Traditionalist School

The Traditionalist School is a group of 20th- and 21st-century thinkers who believe in the existence of a perennial wisdom or perennial philosophy, primordial and universal truths which form the source for, and are shared by, all the major world religions.

René Guénon (1886–1951), considered the herald of the Traditionalist School.
For the architectural movement, see Traditionalist School (architecture).

The principal thinkers in this tradition are René Guénon, Ananda Coomaraswamy and Frithjof Schuon. Other important thinkers in this tradition include Titus Burckhardt, Martin Lings, Jean-Louis Michon, Marco Pallis, Huston Smith, Hossein Nasr, Jean Borella, and Julius Evola.[note 1]

Concept

According to the Traditionalists, there are primordial and universal religious truths which are at the foundations of all major world religions. The Traditionalists speak of "absolute Truth and infinite Presence".[1] Absolute Truth is "the perennial wisdom (sophia perennis) that stands as the transcendent source of all the intrinsically orthodox religions of humankind."[1] According to Traditionalists, "the primordial and perennial truth" is manifested in a variety of religious and spiritual traditions.[2] Infinite Presence is "the perennial religion (religio perennis) that lives within the heart of all intrinsically orthodox religions."[1] According to Frithjof Schuon,

The term philosophia perennis, which has been current since the time of the Renaissance and of which neo-scholasticism made much use, signifies the totality of the primordial and universal truths — and therefore of the metaphysical axioms — whose formulation does not belong to any particular system. One could speak in the same sense of a religio perennis, designating by this term the essence of every religion; this means the essence of every form of worship, every form of prayer, and every system of morality, just as the sophia perennis is the essence of all dogmas and all expressions of wisdom.[3]

Although the Traditionalist school is often said to be a "perennial philosophy", its members prefer the term sophia perennis ("perennial wisdom").[4] According to Frithjof Schuon,

We prefer the term sophia to that of philosophia, for the simple reason that the second term is less direct and because it evokes in addition associations of ideas with a completely profane and all too often aberrant system of thought.[3]

The Traditionalist vision of a perennial wisdom is not based on mystical experiences, but on metaphysical intuitions.[5][6] It is "intuited directly through divine intellect."[4] This divine intellect is different from reason, and makes it possible to discern "the sacred unity of reality that is attested in all authentic esoteric expressions of tradition";[4] it is "the presence of divinity within each human waiting to be uncovered."[4] According to Frithjof Schuon,

The key to the eternal sophia is pure intellection or in other words metaphysical discernment. To "discern" is to "separate": to separate the Real and the illusory, the Absolute and the contingent, the Necessary and the possible, Atma and Maya. Accompanying discernment, by way of complement and operatively, is concentration, which unites: this means becoming fully aware — from the starting point of earthly and human Maya — of Atma, which is both absolute and infinite.[3]

Traditionalists discern a transcendent and an immanent dimension, namely the discernment of the Real or Absolute, c.q. that which is permanent; and the intentional "mystical concentration on the Real".[7]

According to the Traditionalists, this truth has been lost in the modern world through the rise of novel secular philosophies stemming from the Enlightenment,[8] and modernity itself is considered as an "anomaly in the history of mankind."[2] Traditionalists see their approach as a justifiable "nostalgia for the past".[9][note 2] According to Frithjof Schuon,

... "traditionalism"; like "esoterism" [...] has nothing pejorative about it in itself [...] If to recognize what is true and just is "nostalgia for the past," it is quite clearly a crime or a disgrace not to feel this nostalgia.[9]

Traditionalists insist on the necessity for affiliation to one of the "normal traditions", or great ancient religions of the world.[note 3] The regular affiliation to the ordinary life of a believer is crucial, since this could give access to the esoterism of that given religious form.[10]

People

The ideas of the Traditionalist School are considered to begin with René Guénon. Other people considered Traditionalists include Titus Burckhardt, Jean Borella, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Martin Lings, Jean-Louis Michon, Marco Pallis, Dragoš Kalajić, Huston Smith, Hossein Nasr, Frithjof Schuon and Julius Evola.[note 4]

