If this be so, what need is there to deal specifically with Oriental metaphysics? The reason is that in the present intellectual state of the Western world metaphysics is a thing forgotten, generally ignored and almost entirely lost, whereas in the EAST it still remains the object of effective knowledge. Thus it is to the EAST that one must look if one wishes to discover the true meaning of metaphysics; or even if one’s wish is to recover some of the metaphysical traditions formerly existing in a West that was in many respects much closer to the EAST than it is today, it is above all with the help of Oriental doctrines and by comparison with them that one may succeed, since these are the only doctrines in the domain of metaphysics that can still be studied directly. As for these, however, it is quite clear that they must be studied as the Orientals themselves study them, and one must certainly not indulge in more or less hypothetical interpretations, which may sometimes be quite imaginary; it is too often forgotten that EASTern civilizations still exist and still have qualified representatives from whom it is possible to inquire in order to discover the exact truth about the subject in question. (MetaOrient 5)