All books by Frithjof Schuon translated into English are at present published by World Wisdom Books.
Adastra & Stella Maris
During the last three years of his life Frithjof Schuon wrote approximately 3,500 short poems in his mother tongue German. These poems, which have been called “metaphysical music,” cover every possible aspect of spiritual doctrine, practice and virtue, as well as the role and function of beauty. They express every conceivable subtlety of spiritual and moral counsel – and this is not merely in general terms, but with uncanny intimacy, detail and precision. They express the same unerring sharpness of intellect, profundity, comprehensiveness and compassion which one finds in the range of Schuon’s better-known dialectical writings.
Art from the Sacred to the Profane
This edition of Frithjof Schuon’s selected writings on art contains over 270 illustrations. He deals with the spiritual significance of the artistic productions of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and the Far-Eastern world, while also covering the subjects of beauty and the sense of the sacred, the crafts, poetry, music, and dance, and dress and ambience.
Autumn Leaves & The Ring
This book contains two collections of poems, “Autumn Leaves” and “The Ring”, and is offered here for the first time in a bilingual English-German edition. These collections were written during the final years of Schuon’s life, and they are a sort of metaphysical and spiritual summa, distilling the essence of the philosopher’s thinking and experience into short pieces that are both direct and accessible. As are many other authentic expressions of the spirit, they are also often moving and beautiful.
The various sections include: “Beauty”, “Human Questions”, “Doctrine”, “Recollections”, “Images”, and the “Soul”. In these poetic teachings, Schuon speaks directly to the reader, expressing every conceivable subtlety of spiritual and moral counsel. They comfort and inspire the reader to cultivate inner beauty and seek a deeper consciousness of the presence of God.
Christianity / Islam
Schuon’s articles on the relationship between Christianity and Islam have profound implications for inter-faith dialogue. Several thought-provoking chapters shed light, from an inward dimension, upon the apparent outward contradictions between these two religions, notably in the field of moral divergences. This new edition is a fully revised translation of the original French edition and contains an extensive new Appendix with previously unpublished selections from his letters and other private writings.
Echoes of Perennial Wisdom
This revised collection of brief and inspiring passages on the spiritual life were selected from Schuon’s unpublished letters and papers as well as from his books. They discuss our relationship with God, the importance of prayer, the meaning of virtue, the significance of beauty in our lives as well as other spiritual themes. This edition has been re-translated and expanded to include 19 additional pages of moving excerpts.
Esoterism as Principle and as Way
Frithjof Schuon’s works provide invaluable keys to understanding the formal contradictions between the world’s religions as well as their transcendent unity. This revised edition of his writings on esoterism — the inward and universal dimension of religion, also called the sophia perennis (“perennial wisdom”) — features a new translation from the original French as well as more than 60 pages of new material, including previously unpublished selections from Schuon’s letters and other private writings.
The Essential Frithjof Schuon
These selections, chosen under Schuon’s supervision, were approved by him during his lifetime and confirmed as a representative volume of his magisterial writings. Covering a enormous range of topics on the nature of religion, esotericism and mysticism, love and knowledge of God, theology and philosophy, Schuon’s unique approach to comparative religion, metaphysics, aesthetics, prayer, the spiritual path and criticism of the modern world, this volume opens the way to understanding one of the most influential philosophers and spiritual leaders of our time.
There is no better point of entry for the reader seeking to understand the vast intellectual and spiritual world of Frithjof Schuon and the Perennial Philosophy.
The Eye of the Heart
This new edition of The Eye of the Heart, one of perennialist author Frithjof Schuon’s earliest works, features a revised translation from the original French as well as over 50 pages of new material, including previously unpublished selections from the author’s letters and other private writings. Also featured is a foreword by Huston Smith, extensive editor’s notes, and a glossary of foreign terms and phrases.
The Feathered Sun
“One of the most philosophic and religious studies of the Plains Indians in print.”
— The Book Reader
The essentially spiritual and symbolist outlook of Indian civilization is brought to light as Schuon focuses on the fundamental elements of Plains religion and the culture to which it gave rise. Here is a message of Truth, Holiness and human grandeur, harboring within itself something mysterious and sacred which it expresses with profound originality.
