Form and Substance in the Religions

by Frithjof Schuon

The writings of Frithjof Schuon are charactgerized by essentiality, universality and comprehensiveness.  They have the quality of essentiality in the sense that they always go to the heart and are concerned with the essence of whatever they deal with.  Schuon possesses the gift of reaching the very core of the subject he is treating, of going beyond forms to the essential formless Center of forms whether they be religious, artistic or related to certain features and traits of the cosmic or human orders.

Restores a true sense of proportion in affirming the transcendent real.

About the Author:

Philosopher and metaphysician, poet and artist, Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998) is world-renowned in the field of Comparative Religion and is known as the pre-eminent exponent of the Perennial Philosophy. He was born in Basel, Switzerland, of German parents. He went to Paris as a young man, where he studied for a few years before undertaking a number of trips to North Africa, the Near East, and India in order to contact spiritual authorities and witness traditional cultures. Following WWII, he accepted an invitation to travel to the American West, where he lived for several months among the Plains Indians, in whom he had always had a deep interest. He spent his mature life writing more than twenty books of essays comprising a spiritual message of solar magnitude. The dominant theme, or principle, of Schuon's writings was foreshadowed in his early encounter with a marabout who had accompanied some members of his Senegalese village to Basel for the purpose of demonstrating their African culture. When the young Schuon talked with him, the venerable old man drew a circle with radii on the ground and explained: "God is in the center, all paths lead to Him." This metaphysical truth is the leitmotif of all Schuon's writings, beginning with his first book, the title of which: The Transcendent Unity of Religions is very indicative in this respect.

Schuon has written more than 20 books, as well as having been a regular contributor to leading journals on comparative religion in both Europe and America for over 50 years. His writings have been translated into over a dozen languages, and have been consistently featured and reviewed in a wide range of scholarly and philosophical publications around the world, respected by both scholars and spiritual authorities.

Reviews:

"I have met with no more impressive work in the comparative study of Oriental and Occidental religions." - T. S. Eliot

"The man is a living wonder ... I know of no living thinker who begins to rival him." - Huston Smith, Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley

"Schuon possesses the gift of reaching the very core of the subject he is treating, of going beyond forms." - Seyyed Hossein Nasr, George Washington University

"Anyone who is an artist concerned with the sacred should read him ... [His] work has meant so much to me." - Sir John Tavener, composer and author

"Any serious person will feel grateful to be confronted by such a generously discerning intellect ... in this darkening time." - Jacob Needleman, San Francisco State University