Esoterism and Symbol

I love this book. R.A. Schwaller de Lubicz knows of what he speaks.Here is one of his great quotes: "The definition of anything whatsoever in the natural or physical universe is innate consciousness. Essentially, this inborn consciousness, in its final fulfillment, is, for the mineral: affinity, growth, and generation of fruit or seed; for the animal: affinity, growth, free movement, and cerebral intelligence, which bestows instinct." (there is another story to be told regarding the intelligence of animals that far surpasses instinct but that in a different book.) "For the human-animal, all the preceding consciousness are innate, and reason develops. which will make man conscious of consciousness. Here begins the capacity for liberation from material form, the return, after all the consciousness have been realized."Another quote - cannot resist:"For suffering is the only stylus whose nature corresponds to the substance on which imperishable consciousness is inscribed. The stone has suffered for the plant, the plant has suffered for the animal, the animal has suffered for man, and man has suffered for Redemption."We are here then not to be happy or rich or famous but rather to become conscious of consciousness itself whose center is the Heart not the reasoning brain.

This book may not be for every one (yet) but for those who are able to understand some of the content it is truly a game changer. It is another bread crumb along your path to enlightenment. Like the connection that Schwaller makes between the temple at Luxor and the structure of the gothic cathedral. I never studied church architecture so I had no idea the gothic cathedrals followed specific designs Wich is meant to represent the body of Christ. A lot of powerful information....

This book is comprised of nothing but drool, over half of which is vaguely offensive to the Western, Christian academics it attempts to compare to and syncretize with various Eastern philosophies, most notably Buddhism. I am a of Buddhism, and learned of this philosophy IN ASIA, and not from some home-grown guru in West who never sat at the foot of a master or studied at a temple. It is very clear de Lubicz did not have these experiences and if he did, he took absolutely nothing away from them. More, his treatment of cause in the ultimate sense, and the dualistic nature of creation, is puerile in the worst sense. If he had actually studied the Greeks, and more importantly, the various Eastern philosophies that were at the least contemporaneous with the various eras of the Egyptian kingdoms and their dynasties, he would have been aware of his errors. That these errors could be found by any school-aged boy or girl with a library card and a few late fees belies this man's credibility. What he describes doesn't even mesh with Sumerians, which culture was very similar and contemporaneous with the Old Kingdom.But what really set me off was ridiculous Atlantean references, and his equally ridiculous blather about the Jewish Kaballah. The former was clearly derived from the typical rubbish of the day, and the latter he so poorly understood it actually insulted the Jews, both ancient and modern. His source of the Kaballah obviously was derived from Western occult sources, and not the Jewish masters themselves (which makes sense because the study of and exegeses on Kaballah is closed to non-Jews). Finally, his comparisons between Christ and Buddha was at best laughable.There is a reason this fellow's work was never taken seriously by the world, and why he was then and is now considered an imbecile by the scientific community. I be returning this very thin and very overpriced book to amazon for a full refund. If I can't, I'll throw it away or burn it. I won't dirty my bookshelf with this trash, or allow it to infect the mind of someone else who doesn't know and is genuinely interested in such things.

This is a short book but has good information for those studying spirituality. The basic premise of this book is that the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt should not be look at as word-forming symbols like the letters of an alphabet, but that each one is a spiritual symbol to symbolize some spiritual truth. The main focus of this book is the difference between the two types of intellegence: the cerebral and the spiritual that he calls "intelligence-of-the-heart" which is a translation of the Egyptian symbols for this type of intellegence.The book explores the process of awakening our spiritual consciousness to give us wisdom rather than simple material knowledge. A fascinating chapter is the one that states that "everything that lives, moves" in which he explains that life is not what conventional science defines it to be and that many things we consider non-living really are alive. He concludes the book by telling us that esoterism is not a deliberate hiding of the truth by spiritual writers, but simply a lack on the readers part to understand spiritual things because he is trying to understand with intellect rather than with spiritual consciousness.

It is a quick (75 pages or so) and easy read. This was one of the first books I read on Esoterism and it captured me from the beginning. I recommend this book to anyone interested in living and understanding an Esoteric lifestyle.

Rene Schwaller De Lubicz UNDERSTOOD it - "The ALL" that is ancient Egypt. If you want to understand YOUR future, read every one of Rene's works - and those of his wife and stepdaughter.

de Lubicz was highly recommended by a scholarly friend of mine. He was not a main stream Academic in Egyptology at the time and he wrote for the popular audience in an authoritative and entertaining way.Like anything you consume, take it with a grain of salt. But in time, I will buy more - perhaps all - of his books and booklets.Try a used book the first time around and see what you think.

This short book provides an excellent introduction to the Ancient Egyptian comprehension of the conundrum of existence through the 'Intelligence of the Heart'. This concept is not easy to quantify in 'rational' terms as it is alien to mechanistic and cerebral modes of thought, and instead relies on 'evocation' to convey its message, so it should properly be appreciated in conjunction with other works of the same oeuvre.

As with other titles by Schwaller De Lubicz this one suffers from a less than inspired translation by Vandenbroeck - hence only four stars. Notwithstanding, this slim volume is a good introduction to Schwaller's ideas which were doubtless controversial in their day but which are now part of the 'alternative' mainstream - a stream, one could argue, that he created.

Books by Schwaller de Lubicz are not an easy read but giving this information some time and going back to it opens up many new pathways in the mind.

quality book.

love it!!!