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Doctrine Métaphysique #2
معانی رمز صلیب: تحقیقی در فن معارف تطبیقی
"The cross is a symbol which in its various forms is met with almost everywhere, and from the most remote times ; it is therefore far from belonging peculiarly and exclusively to the Christian tradition as some might be tempted to believe. It must even be stated that Christianity, at any rate in its outward and generally known aspect, seems to have somewhat lost sight of the symbolic character of the cross and come to regard it as no longer anything but the sign of a historical event. Actually, these two viewpoints are in no wise mutually exclusive ; indeed the second is in a sense a consequence of the first ; but this way of looking at things is so strange to the great majority of people to-day that it deserves dwelling on for a moment in order to avoid possible misunderstandings.
The fact is that people too often tend to think that if a symbolical meaning is admitted, the literal or historical sense must be rejected ; such a view can only result from unawareness of the law of correspondence which is the very foundation of all symbolism. By virtue of this law, each thing, proceeding as it does from a metaphysical principle from which it derives all its reality, translates or expresses that principle in its own fashion and in accordance with its own order of existence, so that from one order to another all things are linked together and correspond in such a way as to contribute to the universal and total harmony, which, in the multiplicity of manifestation, can be likened to a reflection of the principial unity itself." R. G.
The fact is that people too often tend to think that if a symbolical meaning is admitted, the literal or historical sense must be rejected ; such a view can only result from unawareness of the law of correspondence which is the very foundation of all symbolism. By virtue of this law, each thing, proceeding as it does from a metaphysical principle from which it derives all its reality, translates or expresses that principle in its own fashion and in accordance with its own order of existence, so that from one order to another all things are linked together and correspond in such a way as to contribute to the universal and total harmony, which, in the multiplicity of manifestation, can be likened to a reflection of the principial unity itself." R. G.
189 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1931
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About the author
René Guénon
293 books766 followersRené 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/
French biography : http://arlesquint.free.fr/rene%20guen...
http://www.index-rene-guenon.org/
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
April 21, 2018
Truly changes the way that you look at perpendicular, intersecting lines
March 4, 2015
The cross is mostly seen in its historical and redemptive importance, without a hint of a esoteric meaning. Guenon- rather than dismissing those interpretations- makes it clear that one can have one- if not multiple- symbolic intrepretations of a symbol, without denying it's literal ones. Sounding very much like Thomas Aquinas, he explains how the horizontal line of the cross represents the physical world of constant change and duality- like a time line- and how the vertical line is the Primordial state of being: the static, eternal Now through which the manifested world flows out of. It is the undifferentiated, quintessential, non-localized One. The unity behind the duality. And together with both lines overlapping, is the union of humanity and divinity. Guenon goes on to repeat the same unitive formula in all the spiritual traditions: Atman and Brahamin, Macrocosom and Microcosm, Ying and Yang, Prakriti and Purusha, ect. To justify his usage of different spiritual languages to communicate the same truth, he makes the critical distinction between synthesis and syncretism- the later being the one to stay away from.
Guenons knowledge of hinduism, buddhism, taoism, pythagoreanism, Plato, Aristotle, hermeticism, kabbala, christianity and islam is so crystal, that he interchangeably uses different concepts from all of them to communicate his points. A thing I'm not qualified to judge is his apparent knowledge of mathematics, which he uses to discuse the many dimensions and modalities of different states of being and how they all issue forth from the horizontal cross- I'll admit it got over my head at times. However, whether one grasps his mathematical explanations of the cross or not, isn't essential. What's important is not necessarily the information, but the number of comparisons made between all these seemingly different religions and philosophies. This book should serve to make the union of all the religions-or, the perrenial philosophy- easier to see.
