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The Perennial Philosophy: An Interpretation of the Great Mystics, East and West
An inspired gathering of religious writings that reveals the "divine reality" common to all faiths, collected by Aldous Huxley
"The Perennial Philosophy," Aldous Huxley writes, "may be found among the traditional lore of peoples in every region of the world, and in its fully developed forms it has a place in every one of the higher religions."
With great wit and stunning intellect—drawing on a diverse array of faiths, including Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Christian mysticism, and Islam—Huxley examines the spiritual beliefs of various religious traditions and explains how they are united by a common human yearning to experience the divine. The Perennial Philosophy includes selections from Meister Eckhart, Rumi, and Lao Tzu, as well as the Bhagavad Gita, Tibetan Book of the Dead, Diamond Sutra, and Upanishads, among many others.
"The Perennial Philosophy," Aldous Huxley writes, "may be found among the traditional lore of peoples in every region of the world, and in its fully developed forms it has a place in every one of the higher religions."
With great wit and stunning intellect—drawing on a diverse array of faiths, including Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Christian mysticism, and Islam—Huxley examines the spiritual beliefs of various religious traditions and explains how they are united by a common human yearning to experience the divine. The Perennial Philosophy includes selections from Meister Eckhart, Rumi, and Lao Tzu, as well as the Bhagavad Gita, Tibetan Book of the Dead, Diamond Sutra, and Upanishads, among many others.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1945
1557 people are currently reading
22790 people want to read
About the author
Aldous Huxley
1,125 books13.2k followersAldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and philosopher. His bibliography spans nearly 50 books, including non-fiction works, as well as essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the prominent Huxley family, he graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, with a degree in English literature. Early in his career, he published short stories and poetry and edited the literary magazine Oxford Poetry, before going on to publish travel writing, satire, and screenplays. He spent the latter part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death. By the end of his life, Huxley was widely acknowledged as one of the foremost intellectuals of his time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature nine times, and was elected Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1962.
Huxley was a pacifist. He grew interested in philosophical mysticism, as well as universalism, addressing these subjects in his works such as The Perennial Philosophy (1945), which illustrates commonalities between Western and Eastern mysticism, and The Doors of Perception (1954), which interprets his own psychedelic experience with mescaline. In his most famous novel Brave New World (1932) and his final novel Island (1962), he presented his visions of dystopia and utopia, respectively.
Born into the prominent Huxley family, he graduated from Balliol College, Oxford, with a degree in English literature. Early in his career, he published short stories and poetry and edited the literary magazine Oxford Poetry, before going on to publish travel writing, satire, and screenplays. He spent the latter part of his life in the United States, living in Los Angeles from 1937 until his death. By the end of his life, Huxley was widely acknowledged as one of the foremost intellectuals of his time. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature nine times, and was elected Companion of Literature by the Royal Society of Literature in 1962.
Huxley was a pacifist. He grew interested in philosophical mysticism, as well as universalism, addressing these subjects in his works such as The Perennial Philosophy (1945), which illustrates commonalities between Western and Eastern mysticism, and The Doors of Perception (1954), which interprets his own psychedelic experience with mescaline. In his most famous novel Brave New World (1932) and his final novel Island (1962), he presented his visions of dystopia and utopia, respectively.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 370 reviews
April 14, 2009
This book redefined the way I look at religion. It speaks of the philosophy which connects all religions, and should be used as a way of relating to one another.
I found this particular passage quite engaging:
"The invention of the steam engine produced a revolution, not merely in industrial techniques, but also much more significantly in philosophy. Because machines could be made progressively more and more efficient, Western man came to believe that men and societies would automatically register a corresponding moral and spiritual improvement. Attention and allegiance came to be paid, not to Eternity, but to the Utopian future. External circumstances came to be regarded as more important that states of mind about external circumstances, and the end of human life was held to be action, with contemplation as a means to that end. These false and historically, aberrant and heretical doctrines are now systematically taught in our schools and repeated, day in, day out, by those anonymous writers of advertising copy who, more than any other teachers, provide European and American adults with their current philosophy of life. And so effective has been the propaganda that even professing Christians accept the heresy unquestioningly and are quite unconscious of its complete incompatibility with their own or anybody else's religion." -- Well said Hux.
I found this particular passage quite engaging:
"The invention of the steam engine produced a revolution, not merely in industrial techniques, but also much more significantly in philosophy. Because machines could be made progressively more and more efficient, Western man came to believe that men and societies would automatically register a corresponding moral and spiritual improvement. Attention and allegiance came to be paid, not to Eternity, but to the Utopian future. External circumstances came to be regarded as more important that states of mind about external circumstances, and the end of human life was held to be action, with contemplation as a means to that end. These false and historically, aberrant and heretical doctrines are now systematically taught in our schools and repeated, day in, day out, by those anonymous writers of advertising copy who, more than any other teachers, provide European and American adults with their current philosophy of life. And so effective has been the propaganda that even professing Christians accept the heresy unquestioningly and are quite unconscious of its complete incompatibility with their own or anybody else's religion." -- Well said Hux.
December 29, 2007
Dear Aldous Huxley,
I know that you where pronounced dead a long time ago, but because of this book, you are a living presence in my life today.
Thank you,
Bryon.
I know that you where pronounced dead a long time ago, but because of this book, you are a living presence in my life today.
Thank you,
Bryon.
July 23, 2012
Everyone should read this book. It is one of the best inspirational, inquisitive philosophy texts I have ever read.
July 29, 2016
I was talking to a friend about how much I hated the baggage I felt I had inherited from my loosely Christian upbringing. Some kind of female guilt about sex. Why I couldn't bear going to any more political events because I kept seeing this oppressive good v's evil narrative. So, for example if I went to events organised by the Left I kept feeling I had been co-opted by some church of people who believed they were the chosen ones, the 'good people' who would change the world, and we are in a war with the 'bad' tory people.
My friend said that he didn't think this is the ultimate truth of most religions, and told me to read this book. In this book, Huxley presents his version of the Perennial Philosophy. It brings together writing from Christian Mystics, Sufi Islam, Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism and more. Sure, to some people this may be height of hippy bullshit. But, for me, the ideas presented here, that heaven and hell are not external but are within all of us, resonate very deeply with me. Or, put slightly nicer by Rumi 'If thou has not seen the devil, look at thine own self'. Or, in the words of William Law;
"The will is that which as all power; it makes heaven and it makes hell; for there is no hell but where the will of the creature is turned from God, nor any heaven but where the will of the creature worketh within God".
The book presents loads of really interesting ideas. I was interested in the ideas I mention above about the nature of good and evil, heaven and hell. But also the nature of capitalism, the violence of Christianity and Imperialism (and other religions). For me his presentation of the environment is also something I have been thinking about recently. The idea that God is in nature. It reminds me of an example that Wangari Maathai gives of Christian missionaries who went to Kenya and told the indigenous population that they were wrong for thinking that God living in the mountains. Then the mountains ceased to be sacred. They began to be exploited.
This will be a book I'll be drawing on and rereading for many years to come. As well as having loads of incredible quotes from thinkers and movements I'll be sure to look up and read more of, it also has some banging analysis that Huxley makes of the time in which he was living, much of which is still very relevant today. I like this quote:
"Our present economic, social and international arrangement are based, in large measure, upon organised lovelessness. We begin by lacking charity towards Nature, so that instead of trying to cooperate with Tao or the Lagos on the inanimate and subhuman levels, we try to dominate and exploit, we waste the earth's mineral resources, ruin it's soil, ravage its forests, pour filth in its rivers and poisonous fumes into its air…. Upon this fairly uniform ground work of loveless relationships are imposed others. Here are some examples, contempt and exploitation of coloured minorities living amount white majorities, or of coloured majorities governed by minorities of white imperialists… And the crowing superstructure of uncharity is the organised lovelessness of the relations between state and sovereign state - a lovelessness that expresses itself in the axiomatic assumption that it is right and natural for national organisations to behave like thieves and murderers, armed to the teeth and ready, at the first favourable opportunity, to steal and kill."
