Month: December 2023
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The Real Kind Of Love
It was early this morning when I was taking my wife to the airport. I said, “It feels like we haven’t squeezed all the juice out of the orange yet.” What poetry. Be still her heart. Meaning: our love has matured. It’s wonderful. And there’s, seemingly, always more juice to squeeze. Or it’s like dipping…
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Setting Cleaning Up In Its Proper Context
The Most Basic Terms Everybody wants to be abidingly happy; nobody wants to suffer. And yet, most people, not to say other creatures, are suffering, in some way or other, most of the time. How is one to be abidingly happy considering the way that “the deck seems to be stacked?” The Reason For Suffering First…
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Guenon’s Critique Of Western Modernity
To simplify to an extreme, it could be said that Rene Guenon’s most trenchant critique of Western modernity boils down to the insight that Westerners have no understanding of, or room for, the faculty of intellectual intuition (i.e., direct apperception or gnosis). Instead, our mentality is dominated, by and large, by the operations of the…
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‘Knowledge Is Bondage And Not Knowing Is Bondage’
In his commentary on Shiva Sutras, Lakshamjoo translates verse 2 thus: “Knowing differentiatedly and not knowing undifferentiatedly is bondage.” He comments: “Knowledge is bondage. What knowledge is bondage? Differentiated knowledge. What not knowing is bondage? Not knowing your own undifferentiated self. So knowing individual consciousness as one’s own nature and not knowing universal consciousness as…
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‘Westerners Have Very Little Natural Aptitude For Metaphysics’
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…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 