Mysticism, the Perennial Philosophy and Interfaith Dialogue
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Book Review by Harry Oldmeadow of "Frithjof Schuon: Messenger of The
Book Review Frithjof Schuon: Messenger of the Perennial Philosophy by Michael Oren Fitzgerald (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 2010). Review by Harry Oldmeadow Source: Crossing Religious Frontiers (Studies in Comparative Religion series), edited by Harry Oldmeadow (Bloomington, IN: World Wisdom, 2010) © World Wisdom, Inc. www.studiesincomparativereligion.com An issue of Studies in Comparative Religion dedicated to the theme “Crossing Religious Frontiers” could hardly find a more apposite subject than the life and work of Frithjof Schuon. Indeed, two of Schuon’s essays feature in this very issue. His work first appeared in the Anglophone world with the publication in 1953 of The Transcendent Unity of Religions, a book which articulated the metaphysical basis of the inner or essential unity of the world’s great religious traditions. This remarkable work was followed, over the next half-century, by more than thirty books in which Schuon provided a peerless exegesis of immutable metaphysical and cosmological principles, and an explication of their applications and ramifications in the boundless world of Tradition. These works, written in crystalline prose, stand as a beacon for those lost in the spiritual wastelands of modernity. Many years ago, in introducing one of Schuon’s books, Seyyed Hossein Nasr wrote: “His authoritative tone, clarity of expression, and an ‘alchemy’ which transmutes human language to enable it to present the profoundest truths, make of it a unique expression of the sophia perennis”.1 Quite so. Now we have to hand a biography of this frontier-crosser extraordinaire. For many readers of this journal, Schuon—metaphysician, poet, artist, spiritual master— requires no introduction. -
"The Debate About 'Orientalism'" by Harry Oldmeadow
From the World Wisdom online library: www.worldwisdom.com/public/library/default.aspx 1. The Debate about “Orientalism” The West’s Encounter with the East since Antiquity—What do we mean by “Orientalism”?—Edward Said and the Critics of Orientalism—Alternative Perspectives—The Traditionalist Outlook The value, efficacy, strength, apparent veracity of a written statement about the Orient therefore relies very little, and cannot instrumentally depend, on the Orient as such. On the contrary, the written statement is a presence to the reader by virtue of its hav ing excluded, displaced, made supererogatory any such real thing as “the Orient” ... that Orientalism makes sense at all depends more on the West than on the Orient, and this sense is directly indebted to various Western techniques of representation. (Edward Said)1 Western culture will be in danger of a decline into a sterilizing provincialism if it despises or neglects the dialogue with other cultures ... the West is forced (one might also say: condemned) to this encounter and confrontation with the cultural value of “the others” ... One day the West will have to know and to understand the existential situations and the cultural universes of the non-Western peoples; moreover, the West will come to value them as integral with the history of the human spirit and will no longer regard them as immature episodes or as aberrations from an exemplary History of man—a History conceived, of course, only as that of Western man. (Mircea Eliade)2 The West’s Encounter with the East since Antiquity In the early 19th century Hegel remarked that “Without being known too well, [India] has existed for millennia in the imagination of the Europeans as a wonderland. -
Nondualism and the Divine Domain Burton Daniels
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Volume 24 | Issue 1 Article 3 1-1-2005 Nondualism and the Divine Domain Burton Daniels Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies Part of the Philosophy Commons, Psychology Commons, and the Religion Commons Recommended Citation Daniels, B. (2005). Daniels, B. (2005). Nondualism and the divine domain. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 24(1), 1–15.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 24 (1). http://dx.doi.org/10.24972/ijts.2005.24.1.1 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals and Newsletters at Digital Commons @ CIIS. It has been accepted for inclusion in International Journal of Transpersonal Studies by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ CIIS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Nondualism and the Divine Domain Burton Daniels This paper claims that the ultimate issue confronting transpersonal theory is that of nondual- ism. The revelation of this spiritual reality has a long history in the spiritual traditions, which has been perhaps most prolifically advocated by Ken Wilber (1995, 2000a), and fully explicat- ed by David Loy (1998). Nonetheless, these scholarly accounts of nondual reality, and the spir- itual traditions upon which they are based, either do not include or else misrepresent the reve- lation of a contemporary spiritual master crucial to the understanding of nondualism. Avatar Adi Da not only offers a greater differentiation of nondual reality than can be found in contem- porary scholarly texts, but also a dimension of nondualism not found in any previous spiritual revelation. -