My friend said that he didn't think this is the ultimate truth of most religions, and told me to read this book. In this book, Huxley presents his version of the Perennial Philosophy. It brings together writing from Christian Mystics, Sufi Islam, Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism and more. Sure, to some people this may be height of hippy bullshit. But, for me, the ideas presented here, that heaven and hell are not external but are within all of us, resonate very deeply with me. Or, put slightly nicer by Rumi 'If thou has not seen the devil, look at thine own self'. Or, in the words of William Law;
"The will is that which as all power; it makes heaven and it makes hell; for there is no hell but where the will of the creature is turned from God, nor any heaven but where the will of the creature worketh within God".
The book presents loads of really interesting ideas. I was interested in the ideas I mention above about the nature of good and evil, heaven and hell. But also the nature of capitalism, the violence of Christianity and Imperialism (and other religions). For me his presentation of the environment is also something I have been thinking about recently. The idea that God is in nature. It reminds me of an example that Wangari Maathai gives of Christian missionaries who went to Kenya and told the indigenous population that they were wrong for thinking that God living in the mountains. Then the mountains ceased to be sacred. They began to be exploited.
This will be a book I'll be drawing on and rereading for many years to come. As well as having loads of incredible quotes from thinkers and movements I'll be sure to look up and read more of, it also has some banging analysis that Huxley makes of the time in which he was living, much of which is still very relevant today. I like this quote:
"Our present economic, social and international arrangement are based, in large measure, upon organised lovelessness. We begin by lacking charity towards Nature, so that instead of trying to cooperate with Tao or the Lagos on the inanimate and subhuman levels, we try to dominate and exploit, we waste the earth's mineral resources, ruin it's soil, ravage its forests, pour filth in its rivers and poisonous fumes into its air…. Upon this fairly uniform ground work of loveless relationships are imposed others. Here are some examples, contempt and exploitation of coloured minorities living amount white majorities, or of coloured majorities governed by minorities of white imperialists… And the crowing superstructure of uncharity is the organised lovelessness of the relations between state and sovereign state - a lovelessness that expresses itself in the axiomatic assumption that it is right and natural for national organisations to behave like thieves and murderers, armed to the teeth and ready, at the first favourable opportunity, to steal and kill."
October 29, 2024
Charmingly, fascinatingly terrible. Really more of an antique piece at this point, a perfect encapsulation of the tedious synthesis found in various books from the 1950s and 1960s (see also Alan Watts, Joseph Campbell, etc.). This synthesis invariably consists of:
(1) always, first and foremost, anti-Christian animus, though the authors typically try to extract Eckhart and whichever other 'spiritual' writers that can be plausibly removed from the tradition and made vaguely Buddhist
(2) a surface-level understanding of religious history
(3) pop psychology / self-help platitudes
(4) a shallow infatuation with Eastern religion (which is so 'exotic' and non-Western! and therefore good!)
(5) weak 'analysis' of terrible English translations of religious texts
(6) various arguments that always add up to the laziest and most shallow sort of moral therapeutic deism, i.e. 'spiritual but not religious,' 'all religions are really the same,' etc., playing with religious concepts and never actually recommending or enacting any sort of disciplined or serious religious practice
The thing about perennialism is that its adherents have no path to sainthood, no path to Enlightenment. All religions are really the same, therefore just doing whatever you were already doing is sufficient -- which is very convenient! (Huxley's own path involved, apparently, ingesting lots of psilocybin and taking it easy.) Paradoxically, nothing is more opposed to the message of all religions than "truth is just a few vague propositions, you don't need to change who you are, just live how you like and be generically nice to people." When postmodern perennialism starts producing saints then maybe I'll start paying more attention.
(1) always, first and foremost, anti-Christian animus, though the authors typically try to extract Eckhart and whichever other 'spiritual' writers that can be plausibly removed from the tradition and made vaguely Buddhist
(2) a surface-level understanding of religious history
(3) pop psychology / self-help platitudes
(4) a shallow infatuation with Eastern religion (which is so 'exotic' and non-Western! and therefore good!)
(5) weak 'analysis' of terrible English translations of religious texts
(6) various arguments that always add up to the laziest and most shallow sort of moral therapeutic deism, i.e. 'spiritual but not religious,' 'all religions are really the same,' etc., playing with religious concepts and never actually recommending or enacting any sort of disciplined or serious religious practice
The thing about perennialism is that its adherents have no path to sainthood, no path to Enlightenment. All religions are really the same, therefore just doing whatever you were already doing is sufficient -- which is very convenient! (Huxley's own path involved, apparently, ingesting lots of psilocybin and taking it easy.) Paradoxically, nothing is more opposed to the message of all religions than "truth is just a few vague propositions, you don't need to change who you are, just live how you like and be generically nice to people." When postmodern perennialism starts producing saints then maybe I'll start paying more attention.
August 25, 2017
I first read this book when I was on a Huxley kick when I was a teenager. Brave New World inspired me to read everything I could get my hands on by him. Needless to say, The Doors of Perception was more my speed then than The Perennial Philosophy.
I recently read Mike Scott's autobiography, Adventures of a Waterboy, and discovered that this book meant a lot to him and his spiritual life. I picked up a copy at the library and felt a spark of recognition: I'd read this book before but was too young (and probably too Catholic!) to understand a word of it.
But, I realized, that the book somehow lit an unconscious spark in me. It's precepts are essentially a reiteration of the beliefs that I've developed on my own through reading the writers whom Huxley surveys. Heck, I've even become a member of the Unitarian Church - which is largely influenced and informed by this book.
I realize that this isn't so much a review as it is a self-indulgent memoir - the kind of thing that goes against the precepts of the book. It's an ego-based piece of writing. But the book was a VERY necessary read for me at this point in my life. So I thank Mike for - yet again - pointing me in the right direction, the direction of healing.
I recently read Mike Scott's autobiography, Adventures of a Waterboy, and discovered that this book meant a lot to him and his spiritual life. I picked up a copy at the library and felt a spark of recognition: I'd read this book before but was too young (and probably too Catholic!) to understand a word of it.
But, I realized, that the book somehow lit an unconscious spark in me. It's precepts are essentially a reiteration of the beliefs that I've developed on my own through reading the writers whom Huxley surveys. Heck, I've even become a member of the Unitarian Church - which is largely influenced and informed by this book.
I realize that this isn't so much a review as it is a self-indulgent memoir - the kind of thing that goes against the precepts of the book. It's an ego-based piece of writing. But the book was a VERY necessary read for me at this point in my life. So I thank Mike for - yet again - pointing me in the right direction, the direction of healing.
April 7, 2017
This is an interesting book but the style and the language are pretty difficult (at least for me). I think that who is into philosophy will have less problems than me to understand the language.
It doesn't talk about the dogma of the main religions (Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism), but about the philosophy and the spiritual side that are very similar if not the same. This is what I like the most: to see the points in common of religions, and not the differences.
There are a lot of quotes from different holy scriptures and from the writings of saints and mystics. I found them all very inspiring.
I recommend this book to who is interested in religions and their philosophical side, but be aware that it isn't a fast or easy read.
It doesn't talk about the dogma of the main religions (Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism), but about the philosophy and the spiritual side that are very similar if not the same. This is what I like the most: to see the points in common of religions, and not the differences.
There are a lot of quotes from different holy scriptures and from the writings of saints and mystics. I found them all very inspiring.
I recommend this book to who is interested in religions and their philosophical side, but be aware that it isn't a fast or easy read.
December 14, 2022
Around 1964, when I read this book, and others by Aldous Huxley, he was my teacher about how much more life could be.
His recognition of The Perennial Philosophy brought me intense comfort.
For Perspective on What Aldous Huxley Was Attempting
Goodreaders, I'm going to quote from an article on "Perennial Philosophy" on Wikipedia:
The idea of a perennial philosophy originated with a number of Renaissance theologians who took inspiration from neo-Platonism and from the theory of Forms. Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) argued that there is an underlying unity to the world, the soul or love, which has a counterpart in the realm of ideas.
