Seyed Hossein Nasr is among the contemporary thinkers, who are defending tradition, perennial knowledge and sacred affairs. The attitude of Nasr to the above issues has placed him in the direction of an intellectual project which has caused him to be known as a remarkable thinker in the Western world. In a land of new customs, he is struggling against modernity and believes that modern Man should return to traditions and spirituality as the main path to salvation. His epistemological struggle has not taken him to present new theories and even spiritual leadership, but he is busy with presenting comprehensive review of myth-philosophy-sharia project and is reading beliefs whose revival will end in salvation of the modern Man.

Seyed Hossein Nasr’s book, Infatuated with Spirituality, includes an introduction, five chapters and bibliography. The book’s chapters include a glance at life and works of Seyed Hossein Nasr, epistemological fundaments, philosophical intuition, nature of tradition: achievements and reactions, infatuated with spirituality.

In the first part of the book, the author gives a full report of the life of Nasr and how he was affected by traditional and spiritual teachings. He starts the section from the time of his birth in Iran, until his current professorial post at George Washington University in the United States. In the concluding part of the book, the author writes, “Now, on the verge of 70 and away from his sacred and spiritual homeland (Iran), Seyed Hossein Nasr is propagating epistemological-spiritual thoughts and is playing an important role in promoting rational aspects of the traditional-Islamic world.”

The second chapter of the book explains the epistemological fundaments of Nasr, as epistemology enjoys a lofty position in his intellectual structure. Epistemology is a profound effort which results in a solution for reflecting all his intellectual system. From Nasr’s viewpoint, knowledge is a struggle between sacred and unsacred knowledge. Nasr looks upon knowledge from a traditional, mythological and philosophical standpoint. In his viewpoint, knowledge is different from what is currently known as epistemology. In his viewpoint, knowledge is a sacred essence. He considers knowledge as a profound relationship with the original truth. However, Nasr believes that knowledge has gradually distanced from that truth, which has become well-nigh inaccessible and out of the scope of understanding of most people living on earth. Nasr maintains that though human beings have become ignorant of knowledge, the essence of knowledge is still indispensable from sacred affair because the core of knowledge is knowledge about that reality which is the main essence of sacred being in true sense of the word. Compare to that sacred being, all levels of existence are not original. He maintains that to achieve absolute self, Man should expand his awareness. However, self-awareness will only lead to absolute self when it is assisted by a divine message, which is nothing but divine revelations. Therefore, only those affairs are sacred that will help self-awareness to expand toward absolute self.

In this chapter, the author presents a comparative discussion and embarks on a profound exploration in line with intellectual and epistemological bases of Nasr. By referring to such issues as sacred affair, rationality, whole self, sacred science, intuition, and symbolism, he tries to explore intellectual fundaments of Nasr. At the end of that section, he writes, “The project of knowledge dissociation is the spearhead of Nasr’s intellectual bases.” Nasr attacks the whole civilizational paradigm of modern times. He speaks of superiority of objective over subjective, rejection of intuitional-metaphysical wisdom, leaving mystical teachings and supremacy of nonreligious knowledge as major signs of emptiness of modernity. Like many critics of modernity, Nasr firmly believes that mythological situation of Man has been his best situation; Man has destroyed everything through his revolt against God, facing philosophy and civilization with a serious crisis, which has resulted in moral deterioration of Man.

Nasr’s way of thinking about the modern world and dissociation of knowledge is quite remarkable. Nasr, by no means, accepts the civilizational paradigms of the modern world.

The third chapter of the book has been allotted to the philosophical manner of Nasr. Seyed Hossein Nasr is among advocates and reporters of the Islamic philosophy and, in more accurate words, he advocates ‘philosophia’. He also thinks about revival and prosperity of the Islamic philosophy and spares no effort in this regard. Islamic philosophy is the main intellectual concern of Nasr. From his viewpoint, Islamic philosophy is a huge sea of intellectual and rational schools which are the result of blending Islamic teachings with philosophical thoughts of ancient Iran and Greece as well as India and have had profound effects on the European and Indian philosophy and mysticism.

In the intellectual process of Nasr, philosophical research is not a purely mental activity, but a quest for understanding the Almighty God. From the viewpoint of Nasr, philosophy is reminding oneself about the forgotten truth. With him, philosophy is a sacred effort which will culminate in perennial wisdom. Therefore, philosophy is an effort to understand divine wisdom or, as put by Nasr, the lofty wisdom. In other words, it is actual activity of human mind and not a mental activity of an argumentative nature. Nasr believes in a special interpretation of philosophy which he believes is nothing but wisdom. He emphasizes the fact that combining wisdom with intellectual intuition and living on the basis of philosophical life, which encompasses practical aspect of knowledge, can lead to achieving the ultimate reality. Nasr looks upon philosophy from a divine angle not a purely intellectual one. Therefore, he steadfastly defends divine wisdom and says, “I intend to introduce the traditional metaphysics of Islamic philosophy to the new world.” He also reminds, “When teaching philosophy, Islamic philosophy should be the main pivot and other schools of thought should be taught in relation to it.” In this part of the book, the author focuses on status of the Islamic wisdom and philosophy among the works of Nasr. Then he explains his practical viewpoint and situation of the Islamic philosophy in the modern world from the viewpoint of Nasr.

The fourth chapter focuses on the nature of tradition as well as its achievements and reactions. Knowing and measuring the current of knowledge has been a main concern for contemporary thinkers and embarking on that measurement will be impossible in the absence of theoretical rumination and efforts made to understand it. One of those currents in our time is the debate about tradition and traditionalism. The conflict between modernity and tradition in the modern world will lead to domination of one of them on the new world.

However, if we do not pay attention to such issues as what is tradition and what is its implications for our lives; what is happening to it in our time; and what traditionalists are going to do; we will also fail to fully come to grips with modernity. Seyed Hossein Nasr is among thinkers who is interested in ideas of traditionalists and is trying to spread a traditional worldview. For this reason, tradition is not solely a social term for him, but it is a whole-hearted effort and a rational faith. Nasr believes himself to be a traditional philosopher who is leading a spiritual life. He believes that tradition is a bounty from God. The meaning he presents for tradition is quite different from its conventional meaning. Some thinkers consider tradition to be equivalent to custom, hereditary paradigms, as well as outdated affairs.

Such people think that tradition is a combination of religious, cultural, historical as well as customary notions that make up a specific lifestyle and, at least, follow the same narrative rules. Those opposed to traditionalism maintain that this method is not thoughtful. That is, structure and components of tradition are taken as granted. However, Nasr delves into this issue from another angle. The tradition as perceived by Nasr is a perennial, knowledgeable tradition and is nothing but the divine tradition or, as put by Quran, the original tradition, which cannot be hanged, never expires and is always present at all times.

Nasr’s description of tradition is that tradition is realities or principles that are of divine origin which have been revealed to human beings by various personalities including the prophets, messengers, or other means of transfer. Also, Seyed Hossein Nasr mentions interest of westerners in eastern philosophy and traditions as part of his project to revive tradition, but believes that reviving tradition in the current century is not very probable. He maintains that the 19th century was the acme of inattention to tradition in Europe from a metaphysical viewpoint. However, it is a surprise that enthusiasm toward Orientology and translation of divine scriptures has increased during the current century.