Frithjof Schuon's interest in the Plains Indians A civilization's value lies in its sense of the Absolute Sacred nudity is the "heart exteriorized" Sacred nudity and underlying Reality

slide 3 of 4 This is taken from a transcript of a 1995 interview with the eminent Perennialist thinker and writer Frithjof Schuon (1907-1998). Question: Your art books The Feathered Sun and especially Images of Primordial and Mystic Beauty deal with the mystery of sacred nudity. Could you explain in a few words the meaning of this perspective? Frithjof Schuon: Sacred nudity—which plays an important role not only with the Hindus but also with the Red Indians—is based on the analogical correspondence between the “outmost” and the “inmost”: the body is then seen as the “heart exteriorized,” and the heart for its part “absorbs” as it were the bodily projection; “extremes meet.” It is said, in India, that nudity favors the irradiation of spiritual influences; and also that feminine nudity in particular manifests Lakshmi and consequently has a beneficial effect on the surroundings. In an altogether general way, nudity expresses—and virtually actualizes—a return to the essence, the origin, the archetype, thus to the celestial state: “And it is for this that, naked, I dance,” as Lalla Yogishvari, the great Kashmiri saint, said after having found the Divine Self in her heart. Frithjof Schuon's response to this question is continued on the next slide.