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The Perennial Philosophy ALDOUS HUXLEY The Perennial Philosophy 194? Chatto & Windus LONDON PUBLISHED BY Chatto & Windus LONDON * Oxford University Press TORONTO Applications regarding translation rights in any work by Aldous Huxley should be addressed to Chatto & Windus, 40 William IV Street, London, W.C. 2 FIRST PUBLISHED 1946 SECOND IMPRESSION 1947 PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN IN COMPLETE CONFORMITY WITH THE AUTHORIZED ECONOMY STANDARDS ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Contents Introduction page i Chapter i That Art Thou 7 ii The Nature of the Ground 29 in Personality, Sanctity, Divine Incarnation 45 iv God in the World 69 v Charity 95 vi Mortification, Non-Attachment, Right Livelihood 113 vii Truth 145 vin Religion and Temperament 168 ix Self-Knowledge 185 x Grace and Free Will 190 xi Good and Evil 202 xn Time and Eternity 212 xin Salvation, Deliverance, Enlightenment 230 xiv Immortality and Survival 242 xv Silence 247 xvi Prayer 251 xvn Suffering 260 xvm Faith 268 xix God is not mocked 273 vi THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY Chapter xx Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum page 279 xxi Idolatry 287 xxn Emotionalism 292 xxni The Miraculous 298 xxiv Ritual, Symbol, Sacrament 301 xxv Spiritual Exercises 314 xxvi Perseverance and Regularity 334 xxvn Contemplation, Action and Social Utility 337 Bibliography 346 Index 353 Acknowledgments For permission to use the following selections, grateful acknowledgment and thanks are extended to the following authors and publishers : George Allen & Unwin Ltd.: MONKEY and THE WAY AND ITS POWER, translated by Arthur Waley; LETTERS, by Spinoza. Burns, Oates & Washbourne Ltd. : THE CLOUD OF UNKNOW- edited McCann THE OF ST. ING, by ; WORKS JOHN OF THE CROSS, translated by Allison Piers. Cambridge University Press: STUDIES IN ISLAMIC MYSTICISM, by R. A. Nicholson. /. M. Dent & Sons Ltd.: ADORNMENT OF THE SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE, by Ruysbroeck, translated by Winschenk Dom. P. J. and A. E. Dobell: CENTURIES OF MEDITATION, by Thomas Traherne. Dwight Goddard Estate: A BUDDHIST BIBLE, by Dwight Goddard. Co. Ltd. : Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & MASNAVI, by Jalal- uddin Rumi, translated by Whinfield. Longmans, Green & Co. Ltd.: THE SPIRIT OF ST. FRANCIS DE SALES, by Jean Pierre Camus, translated by Lear; CATHERINE OF SIENA, by Johannes Jorgensen. Macmillan & Co. Ltd.: THEOLOGIA GERMANICA, translated by Winkworth; THE SPIRITUAL REFORMERS, by Rufus Jones; MYSTICISM EAST AND WEST, by Rudolph Otto; ONE HUNDRED POEMS OF KABiR, by Rabindranath Tagore. John Murray and Mr. Lionel Giles : MUSINGS OF A CHINESE MYSTIC, from THE WISDOM OF THE EAST series, trans- lated by Herbert Giles. vii viii THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY Oxford University Press and Harvard University Press: THE TRANSFORMATION OF NATURE IN ART, by Amanda K. Coomaraswamy. Oxford University Press and The Pali Text Society: THE PATH OF PURITY, by Buddhaghosha. Oxford University Press: THE TIBETAN BOOK OF THE DEAD, translated by Dr. Evans-Wentz. Paramananda and the publishers of BHAGAVAD-GITA. George Routledge & Sons Ltd.: STUDIES IN THE LANKAVATARA SUTRA, by Suzuki. Skeed & Ward Ltd.: THE MYSTICAL THEOLOGY OF ST. BERNARD, by Etienne Gilson. The Society far Promoting Christian Knowledge: DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE, translated b^ C. E. Rolt. John M. Watkins: WORKS OF MEISTER ECKHART, translated by Evans; THE CREST-JEWEL OF WISDOM, by Shankara, translated by Charles Johnston. INTRODUCTION PERENNIS the was coined PHILOSOPHIA phrase Leibniz but the the that JL by ; thing metaphysic recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and the that finds in the soul similar minds ; psychology something to, or even identical with, divine Reality; the ethic that places man's final end in the knowledge of the immanent and trans- cendent Ground of all being the thing is immemorial and uni- versal. Rudiments of the Perennial Philosophy may be found among the traditionary lore of primitive peoples in every region of the world, and in its fully developed forms it has a place in every one of the higher religions. A version of this Highest Common Factor in all preceding and subsequent theo- logies was first committed to writing more than twenty-five centuries ago, and since that time the inexhaustible theme has been treated again and again, from the standpoint of every religious tradition and in all the principal languages of Asia and Europe. In the pages that follow I have brought together a number of selections from these writings, chosen mainly for their significance because they effectively illustrated some particular point in the general system of the Perennial Philo- sophy but also for their intrinsic beauty and memorableness. These selections are arranged under various heads and em- bedded, so to speak, in a commentary of my own, designed to illustrate and connect, to develop and, where necessary, to elucidate. Knowledge is a function of being. When there is a change in the being of the knower, there