René Guénon explores the hierarchical assumption of symbols over rites in the context of spiritual expression. He suggests that symbols are permanent representations of rites and that rites are symbols that are actions “performed in time”. He uses the example of the sign of the cross to suggest that this gesture is a symbol expressed in bodily movement. While symbols are represented in their figure, rites are represented by a performance, but both of these take place on a transcendent plane that is beyond human creation or the origin of the mind and serve to communicate “with the higher states of being.”

Using St. Francis of Assisi’s writings, particularly his Laudes, Frithjof Schuon emphasizes the necessary interdependence of such virtues as Simplicity, Wisdom, Charity and Purity. Focusing on the Virgin Mary, both St. Francis and Schuon illustrate the ways in which the collaboration of these virtues opens the soul as a “receptacle of the Divine Presence.” In teaching both submission to God and detachment from the world, they affirm a necessary presence in the world and connection with other people, but without dependence on temporal things and with indifference toward egoism and self-fulfillment. No one can neglect one virtue without tainting all of them, and if one finds complete acceptance of one virtue, then all others are contained within it.

Despite the changing style of art, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy defends the universality and consistency of iconography and symbolism. Coomaraswamy discusses instances in art where a deified woman offers her milk to a supplicant. This motif signifies an adoption and therefore a deification of the recipient, specifically in the case of the Virgin Mary and St. Bernard. These examples are paralleled with other iconographic motifs that represent the attainment of the highest spiritual station—“adoption” to divine filiation, and thus to deification. In order to understand the greater spiritual meanings of these symbols in art, one must have knowledge beyond the evolving styles of art so that the picture can be transcended and meaning can be discovered in its greater context of spiritual lessons.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr explains the essential role of the sheikh in Sufism as it is illustrated in Persian literature. The sheikh is responsible for initiating his disciples into the spiritual world. By possessing a connection to the Divine, the sheikh has the means to direct a disciple on the Path to paradise. Nasr emphasizes the importance of discernment as a disciple seeks to be guided and initiated by a sheikh, as there is corruption and deceit among many who claim to have this spiritual power. Quoting numerous passages, particularly from Rumi, Nasr illustrates various aspects of the spiritual master as the door through which a sincere aspirant can access mysteries of the Divine.

In this article Philip Sherrard explains the theories and writing of Teilhard De Chardin as they apply to the split of science and faith in modern thought and the ways in which Chardin seeks to reconcile this separation. Chardin’s evolutionary theory is fueled by the power of “becoming” and “self creation”. It contains both physical and conscious progression in a personal and collective context. To Chardin, the individual is not responsible for the highest realization of self, but instead the highest form of the universe. In order to reconcile these differences of the personal and the collective, Chardin applies a faith-oriented theory in which he integrates the role of the Omega (or the Christ) in which the personal and the collective potentials are centered on each other and therefore both are fulfilled. Besides the inconsistencies this theory demonstrates in regard to faith, Sherrard also explores the way that it proves science as an incomplete mode of philosophy.

This article considers the ways in which seemingly unrelated animals and ideas are connected in the views and magic of the Oglala Sioux. Their attention to such things as whirlwind, cocoons and bison factor into their use of magic and protective powers by the association understood to be between them. Just as the cocoon is a protective covering for the caterpillar as it is gradually receiving the power of wind and flight, so the Oglala use the power of whirlwind to inflict confusion on their enemies for the sake of obtaining victory. Joseph Epes Brown examines the symbolism of several animals, such as the elk and spider, and includes some illustrations taken from traditional Oglala drawings. He concludes with the observation that the linking of everyday creatures and phenomena with supernatural realities account for the strong sense of the sacred that is a central characteristic of traditional Indian lifeways.

Whitall N. Perry begins by offering A Dictionary of Comparative Religion a necessary commendation as a long-awaited text for this field of study. However, his praise quickly moves to criticism as he examines the way in which the breadth of the book sacrifices a certain quality of scholarship. Perry proceeds to cite a number of essential texts and authors that are never mentioned in the volume. He even suggests that whereas Christianity would at one time have been favored, “the pendulum has swung too far” and that the space devoted to Christianity is insufficient. Offering a suggestion for a revised format, Perry admits that the resultant cost needed for such an effort would likely limit demand for the book to academics alone.

In this review, The Book of the Book is dismissed as “a publisher’s gimmick” with its fifteen pages of print and 250 blank pages following. Idries Shah gives his new teachings on Sufism which are claimed to rid Sufism of the incorrect assumption that it is a practice based on magic, but this review suggests that because of Shah’s supposedly “bold insights” and “fascinating revelations” that this is exactly the way in which Sufism will be characterized. The reviewer notes that Shah’s writings may encourage some readers to undertake a search for true Sufism, but they encourage others to walk away from it as mere “hocus pocus”.

Yussif Abdulhayy responds to a previous letter regarding the African tradition as animism. He suggests that this term cannot be comprehensive in its description. He continues to offer a question regarding a tribe of white men in South Africa and multiple attempts to trace them without any success.

H. F. Rubinstein offers a defense of Teilhard De Chardin in response to several articles. Rubinstein supplies three “tentative inferences” that characterize his view on Chardin’s evolutionary theory, and the relationship between God and man as affected by the fall, and the reconciliatory role of religion.