According to Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494), a student of Ficino, truth could be found in many, rather than just two, traditions.
According to Agostino Steuco (1497–1548) there is "one principle of all things, of which there has always been one and the same knowledge among all peoples."
[Regarding Aldous Huxley and mystical universalism]
One such universalist was Aldous Huxley, who propagated a universalist interpretation of the world religions, inspired by Vivekananda's neo-Vedanta and his own use of psychedelic drugs.
What Huxley's Book Meant to Me
Quite simply, Aldous Huxley was the first contemporary mystic whose work I encountered. Much as I loved many other books I'd read by then, books that I plan to rate-and-review here on Goodreads on my "spiritual" shelf, this particular book brought me hope in a new way:
* Aldous WAS contemporary
* He WAS a fellow mystic
* And he was such a nerd! Sigh!
Currently I wouldn't find his approach in "Perennial" to be personally helpful, more like a brilliant intellectual exercise. Nonetheless, you could sum up my career as a writer as calling it an attempt to help my readers with experience, bolstered by systematic understanding (supported by rigorous trademarked systems), whereas Aldous Huxley was relentless in his search for understanding. Pure and simple and perennial, philosophical understanding!
As the founder of Energy Spirituality™, my career might never have been possible, if not for this book from my teenage equivalent of a rock star, Aldous Huxley.
His recognition of The Perennial Philosophy brought me intense comfort.
For Perspective on What Aldous Huxley Was Attempting
Goodreaders, I'm going to quote from an article on "Perennial Philosophy" on Wikipedia:
The idea of a perennial philosophy originated with a number of Renaissance theologians who took inspiration from neo-Platonism and from the theory of Forms. Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499) argued that there is an underlying unity to the world, the soul or love, which has a counterpart in the realm of ideas.
According to Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494), a student of Ficino, truth could be found in many, rather than just two, traditions.
According to Agostino Steuco (1497–1548) there is "one principle of all things, of which there has always been one and the same knowledge among all peoples."
[Regarding Aldous Huxley and mystical universalism]
One such universalist was Aldous Huxley, who propagated a universalist interpretation of the world religions, inspired by Vivekananda's neo-Vedanta and his own use of psychedelic drugs.
What Huxley's Book Meant to Me
Quite simply, Aldous Huxley was the first contemporary mystic whose work I encountered. Much as I loved many other books I'd read by then, books that I plan to rate-and-review here on Goodreads on my "spiritual" shelf, this particular book brought me hope in a new way:
* Aldous WAS contemporary
* He WAS a fellow mystic
* And he was such a nerd! Sigh!
Currently I wouldn't find his approach in "Perennial" to be personally helpful, more like a brilliant intellectual exercise. Nonetheless, you could sum up my career as a writer as calling it an attempt to help my readers with experience, bolstered by systematic understanding (supported by rigorous trademarked systems), whereas Aldous Huxley was relentless in his search for understanding. Pure and simple and perennial, philosophical understanding!
As the founder of Energy Spirituality™, my career might never have been possible, if not for this book from my teenage equivalent of a rock star, Aldous Huxley.
February 22, 2012
I picked this book up almost two decades ago coming off a run Robert Anton Wilson and a deep interest in Eastern Philosophies, particularly Taoism. I had never finished the book at the time as the real life of a young adult took sway. Coming back almost 20 years later this book still holds it's allure.
This is not an easy book to digest and Huxley did an amazing job presenting such a succinct overview of the Perennial Philosophy drawing from so many resources, it's just plain awe-inspiring. The excerpts from the myriad of texts were wisely chosen and fit the chapter topics and provided a jumping of point for further exploration.
From Zen to Christianity, Buddhism to Islam, Christ to Rummi, and all religions and philosophies in between, Huxley provides an great introduction to the underlying stream of commonality linking us all together in the greater whole of the universe. A thread that has stitched the saints and prophets throughout the ages and presents us with such a simple path that is oh so difficult to follow. The annihilation of self, the achievement of charity and the ultimate path of existence; it is in here.
This book is not a light read by any means and it forces one to take a long hard look at life. My hat is off to Huxley, that it is. Read it!
This is not an easy book to digest and Huxley did an amazing job presenting such a succinct overview of the Perennial Philosophy drawing from so many resources, it's just plain awe-inspiring. The excerpts from the myriad of texts were wisely chosen and fit the chapter topics and provided a jumping of point for further exploration.
From Zen to Christianity, Buddhism to Islam, Christ to Rummi, and all religions and philosophies in between, Huxley provides an great introduction to the underlying stream of commonality linking us all together in the greater whole of the universe. A thread that has stitched the saints and prophets throughout the ages and presents us with such a simple path that is oh so difficult to follow. The annihilation of self, the achievement of charity and the ultimate path of existence; it is in here.
This book is not a light read by any means and it forces one to take a long hard look at life. My hat is off to Huxley, that it is. Read it!
January 23, 2021
The
Perennial:
that which is everlasting and continually recurring.
This book is the result of Huxley's deep study on the writing of the mystics from the great traditions of the east to the enlightened Christians of the west.
An anthology of mystical writing.
I have a special shelf in my library where I place the sacred books such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible or the Sutras; I shall place this book very near to it.
This book is the result of Huxley's deep study on the writing of the mystics from the great traditions of the east to the enlightened Christians of the west.
An anthology of mystical writing.
... in all expositions of the Perennial Philosophy, the frequency of paradox, of verbal extravagance, sometimes even of seeming blasphemy. Nobody has yet invented a Spiritual Calculus, in terms of which we may talk coherently about the divine Ground and of the world conceived as its manifestation. For the present, therefore, we must be patient with the linguistic eccentricities of those who are compelled to describe one order of experience in terms of a symbol-system, whose relevance is to the facts of another and quite different order.
I have a special shelf in my library where I place the sacred books such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible or the Sutras; I shall place this book very near to it.
The knower and the known are one. Simple people imagine that they should see God, as if He stood there and they here. This is not so. God and I, we are one in knowledge. — Eckhart
February 24, 2017
ألدوس هكسلي الكاتب الانجليزي الشهير في كتابه المهم بيناقش ماهية الديانة الأزلية أو الفكرة المشتركة بين كل الأديان وكل الفلسفات الدينية وهي الماهية الصوفية، بينهيه باقتباس من الغزالي بيتكلم فيه عن ان في كل عصر بينشط فيه التيار الفلسفي (رمز العقلانية في البحث الميتافيزيقي)، بينشط أيضا التيار الصوفي، الي دوره بيكون المحافظة على العالم. بمعنى انه لا يستقيم العالم بالعقلانية وحدها لأنها محدودة فلن تقدم أي إجابة ميتافيزيقية كافية، وهذا ما يفتح الباب دائما أمام الصوفية الروحانية، سواء كانت حدسية أو نفسية تخضع للمشاعر، عشان تملأ الفراغ بين العقل والسؤال. وهذا الكتاب ما هو الا تجميع لاقتباسات وتعليقات لمناقشة الأفكار الصوفية المشتركة بين الهندوسية والبوذية والمسيحية والإسلام، كمحاولة لإحياء الصوفية الروحانية في عصره.
April 4, 2010
Huxley is referring to the perennial philosophy as those universal truths that span culture and religion. He shows in this book how all of the ancient traditions implemented these truths...or didn't. He is clearly very erudite and the book is full of quotes from early "saints", from both the East and the West.
While much of the material is quite interesting I wondered if he didn't write the book simply to show how Christianity has 'gone wrong'. His anti-Christian bias is pretty obvious.
This book is NOT a light read and you should only pursue it if you are really interested in this topic. On the positive side, this book did cause me some introspection on certain subjects and I feel like it has helped me in some of my own spiritual pursuits.
While much of the material is quite interesting I wondered if he didn't write the book simply to show how Christianity has 'gone wrong'. His anti-Christian bias is pretty obvious.
