The Book of Sages

Alphonse Louis Constant (1810-75), A.K.A. Éliphas Lévi, a seminary dropout, mixed in socialist circles and wrote several radical political books that led to prison sentences. In the 1850s he devoted his time to the study and promulgation of occult doctrine: especially magic and Kabbalah. His writings were seminal for occultists including Papus, A. E. Waite, and Aleister Crowley.In 'The Book of Sages', one of Lévi's last writings, he formulates his beliefs clearly and accessibly. His literary range is on display as he portrays himself in a series of short, rich fictional dialogues with representatives of "the whole religious and philosophical polemic of the present age": a reactionary Catholic apologist, a priest, a philosopher, a pantheist, a Jew, a Protestant, a doctor, a scientist, a spiritualist, and finally an esotericist like himself. He highlights his differences and agreements, often surprising, with each of these worldviews. In the second half of the book Lévi formulates his doctrine in a series of short topical chapters with enumerated aphorisms. These touch on religion, morality, nature, (animal) magnetism, death, Satan, occultism, faith, science, and other subjects.His stated purpose being to "reconcile science and dogma, authority and freedom, reason and faith", Lévi's writings are a response to Enlightenment modernity, to the clash of science and faith. He doesn't want to go back to medieval simplicity, but to progress forward: his writings anticipate a global, universal, rational, and hierarchical religion that will repair the spiritual emptiness of modern scientific humanity.This is the first English translation of this book.