Correspondence Cairo-Amiens (2): unpublished letters of René Guénon
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Unpublished letters of René Guénon
Throughout his life, René Guénon kept up a very abundant correspondence, chiefly with French-speaking people who had taken an interest in his work. The passages we publish here are extracted from a correspondence comprising 73 letters written between 1932 and 1950. The recipient of these letters was a Frenchman living in Amiens, an assiduous reader of Guénon’s works, who played an important part in the emergence of a Sufi way on Western soil. Through the answers and clarifications Guénon offers his correspondent, one can glean elements of information on doctrinal points, but also certain practical aspects and counsels for the use of those concerned with an attachment to a Sufi way while living in a non-Muslim country such as France.
I am glad to know that it is for the way of Sufism that you are deciding in preference. It is better for you to put off your journey here until a little later, when you will already have been able to see the results that can be obtained in this way… As for the very understandable difficulty of observing all the rites in their entirety in European conditions of life, be well assured that the impossible can never be asked of you; this may no doubt slow down the obtaining of results to a greater or lesser degree, but in sum that is all the drawback there is to fear.
Letter to L. C., Cairo, 16 June 1935
I am very glad of your decision concerning the attachment to Sufism; I only regret somewhat this delay of 2 or 3 months, but after all it is a small thing. Since B. has reassured you on the points that might have concerned you, you certainly have no further reason to hesitate. As for means drawn from other traditions, I think B. meant to allude to things likewise of the initiatic order: thus, for example, the Naqshabandiyya paths of India sometimes use tantric methods. When it is a matter of the religious and exoteric order, as is the case with the Catholic rites, it is not quite the same thing; I do not mean, of course, that this could have ‘essential’ drawbacks, but only that one must be prudent to avoid ‘interferences’ of psychic influences which could be, if not dangerous, at least troublesome. […] Generally speaking, I think there is no point in encumbering oneself with details of grammar when one seeks to gain an understanding of a language, and this also simplifies things and avoids wasting time. […] The doctrine of al-Hallaj is certainly orthodox at bottom; reservations can only be made about what, in certain expressions, may give rise to equivocation and be ill interpreted, and that, incidentally, is what cost him his life…
Letter to L. C., Cairo, 7 July 1935
Meditation is more important than reading, which besides can only provide it with a starting point, and which it is generally advantageous not to multiply overmuch, so as to avoid all dispersal. The rites have an efficacy in themselves, but it is quite obvious that attention and concentration strengthen it considerably. Allow me to recommend more particularly not to neglect the regular recitation of the wird (rosary), for it is this that specially fortifies the link with the tariqa. Lastly, I think each person should seek to make use of his natural tendencies rather than to fight them; but naturally there are as many different modalities there as there are individualities…
Letter to L. C., Cairo, 30 August 1935
[Concerning the states you feel in the course of the rites], I think you should not worry about these physical and psychic reactions. You are quite right not to want to go too fast, but when things of this kind present themselves without your having sought them, it is likewise obvious that they are not to be pushed away… No doubt these states can as yet have only a so to speak ‘preliminary’ character, but in any case they surely indicate an effective contact with the barakah of the Order; at least it hardly seems possible to me to understand them otherwise.
Letter to L. C., Cairo, 18 September 1935
I am used to hearing idle tales about myself, but I wonder what ‘functions’ could possibly be withdrawn from me by anyone at all, since I have never accepted any anywhere. […] The fast of Ramadan ends exactly at sunset, but begins 20 minutes before the fajr prayer, that is, about 2 hours before sunrise. Naturally, all this is easier to observe exactly here in Cairo, where one is told the time by the cannon, not to mention the watchmen who go knocking at doors to warn that it is time to prepare the last meal; one would have to be a very heavy sleeper indeed to hear nothing!
