Frithjof Schuon foi um metafísico, mestre espiritual e filósofo das religiões. É considerado o principal porta-voz da Filosofia Perene, juntamente com René Guénon, nos tempos modernos. Hoje, a influência da mensagem universalista de Schuon é global, abrangendo seguidores e admiradores no Ocidente e no Oriente. Em outras palavras, os escritos de Schuon, que enfatizam mais o cerne do que a "casca" das tradições, atraem leitores de variados horizontes religiosos.
Nascido na Suíça alemã, Frithjof Schuon se estabeleceu em Paris na juventude, onde exerceu o ofício de desenhista têxtil. De perfil filosófico e espiritual, absorveu jovem ainda as obras de Platão e do Vedanta indiano, interessando-se ao mesmo tempo pela sabedoria mística e esotérica das grandes religiões mundiais, especialmente do Cristianismo, Islamismo e Budismo.
“ um dos mais influentes e originais pensadores no campo das religiões e espiritualidades de nossos tempos.” Leitor do metafísico francês René Guénon, ele viajou ao Cairo em 1938 e em 1939 para conhecê-lo pessoalmente. No Magrebe, buscou o conhecimento espiritual dos mestres sufis, tendo contatado especialmente a tariqa do célebre mestre Sufi Ahmad al-Alawi.
Após a Segunda Guerra Mundial, Schuon, então residente em Lausana, empreendeu diversas viagens internacionais, com o objetivo de contatar autoridades espirituais das diversas tradições e recolher material para seus livros. Visitou a Índia, o Egito, o Marrocos, Grécia, Espanha e as planícies da América do Norte, para travar contato direto com o patrimônio espiritual dos índios. Sua Via espiritual, centrada na "religio perennis" , difundiu-se ao longo das últimas décadas pela Europa, América do Norte, América do Sul e Ásia.
A Filosofia Perene joga uma luz original e contemporânea sobre o patrimônio espiritual dos povos e atualiza a mensagem das religiões tradicionais, especialmente Cristianismo e Islã, observou o autor brasileiro Mateus Soares de Azevedo.
Os precursores da Filosofia Perene foram os mestres sapienciais do passado, sábios como Platão, Pitágoras, Shânkara e Mestre Eckhart, sendo que os fundamentos desta escola de pensamento estão na metafísica pura, ou na "natureza das coisas", e não em uma das grandes Revelações religiosas da humanidade. Não obstante isso, a Filosofia Perene prescreve a necessidade de vínculo pessoal a uma tradição espiritual ortodoxa. Frithjof Schuon faleceu em 5 de maio de 1998 em Bloomington, Indiana, EUA, para onde havia emigrado, a partir da Suíça natal, em 1980.
“There is no valid virtue without piety, and there is no authentic piety without virtue.”
[2013, From the Divine to the Human, World Wisdom, 70, 978-1-936597-32-1]
Spiritual path, Virtue
“Virtue consists in allowing free passage, in the soul, to the Beauty of God.”
[2019, Esoterism as Principle and as Way, World Wisdom, 87, 978-1-93659765-9]
Spiritual path, Virtue
We would reply that these experiences are trials in relation to our faith, which indicates that with regard to troubling or painful experiences we have duties resulting from our human vocation; in other words, we must prove our faith in relation to God and in relation to ourselves. In relation to God, by our intelligence, our sense of the absolute, and thus our sense of relativities and proportions; and in relation to ourselves, by our character, our resignation to destiny, our gratitude. There are in fact two ways to overcome the traces that evil, or more precisely suffering, leaves in the soul: these are, firstly, our awareness of the Sovereign Good, which coincides with our hope to the extent that this awareness penetrates us; and secondly, our acceptance of what, in religious language, is called the "will of God"; and assuredly it is a great victory over oneself to accept a destiny because it is God's will and for no other reason.
[2003, Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism, World Wisdom, 215, 978-0-94153227-3]
Spiritual life, Trials
[1998, Understanding Islam, World Wisdom, 45, 0-941532-24-0]
Spiritual life, Sense of the sacred
[2019, Esoterism as Principle and as Way, World Wisdom, 12, 978-1-93659765-9]
Miscellaneous, Theology
[2006, Light on the Ancient Worlds, World Wisdom, 102, 978-0-941532-72-3]
Spiritual path, Prayer
[2012, Echoes of Perennial Wisdom, World Wisdom, 50, 978-1-93659700-0]
Spiritual path, Knowledge
“Only the science of the Absolute gives meaning and discipline to the science of the relative.”
[2013, From the Divine to the Human, World Wisdom, 119, 978-1-936597-32-1]
Spiritual path, Knowledge
[1993, The Transcendent Unity of Religions, Quest Books, 152, 978-0-8356-0587-8]
Spiritual path, Knowledge
[2005, The Transfiguration of Man, World Wisdom, 109, 978-0-94153219-8]
Spiritual path, Wisdom
[2008, Christianity / Islam, World Wisdom, 141, 978-1-933316-49-9]
Spiritual path, Wisdom
[2013, From the Divine to the Human, World Wisdom, 82, 978-1-936597-32-1]
Spiritual path, Symbolism
[1991, Roots of the Human Condition, World Wisdom, 21, 0-941532-11-9]
Spiritual path, Metaphysics
“Metaphysics is the science of the Absolute or the true nature of things.”
[2009, Logic and Transcendence, World Wisdom, 29, 978-1-933316-73-4]
Spiritual path, Metaphysics
[2003, Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism, World Wisdom, 117, 978-0-94153227-3]
Spiritual path, Esoterism
[2007, Spiritual Perspectives and Human Facts, World Wisdom, 80, 978-1-933316-42-0]
Spiritual path, Esoterism
“Sacred art helps man find his own center, that kernel whose nature is to love God.”
[2007, Spiritual Perspectives and Human Facts, World Wisdom, 28, 978-1-933316-42-0]
Spiritual life, Sacred art
[2003, Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism, World Wisdom, 220, 978-0-94153227-3]
Spiritual life, Happiness
[2012, Echoes of Perennial Wisdom, World Wisdom, 7, 978-1-93659700-0]
Spiritual life, Happiness
[2012, Echoes of Perennial Wisdom, World Wisdom, 44, 978-1-93659700-0]
Spiritual life, Trials
[2019, Esoterism as Principle and as Way, World Wisdom, 139, 978-1-93659765-9]
Spiritual life, Trials
[2003, The Play of Masks, World Wisdom, 4, 978-0-94153214-3]
Spiritual life, Sense of the sacred
[2016, La conscience de l’Absolu, Hozhoni, 57, 978-2-37241-020-5]
Spiritual life, Sense of the sacred
“Love of the sacred implies love of God, and inversely, the sacred is the perfume of Heaven.”
[2016, La conscience de l’Absolu, Hozhoni, 60, 978-2-37241-020-5]
Spiritual life, Sense of the sacred
[2012, Echoes of Perennial Wisdom, World Wisdom, 37, 978-1-93659700-0]
Spiritual life, Sense of the sacred
[2019, Esoterism as Principle and as Way, World Wisdom, 234, 978-1-93659765-9]
Spiritual life, Faith
[2013, From the Divine to the Human, World Wisdom, 71, 978-1-936597-32-1]
Spiritual life, Faith
[2013, From the Divine to the Human, World Wisdom, 97, 978-1-936597-32-1]
Spiritual life, Faith
[2005, The Transfiguration of Man, World Wisdom, 72, 978-0-94153219-8]
Spiritual life, Truth
[2003, Survey of Metaphysics and Esoterism, World Wisdom, 224, 978-0-94153227-3]
Spiritual life, Truth