This book is NOT a light read and you should only pursue it if you are really interested in this topic. On the positive side, this book did cause me some introspection on certain subjects and I feel like it has helped me in some of my own spiritual pursuits.
July 11, 2011
Huxley examines a whole host of religions, from Buddhism to Catholicism and everything in between, explaining what the enduring philosophy of each is and what similarities they have to one another. In the end he makes the brilliant point that no matter how different each religion may be, they are, at their core, seeking the exact same thing. Anyone remotely interested in religion should read this. Highly recommend!
March 28, 2023
Huxley basically reads selections from different religious books and religious thinkers and adds some of his own commentary. Add in some majorly weird claims (Huxley tells us that "No one can seriously claim that psychic powers aren't real!") and you end up with something that didn't really do anything for me.
For someone looking for interesting sources of comparative religion that really make you think I would send them toward Alan Watts over this any day.
For someone looking for interesting sources of comparative religion that really make you think I would send them toward Alan Watts over this any day.
January 2, 2017
The Perennial Philosophy
Forget self to discover the Self
The book A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson, is essentially a history of science book. This book is a history of philosophy and summary of major religion, organized into different points. In both, I ran out of room to review. Link to complete review at the end. The main idea is this – all religions are essentially saying the same 27 things and here’s what they are. I found it very neat to jump from a Sufi mystic to a Catholic saint to a Hindu or Buddhist scholar and say, wow, yes, they are all saying the same thing. There is an additional layer suggesting you can join the elite crew that gets it and practices the perennial philosophy, but I think that detracts a bit from the overall summary. There’s a tendency to evangelize to join this group, and a bit of the Western bias of passion = bad. Never the less, it’s detailed and comprehensive, not a good introduction to the topic of eternal questions but good if you’re along the path of the pursuit of the truth and dedicated to the mysteries of life.
A bit different structure than usual. I’m going to do one more overall paragraph then I’ll go through the majority of topics where I’ll describe the central idea and sample quotes.
So. If all religions are saying the same thing, what is it? We are all one. That God dwells in each moment and in each being (including ourselves). Life purpose is “unitive knowledge” that God and self and others and existence are one. Awareness can be achieved through detachment to central desires and denial of ego, eye on the divine but unconcerned with the outcomes of effort (a very odd balance called “holy indifference”). That path is not easy, but when you undertake the right actions eventually you can “catch a glimpse of the Self that underlies separate individuality.” Modesty, humility, and simplicity will get you there. The kingdom of heaven is within you and eternity can be attained in your lifetime. Never forget we are one, that God allows us to participate in this sacred moment called life. We are kidding ourselves if we think our perspective is in some way different than any others.
I should add, ps, most growned up people don’t care about these topics. They become caught up in the false idols of technology, human progress, business, politics, anything temporal. They will look at you like a weirdo if you bring these things up. All are called, but not all are chosen or choose to continue the conversation with the divine. Pursuit this path and you will be different.
Note: If there isn’t a name attached to a quote it’s from Huxley
Point 1 – That are Thou – “you” are not just your ego perspective, you are contained in everyone you see and interact with. We are all one, so do unto others what you would do to yourself because self and other is an illusion.
Quotes
It is ignorance that causes us to identify ourselves with the body, the ego, the senses, or anything that is not the Atman. He is a wise man who overcomes this ignorance by devotion to the Atman. –Shankara (8th century Hindu scholar) 7
Point 2 – The Nature of the Ground – You are part of God, existence happens because you open your eye which is divine. You’re essentially sitting in the palm of God, more so you’re one atom in his / her hand.
Quotes
* The last end of man, the ultimate reason for human existence, is unitive knowledge of the divine Ground – the knowledge that can come only to those who are prepared to “die to self” and so make room, as it were, for God. –21
* The purpose of all words is to illustrate the meaning of an object...For example cow and horse belong to the category of substance. He cooks or he prays belongs to the category of activity. White and black belong to the category of quality…Now there is no class of substance to which the Brahmin belongs, no common genus. It cannot therefore be denoted by words which, like “being” in the ordinary sense, signify a category of things…Therefore it cannot be defined by word or idea; as the Scripture says, it is the One “before whom words recoil.” –Shankara 24
Point 3 – Personality, Sanctity, Divine Incarnation – personality is a distraction, selfhood is a better concept (less egotistical), you are sacred because you are the same as God (only saints recognize this).
Quotes
Insofar as they are saints, insofar as they possess the unitive knowledge that makes them “perfect as their Father which in heaven is perfect,” they are all astonishingly alike. Their actions are uniformly selfless and they are constantly recollected, so that at every moment they know who they are and what is their true relation to the universe and its spiritual Ground. 44
Point 4 – God in the World – because we exist in the world, we shouldn’t shrug off the activities of life, neither should we embrace them fully, but instead use them to further contemplate the divine. Actions and contemplation can lead to a holy end (when properly guided). You are aware when you recognize, in fact, the world is apparition of Mind and therefore beautiful and majestic. Don’t become attached to the world or desires, instead recognize the oneness.
Quotes
* The world is a mirror of Infinite Beauty, yet no man sees it. It is a Temple of Majesty, yet no man regards it. It is a region of Light and Peace, did not men disquiet it. It is the Paradise of God. –Thomas Traherne 67
Point 5 – Charity – give selflessly and without any expectation of reward
Quotes
* Here on earth the love of God is better than the knowledge of God, while it is better to know inferior things than to love them. By knowing them we raise them, in a way, to our intelligence, whereas by loving them, we stoop toward them and may become subservient to them, as the miser to his gold. –St. Thomas Aquinas 82
Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit; it is its own fruit, its own enjoyment. I love because I love…of all the motions and affections of the soul, love is the only one by means of which the creature, though not on equal terms, is able to treat with the Creator and to give back something resembling what has been given to it. 83
* Some people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow, and to love Him as they love their cow – for the milk and cheese and profit it brings them. This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wealth or inward comfort. They do not rightly love God, when they love Him for their own advantage. Indeed, I tell you the truth, any object you have in your mind, however good, will be a barrier between you and the inmost Truth. –Eckhart 84
Learn to look with an equal eye upon all beings, seeing the one Self in all. –Srimad Bhagavtam 85
Point 6 – Mortification, Non-Attachment, Right Livelihood – death of the self allows the birth of Self. The news of the day doesn’t matter. Have a job that is not in contradiction to the divine path (for example, drug dealing, taking advantage of the poor, producing weapons). Avoid the distractions of power or politics.
Quotes
“Our kingdom go” is the necessary and unavoidable corollary of “Thy kingdom come.” For the more there is of self, the less there is of God. 96
* God, if I worship thee in fear of hell, burn me in hell. And if I worship thee in hope of paradise, exclude me from Paradise; but if I worship thee for thine own sake, withhold not thine everlasting beauty. –Rabi’a (Sufi woman-saint) 102
* Listening four or five times a day to newscasters and commentators, reading the morning papers and all the weeklies and monthlies – nowadays, this is described as “taking an intelligent interest in politics.” St. John of the Cross would have called it indulgence in idle curiosity and the cultivation of disquietude for disquietude’s sake. 104
* A man undertakes the right action (which includes, of course, right recollectedness and right meditation), and this enables him to catch a glimpse of the Self that underlies his separate individuality. 112
Point 7 – Truth – seek the truth but don’t think there is a specific formula for extracting it. Don’t be hubristic and think you can reach it without surrender.
Quotes
* Even the most ordinary experience of a thing or event in time can never be fully or adequately described in words…God, however, is not a thing or event in time, and the time-bound words which cannot do justice even to temporal matters are even more inadequate do the intrinsic nature of our own unitive experience of that which belongs to an incommensurably different order. To suppose that people can be saved by studying and giving assent to formula is like supposing that one can get to Timbuctoo by poring over a map of Africa. Maps are symbols, and even the best of them are inaccurate and imperfect symbols. But to anyone who really wants to reach a destination, a map is an indispensably useful as indicating the direction in which the traveler should set out and the roads which he must take. 134
* The experience of beauty is pure, self-manifested, compounded equally of joy and consciousness, free from admixture of any other perception, the very twin brother of mystical experience, and the very life of it is super sensuous wonder…it is enjoyed by those who are competent thereto, in identity, just as the form of God is itself the joy with which it is recognized. –Visvanatha 138
Point 8 – Religion and Temperament – think of knowledge as a vertical axis of human capability, there is also a vertical axis that has divine union at its apex and separate selfhood at the base. All religions indicate the same ideas. Be temperate in consummation of knowledge of products.
