Pierre A. Riffard

Pierre A. Riffard is a French philosopher and specialist in esotericism. Born in Toulouse (France), he is a professor of pedagogy and philosophy at the University of the French West Indies and Guiana (Université des Antilles et de la Guyane). Teaching in the French overseas departments and territories and elsewhere: Asia, Oceania, Sub-Saharan Africa, Guiana.

For Pierre A. Riffard, esotericism is "occult teaching, doctrine or theory, technique or process, of symbolic expression, of a metaphysical nature, of initiatory intent. Druidism, compagnonnage (the traditional French system of training craftsmen), alchemy are esotericisms."

Pierre A. Riffard defended a Doctor of Philosophy thesis on the Greek formula ἓν καὶ πᾶν (hen kai pān, "the One and the All"), then a Doctor of Arts thesis on L'Idée d'ésotérisme [The Idea of Esotericism] (Paris 1 Sorbonne University, 1987), after conducting research into occultism. Author of the Dictionnaire de l'ésotérisme [Dictionary of Esotericism] (Payot, 1983), which is an authoritative work in the field, he has also written two sizeable volumes for the "Bouquins" collection of France's Editions Robert Laffont publishing house; one is devoted to esotericism in general: L'ésotérisme. Qu'est-ce que l'ésotérisme ? [Esotericism. What is Esotericism?], 1990; the other treats with non-Western esotericisms: Ésotérismes d'ailleurs [Esotericisms from other lands], 1997. As soon as 87, he proposed nine invariants for defining an esotericism:

In other terms,

As regards form, esotericists have a secret: paralipsis (apophasis). They purport to say nothing, while at the same time discreetly revealing something (In saying "I will say nothing about the sacred nature of sexuality", I have said that sexuality does indeed have a sacred nature). For example, symbols such as the apple or the coiled serpent reveal numerous clues or keys to sexuality, while simultaneously appearing to obfuscate the discourse or image.

As regards content, esotericists have another secret: reversion. They reverse ordinary ideas, they turn around commonplace behaviour, they overturn shared emotions, to return to the original. For example, kundalini yoga sends sexual energy up to the brain, and the alchemist returns to primary matter, when everything becomes possible and powerful again.

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