The Symbolism of the Cross

Rating:
Summary: Metaphysic unveiled
Review: This is the second and the most important of the three "metaphysical", purely doctrinal, books written by the great french author; the other two are "Man and His Becoming" (a description of the Indu Vedanta traditional doctrine) and "The Multiple States of Being", perhaps the most difficult of all. In this book, the explanation of the symbolism of the Cross doesn't have nothing directly to do with the Christian theology, but (remember that R. Guénon was a mathematician) a wise metaphysical description built -in accordance with the traditional doctrine- on the geometric symbolism. It is notable that this book is devoted by the author to his Sufi teacher, and that in the beginning of it he affirms that "if christianism got the sign of the cross, Islam instead has his doctrine". A book that is essential for whoever had read the more simpler (even if radical) books of René Guénon, such as "The Great Triad" or the last he wrote before he died in Egipt, "The Reign of Quantity & the Signs of the Times".

Rating:
Summary: Metaphysic unveiled
Review: This is the second and the most important of the three "metaphysical", purely doctrinal, books written by the great french author; the other two are "Man and His Becoming" (a description of the Indu Vedanta traditional doctrine) and "The Multiple States of Being", perhaps the most difficult of all. In this book, the explanation of the symbolism of the Cross doesn't have nothing directly to do with the Christian theology, but (remember that R. Guénon was a mathematician) a wise metaphysical description built -in accordance with the traditional doctrine- on the geometric symbolism. It is notable that this book is devoted by the author to his Sufi teacher, and that in the beginning of it he affirms that "if christianism got the sign of the cross, Islam instead has his doctrine". A book that is essential for whoever had read the more simpler (even if radical) books of René Guénon, such as "The Great Triad" or the last he wrote before he died in Egipt, "The Reign of Quantity & the Signs of the Times".

Rating:
Summary: The deep esoteric meaning of the Cross
Review: To read this book is to never see the Cross in the same way again. This is because it will become immeasurably more to you. Indeed, the metaphysician and mathematician Guenon demonstrates the symbol of the Cross to be the fundamental key, model, and archetypical pattern to all of creation.

Briefly, the upper axis of the cross is shown to be the spiritual axis. This is the divine ray of emanation from the Source, it is the connection to the higher Self, the direction of divine attraction in spiritual evolution, the "will of heaven", and the connection between all possible worlds.

The horizontal axis is shown to be the created world, the plane of earthly life and existance, the stage on which the individual ego operates.

The intersection of the two axes is where "heaven and earth" meet. This is the point of divine influence. This is also the goal of the seeker, for to find this center is to merge your will with the will of heaven and obtain perfect harmony and"effortless action."

Guenon demonstrates in detail the parallels of this model with that of the Cross of Christ, the World Tree, the Sephirotic Tree, the Net of Brahma, the Neoplatonic system of heavenly spheres, the Hermetic macrocosm and microcosm, the Hindu Gunas, the Taoist Yin-Yang, as well as many other cross-cultural relationships.

This study fits perfectly into the rest of the great edifice of Guenon's other work on the perennial wisdom. Numerous footnotes show one where to refer to his other books for further elaboration of various concepts.