On Shakespeare and the English Language:
Seyyed Hossein Nasr once asked Dr. Lings why he continued to be so much concerned with Shakespeare.
Dr. Nasr recalled,
“He (Lings) said that since the English language was now becoming
global, the time of Shakespeare had arrived and that it was most important to preserve this language at its peak and in expressions impregnated with the deepest wisdom and traditional teachings. In this way the spread of English would not contribute simply to the impoverishment of various cultures.”
On Frithjof Schuon:
“I knew when I was in his (Schuon’s) presence that I was in the presence of a true saint and also the spiritual master that I was seeking. When I say ‘true saint,’ I don’t mean just a saintly man but a true saint of the first magnitude, such as one cannot expect to meet in the twentieth century…. I knew this with a certainty.”
