An Outline of his Life and Works

In the age of modern science and technocracy, Burckhardt was one of the most remarkable of the exponents of universal truth, in the realm of metaphysics as well as in the realm of cosmology and of traditional art. In a world of existentialism, psychoanalysis, and sociology, he was a major voice of the philosophia perennis, that "wisdom uncreate" that is expressed in Platonism, Vedanta, Sufism, Taoism, and other authentic esoteric or sapiential teachings. In literary and philosophic terms, he was an eminent member of the "traditionalist school" of twentieth-century authors.

Although he first saw the light of day in Florence, Burckhardt was the scion of a patrician family of Basle. He was the great-nephew of the famous art-historian Jacob Burckhardt and the son of the sculptor Carl Burckhardt. Titus Burckhardt was a contemporary of Frithjof Schuon--destined to become the leading exponent of traditionalist thought in the twentieth century--and the two spent their early school days together in Basle around the time of the First World War. This was the beginning of an intimate friendship and a deeply harmonious intellectual and spiritual relationship that was to last a lifetime.

Burckhardt was for many years the artistic director of Urs Graf Verlag, a publishing house of Lausanne and Olten. His main activity during this period was the production and publication of a whole series of facsimiles of exquisite illuminated medieval manuscripts, especially early Celtic manuscripts of the Gospels, such as the Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow (from Trinity College, Dublin) and the Book of Lindisfarne (from the British Library, London). This was pioneer work of the highest quality and a publishing achievement which immediately received wide acclaim both from experts and the wider public. At the same time, however, articles and books from Burckhardt's own pen were being published, those which have established him as one of the foremost writers of the perennialist school. The following paragraphs provide a brief summary his most important works.

Burckhardt's chief metaphysical exposition, beautifully complementing the work of Schuon, is An Introduction to Sufi Doctrine. This is an intellectual masterpiece which analyzes comprehensively and with precision the nature of esoterism as such. It begins by making clear, by a series of lucid and economical definitions, what esoterism is and what it is not, goes on to examine the doctrinal foundations of Islamic esoterism or Sufism, and ends with an inspired description of "spiritual alchemy", or the contemplative path that leads to spiritual realization. This work clearly established Burckhardt as the leading exponent--after Schuon--of intellectual doctrine and spiritual method.

Burckhardt devoted a large portion of his writings to traditional cosmology, which he saw in a sense as the "handmaid of metaphysics". He formally presented the principles at stake in a masterly and concise article "The Cosmological Perspective", first published in French in 1948 and now constituting the first chapter in a posthumous volume entitled Mirror of the Intellect. In a series of articles published in both French and German in 1964, he covered the cosmological ground very fully indeed, and also made many detailed references to the main branches of modern science. These articles, under the title "Traditional Cosmology and Modern Science" now form the second chapter in Mirror of the Intellect. They were also included in Sword of Gnosis (an anthology of articles from the English journal Studies in Comparative Religion) edited by Jacob Needleman in 1974, and reprinted in 1986. Mirror of the Intellect  is composed mainly of articles that were originally published in a variety of French and German periodicals, and which had not previously appeared together in book form. Other chapter titles include: "Symbolism and Mythology", " Islamic Themes", and "Envoi--A Letter on Spiritual Method".

Not unconnected with his interest in cosmology, Burckhardt had a particular affinity with traditional art and craftsmanship and was skilled in the evaluation of traditional architecture, iconography, and other arts and crafts. In particular, he dwelt on how they had been and could be turned to account spiritually, both as meaningful activities which by virtue of their inherent symbolism harbour a doctrinal message, and above all as supports for spiritual realization and means of grace. Ars sine scientia nihil. Here of course it is a case of scientia sacra and ars sacra, these being the two sides of the same coin. This is the realm of the craft initiations of the various traditional civilizations, and specifically of such things, in the Middle Ages, as operative masonry and alchemy. Indeed Burckhardt's principal work in the field of cosmology was his full-length book Alchemy: Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul, a brilliant presentation of alchemy as the expression of a spiritual psychology and as an intellectual and symbolic support for contemplation and realization.

Burckhardt's main work in the field of art was his Sacred Art in East and West, which contains many wonderful chapters on the metaphysics and aesthetics of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Christianity, and Islam, and ends with a useful and practical insight into the contemporary situation entitled "The Decadence and Renewal of Christian Art". A comprehensive summary of the essential elements of this book has been published for the first time in The Unanimous Tradition, a compendium of articles by traditionalist authors edited by Ranjit Fernando (Institute of Traditional Studies, Colombo, 1991).

Fez, City of Islam is undoubtedly one of Burckhardt's masterpieces . As a young man, in the 1930s, he spent a few years in Morocco, where he established intimate friendships with several remarkable representatives of the then intact spiritual heritage of the Maghrib. This was obviously a formative period in Burckhardt's life, and much of his subsequent message and style originate in these early years. Already, at the time concerned, he had committed much of his experience to writing (not immediately published), and it was only in the late 1950s that these writings and these experiences ripened into a definitive and masterly book. In Fez, Burckhardt relates the history of a people and its religion--a history that was often violent, often heroic, and sometimes holy. Throughout it all runs the thread of Islamic piety and civilization. These Burckhardt expounds with a sure and enlightening hand, relating many of the teachings, parables, and miracles of the saints of many centuries, and demonstrating not only the arts and crafts of Islamic civilization, but also its "Aristotelian" sciences and its administrative skills. There is indeed much to be learnt about the governance of men and societies from Burckhardt's penetrating presentation of the principles behind dynastic and tribal vicissitudes with their failures and their successes.

Chartres and the Birth of the Gothic Cathedral is the story of the religious "idealism" (in the best sense of the word) which lay behind the conception and practical realization of the medieval Cathedrals, the still extant monuments to an age of faith. In Chartres, Burckhardt expounds the intellectual and spiritual contents of the different architectural styles, not merely distinguishing between the Gothic and the Romanesque, but even between the different varieties of the Romanesque. It is a dazzling example of what is meant by intellectual discrimination. An English translation of Chartres was co-published in 1996 by Golgonooza Press in England and by World Wisdom Books in America.

Close in spirit to Fez is another of Burckhardt's mature works, namely Moorish Culture in Spain. As always, this is a book of truth and beauty, of science and art, of piety and traditional culture. But in this book, perhaps more than in all others, it is a question of the romance, chivalry, and poetry of pre-modern life.

Burckhardt's last major work was his widely acclaimed and impressive monograph Art of Islam. Here the intellectual principles and the spiritual role of artistic creativity in its Islamic forms are richly and generously displayed before us. With this noble volume, the unique Burckhardtian literary corpus comes to its end.

Used with permission of World Wisdom Books