Editing Seyyed Hossein Nasr (section)

===Tradition===
{{Main|Tradition (perennialism)}}

In ''Knowledge and the Sacred'', Nasr defines tradition as follows:

{{blockquote|Tradition as used in its technical sense [...], means truths or principles of a divine origin revealed or unveiled to mankind and, in fact, a whole cosmic sector through various figures envisaged as messengers, prophets, avatāras, the Logos or other transmitting agencies, along with all the ramifications and applications of these principles in different realms including law and social structure, art, symbolism, the sciences, and embracing of course Supreme Knowledge along with the means for its attainment.{{sfn | Liu |2000| p=255}}}}

For Nasr, the tradition therefore presents two aspects: "one is truths that are of a transcendent order in their origin, that came from the Divine, from God", revealed at the birth of each of the great religions and, on the other hand, the transmission of these truths by these same religions and by the civilizations they have generated; tradition is therefore not limited to religion – this is its heart – but it is deployed in all areas of a culture, hence the names "traditional art, traditional sciences, traditional architecture, traditional music, traditional clothing, etc."{{sfn|Jahanbegloo|2010 |p=181}}

Following [[René Guénon]] – to whom he is "indebted for clarifying this fundamental concept"{{sfn|Religious Art, Traditional Art, Sacred Art|2006 |p=177}} –, Nasr refers to a "Primordial Tradition", which he defines as being the single truth from which emanate all truths, the immutable and timeless archetype from which all traditions originate.{{sfn|Knowledge and the Sacred|1989|p=68}} According to Nasr, at a time when Heaven and Earth were still "united", the original or archetypal man was directly enlightened, spiritually and intellectually, by the Primordial Tradition.{{sfn|The Need for a Sacred Science|1993 |p=30}}

The value of tradition, for Nasr, is not manifested by a simple nostalgia for the past,{{sfn|Lumbard|2013 |p=180}} it stems from the wisdom that this tradition conveys, instructing the human being on his own nature and that of the world, and calling him to achieve his original perfection.{{sfn|Moore|2010 |p=xviii–xix}}{{sfn|Lumbard|2013 |p=179}} Only the truths conveyed by tradition, continues Nasr, allow us to grasp the full scope of the errors of modern thought and its misdeeds on man and nature.{{sfn|Jahanbegloo|2010 |p=197}}