René Guénon (1886-1951), the French esotericist and philosopher of religion was the originator of the doctrines of traditionalism and perennialism. Traditionalism is the belief that the world’s esoteric doctrines and the resulting customs and practices should be practices exactly as they are handed down through history. This is thus closely related to conservatism, the belief that customs and practices should be conserved as they were in the past dependent or independent of a metaphysical doctrine.Perennialism is the belief that the world’s religions reflect a universal truth that is common to all traditions. As such, Guénon would be labeled both a traditionalist and a perennialist.
Materialism, Tradition, and Perennialism
Materialism means in the theoretical sense the belief that nothing exists except matter and its derivatives. Indeed, what is called “spiritualism” in the philosophical sense, or “idealism,” is usually only a sort of transposed materialism. Indeed, idealism and Materialism cannot be understood apart from each other and are inverses of each other– which combat each other as the sole description of reality. Thus, these two supposed opposites are close to being simple equivalents and the pretended opposition amounts to no more than a verbal dispute. Modern science actually does not possess the character of disinterested knowledge but in fact hides purely practical considerations. It is the practical results of the sciences which gives prestige in the eyes of the public. This forms the materialist tendency of “common sense” consisting of ignoring all that does not have immediate practical appeal- making intelligence an instrument subordinated to the most corporal part of the human individual. Even if it is admitted that material development does have advantages, it is to be questioned whether the advantages really in fact outstrip the inconveniences. If the loss of higher knowledge, intellectuality, and tradition is taken into account, the result may well prove to balance negatively. The inventions, which are growing at an ever-increasing pace, are all the more dangerous in that they bring into existence forces whose real nature is unknown; and this is the best demonstration of the worthlessness of modern science. Contemporaries claim they increase the “welfare” of the public, but what about those of which have had materialism thrust upon them? Those of the material world regard themselves to be “superior” and seek to impose their materiality on the East but the East simply participates to defend itself. They regard those who do not participate in materiality lazy. For this reason, it is not difficult to understand why the Anglo-Saxon mania for sport gains ground day by day.
Tradition, according to René Guénon, is something that may be in either written or oral form which comprises of the whole body of techniques, institutions, and beliefs common to a group of people during a certain time. The identification of tradition with the entirety of the civilization is certainly justifiable, especially in the east, but Guénon tends to reserve the word tradition for the most “intellectual” of its components. The worlds esoteric traditions designate a single doctrine, which is cyclical and primordial- i.e., passed down from an ancient prehistory, existing at the beginning of the current cycle. This wisdom was known to the scholastics of the Middle Ages except perhaps in a more convoluted form. This designates the common and fundamental esoteric core to all traditions, which is far from covering the entirety of the tradition. This core assumes different modalities according to the tradition it finds itself in. This sacred structure soon degenerated into the profane, with things coming from outside the esoteric domain. There are thus, for example, two sciences: one from a traditional point of view than from the profane point of view- the sciences being valid insofar as they adhere to universal principles as applications of the primordial tradition. Thus, the primordial tradition is the one true tradition and it is this esoteric core that can be regarded as truly essential. Due to its erosion over time the primordial tradition has become inaccessible to ordinary humanity. Every tradition is a reflection, but only a “substitute,” for the primordial tradition- which is the original form from which all those traditional forms proceed. It is an error to assimilate the original primordial tradition to any particular tradition. Not even the Hindu tradition should be considered the primordial tradition, although it can be linked the most to the primordial tradition, being the first on the list of traditions.
Further Thoughts
Guénon regards the true domain of metaphysics to be the esoteric domain, which was supposedly handed down from an ancient past. In doing so, Guénon actually rejects not only most of the rational metaphysics of the presocratics, but also much of what occurred during the modern period. It is interesting to note that Guénon defines the distinguishing feature of religion to be the esoteric component and subordinates the rational component. This is in stark contrast to Immanuel Kant’s critical mystical conception of religion in which there is a critical or philosophical portion and a mystical or transcendent portion (I assume when Kant says critical mysticism he means critical esotericism, as he was combating the works of Swedenborg at the time, which could possibly be labeled as esoteric as it is mystical). Thus, while Guénon rejects the Western philosophical tradition and retains religion and esotericism, Kant rejects the Western esoteric tradition and retains religion and western philosophy. The esoteric perspective really doesn’t make sense to the philosophical perspective as much as the philosophical perspective doesn’t make sense to the esoteric perspective. The esotericist says how can you possibly gain ontological knowledge into the world through reason when it is in contradiction with tradition and tradition is the truth? On the other hand, the rationalist will be very skeptical of the entire esoteric tradition. For what evidence of that do you have of that through first order experience? Thus, the only option is to speculate rationalistically. I for the most part take a neutral stance, as we have had rational theories definitively turn into empirical theories since the time of Guenon such as the atom of Democritus turning into the empirical atom. Also, idealism seems to gain knowledge into the world through its reduction of libido, argument for the identicality of the intellect, and so forth. This may however not be as important as the esoteric tradition and can perhaps be said to be useless when it comes into contradiction with the esoteric traditions.
Idealism Studies 