Les Etats multiples de l'être

Doctrine Métaphysique #3

by René Guénon

"Dans notre précédente étude sur Le Symbolisme de la Croix, nous avons exposé, d’après les données fournies par les différentes doctrines traditionnelles, une représentation géométrique de l’être qui est entièrement basée sur la théorie métaphysique des états multiples. Le présent volume en sera à cet égard comme un complément, car les indications que nous avons données ne suffisent peut-être pas à faire ressortir toute la portée de cette théorie, que l’on doit considérer comme tout à fait fondamentale ; nous avons dû, en effet, nous borner alors à ce qui se rapportait le plus directement au but nettement défini que nous nous proposions. C’est pourquoi, laissant maintenant de côté la représentation symbolique que nous avons décrite, ou du moins ne la rappelant en quelque sorte qu’incidemment quand il y aura lieu de nous y référer, nous consacrerons entièrement ce nouveau travail à un plus ample développement de la théorie dont il s’agit, soit, et tout d’abord, dans son principe même, soit dans certaines de ses applications, en ce qui concerne plus particulièrement l’être envisagé sous son aspect humain."
AVANT-PROPOS

Genres: Philosophy, Metaphysics, Nonfiction, Religion, Theology, Occult, Esoterica

106 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1932

About the author

René Guénon (1886-1951) was a French author and intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of sacred science,traditional studies, symbolism and initiation.

French biography : http://arlesquint.free.fr/rene%20guen...
http://www.index-rene-guenon.org/

Reviews

[/Fitbrah/ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The more I read Guenon, the more I feel like he repeats himself. While there are new things here, around 90% has already been mentioned in his other books.

I think after more than 3 of his books you start getting diminishing returns.

[Goofy Gazzar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not sure where to start , but that is one of the most profound books one could ever come across with regards to metaphysical knowledge. It indeed goes beyond all religious forms , however, knowing the background of the author, religion form was always his point of departure and a path towards the infinite, or as he prefers to name it the "Indefinite"in the book, as part of the nature of human beings that has no choice but to yearn towards the Real. By the time you finish the book you could grasp ( at least theoretically) a notion of the Being, Non Being , Absolute, God, Divine Being, Human Being,, Unity, Multiplicity, etc.., and other terminologies we tend to use without really knowing what they intrinsically mean . It also dealt with ( on a subtle level) the notions of free will , destiny from an absolute prospective and from relative prospectives. The relation between Unity and multiplicity is beautifully explained here and goes beyond the Ātma-māyā relation in Hindu terms . You can sense the concentrated juice of Taoism , Vedanta, Buddhism, and the spirit of Meister Eckart, Hallaj and Ibn'Arabi whilst reading. This book is indeed a pure wine pressed from all type of grapes in which each mystical tradition preserves, and and was indeed poured down from a vertical source. Guénon is indeed a "Walli" in the true sense of the word and a " True Brahman" as Frithjof Schuon once called him. It is worth noting that on the book cover it says that this book is the completion of his two works " Man and his becoming" and "Symbolism of the Cross", however, I would suggest also to read his work" Introduction to Hinduism" together with the other two works before diving into the ocean of jewels where this book holds.

[Tomaj Javidtash · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book by Guenon that expands on the theory of the multiple states of the being. The author approaches the subject, as usual, with utmost rigor and objectivity. This theory is indispensable in understanding the means and the end of effective realization from a purely metaphysical if not entirely practical point of view. It is a great book for those intellectuals interested in the metaphysical foundations of spiritual ascent and realization.

[S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

« l’Infini est proprement ce qui n’a pas de limites, car fini est évidemment synonyme de limité ; on ne peut donc sans abus appliquer ce mot à autre chose qu’à ce qui n’a absolument aucune limite, c’est-à-dire au Tout universel qui inclut en soi toutes les possibilités, et qui, par suite, ne saurait être en aucune façon limité par quoi que ce soit »
« Nous disons que l’indéfini ne peut pas être infini, parce que son concept comporte toujours une certaine détermination, qu’il s’agisse de l’étendue, de la durée, de la divisibilité, ou de quelque autre possibilité que ce soit ; en un mot, l’indéfini, quel qu’il soit et sous quelque aspect qu’on l’envisage, est encore du fini et ne peut être que du fini»

[no.stache.nietzsche · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Multiple States Of Being is something of an explicit sequel to The Symbolism Of The Cross. This one was a lot easier for our poor lil' shudra brain to ingest, and helped us a lot in making sense of the former. We'll still have to revist this text to (hopefully) fully comprehend Guenon's points and implications, but this text definitely fleshes out his metaphysical positions in more accessible style. Similar to how his second book on the topic of initiation was in many ways a clarification of his first, it seems that Guenon will write one book on a topic, perceive how much difficulty the rest of us laboring dolts in the material world have in comprehending it, and then graciously write us a second text that illuminates the first.

Next up- on to The Great Triad!

[Muhtelif Haller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Çok ağır bir kitap.

[Usuyitik]

Haç Sembolizm'nin devamı olan kısa değinilerden müteşekkil bir kitap. Varlık ve Yokluk, Sonsuz ile Ebedi gibi kavram çiftlerine değiniyor.