Guenons knowledge of hinduism, buddhism, taoism, pythagoreanism, Plato, Aristotle, hermeticism, kabbala, christianity and islam is so crystal, that he interchangeably uses different concepts from all of them to communicate his points. A thing I'm not qualified to judge is his apparent knowledge of mathematics, which he uses to discuse the many dimensions and modalities of different states of being and how they all issue forth from the horizontal cross- I'll admit it got over my head at times. However, whether one grasps his mathematical explanations of the cross or not, isn't essential. What's important is not necessarily the information, but the number of comparisons made between all these seemingly different religions and philosophies. This book should serve to make the union of all the religions-or, the perrenial philosophy- easier to see.
March 14, 2023
Definitely one of the more difficult Guenon books we have tackled so far. Our poor lil' shudra brain had definite difficulties cramming this much mathematical and geometric abstraction in it without any visual diagrams- but we did make it through (in just three days) and we got something out of it. Will definitely be one we'll have to revisit though, once we've read the rest of Guenon. On to The Multiple States of Being next!
May 7, 2017
Alert عجينة
Avant d'aborder mes impressions sur ce livre, il est recommandé de pouvoir en amont consulter ces trois livres : Initiation à la doctrine hindoue, Le roi du monde, et l'homme et son devenir selon le Vedanta.
L'idée principale derrière le livre pourrait être synthétisée à une étude historique et étymologique du symbolisme spatiale en relation avec la croix. Durant son exposé Guénon se pare de ses connaissances ontologiques et mathématiques pour mener à bien l'argumentation qu'il tient défendant l'évolution de la croix à partir de la religion primordiale...
A partir d'une explication globale et générale de plusieurs notions de base notamment : les états de l'être, l'homme universel (al insan al kamil)... conformément à son approche d’asseoir une compréhension consensuelle qui émane de plusieurs doctrines, il redressa le symbolisme derrière la croix et sa spatialité et son intersection avec le swastika et ses origines soupçonnées hindoues qui sont apparues simultanément en quelques pays nordiques.
Suivant les faits historiques, surtout ceux issus de l'histoire sacrée, et la loi de correspondance, le symbole représente une pluralité de sens qui ne s'excluent pas, mais sont hiérarchiquement superposés. Cette hiérarchie n'est en réalité due qu'au fait que les symboles sont issus de principes et non l'inverse, analogiquement, on ne peut extraire le moins que du plus, ainsi les symboles peuvent aller vers une manifestation plus inférieure graduellement mais ne pourrait en aucun cas rebrousser chemin vers le supérieur. De ce fait ces sens symboliques s'intègrent en "harmonie de synthèse totale". Conséquemment, le symbolisme est le langage le moins étroitement limité que le langage ordinaire, et ce qui le rend particulièrement apte à l'expression et à la communication de certaines vérités, de sorte qu'il constitue le langage initiatique par excellence, le véhicule indispensable de tout enseignement traditionnel.
Dans une même perspective de complémentarité Guénon démontre la résolution des oppositions, qui elles apparaissent à un niveau relativement inférieur que le complémentarisme de ces opposées qui assume une conciliation en amont de cette opposition. Et ce suivant le principe de reflet, le reflet du point le plus haut est le point plus bas. L'effacement de cette dualité d'opposition, ou dans un niveau plus avancé complémentarités, ne s'opère que dans un haut niveau d'indifférenciation primordiale, en se fusionnant indissolublement devant l'unité (image d'immutabilité principielle, moteur immobile-Aristote, wei wou-wei : activité non agissante, Tchoung-young : invariable milieu.
" Le Principe est toujours non-agissant, cependant tout est fait par lui." Tao-te-king.)
Afin d'en venir aux explications et expressions adjacentes de la croix, il fallait passer par l'explication de l'homme universel en tant qu'être ayant achevé la transcendance et plénitude durant la somme de ses états d'être (qui chevauchent entre manifesté et non manifesté), puisque l'Existence ne peut être tenue comme la seule Possibilité.
Un exposé exhaustif faisant allusion aux différents symbolismes centraux de diverses doctrines, analogiquement et simultanément énoncés : l'arbre du milieu, le swastika, symbolisme de tissage, buisson ardent, yin-yang,...
Le texte n'en finit pas de notes de bas de pages e de citation de Matgioi, approchant ainsi plus précisément les doctrines extrême orientale.
