Advice to the Serious Seeker: Meditations on the Teaching of
Frithjof Schuon
By Cutsinger, James S.
1997/03 - State University of New York Press
0791432505 - Trade Paper
Our Price $20.95
Related Books: Comparative
Religion, Meditation
and Esoteric Practices
Publisher
Two books in one, Advice to the Serious Seeker is an introduction for
scholars to the perennialist school of comparative religious philosophy
and at the same time a guidebook for the general reader who is looking
for intellectually serious but accessible answers to questions about the
spiritual life. Scholars will find a comprehensive introduction to the
work of Frithjof Schuon, the leading contemporary figure in the
perennialist or traditionalist school of comparative religion. Written
by James S. Cutsinger, one of the world's foremost academic authorities
on the perennial philosophy, the book provides a detailed commentary on
the full range of Schuon's spiritual writings. But the book is also
intended for inquisitive and searching readers in general. Composed in a
style that is simple and conversational, it reads as an open letter to
the author's students. The aim is to cut through the banality of much
that passes for spiritual instruction today and to provide
intellectually serious but accessible answers to questions typically
posed by cynics and skeptics, conservative believers, and persons
attracted to the so-called "new age" religions.
Table of Contents
|
Preface |
|
|
Introduction: Landmarks on the Road
Ahead |
1 |
|
Truth |
|
| 1 |
The Way of Knowledge |
11 |
| 2 |
Thinking the Unthinkable |
17 |
| 3 |
Proofs of God |
21 |
| 4 |
The Intellect |
27 |
| 5 |
Degrees of Reality |
33 |
| 6 |
The Doctrine of Illusion |
41 |
| 7 |
The Open Door |
47 |
|
Virtue |
|
| 8 |
Conforming to God |
55 |
| 9 |
Perfection and Anonymity |
61 |
| 10 |
Humility |
67 |
| 11 |
Charity |
73 |
| 12 |
Veracity |
81 |
| 13 |
Predestination and Freedom |
89 |
|
Beauty |
|
| 14 |
A Space before God |
99 |
| 15 |
The World as Symbol |
105 |
| 16 |
The Message of the Human Body |
113 |
| 17 |
Sacred Art |
123 |
| 18 |
The Practice of Beauty |
131 |
|
Prayer |
|
| 19 |
Movement toward God |
141 |
| 20 |
Faith |
147 |
| 21 |
Method and Grace |
153 |
| 22 |
Concentration through Intention |
161 |
| 23 |
Invocation of the Name |
169 |
| 24 |
Spiritual Direction |
177 |
| 25 |
Our Final Goal |
185 |
|
Epilogue: Perennial Philosophy and
Transcendent Unity |
193 |
|
Sources of Quotations |
203 |
|
Bibliography of Works by Frithjof
Schuon |
217 |
|
Suggested Reading |
219 |
|
Index |