Quotes
In the West, the traditional Catholic classification of human beings is based upon the Gospel anecdote of Martha and Mary. The way of Martha is the way of salvation through action, the way of Mary is the way through contemplation...in Hindu thought the outlines of this completer and more adequate classification are clearly indicated. The ways leading to the delivering union with God are not two, but three – the way of works, the way of knowledge and the way of devotion. In the Bhadagava Gita Sir Krishna instructs Arujna in all three paths – liberation without attachment; liberation through knowledge of the Self and the Absolute Ground of all being with which it is identical; and the liberation through intense devotion to the personal God or the divine incarnation. 148
“Holy indifference” is the path that leads through the forgetting of self to the discovery of the Self. 155
“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would be seen as it is, infinite.” –William Blake 189
* The aim of revolution is to make the future radically different from and better than the past. But some time-obsessed philosophers are primarily concerned with the past, not the future, and their politics are entirely a matter of preserving or restoring the status quo and getting back to the good old days. But the retrospective time worshipers have one thing in common with the revolutionary devotees of the bigger and better future; they are prepared to use unlimited violence to achieve their ends. 193
Every violence is, over and above everything else, a sacrilegious rebellion against the divine order. 194
* For what is probably the majority of those who profess the great historical religions, it signifies and has always signified a happy posthumous condition of indefinite personal survival, conceived of as a reward for good behavior and correct belief and a compensation for the miseries inseparable from life in a body. But for those who, within the various religious traditions, have accepted the Perennial Philosophy as a theory and have done with best to live it out in practice, “heaven” is something else. They aspire to be delivered out of separate selfhood in time and into eternity as realized in the unitive knowledge of the divine Ground. Since the Ground can and ought to be unitively known in the present life (whose ultimate end and purpose is nothing but this knowledge), “heaven” is not an exclusively posthumous condition. 202
Rest of review / all quotes (future self, you’re welcome)- https://1drv.ms/w/s!AkaMFERCFHxIgegKd...
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October 12, 2019حکمت جاودان" فلسفه ای در پرتو سکوت روشنی بخش"
هاکسلی در دهه های 40 و 50 از آنجا كه شیفتگی خاصی به زندگی معنوی پیدا كرده بود و به ویژه به رابطه بین انسان و الوهیت می اندیشید ، به خواندن بخش عظیمی از نوشته های عرفا و فرزانگان جهان از بودا ، مولوی و خواجه عبدالله انصاری گرفته تا اكهارت و سنت آگوستین پرداخت و سپس به تدوین منتخبی از این آثار همت گماشت و آن را با نام فلسفه جاودان خرد در 1945 منتشر كرد.
عقل و حکمت زیاد همانقدر بد است که عقل و حکمت کم
. انسان باید بیاموزد که راهى براى بودن در این جهان پیدا کند در عین حال که از این جهان نیست. راهها براى زیستن در زمان بدون آنکه زمان او را در کام خود فرو بلعد. ما گمان مى کنیم که خود را به درستى مى شناسیم و مى دانیم که هستیم و چه باید بکنیم ولى با وجود این افکارمان را تجربیات بى واسطه زیستى مان در این کره خاکى تعیین مى کنند . به عبارت دیگر فکر برده و فرمانبردار زندگى است. زندگى هم برده زمان است از این حیث که دم به دم تغییر مى کند تغییر دنیاى بیرون و درون، به طورى که ما هرگز در دو لحظه یکسان نمى مانیم. فکر را زندگى تعیین مى کند و شکل مى بخشد و زندگى را هم زمان گذرنده. اما سلطه زمان مطلق نیست زیرا سرانجام ، زمان هم توقفى دارد، به دو معنى: یک توقف از دیدگاه مسیحى که شکسپیر براساس آن دیدگاه قلم مى زد. زمان لاجرم در نقطه اى متوقف مى شود در روز داورى، روز رستاخیز.
اما زمان در فکر و ذهن فرد هم توقفگاهى دارد آنگاه که انسان مى آموزد حس و مقام بى زمانى و معنى ابدیت را در خود بپروراند.
به اعتقاد هاکسلى در بنیان عالم هستى و در پشت همه ظواهر امرى الهى قرار دارد. این مبدأ واحد الهى در عین حال که فراتر و منزه از عالم است در آن حضور هم دارد. هاکسلى بر آن است که ما درکى ولو مبهم از این وحدت و بنیان الهى داریم. تقرب به این وجود الهى امکانپذیر است. هدف و غایت اصلى زندگى انسان همین است که به وصال برسد اما براى این کار راهى را باید پیمود. با خودخواهى و خودمحورى و خودپرستى نمى توان این راه را پیمود. هرچه انانیت و من (I) بیشتر باشد حضور بنیاد وجود کمتر است. فقط با سیطره بر نفس و تواضع و شفقت و نفع ناپرستى پیشه کردن مى توان این راه را طى کرد. از آنجا که مردم نخواسته اند این راه به رستگارى را طى کنند تاریخ بشر چنین سیرى داشته است. آنها مى گویند که چرا نباید درپى هدفهاى شخصى خود باشند و روزگار خوشى داشته باشند. هاکسلى مى گوید آنها وقت خوش خود را پیدا مى کنند اما به ناگزیر به جنگ و انقلاب و الکلیسم و استبداد هم رو مى آورند و به یأس و ناامیدى هم مى رسند.
اما تاریخ گواه آن است که مردان و زنانى بوده اند که تن به مخاطره دادند و با اطمینان قلبى سعى کردند بنیان الهى وجود را بشناسند و به او تقرب بجویند. «در سیرو سلوکى طولانى به همان چیزى مى رسیم که در جست وجویش هستیم.»
هاکسلى معتقد بود شواهد فراوانى وجود دارد که برخى از مردم که هیچ فرق بارزى با دیگران جز از این حیث عرفانى ندارند، تجربه هایى روشن از وجود الهى و حیات معنوى داشته اند و به خدا تقرب پیدا کرده اند. به نظر هاکسلى دو راه وجود دارد: یا خودمان را منحصراً با منیت و خواسته هاى تماماً فردیمان یکى بپنداریم و عملاً خدا را در زندگى مان نادیده بگیریم یا به خدایى که در درون و برونمان هست روى بیاوریم و زندگى اخلاقى و پارسایانه اى پیشه کنیم. البته وضع سومى هم وجود دارد وضع کسانى که در میان زندگى خودمدارانه و زندگى خدامحورانه در نوسان و تردد هستند گاه خودخواه و نفس پرست مى شوند گاه متواضع و شریف و مشفق. به هر روى هاکسلى براین عقیده است که انسان تنها با سیر و سلوک در طریق پارسایى و زندگى قدیسانه به خرسندى و هدف اصلى خویش در زندگى نائل مى شود.
هاکسلى در ادامه مى گوید خودسازى و خودپرورى در سطح غیرکلامى قدمتى به اندازه خود تمدن دارد. «آرام باش و بدان که من خدا هستم.» براى اهل بصیرت و عرفاى همه زمانها و مکانها این اولین و بزرگترین فرمانها بوده است. شاعران به الاهگان غیبى خود گوش مى سپردند و به همین نحو اهل بصیرت و عارفان در وضعیت انفعال خردمندانه و خاموشى پویا، از الهامات الهى برخوردار مى شدند. در سکوت و خاموشى ذهنى ـ روانى مى توانیم حقیقت وجودمان را نظاره کنیم.
نقل از بلاگ
https://www.bartarinha.ir/fa/news/428...
