As a continuation of his much-discussed work "The Crisis of the Modern World" (1927), the short essay by French thinker and traditionalist René Guénon titled "Spiritual Authority and Temporal Power" (1929), examines the metaphysical principles that legitimize the political and spiritual hierarchies of every society, particularly the modern Western one. At the same time, it highlights the problem of the gradual distancing of the West from traditional values that disrupt the relationship between the spiritual and the temporal, consequently harming the healthy development of culture. Using historical elements from India and medieval West, as well as events of his time, René Guénon describes the downward trajectory of humanity from the initial unity of the two modes of power, spiritual and temporal, to the modern disharmony and imbalance. However, the author, based on the principles of Traditionalism and the thought of poet and political philosopher Dante Alighieri, maintains the certainty that, regardless of appearances, the renewal and eventual restoration of unity will inevitably occur, no matter how delayed it may be.

"Temporal power concerns the world of action and change. The true function of priesthood is, above all, a function of knowledge and teaching, and for this reason, the quality that suits it is wisdom."