<p>There run through all cultures the threads of a common traditioin, entirely non-material: the Esoteric or Hermetic Tradition, the search for a knowledge that is not subject to reason or to sensory verification. Luc Benoist follows THE ESOTERIC PATH through the East and the West, showing in comprehensive detail the metaphysical concepts underlying and exemplifying the Primordia Tradition (Symbolism, Rites, Initiation, Social Structure) as well as the historic forms it has taken: Hinduism, Buddhism, Tao, Zen, Judaism, and Islam in the East, and Christianity, the Templars, Rosicrucians, Guilds, and Masonry, and mystics of exceptional importance in the West. Beyond these various social traditions, the author seeks the common impulse from which they arose and here weaves the threads together-making it possible for us to see beyond the material to humanity's common search for truth. This masterly survey of Esoteric Tradition will guide serious students of philosophy and comparative religion along the path to self-realization.</p>

The Esoteric Path: An Introduction to the Hermetic Tradition

Politics & Social Sciences

Benoist, Luc

Philosophy

Sophia Perennis

Traditional esoterism, though capable of the highest degree of elaboration, is based on a few first principles - Absolute Reality, hierarchical manifestation, the necessity for initiation, the centrality of the spiritual Heart, etc.-which can be stated simply. In The Esoteric Path, Luc Benoist does just this for the monumental writings of the great metaphysician René Guénon. If ever there was a 'primer' on traditional metaphysics and esoterism, one that does not dumb down its subject but rather opens a door to profound spiritual depths waiting to be explored, it is this book. The first section deals in a general way with metaphysical principles, their modes of transmission and the spiritual practices based upon them. The second presents the central principles of such Eastern traditions as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Islam, and also various forms of Western Esoterism, including Eastern Orthodox Hesychasm, Freemasonry, Hermeticism, the Templars, Dante and the Fedeli d'Amore, Meister Eckhart and his 'school', etc. Far more than a bouquet of mystical teachings plucked from various sources, designed to titillate the reader's spiritual sensibilities, The Esoteric Path firmly situates that Path in its appropriate, traditional context, so that the seeker's first steps on the 'path to the Path' will be firm and confident, and point him or her in the right direction, away from the time- and soul-consuming attractions of those 'paths' that exhibit (in the author's words) 'the confusion between the spiritual and the psychic., the identification of the spiritual with what is most inferior in the psyche, the identification of religion with magic, totemism, and even sorcery, the popular dissemination of pseudo- or counter-initiatic rituals. A worthy companion to the biographical René Guénon and the Future of the West by Robin Waterfield and the Collected Works of René Guénon, also published by Sophia Perennis, The Esoteric Path will be of great value to scholars, seekers, and anyone searching for a clearer understanding of the great spiritual traditions. 'Luc Benoist is generally considered the most balanced and authentic exponent of Guénon's teaching. I know of no work in which true scholarship is combined so well with conciseness and comprehensiveness.' -Robin Waterfield

Religion & Spirituality

Waterfield, Robin

Occult & Paranormal

<p>Book by Benoist, Luc, Waterfield, Robin</p>

An Esoteric Path: An Introduction to the Hermetic Tradition

Crucible

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