Yalnız, söylemeden geçmeyelim, ne kadar kibar olmaya çalışsam da, bu kitabın tercümesi tam bir felaket. Önsözde kitabın anlaşılmazlığını kavramların zorluğuna bağlasalar da, Guenon okurları, İz ve İnsan Yayınlarından çıkan incelikli çeviriler sayesinde bu kavramlara aşinalık edindiler. Fakat bu kitaptaki kavram çevirileri oldukça acemi ve literatür taranmadan doğrudan çevirileriyle arz-ı endam ediyorlar. Bir de Türkçede kullandığımız inceltme işaretlerinin okumayı ve anlamayı kolaylaştırdığını unutmayalım. İnceltme işaretlerini sevelim.

Sevgili çevirmen inşallah bir sonraki baskıda daha incelikli bir iş çıkarır.

[Fnaught · Rating 4 out of 5]

Denser and more condensed than Heidegger, Rene Guenon's study of planes of Being tries to exceed Being. For Guenon, the ultimate source of reality does not consist of human life itself, but raw possibility: the option of anything potentially coming to be, as opposed to being reliant at all on some ground floor of understanding reserved solely within the human. Here you will find extensive and fascinating discussions of the psychic states of animals themselves, who are (or appear to be) immune to metaphysics. For if a dog or an ape is capable of conceptualising multiple choices, and holding them within its brain simultaneously, then it is, for Guenon, capable of living in multiple worlds in a way comparable to which the man becomes a woman, a bird, a butterfly in his sleep, although all of those particular states will, as themselves, remain foreign to him. The 'Possible', as Guenon defines it, consists of that which is not simply confined to one human's knowledge, but that which can be imagined, grasped or enacted whatsoever.
Thus rather than Being and Non-Being, light and dark, being the ultimate and original division of reality for Guenon, Guenon postulates that the real separation is between the manifested and the non-manifest: the things that are versus the things that can be dreamt into being through magical concentration, as well as the things that are dead and half-remembered that can never come about in their original forms again. The consequences of this mode of thinking for the self are very substantial, to say the least.
Having read this book, I have the impression that all I am and think of simply circulates around man in Non-Being, the dark internality of the self, the black hole of you that Hegel speaks of. And if I am simply a retainer for such temporary presence, then what might happen if I pass away but the death of the vessel in question? Nothing more. Buddhism makes more sense to me everyday, self-denying as it is for my tyrannical hunger.
So why 4 stars instead of 5? (I wish I had read 'The Symbolism of the Cross' before this, and because I didn't, this French dude's constant references to his own previous work is deeply GRATING!)

[Elanna]

Extremely lucid thought, expressed in a dense yet terse form, difficult to follow but extremely rewarding to the tenacious reader thanks to a rigorous structure.
Of course, I totally disagree with his religious starting point and with his reactionary conclusions, but a lot of interesting thinking material can be found in the journey from "oh, he is a religious thinker" to "what a fascist". I found especially stimulating his takes on the difference between the infinite and the indefinite. Also, the observation that all that's complete and all-encompassing is also only talked about in negatives because positive description entails assigning boundaries. Deliciously taoist.
It's a pity that he kept attacking modern scientific thought, missing (pretending to miss?) the substantial compatibility of Popper's concept of scientific method with the Beginner's Mind of the Eastern approach to knowledge. Also missing is the understanding that physics' discussions of infinites and of time and space have no correspondence with metaphysics' approach the (only apparently same) issues. I suspect foul play here, as the man does not look like a fool, having spent considerable time defining the difference between these same terms when used in the two different discourses. I noticed that all reactionary religious thinkers ever tend to conveniently forget their own rules when it comes to uncomfortable lines of thought and their consequences.
Based on the fact that all I read here so far is not much more original than a very good exposition of the Brahminic mysticism/taoist/Buddhist basis for exploration of meyaphysics and the nature of reality, and that I already studied it at college and I had enough thank you very much, I'll probably skip the rest of his production. Bar that title on the introduction to hinduism, since it seems to me that he understood hindu mysticism quite profoundly. Whatever else one can say about him, he must have been a marvellous scholar (and, I hope, teacher) of Southern and Eastern Asian philosophy.

[Paolo Bagnato · Rating 4 out of 5]

Il libro purtroppo alterna pagine di elevazione straordinaria a cadute che mi lasciano sorpreso, ero indeciso se dare addirittura 3 stelle. È inaccettabile, come al solito, la critica che Guénon fa al concetto di metempsicosi (punarjanma). Inaccettabile anche la visione estremamente limitata della coscienza (come può non aver capito che questa è proprio Brahman?) che si avvicina più a un’idea moderna e psicologica, anche se giustamente critica ma evidentemente non a sufficienza.

[Lieutenant · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, in my opinion, the single most important book on metaphysics, it provides an excellent concisely refutation of antimetaphysical ideas found in contemporary western philosophy.

The key here is that the multiple states, as it would be for any true metaphysics, are not merely discursive and theoretical knowledge, but must lead to practical realization.

As a Hindu saint who’s said to have achieved Mukti (or deliverance), Sri Ramana Maharishi, called Guénon “the good Sufi”, one can only be called a Sufi if they themselves achieved deliverance, as it is a well known saying in Sufism: “the Sufi is uncreated”.

One of the three doctrinal books of Guenon, the other two being the Great Triad and The Symbolism of the Cross.

[Aaron Schuschu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seemed like a commentary on Heidegger without naming names

[Walter Eduardo Murillo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cada uno alcanza la meta según su “vía personal”, y, por consiguiente, por modalidades susceptibles de variaciones indefinidas...