[8] Guénon soon discovered that the Esoteric Christian Martinist order, supervised by Papus, was irregular. It follows that from any traditional form related to a non human source, we can rediscover the same foundation, the common truth, the unique Principle at the origin of whatever is.

Luc Nefontaine, [1] As this is not the place for a bibliographical description of the "state of art", however, it seems that some titles summarize better than others the different views that the debate and the tendency mentioned above have assumed: see Jean-Pierre Laurant, Le sens caché dans l’œuvre de René Guénon, Lausanne: L’Age d’Homme, 1975; Idem, L’ésotérisme chrétien en France au XIXe siècle, Lausanne: L’Age d’Homme, 1992; Marie-France James, Ésotérisme et christianisme autour de René Guénon, Paris: Nouvelles Éditions Latines, 1981; Eadem, Esotérisme, occultisme, franc-maçonnerie et christianisme au XIXe et XXe siècles. This is a collection of 26 letters, 119 pages in all [19], handwritten between 24th November 1924 and 11th April 1929. In addition, Carl Schmitt, the German jurist, told scholar of comparative religion Mircea Eliade that he regarded René Guénon as “the most interesting man alive today”. Guénon was a pseudo intellectual rhetorician with a bad reading in comparative religion.

In this context, we could mention some setbacks which were to lead some of the members of Fraternité du Paraclet to leave the brotherhood. [note 2] In addition, Guénon was an outspoken opponent of the concept of Aryan race or Indo-European race and of any form of nationalism.

Roger Griffin, ed., Fascism, 1995, page 353, Enquêtes sur la droite extrême, (1992), le journaliste R. Monzat, Russian Fascism: Traditions, Tendencies, Movements by S. Shenfield, Revealed: The 6 Books That Steve Bannon Says Influenced His Worldview, by Adelle Nazarian, 12 November 2017, Breitbart News. [19] See http://www.paraclet.org, where there is the correspondence discussed in these pages. "Hate and/or veneration? As is known, the story of Guénon’s contribution to Regnabit came out badly and not without an animated and harsh polemical sequel from both parties (as proved by the correspondence we are discussing here and in particular by René Guénon’s long letter — 12 pages — dated 8th June 1928, in reply to Charbonneau-Lassay’s letter dated April 1928). That brought him a great deal of enmities that are still carrying on these days 2.

“The Eastern Metaphysics”, 1939 (World Wisdom Inc., 2007). The study of this correspondence seems to be of great value and involves various subjects: topics concerning symbolism close examination; Guénon’s interest in some hermetic-mystical brotherhoods, with which Charbonneau-Lassay had come into contact; the controversies following Guénon’s dismissing from Regnabit; events in his young years that are still a biographical "enigma" waiting to be fully solved. Marie France James wrote that René Guénon, knew “Ferdinand Gombault, doctor in scholastic philosophy; during more than 30 years, until his departure for Cairo, these two intellectuals maintained regular contact and both were partisans of the Action Française”, Paul Chacornac, Simple Life of René Guénon, Review by: Daniel Lindenberg Source: Esprit, No.

Descendant of one of the most ancient and distinguished families of the region of Poitiers — whose origins are traceable starting from 1087 — Louis Charbonneau-Lassay was born in Loudun on 18th January 1871. Then, he is ready to bring the world here below and the world beyond together.

His first book, entitled “Introduction to the Study of the Hindu Doctrines” (1921), constitutes the foundation of all his work.

Born, in 1886, in a Catholic family of Blois, he studied in the religious establishments of the city before settling in Paris in 1904 to prepare entrance examinations to the grande écoles.

In 1927 was published the second major doctrinal book of his works: Man and His Becoming according to the Vedânta, and in 1929, Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power. This lodge was called La Grande Triade ("The Great Triad"), a name inspired by the title of one of Guénon's books.