Australian Religion Studies Review
AUSTRALIAN RELIGION STUDIES REVIEW Volume 16, No.2, Spring 2003 Australian Religion Studies Review Australian Religion Studies REVIEW Editors ARSR: Kathleen McPhillips, Adam Possamai Book Review editor: Jay Johnston Chair ofPublications: currently vacant Editorial Board: Alan Black, Edith Cowan University; Gary Bouma, Monash University; Robert Crotty, University of South Australia; Douglas Ezzy, University of Tasmania; Majella Franzmann, University of New England; Peta Goldburg, Australian Catholic University; Julia Howell, Griffith University; Phillip Hugues, Christian Research Association and Edith Cowan University; Lynne Hume, University of Queensland; Marion Maddox, Victoria University (Wellington); Harry Oldmeadow, La Trobe University (Bendigo); Paul Rule, La Trobe University. Concerning manuscripts for ARS REVIEW: The Editor, ARS REVIEW, Dr Adam Possamai, School of Applied Human and Social Sciences, UWS, Bankstown Campus, Penrith South DC NSW 1797. Email: [email protected] Concerning book reviews: The Book Review Editor, Jay Johnston. School of Humanities, UWS, Blacktown Campus, Penrith South DC NSW 1797. Email: [email protected] Concerning REVIEW advertising and enclosures, and back issues ARS REVIEW: Dr Kathleen McPhillips, School of Humanities, UWS, Blacktown Campus, Penrith South DC NSW 1797. Email: [email protected] Concerning purchase of AASR books: Rainbow Book Agency, 303 Arthur St, Fairfield VIC 3078. Concerning manuscripts for AASR publication: Dr Kathleen McPhillips, School of Humanities, UWS, Blacktown Campus, Penrith South DC NSW 1797. Email: [email protected] Concerning membership, subscriptions: Carole Cusack, Secretary AASR, Department of Religious Studies, Sydney University, NSW, 2006. Email: [email protected] The Australian Religion Studies REVIEW is published twice a year (Autumn and Spring) by the Australian Association for the Study of Religions. -
The Traces of the Bhagavad Gita in the Perennial Philosophy—A Critical Study of the Gita’S Reception Among the Perennialists
religions Article The Traces of the Bhagavad Gita in the Perennial Philosophy—A Critical Study of the Gita’s Reception Among the Perennialists Mohammad Syifa Amin Widigdo 1,2 1 Faculty of Islamic Studies, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Yogyakarta 55183, Indonesia; [email protected] 2 Wonderhome Library, Yogyakarta 55294, Indonesia Received: 14 April 2020; Accepted: 28 April 2020; Published: 6 May 2020 Abstract: This article studies the reception of the Bhagavad Gita within circles of Perennial Philosophy scholars and examines how the Gita is interpreted to the extent that it influenced their thoughts. Within the Hindu tradition, the Gita is often read from a dualist and/or non-dualist perspective in the context of observing religious teachings and practices. In the hands of Perennial Philosophy scholars, the Gita is read from a different angle. Through a critical examination of the original works of the Perennialists, this article shows that the majority of the Perennial traditionalists read the Gita from a dualist background but that, eventually, they were convinced that the Gita’s paradigm is essentially non-dualist. In turn, this non-dualist paradigm of the Gita influences and transforms their ontological thought, from the dualist to the non-dualist view of the reality. Meanwhile, the non-traditionalist group of Perennial Philosophy scholars are not interested in this ontological discussion. They are more concerned with the question of how the Gita provides certain ways of attaining human liberation and salvation. Interestingly, both traditionalist and non-traditionalist camps are influenced by the Gita, at the same time, inserting an external understanding and interpretation into the Gita. -
I First Met Raimon Panikkar (Or, As I Knew Him When He Lived in Santa