مطالعه مقاله ای زیبا از استاد ملکیان درباره سکوت جاودان هاکسلی
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
هاکسلی در دهه های 40 و 50 از آنجا كه شیفتگی خاصی به زندگی معنوی پیدا كرده بود و به ویژه به رابطه بین انسان و الوهیت می اندیشید ، به خواندن بخش عظیمی از نوشته های عرفا و فرزانگان جهان از بودا ، مولوی و خواجه عبدالله انصاری گرفته تا اكهارت و سنت آگوستین پرداخت و سپس به تدوین منتخبی از این آثار همت گماشت و آن را با نام فلسفه جاودان خرد در 1945 منتشر كرد.
عقل و حکمت زیاد همانقدر بد است که عقل و حکمت کم
. انسان باید بیاموزد که راهى براى بودن در این جهان پیدا کند در عین حال که از این جهان نیست. راهها براى زیستن در زمان بدون آنکه زمان او را در کام خود فرو بلعد. ما گمان مى کنیم که خود را به درستى مى شناسیم و مى دانیم که هستیم و چه باید بکنیم ولى با وجود این افکارمان را تجربیات بى واسطه زیستى مان در این کره خاکى تعیین مى کنند . به عبارت دیگر فکر برده و فرمانبردار زندگى است. زندگى هم برده زمان است از این حیث که دم به دم تغییر مى کند تغییر دنیاى بیرون و درون، به طورى که ما هرگز در دو لحظه یکسان نمى مانیم. فکر را زندگى تعیین مى کند و شکل مى بخشد و زندگى را هم زمان گذرنده. اما سلطه زمان مطلق نیست زیرا سرانجام ، زمان هم توقفى دارد، به دو معنى: یک توقف از دیدگاه مسیحى که شکسپیر براساس آن دیدگاه قلم مى زد. زمان لاجرم در نقطه اى متوقف مى شود در روز داورى، روز رستاخیز.
اما زمان در فکر و ذهن فرد هم توقفگاهى دارد آنگاه که انسان مى آموزد حس و مقام بى زمانى و معنى ابدیت را در خود بپروراند.
به اعتقاد هاکسلى در بنیان عالم هستى و در پشت همه ظواهر امرى الهى قرار دارد. این مبدأ واحد الهى در عین حال که فراتر و منزه از عالم است در آن حضور هم دارد. هاکسلى بر آن است که ما درکى ولو مبهم از این وحدت و بنیان الهى داریم. تقرب به این وجود الهى امکانپذیر است. هدف و غایت اصلى زندگى انسان همین است که به وصال برسد اما براى این کار راهى را باید پیمود. با خودخواهى و خودمحورى و خودپرستى نمى توان این راه را پیمود. هرچه انانیت و من (I) بیشتر باشد حضور بنیاد وجود کمتر است. فقط با سیطره بر نفس و تواضع و شفقت و نفع ناپرستى پیشه کردن مى توان این راه را طى کرد. از آنجا که مردم نخواسته اند این راه به رستگارى را طى کنند تاریخ بشر چنین سیرى داشته است. آنها مى گویند که چرا نباید درپى هدفهاى شخصى خود باشند و روزگار خوشى داشته باشند. هاکسلى مى گوید آنها وقت خوش خود را پیدا مى کنند اما به ناگزیر به جنگ و انقلاب و الکلیسم و استبداد هم رو مى آورند و به یأس و ناامیدى هم مى رسند.
اما تاریخ گواه آن است که مردان و زنانى بوده اند که تن به مخاطره دادند و با اطمینان قلبى سعى کردند بنیان الهى وجود را بشناسند و به او تقرب بجویند. «در سیرو سلوکى طولانى به همان چیزى مى رسیم که در جست وجویش هستیم.»
هاکسلى معتقد بود شواهد فراوانى وجود دارد که برخى از مردم که هیچ فرق بارزى با دیگران جز از این حیث عرفانى ندارند، تجربه هایى روشن از وجود الهى و حیات معنوى داشته اند و به خدا تقرب پیدا کرده اند. به نظر هاکسلى دو راه وجود دارد: یا خودمان را منحصراً با منیت و خواسته هاى تماماً فردیمان یکى بپنداریم و عملاً خدا را در زندگى مان نادیده بگیریم یا به خدایى که در درون و برونمان هست روى بیاوریم و زندگى اخلاقى و پارسایانه اى پیشه کنیم. البته وضع سومى هم وجود دارد وضع کسانى که در میان زندگى خودمدارانه و زندگى خدامحورانه در نوسان و تردد هستند گاه خودخواه و نفس پرست مى شوند گاه متواضع و شریف و مشفق. به هر روى هاکسلى براین عقیده است که انسان تنها با سیر و سلوک در طریق پارسایى و زندگى قدیسانه به خرسندى و هدف اصلى خویش در زندگى نائل مى شود.
هاکسلى در ادامه مى گوید خودسازى و خودپرورى در سطح غیرکلامى قدمتى به اندازه خود تمدن دارد. «آرام باش و بدان که من خدا هستم.» براى اهل بصیرت و عرفاى همه زمانها و مکانها این اولین و بزرگترین فرمانها بوده است. شاعران به الاهگان غیبى خود گوش مى سپردند و به همین نحو اهل بصیرت و عارفان در وضعیت انفعال خردمندانه و خاموشى پویا، از الهامات الهى برخوردار مى شدند. در سکوت و خاموشى ذهنى ـ روانى مى توانیم حقیقت وجودمان را نظاره کنیم.
نقل از بلاگ
https://www.bartarinha.ir/fa/news/428...
مطالعه مقاله ای زیبا از استاد ملکیان درباره سکوت جاودان هاکسلی
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
March 25, 2012
"Puffing Billy has now turned into a four-motored bomber loaded with white phosphorus and high explosives, and the free press is everywhere a servant of its advertisers, of a pressure group, or of the government. And yet, for some inexplicable reason, the travellers (now far from gay) still hold fast to the religion of Inevitable Progress -- which is, in the last analysis, the hope and faith (in the teeth of all human experience) that one can get something for nothing. How much saner is the Greek view that every victory has to be paid for, and that, for some victories, the price exacted is so high that it outweighs any advantage that may be obtained!" (79)
"If specific exercises in self-denial are undertaken, they should be inconspicuous, non-competitive and uninjurious to health." (101)
"Here we may remark in passing that mechanization is incompatible with inspiration. ... The automatic machine is fool-proof; just because it is fool-proof it is also grace-proof." (171)
"Original ignorance is the same thing as original sin." (250)
"If specific exercises in self-denial are undertaken, they should be inconspicuous, non-competitive and uninjurious to health." (101)
"Here we may remark in passing that mechanization is incompatible with inspiration. ... The automatic machine is fool-proof; just because it is fool-proof it is also grace-proof." (171)
"Original ignorance is the same thing as original sin." (250)
March 15, 2015
This book is a gem, a must read, for people with even the slightest interest in the esoteric dimension of religions, any religion. It is a lucid presentation of exalting and inspiring quotes from mystics and saints throughout history. I believe it is the most comprehensive book on the subject of Sophia Perennis from the point of view of its practitioners.
Rumi, Meister Eckhart, Augustine, Shankara, etc. are among the many others whose memorable words about the Ground of Being are presented in this book.
It is one of the rare books that I can read many many time. Highly recommended.
Tomaj Javidtash
Rumi, Meister Eckhart, Augustine, Shankara, etc. are among the many others whose memorable words about the Ground of Being are presented in this book.
It is one of the rare books that I can read many many time. Highly recommended.
Tomaj Javidtash
September 23, 2024
Referring to Huxley as a "bold thinker" would be a gross understatement. While ostensibly just a survey of the world’s great religious movements and the writings of a wide selection of mystics, Huxley takes his argument a great deal further, proceeding to proclaim that a unifying “perennial” truth lies at the heart of all “higher” religions. In so doing, he endeavors to define the very nature and purpose of existence; one could scarcely address any topic more fundamental than that!
