Traditional Studies discussion

How did you discover the Traditional School?

Dear Jim,

Greetings of Peace. One of the best ways to become acquainted with the Traditional School is by reading the third chapter of Seyyed Hossein Nasr's "Knowledge and the Sacred" entitled, "The Rediscovery of the Sacred". You can find it online in its entirety here:

http://www.giffordlectures.org/Browse...

In Peace,
Desmond

Desmond wrote: "How did you discover the Traditional School?"

Hello. I tend to be a lurker but since this place is so empty I thought I'd say hello.

I, like Jim, actually wasn't familiar with the term until this group popped up in my search either, but it aroused my curiosity (and I'm quite thankful it did) because I'm currently rereading Béla Hamvas' Scientia Sacra, which uses the word "tradition" quite often (and also mentions Guenon in passing), and which, quite frankly, is the only book in this genre that's been able to hold my interest long enough for me to actually finish.

Though now that I know what school of thought it belongs to I can hopefully find more! :)

Out of my interest in Sufism I had bought a book with the same title but have never read it. It was in shelf for years. In 2013 after a series of spiritual experiences that I couldn't understand I decided to give that book a read. It was "Sufism: Veil and Quintessence" by Frithjof Schuon. The exposition and message blew my mind and I knew immediately that this is it. However, my framework has been Advaita Vedanta which is the starting point of Schuon. After that book I got hooked on Schuon's work as I am myself a contemplative kind of person. Prior to these I had exchanged a couple of emails with Nasr about my interest in Sufism but I didn't know about the traditional school back then.

I was reading books on metaphysics, the occult, theosophy etc and when I read my first René Guenon book it blown my entire mental map of what is sacred knowledge and spirituality. I was hooked and read Guenon back to back for almost a year. After that found out about Coomaraswany, Jean Tourniac and others.