FOREWORD I first met Raimon Panikkar (or, as I knew him when he lived in Santa Barbara, Raimundo Panikkar) in Varanasi, India, when my family and I were in India for the first time in 1968. I was doing a postdoc at Banaras Hindu University that year. I had spoken with Raimundo by phone earlier in the spring of 1968 before heading out to India with my family, when Raimundo was a visiting professor at Harvard, and I recall that he advised me that it might be better for my family if I were to do my postdoc at Delhi Univeristy or in Pune rather than Varanasi (or Banaras) because of health problems that might occur in the sacred city of the Hindus. My wife and I discussed Raimundo’s recommendation, but we persisted in pursuing Banaras and BHU. We were fortunate that year, and in subsequent years as well, since Banaras Hindu University regularly provided us with excellent campus accommodations, both when I was a postdoc and later when I was a visiting professor in philosophy at BHU. In any case, Raimundo maintained a regular residence in Banaras in those years, a small “penthouse” room on the roof of a Śaivite Hindu temple at Hanuman Ghat on the banks of the Ganges. His small rooftop room had a veranda with an exquisite view of the sacred Ganga, and I recall attending Raimundo’s multi-cultural discussion group that met once a week on that roof. It 2 was a remarkable multi-religious experience with participants from around the world (France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, the US and various States of India), and I was, and still continue to be amazed, that Raimundo had the unusual capacity to converse, at least with the Europeans and Indians, in their various native tongues (English, French, German, Italian, Hindi, Tamil, and Malayalam). -
Book Reviews
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Volume 29 | Issue 1 Article 14 1-1-2010 Book Reviews Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies Recommended Citation (2010). Sotillos, S. B. (2010). [Review of the book Christian gnosis: From St. Paul to Meister Eckhart, by Wolfgang Smith]. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(1), 135–136. Sotillos, S. B. (2010). [Review of the book Hinduism and its spiritual masters, by William Stoddart]. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(1), 136–138. Sotillos, S. B. (2010). [Review of the book Frithjof Schuon and the perennial philosophy, by Harry Oldmeadow]. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(1), 138–142.. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29 (1). Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts- transpersonalstudies/vol29/iss1/14 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. Book Reviews Christian Gnosis: From St. Paul to Meister Eckhart is something divine, something that belongs, not to a by Wolfgang Smith (Sophia Perennis, 2008). $19.95, man, but to God himself.” ISBN 978-1-59731-092-5 Readers can also note that nondualism is an essential theme presented throughout the entire work Reviewed by Samuel Bendeck Sotillos and can be found in every authentic sapiential tradition. Although nondualism is often associated with the esoteric “Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key or “inner” dimensions of religion, it is correspondingly of gnosis: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that inseparable from exoterism or its “outer” dimensions: “in were entering in ye hindered.” – Luke 11:52 fact, the first finds its consummation in the second.” In Dr. -
6 'Mystic Hinduism9 Vedanta and the Politics of Representation
'Mystic Hinduism' 119 Locating the 'essence' of the Hindu tradition in origins (arche), in this case the ancient Vedas, however, was also prevalent among the nineteenth- century Hindu reformers as a nationalist and anti-colonial stratagem. For 9 Dayananda Saraswati and the Arya Samaj, for instance, the Samhitas were 6 'Mystic Hinduism the source of all legitimate manifestations of Hinduism and also provided evidence of the superiority of Hinduism over 'younger' religions such as Vedanta and the politics of Christianity. For Saraswati, Christianity was a poor imitation of the Hindu representation religion. Indeed, all knowledge, he believed, could be demonstrated to have originated in Mother India from time immemorial, including modern tech- nologies such as aircraft, long-forgotten and now claimed to be the sole invention of the colonizing Westerners. Equally, since William Jones had established an Indo-European link between Sanskrit and the classical languages of European culture, interest in comparative linguistics had devel- oped steadily among Orientalists and the search for a common They assert that the world is nothing but an illusion, a dream, a magic spell, Indo-European source most often turned its attentions eastwards. Saraswati and that the bodies, in order to be truly existent, have to cease existing in explicitly identified this 'Ur-language' with Vedic Sanskrit, now conceived as themselves, and to merge into nothingness, which due to its simplicity the 'mother of all languages'. This approach, of course, intersected well with amounts to the perfection of all beings. They claim that saintliness consists Romantic representations of India as the geographical point of origin of in willing nothing, thinking nothing, feeling nothing .. -
