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The Traditionalist School, founded by Rene Guenon, was a group of 20th century writers who rejected modernity, and argued for a return to the perennial truths as preserved in the traditions of the world religions.
The Traditionalist School was founded by Rene Guenon and Ananda Coomaraswamy. Other participants include Titus Burckhardt, Martin Lings, Jean-Louis Michon, Marco Pallis, Huston Smith, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Frithjof Schuon, Jean Borella and Julius Evola.[note 1]
A major theme in the works of René Guenon (1886-1951) is the contrast between traditional world views and modernity, "which he considered to be an anomaly in the history of mankind."[1] For Guenon, the physical world was a manifestation of metaphysical principles, which are preserved in the perennial teachings of the world religions, but were lost to the modern world.[1] For Guenon, "the malaise of the modern world lies in its relentless denial of the metaphysical realm."[1][note 2]
Early on, Guenon was attracted to Sufism, which he saw as a more accessible path of spirirtual knowledge. In 1912 Guénon was initiated in the Shadhili order. He started writing after his doctoral dissertation was rejected, and he left the academia in 1923.[1] His works center on the return to these traditional worldviews,[1] trying to reconstruct the Perennial Philosophy.[web 1]
In his first books and essays he envisaged a restoration of traditional "intellectualité" in the West on the basis of Roman Catholicism and Freemasonry.[note 3] He gave up early on a purely Christian basis for a traditionalist restoration of the West, searching for other traditions. He denounced the lure of Theosophy and neo-occultism in the form of Spiritism,[note 4] two influential movements that were flourishing in his lifetime. In 1930 he moved to Egypt, where he lived until his death in 1951.[1]
According to the Traditionalist School, "the primordial and perennial truth" is manifested in a variety of religious and spiritual traditions.[1] Coomaraswamy explains:
The metaphysical "philosophy" is called "perennial" because of its eternity, universality, and immutability; it is Augustine's "Wisdom uncreate, the same now as it ever was and ever will be"; the religion which, as he also says, only came to be called "Christianity" after the coming of Christ [...] and so long as the tradition is transmitted without deviation.[3]
According to the Traditionalist School, this truth has been lost in the modern world,[1] and modernity itself is considered as an "anomaly in the history of mankind."[1] Traditionalists see their approach as a justifiable "nostalgia for the past".[4][note 5] Frithjof Schuon explains:
... "traditionalism"; like "esoterism" [...] has nothing pejorative about it in itself [...] If to recognize what is true and just is "nostalgia for the past," it is quite clearly a crime or a disgrace not to feel this nostalgia.[4]
The Traditionalist School insists on the necessity for affiliation to one of the "normal traditions," or great ancient religions of the world.[note 6] The regular affiliation to the ordinary life of a believer is crucial, since this could give access to the esoterism of that given religious form.[5]
Most Traditionalists, such as Guénon himself, found a way in Sufism and embraced Islam.[note 7] The most influential representatives of this school in Northern Europe, viz. Kurt Almqvist, and Tage Lindbom, also embraced Sunni Islam. Others, such as Marco Pallis, found a way in Buddhism, and some, such as James Cutsinger, belong to the Orthodox churches.
Traditionalism had a discrete impact in the field of comparative religion,[web 1] particularly on the young Mircea Eliade, although he was not himself a member of this school. Contemporary scholars such as Huston Smith, William Chittick, Harry Oldmeadow, James Cutsinger and Seyyed Hossein Nasr have advocated Perennialism as an alternative to secularist approach to religious phenomena.
Through the close affiliation with Sufism, the traditionalist perspective has been gaining ground in Asia and the Islamic world at large.[note 8]
The Traditionalist School has been associated with far right movements. Critics of Traditionalism cite its popularity among the European Nouvelle Droite,[6] while Julius Evola's were used by Italian far-right groups during the 1970s turmoils. Mark Sedgwick's Against the Modern World, published in 2004, gives an analysis of the Traditionalist School and its influence. He describes how
A number of disenchanted intellectuals responded to Guénon's call with attempts to put theory into practice. Some attempted without success to guide Fascism and Nazism along Traditionalist lines; others later participated in political terror in Italy. Traditionalism finally provided the ideological cement for the alliance of anti-democratic forces in post-Soviet Russia, and at the end of the twentieth century began to enter the debate in the Islamic world about the desirable relationship between Islam and modernity.[web 1][note 9]
In his book Guénon ou le renversement des clartés, the French scholar Xavier Accart questions the connection sometimes made between the Traditionalist school and the far right movements. According to Accart, René Guenon was highly critical of Evola's political involvements, and was worried about the possible confusion between his own ideas and Evola's. Guénon also clearly denounced the ideology of the fascist regimes in Europe before and during the Second World War. Xavier Accart finally claims that the assimilation of René Guénon with Julius Evola, and the confusion between Traditionalism and the New Right, can be traced back to Louis Pauwels and Bergier's Le matin des magiciens (The Morning of the Magicians) (1960).[7]
Alain de Benoist, the founder of the Nouvelle Droite declared in 2013 that the influence of Guénon on his political school was very weak and that he does not consider him as a major author.[note 10]
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