Form and Substance in the Religions
This book, according to Seyyed Hossein Nasr, “is the second work of Schuon (following The Transcendent Unity) which is devoted primarily to comparative religion. Beginning with two essays on the distinction between truth and presence and form and substance in religions, the author then turns to major metaphysical studies of the most subtle nature concerning the distinction between Atma and maya and subject and object. He devotes several studies to specifically Islamic themes including Islamic understanding of Christ and Mary and two essays on Buddhism. The work concludes with another set of chapters which treat some of the most difficult theological and religious problem such as the question of theodicy, difficulties in sacred texts, paradoxes of spiritual expression, the effect of the human margin in revelation, and certain eschatological issues.”
From the Divine to the Human
In this synthesis of his whole message, Frithjof Schuon invites us to explore our relationship with the Divine. Covering topics as diverse as our sense of the sacred, the conditions of our existence, and the question of accepting or refusing God’s message, Schuon paves the way for a true spiritual engagement. This revised edition, fully retranslated from the original French, contains an appendix of previously unpublished writings, as well as editor’s notes and a glossary.
The Fullness of God
The Fullness of God is the first in a new series of titles featuring the essential writings of Frithjof Schuon. Here for the first time in one volume are the most important of Schuon’s chapters on the Christian tradition, edited by James Cutsinger.
Gnosis, Divine Wisdom
Frithjof Schuon approaches the respective messages of Christianity and Islam, as well as those of the religions of India, from the point of view of gnosis, the “divine knowledge” that both underpins and transcends them. The latter is none other than the “language of the Self” that illuminates the most diverse religious forms from within. The final section of the book offers us rare insights into the fundamental mysteries and symbols of Christianity from this perspective. It’s not just a question of metaphysical doctrine, but also of the contemplative, devotional, moral and aesthetic dimensions of the spiritual path, for to know God is also, according to the author, to see Him everywhere.
Images of Primordial and Mystic Beauty
Edited by Michael Pollack with 125 full color reproductions
“What I seek to express…is the Sacred combined with Beauty, thus spiritual attitudes and virtues of soul. And the vibration that emanates from the paintings must lead inward.” (Frithjof Schuon)
This volume presented for the first time 125 full color plates of Schuon’s work, plus many more in black and white. The subjects here are predominantly taken from the world of the American Indians. Also included, however, are many canvases concerning the mystery of celestial and human femininity. The main features of Schuon’s art are the nobility of the subject, the precision of the drawing and the “impressionistic” vibration of the surface or colors.
In the Face of the Absolute
Of this book, author and scientist Wolfgang Smith wrote: “Once again Frithjof Schuon treats of the nature and necessity of the religions as well as the limits and apparent contradictions of their exoteric aspects. [In the Face of the Absolute], however, is not simply a restatement of the doctrine already given in his earlier books, but a fresh presentation bringing to light new clarities, and on occasion, new insights that take one’s breath away. One might add that the whole is suffused as it were with a sheer contemplative joy that gently transfers itself to the reader, and a serene beauty that pacifies and liberates.”
Language of the Self
First published in India, this is a revised translation of essays that elucidate the universal principles for which the Advaita-Vedanta is so revered, encompassing in its amplitude every legitimate spiritual modality. In the chapter, “The Meaning of Caste,” the reader is afforded an intelligent and spiritually vibrant way of understanding the archetypical roots that differentiate humankind. “The Meaning of Race” demolishes current errors and prejudices while depicting that genius which is unique to each race. “Principles and Criteria of Art” insists on the necessity of objective criteria for beauty. The shock to Western readers upon encountering this idea gives way to joy, arising from the restoration of art’s mission of transmitting the qualities of intelligence, beauty and nobility that are at once the natural and necessary dimensions of the human condition, as well as the projection of Truth and Beauty into the world of forms.
Letters of Frithjof Schuon
This collection contains nearly 200 letters from Schuon’s youth to old age as written to friends, spiritual seekers (from various religions), and scholars. These letters offer insights into Schuon’s message of the perennial philosophy, as well as a glimpse into his life as spiritual master.
Light on the Ancient Worlds
Light on Ancient Worlds is described in this way by Seyyed Hossein Nasr: “In a sense an appraisal of the history of man seen from the traditional point of view, the work casts metaphysical light upon ancient civilizations and their significance and traces the gradual fall of man to the modern period and the revolt of European man against the Christian tradition. It also deals with the crucial debate between Hellenists and Christians, the Shamanic character of North American Indian religions and the significance of monasticism. It concludes with the essay ‘Religio Perennis’, which summarizes what lies at the heart of all religions and which may be considered to be the essence of religion as such.”
