is spouted by Theosophists).

The present work represents in some sense Guenon taking care of the dirty laundry he acquired from the time he spent in the Parisian occultist milieu in the early 20th century. Some of his critics have never failed to point to this period of Guenon's life to try and discredit his views, some even going so far as to see him as an nothing more than a mere occultist. A judicious reading of his works, however, can only lead to a different conclusion, especially when one considers him in comparison to actual French occultists like Papus or Eliphas Levi. Whatever one thinks of Guenon, he deserves to be taken more seriously than do these latter. Still, Guenon's motives for entering into this bizarre scene are difficult to parse through and there are certain episodes (his involvement with the Gnostic Church or the attempt to constitute a "Renovated Order of the Temple") which are questionable. How seriously did he take these groups at first? Did he plunge into this scene merely to have a better understanding of its inner workings, in order to be able to expose it for the sham that it was? Was he trying to convince himself firsthand the lack of authentic initiatic organizations in the West? Or was he trying to attract other serious seekers who were not fully under the sway of Papus' ideas (the French Wikipedia page about Guenon makes clear that he did make contacts important to his intellectual development at this time, particularly Paul Vulliaud [whose work on the Kabbalah he cites frequently] and Matgioi [whose writings on Chinese metaphysics Guenon praised highly])? What is beyond doubt is that Guenon fully and completely repudiates all of these twisted undercurrents in the present work. And his exposé would not be nearly as effective without the extensive firsthand knowledge that he brings to bear in this book. So it is unfair to use these associations to try and cast a shadow on all of Guenon's work, just as unfair as it would be use Evola's appropriation of his ideas for dubious political ends (Fascism, Nazism, etc.) to discredit them as well.

Being a work of a more historical and less of a doctrinal nature than many other of Guenon's works, one might at first be tempted to think that the overall importance of "Theosophy: ..." within Guenon's corpus is negligible or at least secondary. In a certain sense, this is true--the metaphysical principles with which he deals more extensively elsewhere have more intrinsic interest. There is still plenty here for a dedicated reader of Guenon, however. In particular, seeing the errors that he always attempted to refute spelled out in complete detail makes it easier to understand why he emphasizes certain points in his other works to such a great extent. The real reason this work is invaluable, though, is the insight it gives into what Guenon calls the "underground" history of our times. In other works, like "Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times," Guenon can seem almost paranoid when he speaks of the pseudo-initation and the counter-initiation. This work makes his tone in those works, and the personal fear he had of those dubious groups (see Sedgwick's "Against the Modern World"), more understandable. Indeed, the extent of the influence that the false "ideas" of Theosophic origin have had outside the domain of Theosophy proper is remarkable (I'll mention the Theosophic understanding of "karma" as a moralistic concept, which has no doubt become a commonplace in Western popular culture; though Theosophists themselves disagree about it, "reincarnation" is another idea advocated by some of their writings). Guenon here relates Theosophy to the same modern mental tendencies which have manifested themselves in forms that can seem innocuous to, say, the average American (the list is quite long, but includes [William] Jamesian theories of "religious experience," Bergsonian philosophy, Scouting [i.e. the Boy/Girl Scouts], evangelical Protestantism, the YMCA, the [now] common practice of the "moment of silence," Christian Science, vegetariansim/veganism, etc.). Theosophy is also historically important because it is a precursor to contemporary pseudo-religious phenomena like the New Age movement (it was in fact the former Theosophist Alice Bailey who gave the world the notion of the "Age of Aquarius"), the recent craze about Rhonda Byrne's "The Secret," the increasingly widespread use of yoga for "therapeutic" purposes, or the Church of Scientology (for another fascinating historical report about yet another important precursor to these contemporary pseudo-religions, see Guenon's "The Origins of Mormonism" in the book "Miscellanea"). What these last few sentences should hopefully drive home is the fact that anyone seeking a genuine spiritual practice in the contemporary Western world should absolutely buy this book so that they are not led astray by the endlessly proliferating false teachings that float around everywhere, obscuring anything real. This book (along with "The Spiritist Fallacy") will help show you which paths to avoid.

1 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some tangential issues are not researched properly, June 9, 2010

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J. Bielawski - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Theosophy: History of a Pseudo-Religion (Collected Works of Rene Guenon) (Paperback)

Note to the authors: Bô Yin Râ had nothing to do with "theosophy", "White Lodge", etc. The footnote on p. 131 which mentions him is factually incorrect and betrays at once the authors never consulted the easily obtainable original sources. The footnote is — in the immortal words of the physicist Wolfgang Pauli — "not even wrong". One might have equally well claimed Albert Einstein was mostly known for his work as a dentist.