I am, of course not at all the sort of reader this book is aimed at; as an avowed agnostic, I’m about as mystical as yesterday’s laundry. So this was a very steep hill for me to climb; I struggled with not only the basic premise of his argument but also the syntax and vocabulary employed to express it. The fact that I stuck with it to the end (often shaking my head in bemusement) says much about the quality of Huxley’s work.
Fortunately, Huxley was considerate enough to have offered an introduction to soften the blow, so to speak. Nevertheless, the subtitle to Chapter 1 “That art thou” let me know from the outset that I was in for a major challenge; and it doesn’t get any easier. I often found myself re-reading a paragraph half a dozen times, breaking off to look up references, leafing back to previous sections — and at times simply putting the book aside to think through what it was that I thought I had just read.
Does he succeed in convincing me of his general premise? In some small degree, yes. He has a valid point, that all religions boil down to a basic search for the divine. Which would imply that all those thinkers, agreeing on one basic idea, cannot all be completely wrong. But that thesis breaks down the moment one attempts to assign any particularity to that most fundamental notion: the differences among beliefs are so vast that one is inclined to conclude that in fact NONE of them are correct. Dogma, structure and practice get in the way of common sense. In the end, every religion on earth defies logic and demands that its teachings be accepted on faith, or not at all.
Through the first two chapters, when he is setting forth his basic concept and supporting argument for perennialism, he can be quite compelling, even in passages that tax one’s attention span and tolerance for abstruse concepts. That said, I found that as he moved on to peripheral issues such as sanctity, self-knowledge, etc. he became increasingly preachy. His arguments concerning the nature of truth are especially disappointing, relying on quotes from various sages having questionable degrees of relevance; I was hoping he would tie his conclusions back to the matter of objective reality but the chapter just fizzled out.
Huxley regains momentum when he tackles the contentious issue of grace in the context of free will — most tellingly where he quotes St. Bernard: ”Grace is necessary to salvation, free will equally so — but grace in order to give salvation, free will in order to receive it.” His chapter on “Time and Eternity” is also a mind-bendingly compelling discussion.
And even though I find myself in sharp disagreement with much of what Huxley has to say about religious belief, I wanted to stand up and cheer when I came to the chapter titled “Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum” (To such heights of evil has religion been able to drive men) concluding with a devastating condemnation of the travesty of religious infighting that Sebastiano Castellio addressed to the Duke of Wurtemburg at the height of the Reformation. Including that chapter was indeed a courageous decision, boldly putting his entire thesis at risk by exposing religion’s dirty linen. Huxley was no piker, he chose to face the issues head on.
Huxley was one very smart dude, perhaps one of the most brilliant thinkers of the 20th century. I therefore recommend the book to anyone seeking an intellectual (and perhaps spiritual) challenge. I’m likely to revisit this book many times in the future. So, despite my refusal to embrace Huxley’s views, five stars for presenting a powerful, thought-provoking thesis.
I am, of course not at all the sort of reader this book is aimed at; as an avowed agnostic, I’m about as mystical as yesterday’s laundry. So this was a very steep hill for me to climb; I struggled with not only the basic premise of his argument but also the syntax and vocabulary employed to express it. The fact that I stuck with it to the end (often shaking my head in bemusement) says much about the quality of Huxley’s work.
Fortunately, Huxley was considerate enough to have offered an introduction to soften the blow, so to speak. Nevertheless, the subtitle to Chapter 1 “That art thou” let me know from the outset that I was in for a major challenge; and it doesn’t get any easier. I often found myself re-reading a paragraph half a dozen times, breaking off to look up references, leafing back to previous sections — and at times simply putting the book aside to think through what it was that I thought I had just read.
Does he succeed in convincing me of his general premise? In some small degree, yes. He has a valid point, that all religions boil down to a basic search for the divine. Which would imply that all those thinkers, agreeing on one basic idea, cannot all be completely wrong. But that thesis breaks down the moment one attempts to assign any particularity to that most fundamental notion: the differences among beliefs are so vast that one is inclined to conclude that in fact NONE of them are correct. Dogma, structure and practice get in the way of common sense. In the end, every religion on earth defies logic and demands that its teachings be accepted on faith, or not at all.
Through the first two chapters, when he is setting forth his basic concept and supporting argument for perennialism, he can be quite compelling, even in passages that tax one’s attention span and tolerance for abstruse concepts. That said, I found that as he moved on to peripheral issues such as sanctity, self-knowledge, etc. he became increasingly preachy. His arguments concerning the nature of truth are especially disappointing, relying on quotes from various sages having questionable degrees of relevance; I was hoping he would tie his conclusions back to the matter of objective reality but the chapter just fizzled out.
Huxley regains momentum when he tackles the contentious issue of grace in the context of free will — most tellingly where he quotes St. Bernard: ”Grace is necessary to salvation, free will equally so — but grace in order to give salvation, free will in order to receive it.” His chapter on “Time and Eternity” is also a mind-bendingly compelling discussion.
And even though I find myself in sharp disagreement with much of what Huxley has to say about religious belief, I wanted to stand up and cheer when I came to the chapter titled “Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum” (To such heights of evil has religion been able to drive men) concluding with a devastating condemnation of the travesty of religious infighting that Sebastiano Castellio addressed to the Duke of Wurtemburg at the height of the Reformation. Including that chapter was indeed a courageous decision, boldly putting his entire thesis at risk by exposing religion’s dirty linen. Huxley was no piker, he chose to face the issues head on.
Huxley was one very smart dude, perhaps one of the most brilliant thinkers of the 20th century. I therefore recommend the book to anyone seeking an intellectual (and perhaps spiritual) challenge. I’m likely to revisit this book many times in the future. So, despite my refusal to embrace Huxley’s views, five stars for presenting a powerful, thought-provoking thesis.
September 12, 2021
قرأت هذا الكتاب الرائع بطريقة مختلفة قليلا عن قراءتي المعتادة. شعرت أن القراءة المكثفة له بعدد الصفحات اليومية المعتاد سوف تظلم الكتاب. إنه مكون من فصول منفصلة متصلة، كما أنه يحتوي على عدد ضخم من الاقتباسات، وموضوعه "الفلسفة الخالدة" ليس موضوعًا معرفيًا وحسب، بل هو موضوع روحي في الأساس، ومن ثم قررت أن أقرأ كل يوم فصلا أو اثنين.
أفادتني هذه الطريقة في التركيز أكثر على أفكار الكتاب وتأملاته.
منذ سنوات كنت مهتمًا جدًا بالتصوف، وبمرور بضعة أعوام أخرى فقدت تقريبًا اهتمامي بالأمر بعد أن وجدت أنه مجال خصب للا عقلانية والخداع الروحي، لكن هذا الكتاب ليس كذلك أبدًا...
يتميز هيكسلي بأشد درجات الانضباط والاعتدال. إنه بعيد تمامًا عن التطرف، كما أنه يركز جهوده على ممارسات التصوف القابلة للتنفيذ من قِبل أغلب الناس ببذل بعض الجهد. إنه يركز على مضمون الفلسفة الخالدة لا شطحاتها ومستحيلاتها. تميزت بعض الفصول بعمق غير عاد، وملاحظات شديدة الذكاء.
أود أن أشكر الصديق أحمد سمير سعد على اختياره لهذا الكتاب بالرغم من خروجه عن دائرة اهتماماته العلمية بدرجة ما. كتاب مهم وحقيقي، ولا يجاري الموجات الزائفة في كتب التصوف.
الترجمة في المجمل كانت رائعة. في بداية الكتاب أوقفتني بعض صياغة الجمل قليلا... شعرت أنها كان من الممكن أن تُصاغ بطريقة أفضل، ولكن لم يستمر ذلك لأكثر من عشر الكتاب مثلا، وبعدها استمرت الترجمة جذلة وسلسة بالرغم من ضخماة حجم الكتاب. أشكر جدًا الصديق أحمد على المجهود لكبير الذي بذله في ترجمة هذا الكتاب، ومراجعة النصوص العربية على أصولها، وإمداد الكتاب بالحواشي اللازمة، ويمكنني بالطبع تصور مدى المجهود الهائل الذي تطلبته ترجمة كتاب من هذا النوعية وعن هذا الموضوع.
