The Great Triad

<p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>René Guénon (1886-1951) was one of the great luminaries of the twentieth century whose critique of the modern world has stood fast against the shifting sands of intellectual fashion. His extensive writings now finally available in English are a providential treasure-trove for the modern seeker: while pointing ceaselessly to the perennial wisdom found in past cultures ranging from the Shamanistic to the Indian and Chinese the Hellenic and Judaic the Christian and Islamic and including also Alchemy Hermeticism and other esoteric currents they direct the reader also to the deepest level of religious </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>praxis</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> emphasizing the need for affiliation with a revealed tradition even while acknowledging the final identity of all spiritual paths as they approach the summit of spiritual realization.</span></p><p></p><p><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>The author refers here especially to the Chinese tradition-principally in its Taoist form although touching on Confucianism also-in which the Great Triad is defined as Heaven-Man-Earth. </span><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>He places this ternary in the context of universal metaphysics by identifying Heaven with Essence and Earth with Substance the mediator between them being Man whose cosmic function is to embody spirit (Heaven) while simultaneously spiritualizing matter (Earth). Exploring Chinese cosmology further Guénon sheds light on such archetypal </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>polarities</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> as Heaven and Earth </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Yin</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> and </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Yang</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Solve et Coagula</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> Celestial and Terrestrial Numbers the Square and the Compass the Double Spiral and the Being and the Environment while pointing to their synthetic </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>unity</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> in terms of such </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>ternaries</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> as the Three Worlds Triple Time </span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Spiritus</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>-</span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Anima</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>-</span><em style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Corpus</em><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> Sulfur-Mercury-Salt and God-Man-Nature. </span><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1); background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1)>In spite of its Taoist title however the work draws heavily on Hermetic teachings Hindu and Buddhist metaphysics and Freemasonic symbolism not to mention doctrines from Judaism Christianity and Islam. It is also Guénon's most comprehensive exposition of the science of Alchemy.</span><span style=color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> Perhaps more completely than in any other work Guénon here demonstrates how any integral tradition is both a mirror reflecting universal themes found in all other intact traditions and an entire conceptual cosmos unto itself unique and incomparable.</span></p>