Rene Guenon

"İnsanın âlemi sonsuz âlemler içinde sadece biridir. Bu âlem diğer âlemlerden ne üstün ne de aşağıdır. Bizim onunla bu denli ilgilenmemiz, insan olarak onun içinde bulunmamızdan ileri gelmektedir. Yukarı ve aşağı alemlerden söz edince, yaşadığımız dünya bir kıyas ölçüsü olur. Diğer özünü ne kişisel bakış açımızdan kavrayabiliriz ne de dilimizle tarif edebiliriz. Simgeler dilden daha kapsamlıdır; bütün nakledilen öğretiler onlardan yararlanır. Simge de biçimsel kalır ve hiçbir forma boyun eğmeyeni dolaysız ifade edemez. O, metafiziksel bakışla her türlü formun üstünde olan özdür." Gelenekselci ekolün kurucusu kabul edilen büyük Müslüman düşünür ve bilge René Guénon'un (Abdülvahid Yahya) "Varlığın Mertebeleri" isimli bu küçük fakat son derece önemli eseri, esas itibariyle, Şeyhü'l-Ekber İbn Arabî'nin "meratib-i vücud" hikmetlerinden beslenmiştir. Guénon, diğer eserlerinde olduğu gibi, saf metafiziği konu edinen bu çok önemli telifinde de oldukça sistematik bir yaklaşım ortaya koymaktadır. Varlığın ontolojik düzeylerinin "daire" olgusuyla açıklandığı, "zuhur" ve "tecelli" kavramlarının derinliklerine sızıldığı bu eser, hacim olarak küçük olmakla birlikte, mana bakımından çok zengin ve kapsamlıdır. [Etkileşim Yayınları]

Varlığın Mertebeleri

Rene Guenon was born at Blois, in France in 1886, and educated at the catholic school Notre-Dame des Aydes. Open in his religious views, and drawn towards mysticism, he founded 'La Gnose' (The Gnosis) in 1909. Three years later he converted to Islam and began a study of Tasawwuf (Islamic Mysticism), but continued to devour esoteric information from many different sources including Hinduism, Lamaism and Theosophy. This eclectic view of mystical philosophy bore fruit in a series of books that established Guenon's reputation as one of the most accurate interpreters of traditional doctrines. In 'The Lord of the World' (a much-abused title often erroneously attributed to Satan), Guenon describes the reality of the true Lord of the World, an entity recognized by all occult traditions, who functions as the Regent of God, exercising the material and spiritual authority of the Deity on this planet. A book for all those interested in Shambhala, Agarttha and the underlying unity of all mystical traditions.

The Lord of the World [The King of the World] (Aziloth Books)

Rene Guenon (November 15, 1886 - January 7, 1951), also known as Shaykh 'Abd al-Wahid Yahya, was a French author and intellectual who remains an influential figure in the domain of metaphysics, having written on topics ranging from metaphysics, "sacred science" and traditional studies to symbolism and initiation. In his writings, he proposes either "to expose directly some aspects of Eastern metaphysical doctrines,"these doctrines being defined by him as of "universal character,"or "to adapt these same doctrines for Western readers [5] while keeping strictly faithful to their spirit"; he only endorsed the act of "handing down" these Eastern doctrines, while reiterating their "non-individual character."

The Crisis of the Modern World

René Guénon

Studies in Hinduism consists of articles published posthumously, to which has been added René Guénon's separate study, Eastern Metaphysics, the text of a lecture delivered at the Sorbonne. In this work Guénon completes his presentation of Hindu metaphysics, which he considered the most primordial and comprehensive body of spiritual teaching possessed by the human race, one capable of throwing light upon and illuminating the essence of every other Tradition. Of special interest are three chapters on various aspects of tantra-a doctrine profoundly misunderstood in the contemporary West-which Hindu authorities consider the spirituality most appropriate to the Kali Yuga, as well as a chapter on the sanatana dharma, the Hindu concept closest to the ancient and medieval Christian idea of the philosophia perennis, which led St Augustine to declare that Christianity has always existed, but only came to be so called after the coming of Christ. Included are extensive reviews of books on Sri Ramakrishna, Sri Ramana Maharshi, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo Ghose, Rabindranath Tagore, Mircea Eliade, Paul Brunton, and others, as well as 40 pages of reviews of books and articles by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy. Leading Indian thinkers have called Guénon the most authentic expositor of Hindu metaphysics in any Western language.

Studies in Hinduism

This small volume brings together a number of Guénon's early articles relating to Sufism (tasawwuf), or Islamic esoterism. A later article, 'Islamic Esoterism', has also been included, since it articulates so well the particularities of initiation in Islam by defining the fundamental elements of tasawwuf: shari'ah, tariqah, haqiqah. The first constitutes the necessary fundamental exoteric basis; the second, the Way and its means; the third, the goal or final result. In the other chapters, Guénon expresses with his usual synthetic clarity what tawhid and faqr are, and gives examples of traditional sciences, relating angelology to the Arabic alphabet, and chirology to the science of letters ('ilm al-huruf). A number of book and article reviews give further insights into Islamic cosmology. Some may feel that the essay 'Taoism and Confucianism' here included has little relevance to Sufism and Islam. However, such writers as Toshihiko Izutsu and Sachiko Murata have drawn many parallels between the two traditions. Confucianism, concentrating on social and interpersonal norms, functions as a kind of shari'ah in the context of Chinese religion, while Taoism, like Sufism, is precisely the esoteric Way.

Insights Into Islamic Esoterism and Taoism

Henri Bergson

Gabriel Marcel

Ahmet Aydoğan

Metafizik nedir?

The Reign of Quantity gives a concise but comprehensive view of the present state of affairs in the world, as it appears from the point of view of the 'ancient wisdom', formerly common both to the East and to the West, but now almost entirely lost sight of. The author indicates with his fabled clarity and directness the precise nature of the modern deviation, and devotes special attention to the development of modern philosophy and science, and to the part played by them, with their accompanying notions of progress and evolution, in the formation of the industrial and democratic society which we now regard as 'normal'. Guénon sees history as a descent from Form (or Quality) toward Matter (or Quantity); but after the Reign of Quantity-modern materialism and the 'rise of the masses'-Guénon predicts a reign of 'inverted quality' just before the end of the age: the triumph of the 'counter-initiation', the kingdom of Antichrist. This text is considered the magnum opus among Guénon's texts of civilizational criticism, as is Symbols of Sacred Science among his studies on symbols and cosmology, and Man and His Becoming according to the Vedanta among his more purely metaphysical works.

Rene Guenon

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