Sacred Web 5
Editorial: Of Detachment and Spiritual Courtesy
by M. Ali Lakhani
Contrasting the "detachment" of modernity with that of tradition, the Editorial argues against the abstraction of reality in favor of a compassionate humanism that is the core of spiritual courtesy. Read more ...
Reflections on Tradition and Modernity
by His Holiness the Dalai Lama
A distinguished religious leader reflects on the human condition and its urgent need to address the inner dimension. In this balanced view, the traditional world is appreciated but not idealized, while modernity is criticized but not discredited, its achievements duly celebrated. Yet, the underlying question remains: how is happiness to be attained. This is a heartfelt plea "for a radical reorientation away from our habitual preoccupation with self toward the wider community of beings with whom we are connected, and for conduct which recognizes others’ interests alongside our own." Read more ...
The Goal of Islamic Philosophy: Reflections on the Works of Afdal al-Din Kashani
by William C. Chittick
This article is an introduction to the little-known Persian Sufi, affectionately called "Baba Afzal", and at the same time is an exposition of what lies at the core of Islamic philosophy. Its transformative goal is elucidated by emphasizing Baba Afzal’s view of the underlying unity of existence and consciousness. The essay concludes with a discussion of some of the historical implications of this view. Read more ...
Inside Pathan Country: A Brief Encounter with a Traditional World
by John Ahmed Herlihy
This is a diary of an encounter between tradition and modernity. At the height of a recent political crisis, the author, an American with traditionalist sensibilities, overcame the forbidding stereotypes in which the modern suspicious West had cast the off-limits world of so-called "Muslim terrorism" and ventured into the traditional world of the Pathans in Pakistan. This is his personal record of his journey–a rare account of a glimpse into a world of our common humanity. Read more ...
Formal Diversity, Essential Unity: Frithjof Schuon on the Convergence of Religions
by Kenneth Oldmeadow
This is the text of a talk delivered at the Australasian Association for the Study of Religions Conference on the theme "The End of Religions? Religion in an Age of Globalization", at Sydney University, in September 1999. The author discusses the traditional views of Schuon’s "transcendent unity of religions" in the context of the modern phenomenon of globalization. Read more ...
The Polemics of Parousia: Further Notes on the First Days after the End of the Kaliyuga
by William W. Quinn, Jr.
The author responds to his critics and advances the notion of what he terms "Traditional Fundamentalism." In the second part of this essay, he laments the disunity and internicine battles within Tradition in a plea for mutual respect and unity among esotericists. Read more ...
Rudolf Steiner, Anthroposophy, and Tradition
by Rodney Blackhirst
This article assesses the influence of Rudolph Steiner and his school of "Anthroposophy" from the perspective of tradition. Read more ...
On Ken Wilber’s Integration of Science and Religion
by Jose Segura
Ken Wilber is an important contemporary writer, but how coherent and consistent are his views from the traditional perspective? This article examines Wilber’s recent book, The Marriage of Sense and Soul, and critically appraises his proposed integration of modern science and premodern religion. Read more ...
Putting on the Form of the Gods: Sacramental Theurgy in Neoplatonism
by Algis Uzdavinys
An examination of the meaning of "theurgy" in Neoplatonism and its influence in traditional thought. Read more ...
Reflections on the Stone
by Robert Bolton
A study on the Symbolism of the lapis or Philosopher's Stone. Read more ...
Reactions to the two debates published in Sacred Web 4, and Moore’s response to Quinn.
Notes on Contributors
