Syncretism versus synthesis

From time to time I receive complaints accusing me of committing "syncretism."

 

In the book Perspectives on Initiation, Rene Guenon distinguishes between syncretism and synthesis.

 

Syncretism:

• Based on a "profane" observation of exoteric orders -- p. 37
• Nothing more than a simple juxtaposition of elements of diverse provenance brought together...without any principle of a more profound order to unite them -- p. 38
• Fragmentary notions borrowed from different traditional forms, more of less poorly understood, deformed and mixed with ideas belonging to profane science. -- p. 38
• A profane process by virtue of its exteriority; starts from exterior and remains on the circumference itself -- p. 38
• Humanist; it attempts to explain that the hypothetical sources of traditions are purely of profane human origins. -- p. 41

Synthesis:

• It, by definition, starts from principles (the most interior), to the external surface. -- p. 38
• Synthesis by its very nature excludes all syncretism. -- p. 41
• It considers all forms in the very unity of their principle. -- p. 45