This new edition (a new translation) is fully revised and contains an index and a valuable glossary which clarifies many key ideas expressed in Sanskrit, Latin, Greek, and Arabic, as well as foreign phrases. It also includes a selection of previously unpublished correspondence, which provides striking insights into Schuon’s function as one of the great spiritual masters of our time.
Logic and Transcendence
This new edition of Logic and Transcendence, Schuon’s most important philosophical work, is a fully revised translation from the French original and contains an extensive Appendix with previously unpublished selections from Schuon’s letters and other private writings. Logic and Transcendence contains chapters devoted to specifically philosophical questions such as the contradiction of relativism, the notion of the concrete and abstract, and the limitations of rationalism; it also contains some of Schuon’s most succinct theological discussions concerning both Christian and Islamic theology. The last part of the book turns to diverse questions of the spiritual life, including a discussion of the function of the spiritual master and concludes with a study of man and certitude.
The Play of Masks
This late work of Frithjof Schuon represents a general survey of his metaphysical perspective, which is that of the Sophia perennis, or “perennial wisdom” at the heart of the world’s religions. This new edition features a fully revised translation from the French original as well as over 50 pages of new material, including previously unpublished selections from the author’s letters and other private writings.
Prayer Fashions Man
Besides being the great metaphysician of our times, Frithjof Schuon was also a spiritual master familiar with the spiritual struggles of modern seekers. He once wrote, “To be a human being means to be connected with God; life has no meaning without this.” This “human vocation” means that until we find a personal connection with God we are not able to connect with the innermost being that lies locked up within the human heart.
James S. Cutsinger, author and editor, has collected into this volume some of the most memorable writings on prayer and the spiritual life by this great 20th century spiritual figure. Prayer Fashions Man includes an appendix of excerpts from letters and other writings which have not been published before.
Road to the Heart
In this collection of over 80 short poems, the principles and insights expressed in Schuon’s other writings find a lyrical voice in the most simple and concise form. The poetic imagery is both metaphysical and mystical— whether Hindu, Christian, Moslem or American Indian— as well as drawing on the rich and universal symbolism of Virgin Nature. The message, much needed in our times, is an affirmation of the essential goodness of creation and the preciousness of the human state, not through self-deceiving optimism, but because the Good and the Real coincide, because God’s essential nature is merciful, because man’s deepest being is joy, peace and immortality.
A finite image of Infinity:
This is the purpose of all poetry.
All human work to its last limits tends;
Its Archetype in Heaven never ends.
Roots of the Human Condition
Roots of the Human Condition deals with the fundamental principles of universal and perennial metaphysics and their application on the level of spiritual and moral life. Simply put, this book reveals many answers to those seekers questing for knowledge of what lies behind the reality of our world and, more particularly, our own human souls. The book is divided into three sections: Principles and Roots, Fundamental Perspective, and Moral and Spiritual Dimensions. Roots of the Human Condition contains an introduction by Patrick Laude.
Songs for a Spiritual Traveler
Every poem in this collection — drawn from more than three thousand poems written during the closing years of his life — is a true compass pointing the reader time and again to Schuon’s fundamental theme: the Remembrance of God. These small gems are as profound as the sea and as simple as water itself. Schuon repeatedly traces the journey of a soul which has found its celestial homeland and views the play of this world from the perspective of Eternity. Like the stars, these poems strike the reader as both old and new. They echo the primordial melodies of Being and communicate a message of certitude and serenity for every person who longs for spiritual light.
Songs without Names — Volumes I – VI
During the last three years of his life Frithjof Schuon wrote approximately 3,500 poems in his mother tongue German. These poems express every conceivable subtlety of spiritual and moral counsel, and the same sharpness of intellect, profundity, comprehensiveness, and compassion which one finds in Schuon’s other writings. These four volumes, available for the first time in English, represent a substantial portion of Schuon’s poetical work, and will prove irresistible to anyone interested in the poetical expression of the inner spiritual life.
Songs without Names — Volumes VII – XII
See description above.