René Guénon

A major theme in the works of René Guénon (1886-1951) is the contrast between traditional world views and modernity, "which he considered to be an anomaly in the history of mankind."[2] For Guénon, the physical world was a manifestation of metaphysical principles, which are preserved in the perennial teachings of the world religions, but were lost to the modern world.[2] For Guénon, "the malaise of the modern world lies in its relentless denial of the metaphysical realm."[2][note 5]

Early on, Guénon was attracted to Sufism, which he saw as a more accessible path of spiritual knowledge. In 1912 Guénon was initiated in the Shadhili order. He started writing after his doctoral dissertation was rejected, and he left academia in 1923.[2] His works center on the return to these traditional world views,[2] trying to reconstruct the Perennial Philosophy.[web 3]

In his first books and essays he envisaged a restoration of traditional "intellectualité" in the West on the basis of Roman Catholicism and Freemasonry.[note 6] He gave up early on a purely Christian basis for a traditionalist restoration of the West, searching for other traditions. He denounced the lure of Theosophy and neo-occultism in the form of Spiritism,[note 7] two influential movements that were flourishing in his lifetime. In 1930 he moved to Egypt, where he lived until his death in 1951.[2]

Influence

Traditionalism had a discrete impact in the field of comparative religion,[web 3] particularly on the young Mircea Eliade, although he was not himself a member of this school. Contemporary scholars such as Huston Smith, William Chittick, Harry Oldmeadow, James Cutsinger and Hossein Nasr have advocated Perennialism as an alternative to secularist approach to religious phenomena.

Through the close affiliation with Sufism, the traditionalist perspective has been gaining ground in Asia and the Islamic world at large.[note 8]

Iran

In Iran it was introduced by Hossein Nasr as well, earlier, by Ali Shariati, the intellectual considered the ideologue of the Iranian revolution who recommended Guénon to his students, and while it never acquired a "mass following", its influence on the élite can be measured by the fact that when Ayatollah Khomeini organized the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, out of the seven members designed to serve it three were acquainted with Traditionalist ideas, namely Abdolkarim Soroush, Reza Davari Ardakani and Nasrullah PourJavadi.[14]

Pakistan

Hasan Askari, an important writer and literary critic, was directly influenced by Guénon, and, through him, Muhammad Shafi Deobandi and his son Muhammad Taqi Usmani, some of the country's most influential Islamic scholars, integrated Guénon's works in the curriculum of the Darul Uloom Karachi, one of the most important madrassa or religious seminary in the country.[15]

Other important figures of Pakistan influenced by Traditionalism include A. K. Brohi, who was seen as close to General Zia-ul-Haq, and psychologist Muhammad Ajmal.

Association with far right movements

Although not a prominent figure of the Traditionalist School, the ideas of Julius Evola have been associated with some far right movements, such as the European Nouvelle Droite ("New Right"),[16] and Italian Fascists during the Years of Lead.

Mark Sedgwick's Against the Modern World, published in 2004, gives an analysis of the Traditionalist School and its political influence.

A number of disenchanted intellectuals responded to Guénon's call [to form an intellectual elite] with attempts to put theory into practice. Some attempted without success to guide Fascism and Nazism along Traditionalist lines; others later participated in political terror in Italy. Traditionalism finally provided the ideological cement for the alliance of anti-democratic forces in post-Soviet Russia, and at the end of the Twentieth Century began to enter the debate in the Islamic world about the desirable relationship between Islam and modernity.[web 3]

Various influential figures in twenty-first century far-right populist movements have affiliated with Traditionalism, often with Evola in particular. According to the book War for Eternity by Benjamin R. Teitelbaum, former Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon, Russian ideologue Aleksandr Dugin and Brazilian philosopher Olavo de Carvalho, all have associated with Traditionalism and have interacted with each other based on those interests.[17]