Some authors have argued that Guénon's analysis of Theosophy is flawed and that it is debatable whether Theosophy is really hostile to Islam and Christianity. However as early as 1905, he decided to immerse himself into the occultist circles of the capital and to make the metaphysical quest the goal of his life. Jean-Claude Frere: Une Vie en Esprit, in Le Nouveau Planete, Rene Guenon: l'Homme et son Message 15 April 1970 p 12. The correspondence under discussion proves to be useful when it describes a relation of mutual respect and friendship. of, Patrick Laude, "Traditional Sources and contemporary contexts. Just to have an idea about Umberto Eco's opinion of René Guénon, we only need to read the chapter “How to write an unpublished Guénon ?” of the pastiche “How to travel with a salmon”, which is unfortunately unavailable in the English translation of the book. founded in 1895 by Carl Kellner and propagated in 1905 by Theodor Reuss, and the Golden Dawn, to which belongs a large number of key figures of the Anglo-Saxon "neo-spiritualism" of the early twentieth century etc. The study of Hindu doctrines is continued in his book Man and His Becoming According to the Vedanta by taking the specific viewpoint of the human being's constitution according to the Vêdantâ: Guénon states that his goal is not to present a synthetic exposition of all vedic doctrines "which would be quite an impossible task", but to consider "a particular point of that doctrine", in that case the definition of the human being, in order to contemplate afterwards other aspects of metaphysics.

If from the one hand this statement has its indisputable foundation, from the other we must add that the study of some dossiers, to which we have referred [12] shows, at the origin of this decision, also an intricate sequence of quarrels that Anizan had faced inside his congregation since 1923, and that were mostly linked to a controversy about the theological foundations of the Sacred Heart’s devotion. Here he was admitted with the religious name of frère René. 218-222. [9] See P.L. Grottanelli Cristiano. The last book listed offers a general explanation of what Guénon saw as the fundamental differences between "sacerdotal" (priestly or sacred) and "royal" (governmental) powers, along with the negative consequences arising from the usurpation of the prerogatives of the latter with regard to the former. [37] See the form of oath of the Knights of the Paraclete where the "putting into sleep" of the Fraternité du Paraclet was notified and had to be compiled by 31st January 1952 (unpublished, a copy is in my archive). “Studies in Hinduism”, 1968 (Sophia Perennis Publisher, 2001). René Guénon ou la réaction intégrale.

Another point that emerges from these letters, the last one we are going to mention among so many others that could be taken into consideration, is Guénon’s interest — at first, more precisely, caution — in relation to Charbonneau-Lassay’s reference to some hermetic-mystic brotherhoods with which he had come into contact: the Estoile Internelle (Inner Star) and the Fraternité du Paraclet (Paraclete’s Brotherhood). He denounced the syncretic tendencies of many of these groups, along with the common Eurocentric misconceptions that accompanied their attempts to interpret Eastern doctrines. [43], Guénon denounced the Theosophical Society, many pseudo-Masonic orders in the French and English occult scenes and the Spiritist movement.

[70] Guénon has remained on the reading lists of some members of the New Right. In this letter Charbonneau-Lassay wrote: "The question in hand is R. Guénon’s theory: a super religion for an elite of Initiates who can move, without any problem, from one creed to another". Guénon examines the role and intervention that played in that movement organizations that are described in more detail in The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times, as under what he called the "pseudo-initiation"; in particular what he calls "pseudo-Rosicrucian" organizations holding no affiliation with the real authentic Rosicrucians, like the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia founded in 1867 by Robert Wentworth Little, the "Order of the esoteric Rose-Cross" of Dr. Franz Hartmann etc. Or rather, was Guénon so skillful to settle in that, for a short while, surpassed some basic concepts of his thought? For instance, Carl Schmitt wrote in 1942 that Guénon was an important "teacher" for Mircea Eliade. [81][88], Alain de Benoist, the founder of the New Right declared in 2013 on the radio that the influence of Guénon on his political school has been globally very weak. The book also contains a critical analysis of the political intrusions of the British Empire into the subject of Hinduism (and India itself) through Madame Blavatsky's Theosophy.[21]. “Insights into Islamic Esoterism and Taoism”, 1973 (Sophia Perennis Publisher, 2003). This return voyage to the origins often follows the way of symbols, the true vehicles of the transmission of the traditional Knowledge.

[41] And, in particular, the analogy itself, understood following a formula used in Hermeticism as the "relation of what is down with what is above" is likely to be symbolized: there are symbols of the analogy (but every symbol is not necessarily the expression of an analogy, because there are correspondences that are not analogical).