Charles Upton’s first books of poetry were published in 1968 and 1969 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti of City Light Books in San Francisco. He was then considered the youngest member of the “beat generation” as he was still in high school. He has subsequently written many books associated with the traditionalist school of spirituality including The Science of the Greater Jihad, System of the Antichrist, Vectors of the Counter-Initiation, Folk Metaphysics, Alien Disclosure Deception: The Metaphysics of Social Engineering, and Day and Night on the Sufi Path. His most recent book is The Way Forward for Perennialism: After the Antinomianism of Frithjof Schuon. His website is https://charles-upton.com/.
Here he explains that Traditionalism is a particular version of Perennialism. It is associated primarily with René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon. It is distinct from the more heterodox approach of Aldous Huxley. Traditionalists feel that the orthodox systems of the world’s major religions afford the best possibilities for spiritual attainment. They particularly frown upon syncretism, i.e., the tendency to try and combine the best practices of diverse traditions. Frithjof Schuon, however, acknowledged that he did, indeed, practice a form of syncretism. This led Upton to attribute antinomianism to Schuon.
(Recorded on July 8, 2022)
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Published on July 22, 2022