In his book Guénon ou le renversement des clartés, the French scholar Xavier Accart questions the connection sometimes made between the Traditionalist School and far-right politics. According to Accart, René Guenon was highly critical of Evola's political involvements and was worried about the possible confusion between his own ideas and Evola's. Accart finally claims that the assimilation of Guénon with Evola and the confusion between Traditionalism and the New Right can be traced back to Louis Pauwels and Bergier's The Morning of the Magicians (1960).[18]

Alain de Benoist, the founder of the Nouvelle Droite declared in 2013 that the influence of Guénon on his political school was very weak and that he does not consider him as a major author.[note 9]

See also

Notes
  1. Renaud Fabbri argues that Evola should not be considered a member of the Perennialist School. See the section Julius Evola and the Perennialist School in Fabbri's Introduction to the Perennialist School.
  2. Guénon rejected the term, because "it implies in his view a kind of sentimental attachment to a tradition which, most of the time, has lost its metaphysical foundation.[web 1][web 2]
  3. See Titus Burckhardt, "A Letter on Spiritual Method" in Mirror of the Intellect, Cambridge (UK), Quinta Essentia, 1987 (ISBN 0-946621-08-X), where a rather strict list is given.
  4. Paul Furlong argues that ‘Evola’s initial writings in the inter-war period were from an ideological position close to the Fascist regime in Italy, though not identical to it.’ Over his active years, Furlong writes, he ‘synthesized’ spiritual bearings of writers like Guenon with his political concerns of the ‘European authoritarian Right’. Evola tried to develop a tradition different from that of Guénon and thus attempted to develop a ‘strategy of active revolt as a counterpart to the spiritual withdrawal favoured by Guénon.’ Evola, as Farlong puts it, wanted to have political influence both in Fascist and Nazi regime, something which he failed to achieve. See Furlong, Paul: Authoritarian Conservatism After The War Julius Evola and Europe, 2003.
  5. According to Wouter Hanegraaf, "modernity itself is in fact intertwined with the history of esotericism."[11] Western esotericism had a profound influence on Hindu and Buddhist modernisers, whose modernisations in turn had a deep impact on modern western spirituality. See: Michelis, Elizabeth De (2005). A History of Modern Yoga: Patanjali and Western Esotericism. A&C Black. ISBN 978-0-8264-8772-8.[12][13]
  6. Cf. among others his Aperçus sur l'ésotérisme chrétien (Éditions Traditionnelles, Paris, 1954) and Études sur la Franc-maçonnerie et le Compagnonnage (2 vols, Éditions Traditionnelles, Paris, 1964-65) which include many of his articles for the Catholic journal Regnabit.
  7. Cf. his Le Théosophisme, histoire d'une pseudo-religion, Paris, Nouvelle Librairie Nationale, 1921, and L'Erreur spirite, Paris, Marcel Rivière, 1923. Both books exist in English translation.
  8. Witness the works by Mahmoud Bina at the Isfahan University of Technology, the Malay scholar Osman Bakar, and the Ceylonese Ranjit Fernando. This is probably also related to the expansion of the Maryamiyya branch of the Shadhili Sufi order, as studied by Sedgwick, Against the Modern World, always within the pale of Sunni Islam. Cf. also a review by Carl W. Ernst: "Traditionalism, the Perennial Philosophy, and Islamic Studies," Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, vol. 28, no. 2 (December 1994), pp. 176-81.
  9. On Radio Courtoisie (20 May 2013), during the programme Le Libre Journal de la resistance française presented by Emmanuel Ratier and Pascal Lassalle.

