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To Have a Center
A collection of essays on a remarkable variety of subjects, from the order of first principles to a wide range of their applications.
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First published January 1, 1988
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About the author
Frithjof Schuon
179 books222 followersFrithjof Schuon was a native of Switzerland born to German parents in Basel, Switzerland. He is known as a philosopher, metaphysician and author of numerous books on religion and spirituality.
Schuon is recognized as an authority on philosophy, spirituality and religion, an exponent of the Religio Perennis, and one of the chief representatives of the Perennialist School. Though he was not officially affiliated with the academic world, his writings have been noticed in scholarly and philosophical journals, and by scholars of comparative religion and spirituality. Criticism of the relativism of the modern academic world is one of the main aspects of Schuon's teachings. In his teachings, Schuon expresses his faith in an absolute principle, God, who governs the universe and to whom our souls would return after death. For Schuon the great revelations are the link between this absolute principle—God—and mankind. He wrote the main bulk of his metaphysical teachings in French. In the later years of his life Schuon composed some volumes of poetry in his mother tongue, German. His articles in French were collected in about twenty titles in French which were later translated into English as well as many other languages.
http://www.sophia-perennis.com/philos...
Schuon is recognized as an authority on philosophy, spirituality and religion, an exponent of the Religio Perennis, and one of the chief representatives of the Perennialist School. Though he was not officially affiliated with the academic world, his writings have been noticed in scholarly and philosophical journals, and by scholars of comparative religion and spirituality. Criticism of the relativism of the modern academic world is one of the main aspects of Schuon's teachings. In his teachings, Schuon expresses his faith in an absolute principle, God, who governs the universe and to whom our souls would return after death. For Schuon the great revelations are the link between this absolute principle—God—and mankind. He wrote the main bulk of his metaphysical teachings in French. In the later years of his life Schuon composed some volumes of poetry in his mother tongue, German. His articles in French were collected in about twenty titles in French which were later translated into English as well as many other languages.
http://www.sophia-perennis.com/philos...
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 20, 2018
"Perhaps it is worthwhile mentioning in this context a phenomenon as uncalled for as it is irritating, and that is the philosopher, or the so-called philosopher, who imagines he can support his aberrant theses by means of novels and plays, which amounts to inventing aberrant stories in order to prove that two and two make five"
Interesting collection articles, the first one "To Have a Center" stands out compared to the rest of the book (because as always, he includes heterogenous articles in a single book).
The discussion of general modern european literature and philosophy, the cult of the "genius" and the lack of an overflow of such literature within the east, put things into their perspective and is on point. This article itself, if expanded, could have been an excellent benchmark for serious and authentic literature "studies" - far from modern relativism.
"On the Art of Translating" and "Concerning a Question of Astronomy" are also great articles - the rest contains some good, some average, and other uninteresting articles for me (e.g. his ongoing babble about personal and non-personal God etc...) - left to the sensitivity and persuasions of each reader.
One thing worth noticing is an implicit answer to Guénon, by refusing the "indefinite" terminology (Guénon overly stresses it in his Infinitesimal Calculus, but the notion was discussed by Descartes too) - with Schuon claiming that "When we speak of the "infinite," we mean simply that which is without limits in its domain; we see no reason to reserve this term for the metaphysical Infinite only, especially since the usages of language do not oblige us to do so." - Yet, later on, he refuses to use the word "pantheism" in it's generally accepted sense, and looks instead of precision - which is exactly what Guénon did by stressing the "indefinite" instead of the "infinite" for more precision... bit of a contradiction there.
Another interesting error here is his defending the position of Ibn Rushd (!) against Asharites and Ghazali, concerning the "lack" of natural causes (fire burns ultimately because God wants it to, not because it is its nature). Schuon obviously understands the position of Ghazali but seems to dislike how it is expressed, and also, what he didn't know is that this "holy absurdity" as he calls it, was later on explicitly affirmed by Ibn Arabi himself - in a event which he tells the story in his Futuhat (Bab 185). No contest that Ghazali and Ibn Arabi weigh more than Schuon on this.
Interesting collection articles, the first one "To Have a Center" stands out compared to the rest of the book (because as always, he includes heterogenous articles in a single book).
The discussion of general modern european literature and philosophy, the cult of the "genius" and the lack of an overflow of such literature within the east, put things into their perspective and is on point. This article itself, if expanded, could have been an excellent benchmark for serious and authentic literature "studies" - far from modern relativism.
"On the Art of Translating" and "Concerning a Question of Astronomy" are also great articles - the rest contains some good, some average, and other uninteresting articles for me (e.g. his ongoing babble about personal and non-personal God etc...) - left to the sensitivity and persuasions of each reader.
One thing worth noticing is an implicit answer to Guénon, by refusing the "indefinite" terminology (Guénon overly stresses it in his Infinitesimal Calculus, but the notion was discussed by Descartes too) - with Schuon claiming that "When we speak of the "infinite," we mean simply that which is without limits in its domain; we see no reason to reserve this term for the metaphysical Infinite only, especially since the usages of language do not oblige us to do so." - Yet, later on, he refuses to use the word "pantheism" in it's generally accepted sense, and looks instead of precision - which is exactly what Guénon did by stressing the "indefinite" instead of the "infinite" for more precision... bit of a contradiction there.
Another interesting error here is his defending the position of Ibn Rushd (!) against Asharites and Ghazali, concerning the "lack" of natural causes (fire burns ultimately because God wants it to, not because it is its nature). Schuon obviously understands the position of Ghazali but seems to dislike how it is expressed, and also, what he didn't know is that this "holy absurdity" as he calls it, was later on explicitly affirmed by Ibn Arabi himself - in a event which he tells the story in his Futuhat (Bab 185). No contest that Ghazali and Ibn Arabi weigh more than Schuon on this.
May 21, 2021
Bom livro, mas recomendo ler outra tradução.
December 6, 2023
I asked "is gnosis just anything?" and this book asked the same tjhing. I still don't know
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews