EDITORIAL NOTE

THE PAST CENTURY HAS WITNESSED an erosion of earlier cultural values as well as a blurring of the distinctive characteristics of the world's traditional civilizations, giving rise to philosophic and moral relativism, multiculturalism, and dangerous fundamentalist reactions. As early as the 1920s, the French metaphysician René Guénon (1886–1951) had diagnosed these tendencies and presented what he believed to be the only possible reconciliation of the legitimate, although apparently conflicting, demands of outward religious forms, ‘exoterisms', with their essential core, 'esoterism'. His works are characterized by a foundational critique of the modern world coupled with a call for intellectual reform; a renewed examination of metaphysics, the traditional sciences, and symbolism, with special reference to the ultimate unanimity of all spiritual traditions; and finally, a call to the work of spiritual realization. Despite their wide influence, translation of Guénon's works into English has so far been piecemeal. The _Sophia Perennis_ edition is intended to fill the urgent need to present them in a more authoritative and systematic form. A complete list of Guénon's works, given in the order of their original publication in French, follows this note.

The present volume is a companion volume to _Perspectives on Initiation_, and in accordance with Guénon's wish was the first thematic collection of his writings published after his death. In _Perspectives_, Guénon defined the precise nature of initiation, which is essentially the transmission by appropriate rites of a spiritual influence intended to permit a being in the human state to attain the spiritual degree designated in several Traditions as the 'edenic state', thence to rise to higher states, and finally to what has been called both 'Deliverance' and the state of 'Supreme Identity'. _Initiation and Spiritual Realization_ further clarifies these themes in several ways. The text falls naturally into four parts. The first examines the mental and psychological obstacles that may hinder comprehension of the initiatic point of view and the quest for initiation. The second clarifies and develops several key points concerning the nature of initiation and certain of its preconditions—one of the most commonly misunderstood being the need to conform to the essentials of a traditional exoterism. The third and in many respects most important part considers certain degrees of that spiritual realization which everything preceding it aims to make more easily understandable, and, to a certain degree, more easily accessible. And finally, the last three chapters, the real keys to both books, provide a comprehensive metaphysical account of the possibility of a total spiritual realization starting from our corporeal state, a realization that belonged by nature and function to the Divine Messengers called by the various traditions Prophet, Rasul, Bodhisattva, and Avatara..

Guénon often uses words or expressions set off in 'scare quotes'. To avoid clutter, single quotation marks have been used throughout. As for transliterations, Guénon was more concerned with phonetic fidelity than academic usage. The system adopted here reflects the views of scholars familiar both with the languages and Guénon's writings. Brackets indicate editorial insertions, or, within citations, Guénon's additions. Wherever possible, references have been updated, and English editions substituted.

The present translation is based on the work of Henry Fohr, edited by his son Samuel Fohr. The entire text was checked for accuracy and further revised by Patrick Moore and Marie Hansen. For help with selected chapters and proofreading thanks go to Alvin Moore, Jr., John Riess, and John Champoux, and, for final reviews, to, Brian and Michelle Latham, Benjamin Hardman, Allan Dewar, and John Ahmed Herlihy. A special debt of thanks is owed to Cecil Bethell, who revised and proofread the text at several stages and provided the index. Cover design by Michael Buchino and Gray Henry, based on a drawing of a Mycenaean Kylix from the Late Hellenic period, by Guénon's friend and collaborator Ananda K. Coomaraswamy..