What is the Primordial Tradition?

Who theorized the Primordial Tradition?

You've heard of tradition, of course. According to the Larousse, tradition (with a small t) is above all a "set of legends, facts, doctrines, opinions, customs, usages, etc., transmitted orally over a long period of time" but it is also and above all (and this is the meaning that interests us here and with a capital T) the "transmission of the content of revealed truth from Scripture, through the writings of the Fathers of the Church, the councils, the writings of the Doctors of the Church, the liturgy and the pontifical documents, in fidelity to the action of the Holy Spirit".

René Guénon, an unclassifiable author of the 20th century, who was interested in metaphysics, symbolism, esotericism and the criticism of the modern world, developed a notion of Primordial Tradition.

René Guénon in 1925 (free picture)

What is the Primordial Tradition?

The Primordial Tradition encompasses and organizes all esoteric knowledge (hidden knowledge) in a certain order. It distinguishes a form of esotericism that would be distorted or superficial, dispensed in pseudo-initiatic societies from a traditional esotericism, which draws its sources from the great mystical and religious currents. It would go back to very ancient times (hence its qualification of Primordial), when Men became aware of the singularity of their existence and of their specificity compared to the vegetable and animal world which surrounds them. This is the case of the Neanderthals (430,000 years before our era) who were the first beings to bury their dead and to allow a certain notion of the sacred to shine through the use of burial sites.

Is the Primordial Tradition taught?

The Primordial Tradition has never been taught as such, but adapted according to the people and the times. It is found in our beliefs, our legends, our symbols, our history, those of today and before ("Tradition"). Through them, it is expressed by relying on the same principles and by spreading the same messages to all.

The importance of cycles

In the Primordial Tradition, the notion of cycle is important: everything around us is cyclical (civilizational changes, astrology, calendar, seasons, time etc.). The esotericism of tradition is spiritual: it would give rise to more linear and harmonious cycles if the deviated esotericism (also called counter-tradition or anti-tradition) - which is not spiritual - did not lead to more rapid degradation of the cycles.

An example of cyclical degradation: Guénon considers, for example, that the world was once ruled by Masters with spiritual power (popes, monarchies of divine right...) before this was replaced by the materialism imposed by the consumer society and the modern world.

Would you like to know more about this subject?

René Guénon, Le règne de la quantité et les signes du temps, chez Gallimard, 2015 (1945)

“René Guénon et la Tradition primordiale - Les idées à l’endroit n°22”