In "Man and Certainty" Frithjof Schuon explores the essential characteristics of human intelligence and that which sets it apart from all other creation: its capacity to comprehend the Absolute. The author constructs a series of examples from everyday life and observations and arrivea at the conclusion that man must exercise his fullest intelligence by conceiving the Absolute. This must be followed by the decision to seek It, thus finding our fullest happiness in It. Schuon once again intersperses metaphysical reasoning with profound observations on employing intellect, will, and virtue in order to lead the life of the spirit. This essay is also notable for its extensive comments on the act of making choices in life. In a world of inner and outer uncertainties, Schuon points his readers to choices that can lead to one of the great goals of the spiritual life: certainty.

A renowned scholar of Arabic and Sufism, Victor Danner, applies an historical and linguistic approach to illustrate various aspects of Sufism, the esoteric domain of Islam. The terms "Sufi" and its derivative, "Sufism," have for many years enticed scholars to offer a variety of opinions that, ultimately, tend to elucidate little other than one's powers of speculation. In this essay Danner sums up the research and tells a fascinating story of the development of the term and of Islamic mysticism. Danner's thesis centers around the point that the term "Sufi" came into use "because of the readaptation that the Islamic tradition had to make in view of a decline that threatened its spiritual bases." Thus, a return to the original interiorizing spirit of Islam was employed to neutralize centuries of exteriorizing ritual and dogma, and this through the return to the simple purity of the symbol of the wearing of wool ("suf" in Arabic).

One of the great interpreters of Buddhism, particularly in its Tibetan form, was Marco Pallis. In this extended essay, Pallis devotes himself to demonstating the traditional concept that "both these principles must be brought into play and harmoniously blended if ever spirituality is to ripen its proper fruit in enlightenment" In the first, more general part of the essay, Pallis surveys a number of doctrines, tells stories from Tibetan culture, explains Buddhist symbols, considers spiritual virtues, and finds common ground in the ideas and practices of several religions. In the second part, he examines "a number of examples, all based on personal observation or experience in the Tibetan world, of how the conjoint principle of Wisdom and Method operates in various circumstances of spiritual life."

In this two-part essay, A.K. Coomaraswamy sets out to prove "that our use of the term 'aesthetic' forbids us also to speak of art as pertaining to the 'higher things of life' or the immortal part of us; that the distinction of 'fine' from 'applied' art, and corresponding manufacture of art in studios and artless industry in factories, takes it for granted that neither the artist nor the artisan shall be a whole man.…" Using primarily Platonic and Hindu sources, he shows quite convincingly that modern arts education and production may result in an endless variety of arts for leisure, but that this situation encourages neither the understanding of traditional art, nor the production of arts that are "effective" in ennobling people with those "higher things of life."

Author Shojun Bando introduces us to Jodo Buddhism, little known to many, through a more familiar form: Zen Buddhism. His purpose is to correct the "deplorable fact that Jodo Buddhism has long been misunderstood by many people as being something little different from Christianity." His intention is to "describe the character of Jodo Buddhism in contrast with the Zen way of attaining the Buddhist principle, sūnyatā" (non-substantiality). Bando's work here ultimately clears up a number of simplistic misunderstandings about both forms of Buddhism and gives us a greater appreciation of both.