Avant d'aborder mes impressions sur ce livre, il est recommandé de pouvoir en amont consulter ces trois livres : Initiation à la doctrine hindoue, Le roi du monde, et l'homme et son devenir selon le Vedanta.
L'idée principale derrière le livre pourrait être synthétisée à une étude historique et étymologique du symbolisme spatiale en relation avec la croix. Durant son exposé Guénon se pare de ses connaissances ontologiques et mathématiques pour mener à bien l'argumentation qu'il tient défendant l'évolution de la croix à partir de la religion primordiale...
A partir d'une explication globale et générale de plusieurs notions de base notamment : les états de l'être, l'homme universel (al insan al kamil)... conformément à son approche d’asseoir une compréhension consensuelle qui émane de plusieurs doctrines, il redressa le symbolisme derrière la croix et sa spatialité et son intersection avec le swastika et ses origines soupçonnées hindoues qui sont apparues simultanément en quelques pays nordiques.
Suivant les faits historiques, surtout ceux issus de l'histoire sacrée, et la loi de correspondance, le symbole représente une pluralité de sens qui ne s'excluent pas, mais sont hiérarchiquement superposés. Cette hiérarchie n'est en réalité due qu'au fait que les symboles sont issus de principes et non l'inverse, analogiquement, on ne peut extraire le moins que du plus, ainsi les symboles peuvent aller vers une manifestation plus inférieure graduellement mais ne pourrait en aucun cas rebrousser chemin vers le supérieur. De ce fait ces sens symboliques s'intègrent en "harmonie de synthèse totale". Conséquemment, le symbolisme est le langage le moins étroitement limité que le langage ordinaire, et ce qui le rend particulièrement apte à l'expression et à la communication de certaines vérités, de sorte qu'il constitue le langage initiatique par excellence, le véhicule indispensable de tout enseignement traditionnel.
Dans une même perspective de complémentarité Guénon démontre la résolution des oppositions, qui elles apparaissent à un niveau relativement inférieur que le complémentarisme de ces opposées qui assume une conciliation en amont de cette opposition. Et ce suivant le principe de reflet, le reflet du point le plus haut est le point plus bas. L'effacement de cette dualité d'opposition, ou dans un niveau plus avancé complémentarités, ne s'opère que dans un haut niveau d'indifférenciation primordiale, en se fusionnant indissolublement devant l'unité (image d'immutabilité principielle, moteur immobile-Aristote, wei wou-wei : activité non agissante, Tchoung-young : invariable milieu.
" Le Principe est toujours non-agissant, cependant tout est fait par lui." Tao-te-king.)
Afin d'en venir aux explications et expressions adjacentes de la croix, il fallait passer par l'explication de l'homme universel en tant qu'être ayant achevé la transcendance et plénitude durant la somme de ses états d'être (qui chevauchent entre manifesté et non manifesté), puisque l'Existence ne peut être tenue comme la seule Possibilité.
Un exposé exhaustif faisant allusion aux différents symbolismes centraux de diverses doctrines, analogiquement et simultanément énoncés : l'arbre du milieu, le swastika, symbolisme de tissage, buisson ardent, yin-yang,...
Le texte n'en finit pas de notes de bas de pages e de citation de Matgioi, approchant ainsi plus précisément les doctrines extrême orientale.
May 20, 2023
I understood maybe 20% of what I read. Extremely hard to comprehend.
The topic of the cross seems to be so marginal, that I lost myself in the mathematical and metaphysical mumbo jumbo. Nevertheless there's plenty of research of different cultures.
Personal note: I hate it when people make things harder that they should be.
The topic of the cross seems to be so marginal, that I lost myself in the mathematical and metaphysical mumbo jumbo. Nevertheless there's plenty of research of different cultures.
Personal note: I hate it when people make things harder that they should be.
