Advice to the Serious Seeker: Meditations on the Teaching of Frithjof Schuon

James S. Cutsinger

jun 2012 · State University of New York Press

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Two books in one, Advice to the Serious Seeker is an introduction for scholars to the perennialist school of comparative religious philosophy and at the same time a guidebook for the general reader who is looking for intellectually serious but accessible answers to questions about the spiritual life.

Scholars will find a comprehensive introduction to the work of Frithjof Schuon, the leading contemporary figure in the perennialist or traditionalist school of comparative religion. Written by James S. Cutsinger, one of the world's foremost academic authorities on the perennial philosophy, the book provides a detailed commentary on the full range of Schuon's spiritual writings.

But the book is also intended for inquisitive and searching readers in general. Composed in a style that is simple and conversational, it reads as an open letter to the author's students. The aim is to cut through the banality of much that passes for spiritual instruction today and to provide intellectually serious but accessible answers to questions typically posed by cynics and skeptics, conservative believers, and persons attracted to the so-called "new age" religions.

The author's Advice takes the form of a series of meditations on Truth, Virtue, Beauty, and Prayer, which Schuon regards as the fundamental elements in every authentic spiritual path. Covering a range of issues both theoretical and practical, topics include proofs of God, the problem of evil, classical virtues, predestination and freedom, symbolism and cosmic hierarchy, sacred art, the relationship between spiritual method and grace, techniques of concentration and meditation, the role of the spiritual master, and human destiny. The book concludes with an epilogue on Schuon's well-known thesis concerning the "transcendent unity of religions."

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James S. Cutsinger is Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Thought at the University of South Carolina. His previous work includes The Form of Transformed Vision: Coleridge and the Knowledge of God.