The Symbolism of the Cross

<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><span></span></p><p></p><p><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>The Symbolism of the Cross</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> is a major doctrinal study of the central symbol of Christianity from the standpoint of the universal metaphysical tradition-the perennial philosophy as it is called in the West. As Guénon points out the cross is one of the most universal of all symbols and is far from belonging to Christianity alone. Indeed Christians have sometimes tended to lose sight of its symbolical significance and to regard it as no more than the sign of an historical event. By restoring to the cross its full spiritual value as a symbol-but without in any way detracting from its historical importance for Christianity-Guénon has performed a task of inestimable importance that perhaps only he with his unrivaled knowledge of the symbolic languages of both East and West was qualified to perform. Although this work is one of Guénon's core texts on traditional metaphysics written in precise nearly geometrical language vivid symbols are necessarily here pressed into service as reference points for how else could the mind ascend the ladder of analogy to pure intellection? Guénon applies these doctrines more concretely elsewhere in critiquing modernity in such works as </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>The Crisis of the Modern World</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> and </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> and invokes them also to help explain the nature of initiation and of initiatic organizations in such works as </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Perspectives on Initiation</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)> and </span><em style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>Initiation and Spiritual Realization</em><span style=background-color: rgba(255 255 255 1); color: rgba(15 17 17 1)>.</span></p>