References
  1. Lings & Minnaar 2007, p. xii.
  2. Kalin 2015.
  3. Oldmeadow 2010.
  4. Taylor 2008, p. 1270.
  5. Smith 1987, p. 554.
  6. Oldmeadow 2010, p. vii.
  7. Lings & Minnaar 2007, p. xiii.
  8. Daniel J Schwindt, The Case Against the Modern World: A Crash Course in Traditionalist Thought, 2016.
  9. Schuon 1982, p. 8.
  10. Guénon 2001, p. 48.
  11. Sedgwick 2004, p. 13.
  12. Sharf, Robert (1 January 1995). "Buddhist Modernism and the Rhetoric of Meditative Experience" (PDF). NUMEN. 42 (3): 228–283. doi:10.1163/1568527952598549. hdl:2027.42/43810.
  13. McMahan, David L. (2008). The Making of Buddhist Modernism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-972029-3.
  14. Mark Sedgwick, "Traditionalism in Iran" in Politica Hermetica, n° 16 (2002), p. 137
  15. Michel Valsan, Guénon’s work in Orient (excerpt)
  16. Davies & Lynch 2004, p. 322.
  17. Teitelbaum, Benjamin R. (21 April 2020). War for Eternity: The Return of Traditionalism and the Rise of the Populist Right. Penguin Books Limited. pp. 1–2. ISBN 978-0-14-199204-4.
  18. Accart 2005.

Sources
Primary
  • Coomaraswamy (1977), Lipsey, Roger (ed.), Coomaraswamy Selected Papers 2: Metaphysics, Princeton University Press
  • Guénon, René (2001), Perspectives on Initiation, New York: Sophia Perennis
  • Schuon, Frithjof (1982), From the Divine to the Human. French original edition: Du Divin à l'humain, Paris: Le Courrier du Livre, 1981, Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom
Secondary
  • Accart, Xavier (2005), René Guénon ou Le renversement des clartés, Paris, Milano: Arché, ISBN 978-2-912770-03-5
  • Davies, Peter; Lynch, Derek (2004), The Routledge Companion to Fascism and the Far Right, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-21494-7
  • Kalin, Ibrahim (2015), "Guénon, Rene (1886-1951)", in Leaman, Oliver (ed.), The Biographical Encyclopedia of Islamic Philosophy, Bloomsbury Publishing
  • Lings, Martin; Minnaar, Clinton (2007), The Underlying Religion: An Introduction to the Perennial Philosophy, World Wisdom
  • Oldmeadow, Harry (2011) Traditionalism: Religion in the light of the Perennial Philosophy. Sophia Perennis. ISBN 1597311316
  • Schwindt, Daniel (2016), The Case Against the Modern World: A Crash Course in Traditionalist Thought, ISBN 978-1532825347
  • Sedgwick, Mark (2004), Against the Modern World : Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century: Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century, Oxford University Press
  • Taylor, Bron (2008), Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, A&C Black
Web-sources
  1. An Introduction to the Perennialist School.
  2. Saint Aidan Orthodox Church, The Problem with "isms"
  3. Oxford University Press, Description: "Against the Modern World. Traditionalism and the Secret Intellectual History of the Twentieth Century"

Further reading
Traditionalist School
René Guénon
  • Xavier Accart, René Guénon ou Le renversement des clartés Paris, Milano: Arché, 2005 (ISBN 978-2-912770-03-5).
  • Marie-France James, Esoterisme et Christianisme: autour de René Guénon (1981).
  • Jean-Pierre Laurant, "Le problème de René Guénon", Revue de l'histoire des religions (1971).
  • Jean-Pierre Laurant, René Guénon: Les enjeux d'une lecture (2006) ISBN 2-84454-423-1
  • Jean-Pierre Laurant and Paul Barbanegra, eds, René Guénon [Cahier de l'Herne] (1985).
  • Pierre-Marie Sigaud, ed., Rene Guenon [Dossiers H] (1984).
Julius Evola
  • Franco Ferraresi, "Julius Evola: Tradition, Reaction and the Radical Right" in Archives Européennes de Sociologie (1987).
  • Roger Griffin, "Revolts Against the Modern World: The Blend of Literary and Historical Fantasy in the Italian New Right" in Literature and History (1985).
Writings by members
Perennialism

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