Sacred Web 12
Editorial: Towards a Traditional Understanding of Sexuality
by M. Ali Lakhani
The first division of genders and the first procreative act occur in the divine order and constitute the prototype of gender and sexual relations in the human order. The editorial is a critique from the traditional perspective of the equalitarian ideology of modern feminism, and of homosexuality and ‘same sex marriage’, which fail to conform to this prototype. Read more ...
The Metaphysics of Marriage
by Rama P. Coomaraswamy
This essay elaborates on the metaphysical view that marriage is the union of the feminine soul with the masculine Spirit. The author elaborates on the implications of this view in terms of issues such as gender roles, feminism, divorce, and sexuality.
Women of Light in Sufism
by Sachiko Murata
“Women of light are those human beings, male or female, who freely submit themselves to God’s teachings and ways.” This essay on human receptivity to divine luminosity, which is the essence of being a ‘submitter’ or true muslim, also explains the metaphysical nature of gender relationships in terms of what the Sufis have termed the “science of religion,” in contrast to the “science of the body.”
The Qur’anic Doctrine of Remembrance: Commentary on an Epistle on Presence and Remembrance
by Ghazi Bin Muhammad
This is an inspired commentary and elucidation of a passage from the writings of Frithjof Schuon, deals with the metaphysical doctrine that Truth is Presence, not merely an abstraction. By drawing on traditional authorities, the author draws from Schuon’s text insights about the methodology of Divine Invocation that is central not only to Muslim practice but to all esoteric traditions.
The Decline of Knowledge and the Rise of Ideology in the Modern Islamic World
by Joseph Lumbard
This timely essay questions how the Ihsani Tradition that constitutes the core message of Islam has come to be subverted by peripheral ideologies. By examining the process of this subversion, the author emphasizes the need to recover the Islamic intellectual tradition so that Muslims can “engage Western civilization without surrendering to it altogether or opposing it outwardly while capitulating inwardly”. In both its scope and depth, this article is a major contribution to the understanding of Islam in the wake of the September 11 attacks.
The Twin Selves: Upanishadic Echoes in T.S. Eliot’s Poetry and Drama
by P. S. Sri
This tour d’horizon of the poetry and drama of T.S. Eliot, explores his underlying theme (the “pattern behind the pattern”) of the twin selves from the Upanishadic parable of the twin birds on the self-same tree: one acts, while the other watches; one represents the lower self, ensnared in the realm of maya, while the other represents the higher Self, the “silent observer” or eternal Witness that transcends the “spectral reality” of this illusory world.
“The Golden Beads”: A Selection of Poems
by Barry McDonald
This new selection of poetry combines lyrical beauty with metaphysical understanding.
Creation out of Nothing
by Robert Bolton
The well-known formula of creatio ex nihilo, as an attempt to define creation in relation to God, is also a conundrum about the ultimate nature of reality: on the one hand, the formula is a safeguard against pantheistic tendencies that deny the transcendence of reality, while on the other, it suggests a form of dualism that is anathema to the understanding that reality is One. This essay explores this conundrum and the meanings of the Nihil out of which creation emerges.
Concerning the Forgotten Question
by José Segura
The “forgotten question” in this essay is “what is Christianity?” Drawing from the hermeneutics of sacred language, Dante’s gramatica, the author analyses various scriptural texts to explore how they reveal an answer to the “forgotten question,” illumining thereby the sense in which Christianity can be understood as a tariqah of Religion, the Primordial Tradition.
Freedom and its obligations
by Philip Connaughton
Free will is central to moral choice. Affirming the truth that freedom is submission, the author argues that moral intelligence is the wisdom to respond to the call to be gathered in the Divine Center, not to be scattered centrifugally.
Evangelicalism Revisited
by Thomas Isham
Both Guénon and Schuon were critical of Protestantism, the former to a greater extent than the latter. This essay revisits their objections and argues the case for Protestant Evangelicalism as a “full-orbed” manifestation of the Christian possibility, which makes room for a flowering of esoterism.
Kathleen Raine (1908–2003)
by Brian Keeble
This tribute to the traditionalist scholar and poet, Kathleen Raine, and evaluation of her life’s work, is written by her close colleague. Read more ...
Book Review
Letters to the Editor
Notes on Contributors
