In 1921, the traditionalist Rene Guenon began to set forth his understanding of perennial philosophy. Introduction to the Study of the Hindu Doctrines, his first book, offers more than an introduction to a study of some doctrine or other; it, in fact, combines a rich contemplation on metaphysics with a strident, unwavering critique of the modern world, the Western or European mentalité.

Early on, we discover this choice bit in Hindu Doctrine: “As a general rule, Westerners have very little natural aptitude for metaphysics” (p. 20). Drawing out Guenon’s reference to the difference between knowledge (jnana or gnosis) in the East and the orientation toward research in the West, we can plot the following divergences:

1. The East is oriented toward Universal Consciousness while the West, especially after the Renaissance (Guenon and Schuon posit), is one long elaboration on individual consciousness. (And on Humanism.)
2. Intellectus in the East–the heart or faculty by which the Divine Essence is apperceived–has been supplanted by ratio, or the rational faculty that will dominate Western discourse and Western culture.
3. Metaphysics–by which is meant a “full stack ontology” of the sort evident, most especially, in Kashmir Shaivism–has gone out of favor while the scientific outlook has, for centuries now, reigned supreme.
4. Eastern speculation–or contemplation of the Mind of God–has scarcely any place in the West; by contrast, the practical, the applied is everywhere assumed and is playing itself out on a daily basis.

Now, unlike Heidegger, Ellul, and Adorno (who, among others, were critical of the technological orientation of the modern world), Guenon offers us a positive vision of Traditionalism, one that–here as well as in Man and His Becoming According to the Vedanta–is still living in Advaita Vedanta.

Why are human beings here? Only to discover that God was never far off; only to know that God is the very essence of all that is, including, to be sure, the one asking this very question.