Spiritual Perspectives and Human Facts
In this book, Schuon writes on an extraordinary range of subjects, including the limitations of modern civilization and its modes of thought, the role of aesthetics and symbolism in art and nature, the “way of love” and the “way of knowledge” in religion, and the Hindu Vedanta. Of particular interest are the groundbreaking sections on the interplay between love, knowledge and universal virtue in spiritual life.
Stations of Wisdom
Schuon goes to the root of the impasse reached by the modern mind, resulting from the difficulty so many people have in accepting the symbolic expressions of religion in the face of academic rationalism, relativism and the discoveries of science. These essays clear the ground, beginning with the crucial reintegration of intelligence and our need for causal explanations, long left neglected and outside faith. The transcendent and primordial nature of Revelation, intellect, faith, prayer and the human condition are set forth in a framework that reconciles the apparent incompatibility between metaphysics—commonly confused with rational thought—and the love of God, often seen only from the standpoint of sentimentality.
Sufism, Veil and Quintessence
In seven masterly articles Schuon makes the critical distinction between an “absolute” Islam and a “contingent” Islam, thus distinguishing between the message of Islam in its essence, and the pious Arab expressions of that message, which by their style of rhetoric have a tendency to veil it.
Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism
“Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism serves as a near complete expression of Schuon’s thought. This book is distinctive in presenting, in one volume, what might be called the three hallmarks of Schuon’s writings. In clear and distinct order, he writes on cosmology and metaphysical principles, on the esoteric and exoteric expression of these principles in the various religious traditions, and on the trials and ultimate transformation of human nature.”
—from the foreword by Bruce K. Hanson
N.B.: This book contains chapters from two of Schuon’s French books.
To Have a Center
In this new edition of his powerfully original work, Schuon covers an array of metaphysical, cosmological, and anthropological subjects. In the book’s signature essay, entitled “To Have a Center”, the author surveys the ambiguous phenomenon of modern genius, showing how Western humanistic society has replaced the time-honored veneration of the saint and the hero with the cult of individualistic “genius”. In other notable essays, Schuon deals with the relation between intelligence and character, the distinction between historical Gnosticism and pure gnosis, the degrees and dimensions of theism, the spiritual messages of David, Shankara, and Honen, and the symbolism of Plains Indian vestments
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The Transfiguration of Man
The image of humanity presented by modern psychology is not only fragmentary but misleading. In reality, to be human means to be as if suspended between animality and divinity, but modern thought—whether philosophical or scientific—admits only of animality, practically speaking. Traditional wisdom corrects and perfects the image of man by insisting on his divinity, not by making a god of him but rather by taking account of his true nature, which surpasses the terrestrial and without which there would be no reason for his existence. It is this that can be called—symbolically speaking—the transfiguration of man. (From the author’s preface)
Treasures of Buddhism
In Schuon’s classic work, readers will discover Buddhism not as an historical artifact of the past but as a living spiritual force. Every reader interested in Buddhism from whatever angle will find much that speaks to his or her condition. This revised edition of Schuon’s writings on Buddhism features a new translation from the original French as well as 75 pages of new material, including previously unpublished selections from his letters and other private writings.
Understanding Islam
This renowned book, which has been translated into over a dozen languages, has attracted much attention over the years. Prof. Seyyed Hossein Nasr says that it is Schuon’s “most important work on Islam and [from] among the books written by a Westerner on Islam, [this is] the one most universally accepted by Muslims.” Islamic Quarterly has called Understanding Islam a “masterpiece of comparative religion,” and one of the most respected writers on Sufism, the late Professor Annemarie Schimmel of Harvard University, wrote that this book “shows the essence of Islam.… One often finds passages [in it] which touch the heart.”
In its four chapters, “Islam,” The Quran,” “The Prophet,” and “The Way,” Schuon surveys the major dimensions of the Islamic tradition, from its most outward forms to its most inward spiritual path, Sufism. One of the book’s major goals is to answer many of the questions Christians have concerning Islam, a goal which is even more important today than when Understanding Islam was first written. This new edition features a new translation, an extensive appendix of previously unpublished materials, and detailed editor’s notes by Patrick Laude to aid readers.
World Wheel I-III
A four-volume collection of spiritual poetry by Frithjof Schuon.
World Wheel IV-VII
A four-volume collection of spiritual poetry by Frithjof Schuon.