Here's something: a newish book called Towards the Essential: Letters of a Spiritual Master. It consists of of letters from Schuon, mostly to folks asking for advice on how to proceed -- as in, I've read your book(s), now what? I'm here, God is there, and how do we tie the room together?
Over a third of the letters are addressed to Christian correspondents, followed by other miscellaneous paths, eg., Sufi, Hindu, Native American, etc. I'd skip ahead to the section on Buddhism, but the Chinaman is not the issue.
Here's a timely passage which, although written in 1986, goes to our era of mis- and disinformation:
the devil is fond of inculcating in people predisposed certitudes that are unshakable but diametrically opposed to the truth; the earmarks of satanism are precisely this diametrical falseness and the obstinacy of error.
Say what you want about Satan: that creep can roll. Worthy f'ing adversary.
Good news / bad news:
There is no spiritual method that does not wound our nature. Spirituality is both the easiest and the hardest thing. The easiest: because it is enough to think of God. The hardest: because fallen nature is forgetfulness of God.
So, you're entering a world of pain. Nor does Schuon care about your feelings, which are "a matter of indifference" and "a contingent matter without importance." Besides,
The happiness of worldly people, if one may say, is that they do not see all their disharmonies; they dwell in an opaque and easy homogeneity; it is a harmony procured for a pittance.
Sometimes I wish I could live in a place where there were more people like me, instead of none. Well, the world doesn't start and stop at our convenience:
I know where the difficulty lies: it is easier -- or less difficult -- to be alone on a desert island, than to be among men who do not understand us....
Nevertheless,
we are obliged to accept the destiny God gave us and do the best we can with it.
I get it, but California? Really?
The world is a battleground, and it is necessary that there be warriors of Light everywhere, if I may express myself thus. In the meantime, you are where Providence has placed you...
There are always ups and downs, strikes and gutters: one must
be mindful of the equilibrium of the soul so as to avoid the alternations between phases of enthusiasm and aridity. If we are indifferent to aridity, it will dissipate in the end....
Ups and downs are natural for the soul; everything that is situated in duration undergoes phases; every continuous motion contains rhythms.
In short, abide. Yeah, but it's complicated: lotta ins, lotta outs:
In the spiritual life, one must know how to simplify things, which presupposes that one be firmly conscious of the essential elements of the path....
A strict regiment to keep the mind, you know, limber:
I like to repeat that one must avoid complications, and that the essential, of which one must never lose sight, is this: discernment between the Real and the illusory, between God and the world...
But we are surrounded by nihilists.
God owes nothing to sheep, nor to somnambulists....
You must not allow yourself to be discouraged.... this absurd ambience, though so full of assurance and arrogance, is monstrously abnormal, with regard to both its convictions and tendencies; these people may be unanimous in their errors and vices, but it is you who are normal; so remain imperturbable in the face of this collective hypnosis....
A smarter feller than myself once said
Serenity is to be above the clouds, above the world; above oneself. Recollectedness and serenity: we must discover these in prayer, and through prayer.
Ever thus to deadbeats:
The very length of your letter proves your problems are artificial, thus illegitimate, for one does not need to write a twelve-page letter to outline real problems.
You think far too much, in an artificial manner that is both bookish and psychological.
Maybe, but at least it's an ethos.
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