أفادتني هذه الطريقة في التركيز أكثر على أفكار الكتاب وتأملاته.
منذ سنوات كنت مهتمًا جدًا بالتصوف، وبمرور بضعة أعوام أخرى فقدت تقريبًا اهتمامي بالأمر بعد أن وجدت أنه مجال خصب للا عقلانية والخداع الروحي، لكن هذا الكتاب ليس كذلك أبدًا...
يتميز هيكسلي بأشد درجات الانضباط والاعتدال. إنه بعيد تمامًا عن التطرف، كما أنه يركز جهوده على ممارسات التصوف القابلة للتنفيذ من قِبل أغلب الناس ببذل بعض الجهد. إنه يركز على مضمون الفلسفة الخالدة لا شطحاتها ومستحيلاتها. تميزت بعض الفصول بعمق غير عاد، وملاحظات شديدة الذكاء.
أود أن أشكر الصديق أحمد سمير سعد على اختياره لهذا الكتاب بالرغم من خروجه عن دائرة اهتماماته العلمية بدرجة ما. كتاب مهم وحقيقي، ولا يجاري الموجات الزائفة في كتب التصوف.
الترجمة في المجمل كانت رائعة. في بداية الكتاب أوقفتني بعض صياغة الجمل قليلا... شعرت أنها كان من الممكن أن تُصاغ بطريقة أفضل، ولكن لم يستمر ذلك لأكثر من عشر الكتاب مثلا، وبعدها استمرت الترجمة جذلة وسلسة بالرغم من ضخماة حجم الكتاب. أشكر جدًا الصديق أحمد على المجهود لكبير الذي بذله في ترجمة هذا الكتاب، ومراجعة النصوص العربية على أصولها، وإمداد الكتاب بالحواشي اللازمة، ويمكنني بالطبع تصور مدى المجهود الهائل الذي تطلبته ترجمة كتاب من هذا النوعية وعن هذا الموضوع.
February 6, 2015
Huxley gets to the root of The Thing by examining religious texts from around the world. He finds out what they have in common to get to the parts that are not human projection, idolatry, and bullshit. It's all around us and we are part of It.
December 23, 2017
Çevirinin ve redaksiyonun ne denlj önemli olduğunu net olarak anlayabilmek açısından ornek mahiyetinde zira bazı kısımlarını anlayabilmek için kıvrım kıvrım kıvranmaniz gerekebilir :)
January 4, 2024
Lettura impegnativa nei tempi delle feste, ha in realtà aperto praterie spaziose dietro la sua apparente complessità. Huxley scrive bene, in modo completo e documentato. In questo saggio si cercano di trovare i punti comuni nelle tradizioni secolari di spiritualità attraverso numerosissimi brani tratti da fonti cattoliche, protestanti, buddhiste, induiste e sufi - e forse mi sono dimenticato qualcosa. La cosa piu' degna di nota è la capacità del filosofo nel sapersi muovere a proprio agio in tutte queste scuole, mantenendo un sano distacco da ognuna di esse, abbracciando nel contempo e caldamente il Fondamento Perenne alla base di ciascuna.
August 16, 2009
This book explain the ways in which ALL the world's religions, taken at their core, express the "Perennial Philosophy". He quotes at length from Catholic saints, Martin Luther, the Vedantas, the Tao te Ching, George Fox, the Upanishads, the writings of many Buddhists, and so on. I know I've left some out; I'm not looking at the book as i write, and it has been probably 10 years since I read it last.
Nonetheless, a major formative book for my life, which I discovered when I was 13 or 14 and have been rereading ever since.
Nonetheless, a major formative book for my life, which I discovered when I was 13 or 14 and have been rereading ever since.
September 27, 2011
Lest anyone doubt that one of the greatest philosophers of the modern age is Aldous Huxley I give you The Perennial Philosophy. Huxley boils all religious tradition into its basic universal truths. It is through this discovery that he finds what he is good in the best teachings and what is manipulative in its tenets.
I am constantly amazed by the breadth of thought that Aldous Huxley explored during his lifetime and how relevant that five years today. I will probably be thinking about this volume for many years to come.
I am constantly amazed by the breadth of thought that Aldous Huxley explored during his lifetime and how relevant that five years today. I will probably be thinking about this volume for many years to come.
March 27, 2008
This is a very noteworthy book, but the author's style is such that I couldn't bear to continue reading it, on several tries; maybe in a few years I'll try yet again. Some writing styles are a total slog for one person, but fine or prefered for another.
October 2, 2014
As Wittgenstein said: "If you can think it, then you can say it. If you can say it, then you can say it clearly." I don't find Huxley's prose very clear. If the "interpretation" isn't much clearer than the ideas it's meant to interpret, then what's the point?
May 19, 2025
maybe like a 7.5/10 ? Will write a longer review later on my blog. Some great content and points here, but feels like Huxley is partially just trying to reconcile versions of eastern philosophy (most specifically Buddhism) he finds most valuable with versions of Christian mysticism (which, he argues very well, are basically the "original", "uncorrupted", "true" versions of Christianity). To be honest, I think that he could have just done a much better / more credible job arguing of the existence of the "perennial philosophy". I found his arguments about how consumerism is basically the new religion of the west (with advertising copy as it's scripture) compelling and disturbing - he did a great job there, but it didn't surprise me at all coming from the author of Brave New World
May 17, 2010
Written in 1945, the book is an anthology of the Perennial Philosophy and contains vast examples as extracts from scriptures and/or other type of writings from various religious: Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, etc.
The central idea of the perennial philosophy is that there exists Divine Truth, Divine Reality which is one and universal, and that different religions are different ways to express that one Truth. However as Huxley writes this one Divine Reality cannot be directly and immediately apprehended except by those whom we generally give the name of 'saint' or 'prophet', 'sage' or 'enlightened one' and the only way is to study, reflect and comprehend their experience, works and writings.
"If one is not oneself a sage or saint, the best thing one can do, in the field of metaphysics, is to study the works of those who were, and who, because they had modified their merely human mode of being, were capable of a more than merely human kind and amount of knowledge" - writes Huxley in the introduction.
The central idea of the perennial philosophy is that there exists Divine Truth, Divine Reality which is one and universal, and that different religions are different ways to express that one Truth. However as Huxley writes this one Divine Reality cannot be directly and immediately apprehended except by those whom we generally give the name of 'saint' or 'prophet', 'sage' or 'enlightened one' and the only way is to study, reflect and comprehend their experience, works and writings.
"If one is not oneself a sage or saint, the best thing one can do, in the field of metaphysics, is to study the works of those who were, and who, because they had modified their merely human mode of being, were capable of a more than merely human kind and amount of knowledge" - writes Huxley in the introduction.
June 30, 2015
A phenomenal and profound philosophical study, Aldous Huxley seamlessly integrates the thoughts of philosophers, mystics and sages from Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and Islam into a marvelously thought-provoking and coherent book. Wonderfully written, Huxley centers his discussion on man's ultimate end: to know the unitive nature of the Divine. Everything centers around what Huxley views as man's ultimate end, and the discussion of a myriad of spiritual issues centers around what Huxley views as man's unfortunate tendency to confuse means with ends, as people continually fall into the idolatry of means. With hard critiques on the vain foolishness of modern man, Huxley urges his readers to engage on the path of un-selfing, the only way in which God may be revealed to man.
Though I don't necessarily agree with Huxley 100%, his work is remarkably compelling, thoughtful, and earnest, and provides wise counsel to those seeking spiritual enlightenment and the truly moral life in a selfish and violent world.
Though I don't necessarily agree with Huxley 100%, his work is remarkably compelling, thoughtful, and earnest, and provides wise counsel to those seeking spiritual enlightenment and the truly moral life in a selfish and violent world.
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