Know Thyself

René Guénon (1886-1951) drawn by Igor Kordey,

From all that has been said, we see that real knowledge is not based on the path of reason, but on the spirit and the whole being, for it is none other than the realization of this being in all its states, which is the culmination of knowledge and the attainment of supreme wisdom. In reality, what belongs to the soul, and even to the spirit, represent only degrees on the path toward the intimate essence that is the true self; this self can be found only when the being has reached its own center. All its powers being united and concentrated as in the single point in which all things appear to it since they are contained in this point as in their first and unique principle; thus the being is able to know everything as in itself and of itself. As the totality of existence in the oneness of its own essence.

Know Thyself

René Guénon