What do you think?
Rate this book
The Eye of the Heart: Metaphysics, Cosmology, Spiritual Life
Essays covering a wide range of spiritual symbolism, the afterlife, and more.
182 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1950
6 people are currently reading
284 people want to read
About the author
Frithjof Schuon
184 books225 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...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 30, 2022
Read this book last May. By far the best book I have read this year. Not an easy book to digest because Schuon moves easily from Indian and Chinese religions and philosophies to Christianity. Schuon may well be — as Huston Smith said — the most important religious scholar and thinker of the last century. I kept notes and i may well go back and expand this review.
Found my notes, so will expand this review.
The best story tellers weave in and out of different thought/belief systems with considerable ease. Thus Schuon moves effortlessly from Hindu,to Buddhist to Islamic beliefs with no disruption i. The narrative flow. Schuon clearly not only studied these belief systems he lived and breathed them. He heard the rishi sing.
This is not a book you can easily read without background in the Vedas, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. But, wow, just wow. It gives the reader who has this background a number of “aha” moments. For example, this from a footnote on p. 69 “… it has been possible to say in Zen: ‘If you meet the Buddha, slay him’; this means paraphrasing the first sentence of the Tao Te Ching (‘The Tao that can be grasped is not the real Tao’) the Buddha whom you meet is not the real Buddha …” regarding Zen Buddhism, Schuon’s discussion of koans and satori is one of the most lucid I have read anywhere.
Found my notes, so will expand this review.
The best story tellers weave in and out of different thought/belief systems with considerable ease. Thus Schuon moves effortlessly from Hindu,to Buddhist to Islamic beliefs with no disruption i. The narrative flow. Schuon clearly not only studied these belief systems he lived and breathed them. He heard the rishi sing.
This is not a book you can easily read without background in the Vedas, Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity. But, wow, just wow. It gives the reader who has this background a number of “aha” moments. For example, this from a footnote on p. 69 “… it has been possible to say in Zen: ‘If you meet the Buddha, slay him’; this means paraphrasing the first sentence of the Tao Te Ching (‘The Tao that can be grasped is not the real Tao’) the Buddha whom you meet is not the real Buddha …” regarding Zen Buddhism, Schuon’s discussion of koans and satori is one of the most lucid I have read anywhere.
June 1, 2021
The Eye of the Heart presents a precise summation of spirituality such as symbolism, knowledge and cosmology, with regards to Schuon’s extensive knowledge in the field of Traditional Philosophy.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews