French Sufis: Rene Guenon, Hidayat Inayat Khan

Chapters: Rene Guenon, Hidayat Inayat Khan. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 45. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Rene Guenon (November 15, 1886 January 7, 1951) 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 while keeping strictly faithful to their spirit"; he only endorsed the function of "handing down" those Eastern doctrines, while stating their "non-individual character." His works, written and first published in French, have been translated into more than twenty languages. Rene Guenon was born in Blois, a city in central France approximately 100 miles ( 160 km) from Paris. Guenon, like most Frenchmen of the time, was born into a Roman Catholic family. Little is known of his family, although it appears that his father was an architect. By 1904, Guenon was living as a student in Paris, where his studies focused on mathematics and philosophy. He was known as a brilliant student, notably in mathematics, in spite of his poor health. As a young student in Paris, Guenon observed and became involved with the occultist milieux of the city, some of which were, at that time, under the supervision of Papus. Under the name "Tau Palingenius" Guenon became the founder and main contributor of a periodical review, La Gnose ("Gnosis"), writing articles for it until 1922. From his incursions into the French occultist and pseudo-masonic orders, he despaired of the possibility of ever gathering these diverse and often ill-ass...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=685895