Letter to L. C., Cairo, 5 December 1935
Set your mind at rest regarding the alleged troubles that occurred in Cairo (reported by the French newspapers); we noticed nothing in our districts, and I was astounded by the French press cuttings that a few people sent me! I can well guess, incidentally, the source of these purposely exaggerated reports; in fact, it was never anything but student demonstrations, in which the population took no part, and if things turned out badly it is due solely to foreign meddling that you can easily imagine; it is exactly the same thing as what happens practically every day in India… […]
As for my health, I have not too much to complain of at present; it has certainly never been very brilliant, but after all, generally speaking, it is still better here than in France. But there is one thing that intrigues me somewhat: you speak of my astrological chart; where could you have found the data for it?… I must say, moreover, that all those who have so far tried to draw something from it have never arrived at a satisfactory result; I do not quite know what that can be due to! […]
I am not at all surprised by what you tell me of the salutary effects of fasting as you have observed them; it is rather the contrary that would have astonished me, for this result is quite normal. As for what you say, that theoretical knowledge sometimes seems very close to real knowledge, that is also exact; it is certain that the separation is not as clear-cut in fact as it appears when one speaks of it, and that the passage can occur almost imperceptibly… Since you speak of formulas to strengthen the states (of understanding) in question, I would see above all the repetition of the invocation ‘Ya Latif’; unfortunately, it is not possible to indicate the rhythm by letter… For the doctrinal question you raise at the end of your letter, I think the matter is fairly simple: in a continuous and homogeneous medium, differentiation may very well be considered as produced by a disturbance propagating step by step from the point where the initial vibration that determines it takes place, and this without any transport of corpuscles as in atomic theory.
Letter to L. C., Cairo, 31 December 1935
Atomist theory is false, first of all, precisely in that it admits the existence of indivisible corpuscles (that is the very definition of atoms), which is contradictory, because to say body is to say something extended, and consequently always and indefinitely divisible, so that in reality the indivisible can only be reached on condition of leaving the corporeal order. In claiming that everything is exclusively composed of atoms, it also denies that anything other than them has positive reality, and consequently it can admit between them only the void, and not the undifferentiated ether; yet the void can have no place in the domain of manifestation. One may further remark that, if atoms were separated by the void, they could in no way act upon one another; yet the theory asserts that they attract each other, which is another contradiction. Others could even be found on more secondary points; but this suffices to show you that it is not difficult to demonstrate its falsity. But, on the other hand, I still do not see what hinders you from conceiving vibration in a medium not composed of elements; there is a disturbance of this homogeneous and continuous medium itself, quite simply, and this disturbance propagates step by step by reason of its continuity. Now, it is well understood that the initial disturbance must be provoked by a cause of another order; that goes without saying, incidentally, if one notes that the medium in question here plays, in relation to corporeal manifestation, a role that is the (relative) analogue of that of Prakriti, that is, a purely ‘substantial’ and passive role.
Letter to L. C., Cairo, 20 January 1936
I fully approve the conclusions you draw in the direction of greater prudence to be observed in future regarding the admission of new persons into the tariqa, and it is certain that it would be much better not to speak of the possibility of an initiatic attachment before having more guarantees. What you tell me about the other member of your group is truly extraordinary; one can hardly imagine such an assemblage of confusions and contradictions! Surely, such conditions are as unfavourable as possible for profitable work; and it is obvious that, besides the question of qualification, that of preparation would also have to be considered, especially, as you say, if one takes into account the Western state of mind… On the consideration of health, I agree with you: there is no reason to make it an essential condition (for initiation) in a general way, but still, in particularly grave cases, a candidate could at least be deferred, and all the more so since, in fact, he would then be incapable of drawing a real benefit from his immediate admission. There remains the question of the astrological chart; C. is no doubt not wrong to have reservations about the value of the results that can be drawn from it; but despite that, I really do not see that there can be any drawback in using it as an indication. Individual contingencies must indeed be taken into account, since qualification itself depends on them; it is obvious that if it were only a matter of personality, everyone would be qualified; the question arises only because a given individuality must be taken as the support of the realisation, and it is in sum a question of knowing whether it is effectively capable of it.
Next letter: Correspondence Cairo-Amiens (3)