January 25, 2020
The title of this work is self-explanatory. Guenon does an excellent job expounding on the multitude of spiritual meanings that can be gleamed from the symbol of the cross. Like his other works, he draws on the major spritual/religious traditions and uses each one where appropriate to elucidate his pure metaphysics. However, this is not comparative religion. Guenon treats the symbols and teachings of the major religions as something akin to different articles of clothing covering one Truth.
I gave the book four stars because there are a few chapters that are quite inaccessible to anyone unfamiliar with advanced geometry. Granted, Guenon wrote his works for an "intellectual elite", however it would have been an immense help if he had included illustrations with some of his explanations on geometrical symbolism.
I gave the book four stars because there are a few chapters that are quite inaccessible to anyone unfamiliar with advanced geometry. Granted, Guenon wrote his works for an "intellectual elite", however it would have been an immense help if he had included illustrations with some of his explanations on geometrical symbolism.
December 16, 2022
There’s a lot of great metaphysics here, and I think it’s useful to have a Westerner show how the cross as a metaphysical symbol is much more universal than some Christians would have one think. But it’s hard for me to separate this work from the broader Perennial project and all of its problems. And I say that knowing that this volume doesn’t have a lot of the antisemitism, Christian supremacy and white supremacy that can come along with Perennialist thought. So maybe it’s a YMMV based on how able you are to separate this book from the worst parts of the bigger project it is a part of.
November 6, 2023
Like Jung, Rene Guenon suffers the flaw of becoming too meta esoteric. The book is worth a read, but at times goes overboard in my opinion. Also, all of this can be explained in way simpler terms, I can't resolve any other reason than sheer self grandiosity that propels authors to write in this kinda style, which in turn makes me doubt their motivations and the substance itself.
However, Guenon is truly remarkable with some connections (and ISN'T with others!). In any case, you won't regret reading this book for sure.
However, Guenon is truly remarkable with some connections (and ISN'T with others!). In any case, you won't regret reading this book for sure.
August 21, 2020
Più delle pagine dove è analizzato il valore simbolico della croce, ho apprezzato le speculazioni geometrico-metafisiche che partendo dalla croce e dalla sua struttura investono, delineano, “rifondano” l’intero essere (e ciò che sta al di là di esso). C’è un fascino che non mi spiego nelle speculazioni “integrali” guénoniane e che, per quanto mi riguarda, non ha nulla a che fare con la loro veridicità. È un che di estetico.
May 21, 2022
Connecting the Cross to the Samudra Manthan. Took a while to build to it, but nice.
March 4, 2023
Epic!! ;)
December 22, 2023
A good intro into monistic philosophy with an exhaustive analysis of symbols, but falls short into incoherent dualistic conundrums along the line. Worth a read just for the symbols.
October 19, 2025
você pode apenas filmar ou escrever quando entender em sua completude a significação
July 28, 2012
Câţi dintre voi folosiţi într-un fel sau altul acest simbol al crucii? Este atât de prezent în vieţile tuturor, dar cei mai mulţi dintre noi nu ştim care e scopul sau sensul lui. Tocmai acesta este rolul volumului de faţă, de a suplini această lipsă de înţelegere, de a crea o punte între esenţa unei noţiuni şi modul în care se manifestă. Trebuie să avem mare grijă să nu confundăm o idee cu forma deteriorată şi instabilă prin care suntem capabili să o transpunem în plan fizic în încercarea de a o înţelege, căci cele mai grave erori metafizice provin din insuficienta înţelegerea şi interpretarea greşită a simbolurilor.
Recenzia completa o puteti citit aici: http://www.bookblog.ro/recenzie/axis-...
Recenzia completa o puteti citit aici: http://www.bookblog.ro/recenzie/axis-...
April 8, 2009
“Eğer fikir, doğru ve yeterli olduğu ölçüde, nesnenin doğasından birşeyler paylaşırsa, bunun nedeni aslında bizzat nesnenin fikrin doğasından birşeyler paylaşmasıdır.”
September 21, 2013
This is a profound book that requires a lot of thought.
December 17, 2022
La portada es horrorosa
August 23, 2017
A very dense summa symbolica
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews