Initiation and Spiritual Realization is the closest thing to a work on ‘spiritual direction’ René Guénon ever wrote, touching as it does upon such vital topics as the transmission of initiatic grace, the various types and functions of the spiritual master, obstacles the aspirant is likely to encounter, different modes of contemplation, and the degrees of spiritual realization. A companion volume to Perspectives on Initiation, where Guénon had defined the nature of initiation and of the organizations qualified to transmit it, Initiation and Spiritual Realization was the first thematic collection of Guénon’s articles to appear after his death. And one doctrine expressed in this book stands out as particularly timely: that esoterism is not and cannot be a religion in itself, since to take it as such is to reduce it to an ‘alternative’ exoterism, and a heterodox one at that. Initiatic esoterism can only be legitimately and effectively practiced within the context of one of the established, revealed religions.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Against Vulgarization
Chapter 2 Metaphysics and Dialectic
Chapter 3 The Malady of Anguish
Chapter 4 Custom Versus Tradition
Chapter 5 Initiatic Affiliation
Chapter 6 Spiritual Influences and ‘Egregores’
Chapter 7 The Necessity of Traditional Exoterism
Chapter 8 Salvation and Deliverance
Chapter 9 Ritual and Moral Points of View
Chapter 10 The ‘Glorification of Work’
Chapter 11 The Sacred and The Profane
Chapter 12 Conversions
Chapter 13 Ceremonialism and Estheticism
Chapter 14 Recent Confusions
Chapter 15 ‘Intellectual Pride’
Chapter 16 Direct Contemplation and Reflected Contemplation
Chapter 17 Doctrine and Method
Chapter 18 The Three Ways and The Initiatic Forms
Chapter 19 Ascesis and Asceticism
Chapter 20 Guru and Upaguru
Chapter 21 True and False Spiritual Teachers
Chapter 22 Innate Wisdom and Acquired Wisdom
Chapter 23 Collective Initiatic Work and Spiritual ‘Presence’
Chapter 24 The Role of the Guru
Chapter 25 On the Initiatic Degrees
Chapter 26 Against Quietism
Chapter 27 Apparent Madness and Hidden Wisdom
Chapter 28 The ‘Popular’ Mask
Chapter 29 The Meeting of Extremes
Chapter 30 Is the Spirit in the Body or the Body in the Spirit?
Chapter 31 The Two Nights
Chapter 32 Ascending and Descending Realization
Appendices

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