is a corresponding change in the nature and amount of knowing. For example, the being of a child is transformed by growth and education into that of a the results of this transformation is a revolution- man ; among ary change in the way of knowing and the amount and character of the things known. As the individual grows up, his know- ledge becomes more conceptual and systematic in form, and its 2 THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY factual, utilitarian content is enormously increased. But these gains are offset by a certain deterioration in the quality of im- mediate apprehension, a blunting and a loss of intuitive power. Or consider the change in his being which the scientist is able to induce mechanically by means of his instruments. Equipped with a spectroscope and a sixty-inch reflector an astronomer becomes, so far as eyesight is concerned, a superhuman crea- ture; and, as we should naturally expect, the knowledge pos- sessed by this superhuman creature is very different, both in quantity and quality, from that which can be acquired by a star- gazer with unmodified, merely human eyes. Nor are changes in the knower's physiological or intellectual being the only ones to affect his knowledge. What we know depends also on what, as moral beings, we choose to make our- * ' selves. Practice,' in the words of William James, may change our theoretical horizon, and this in a twofold way : it may lead into new worlds and secure new powers. Knowledge we could never attain, remaining what we are, may be attainable in a consequence of higher powers and higher life, which we may morally achieve.' To put the matter more succinctly, * Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.' And the same idea has been expressed by the Sufi poet, Jalal-uddin ' Rumi, in terms of a scientific metaphor : The astrolabe of the mysteries of God is love.' This book, I repeat, is an anthology of the Perennial Philo- an it contains but few extracts sophy ; but, though anthology, from the writings of professional men of letters and, though illustrating a philosophy, hardly anything from the professional philosophers. The reason for this is very simple. The Peren- nial Philosophy is primarily concerned with the one, divine Reality substantial to the manifold world of things and lives and minds. But the nature of this one Reality is such that it cannot be directly and immediately apprehended except by those who have chosen to fulfil certain conditions, making themselves in and in loving, pure heart, poor spirit. Why should this be so ? We do not know. It is just one of those facts which we have to accept, whether we like them or not and INTRODUCTION 3 however implausible and unlikely they may seem. Nothing in our everyday experience gives us any reason for supposing that water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen; and yet when we subject water to certain rather drastic treatments, the nature of its constituent elements becomes manifest. Similarly, nothing in our everyday experience gives us much reason for supposing that the mind of the average sensual man has, as one of its con- stituents, something resembling, or identical with, the Reality substantial to the manifold world; and yet, when that mind is subjected to certain rather drastic treatments, the divine ele- ment, of which it is in part at least composed, becomes mani- fest, not only to the mind itself, but also, by its reflection in external behaviour, to other minds. It is only by making physical experiments that we can discover the intimate nature of matter and its potentialities. And it is only by making psychological and moral experiments that we can discover the intimate nature of mind and its potentialities. In the ordinary circumstances of average sensual life these potentialities of the mind remain latent and unmanifested. If we would realize them, we must fulfil certain conditions and obey certain rules, which experience has shown empirically to be valid. In regard to few professional philosophers and men of letters is there any evidence that they did very much in the way of conditions of direct fulfilling the necessary spiritual knowledge. When poets or metaphysicians talk about the subject matter of the Perennial Philosophy, it is generally at second hand. But in every age there have been some men and women who chose to fulfil the conditions upon which alone, as a matter of brute empirical fact, such immediate knowledge can be had; and of these a few have left accounts of the Reality they were thus enabled to apprehend and have tried to relate, in one compre- hensive system of thought, the given facts of this experience with the given facts of their other experiences. To such first- hand exponents of the Perennial Philosophy those who knew them have generally given the name of 'saint' or 'prophet/ ' ' ' sage or enlightened one/ And it is mainly to these, because there is good reason for supposing that they knew what they 4 THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY were talking about, and not to the professional philosophers or men of letters, that I have gone for my selections.
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