PREFACE
On several occasions we have expressed in previous writings the intention of undertaking a series of studies that would aim, according to the needs of the case, either at presenting a direct exposition of various aspects of the Eastern metaphysical doctrines, or at making such adaptations of them as might seem most intelligible and advantageous, while however always remaining strictly faithful to their spirit. The present work constitutes the first of these studies. For reasons which have already been explained elsewhere, we have taken the Hindu doctrines as our central authority, and more especially the teaching of the Vedānta which is the most purely metaphysical branch of these doctrines. It should be clearly understood, however, that there is nothing in this procedure to prevent us, as occasion arises, from pointing out analogies and making comparisons with other theories, regardless of their origin; in particular, we shall refer to the teachings of other orthodox branches of the Hindu doctrine insofar as they clarify or complete the teachings of the Vedānta on various points. To anyone inclined to raise objections to the adoption of such a method we would reply that such criticism is all the less justifiable in that our intentions are in no wise those of a historian; we wish to re-assert emphatically at this point that our purpose is not erudition but understanding, and that it is the truth of ideas which interests us exclusively. If therefore it has seemed desirable in the present instance to supply precise references, we have done so for reasons quite unconnected with the special preoccupations of orientalists; we simply wished to show that we have invented nothing and that the ideas expounded derive from a genuine traditional source; at the same time, for the sake of those who are able to profit thereby, we have furnished the means of referring to texts containing complementary information, for it goes without saying that we make no claim to put forward an absolutely complete exposition of the doctrine, even regarding a single point.
As for an exposition of the entire doctrine, such a thing would be a sheer impossibility; either it would involve an interminable labor, or it would require to be put in so synthetic a form as to be quite incomprehensible to Western readers. Moreover, in a work of that sort, it would be extremely difficult to avoid an appearance of systematization which is incompatible with the most essential characteristics of the metaphysical doctrines; doubtless, this would amount to no more than an appearance, but nonetheless it would inevitably be productive of extremely serious errors, all the more so since Western people, by reason of their mental habits, are only too prone to discover 'systems' even where none exist. One must forever be on one's guard against affording the slightest pretext for unjustifiable assimilations of this kind; better abstain altogether from expounding a doctrine than contribute toward denaturing it, even if merely through clumsiness. Fortunately, however, there is a way out of the difficulty; this consists in treating a particular point or one more or less definite aspect of the doctrine at a time, leaving oneself free to take up other points afterward, in order to make them in their turn the subject of other separate studies. Moreover, there will never be any danger of these studies becoming what the erudite and the specialists call 'monographs', because the fundamental principles will never be lost sight of, and the secondary points themselves can therefore only appear as direct or indirect applications of those principles, from which all else derives; in the metaphysical order, that is to say in the realm of the Universal, there can be no place at all for 'specialization'.
From the foregoing remarks it should be clear why we have restricted the scope of the present study to the nature and constitution of the human being: to make our comments intelligible we shall naturally be obliged to touch upon other subjects which at first sight may appear to be beside the point, but it will always be in relation to this one subject that we shall introduce them. The principles themselves are possessed of a range vastly exceeding the entire field of their possible applications; but it is nonetheless legitimate to expound them, wherever such a thing is possible, in relation to this or that particular application, and this is a procedure which in fact offers considerable advantages. Moreover, it is only insofar as any
question, no matter what, is related to principles that it can be said to be treated metaphysically; it is this truth which must never be lost sight of, so long as it is intended to treat of genuine metaphysics and not of the pseudo-metaphysics of European philosophers.
If we have embarked first upon the exposition of questions relative to the human being, it is not because these questions enjoy any exceptional importance in themselves from the purely metaphysical point of view: that point of view being essentially detached from every contingency, the case of man can never appear to it as a privileged one. We have begun with the discussion of these questions simply because they have already been raised during the course of our previous writings and thus a complementary work such as the present one now seems called for. The order in which any subsequent studies may appear will depend similarly on circumstances and will largely be determined by considerations of expediency; we think it advisable to mention this at the outset lest anyone should be tempted to see some sort of hierarchical order in our works, either as regards the importance of the questions treated or as regards their interdependence one upon another: that would be to attribute to us an intention which we have never entertained, but we know only too well how easily such misunderstandings arise, and that is why we take steps to forestall them whenever it lies within our power to do so.
There is a further point which is of too great importance to be passed over without comment in these preliminary observations, although we thought we had explained ourselves clearly enough on other occasions; but we have noticed that some people have failed to grasp our meaning and it is therefore advisable to emphasize it still further. Genuine knowledge, which alone concerns us, has little if anything at all to do with 'profane' knowledge; the studies which go to make up the latter cannot be looked upon even as an indirect path of approach to 'sacred science'; on the contrary, at times they even constitute an obstacle, by reason of the often irremediable mental deformation which is the commonest consequence of a certain kind of education. For understanding doctrines such as those we are expounding here, a study undertaken merely 'from the outside' is of no avail; as we have already remarked, it is not a question
of history or philology or literature; and we will add, at the risk of repeating ourselves to a degree which some may consider fastidious, it is not a question of philosophy either. All these things, indeed, belong to that order of knowledge which we class as 'profane' or 'external', not from contempt, but because it is in fact nothing else; one is not called upon to consider whom one may happen to please or displease; one simply has to describe things as they are, giving to each thing the name and rank which normally belong to it. The fact that in the modern West 'sacred science' has been odiously caricatured by more or less conscious imposters is not a reason for keeping silent about it, or for ignoring, if not actually repudiating it; on the contrary, we declare unhesitatingly not only that it exists, but also that it is our sole preoccupation. Anyone who cares to refer to what we have already said elsewhere about the extravagances of the occultists and Theosophists [1] will not fail to understand that we are alluding here to something of quite a different order and that the attitude of people of that kind also can never be regarded by us as anything but 'profane'; moreover, they only make their case worse by pretending to a knowledge which is not theirs, and this is one of the principal reasons why we find it necessary to expose the absurdity of their pretended doctrines whenever the occasion presents itself.
From the preceding remarks it should also be clear that the doctrines we propose to discuss refuse to lend themselves, owing to their very nature, to any attempt at 'popularization'; it would be foolish to try 'to bring within everybody's reach'-to use a common phrase of our time-conceptions which can only come within the grasp of an elite, and to attempt to do so would be the surest way of distorting them. We have explained elsewhere what we mean by the intellectual elite, and what part it will be called upon to play if it ever comes to be formed in the West; while at the same time we have shown how a genuine and profound study of the Eastern doctrines is indispensable in preparing for its formation. [2] It is in view of this work, the results of which no doubt will only make themselves felt
after a long interval, that we believe it necessary to expound certain ideas for the benefit of those who are capable of assimilating them, without however modifying or simplifying them after the fashion of the 'popularizers', which would be in flat contradiction with our avowed intentions. Indeed, it is not for the doctrine to abase and reduce itself to the level of the limited understanding of the many; it is for those who are capable of it to raise themselves to the understanding of the doctrine in its integral purity, and it is only in this way that a genuine intellectual elite can be formed. Among several persons who receive an identical teaching, each one understands and assimilates it more or less completely and profoundly according to the range of his own intellectual possibilities, and in this way selection, without which there could be no genuine hierarchy, comes about quite naturally. These questions have already been dealt with previously, but it was necessary to recall them before embarking upon a strictly doctrinal exposition; and the more unfamiliar they are to Western minds today, the more imperative it is to emphasize them.
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