The Return of the Perennial Philosophy. the Supreme Vision of Western Esotericism
The Return of the Perennial Philosophy. The Supreme Vision of Western Esotericism By John Holman. Watkins Publishing, 1st edition London 2008. Paperback, 172 pp. Review by Roland Benedikter This book tries to provide a short integrative picture of the Western esoteric worldview, seen as the historical basis of contemporary “experiential” spirituality. Holman’s main hypothesis is that in the present epoch of a broad renaissance of traditional religion it is increasingly becoming necessary to know the main themes and features of the “empirical spirituality” of the West that have long been hidden in the background of its public sphere. “Empirical spirituality” is conceived as being opposed to mere “faith” and dedicated instead to “spiritual research” and “exploration” in “first person.” To identify what the common ground (or the “supreme vision”) of the very different Western esoteric streams has been in the last seven centuries shall enable the reader to help prepare the present culture of secular rationality for the “return of the perennial philosophy,” and thus for a more balanced societal paradigm. “Perennial philosophy” is outlined as an experimental proceeding of opening up new empirical knowledge between realism and transcendentalism. According to Holman, this proceeding has always been equipped with certain methodological tools common to more or less all Western esoteric traditions in order to create experiential alternatives to collectivistic, myth-oriented religion. The book consists of an introduction and three main parts divided in 13 chapters. The Introduction gives a brief overview of the studies carried out so far about the field mainly by means of a critical history of ideas, and depicts the “ethnomethodological” approach chosen by the author. -
A Sage for the Times
The Matheson Trust A Sage for the Times The Role and the Oeuvre of Frithjof Schuon Harry Oldmeadow Published in Sophia: The Journal of Traditional Studies (Washington DC), 4:2, Winter. If Guénon was the master expositor of metaphysical doctrines and Coomaraswamy the peerless scholar and connoisseur of Oriental art who began his exposition of metaphysics through recourse to the language of artistic forms, Schuon seems like the cosmic intellect itself impregnated by the energy of divine grace surveying the whole of the reality surrounding man and elucidating all the concerns of human existence in the light of sacred knowledge. Seyyed Hossein Nasr1 A Personal Note In the mid-70s I was idly meandering through an Australian weekly magazine which, amongst other things, carried reviews of recently published books from various fields. My eye caught a review of The Sword of Gnosis, an anthology of writings on "Metaphysics, Cosmology, Tradition, Symbolism", edited by Jacob Needleman. The review was sufficiently arresting for me to seek out a copy of the book. It was with growing excitement that I first encountered the writings of several figures whose work I would come to know well over the years ahead—René Guénon, Titus Burckhardt, Martin Lings, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, amongst others. But the effect of Schuon's essays was quite mesmeric: here, in the exposition of traditional doctrines and principles, was a clarity, a radiance and a depth which seemed to me, as indeed it still does, to be of a more or less miraculous order. Nasr has written of the appearance of Guénon's first book (Introduction générale à l'étude des doctrines des hindoues, 1921), It was like a sudden burst of lightning, an abrupt intrusion into the modern world of a body of knowledge and a perspective utterly alien to the prevalent climate and world view and completely opposed to all that characterizes the modern mentality.2 This, precisely, is how Schuon's essays struck me. -
Aldous Huxley, Representative Man Edited by Gerhard Wagner
James Hull Aldous Huxley, Representative Man Edited by Gerhard Wagner LIT TABLE OF CONTENTS General Editors' Preface i Editor's Note ii Foreword by Robin Hull iii List of Abbreviations vi INTRODUCTION 1 PART ONE I. THE PREDESTINATION OF EVENTS 6 The Early Poems 10 II. SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE 24 Limbo 26 Crome Yellow 30 Mortal Coils 35 On the Margin 39 III. GONE ABROAD 45 Antic Hay 46 i) Paradise Lost 52 ii) Betrayal 55 iii) "What's He to Hecuba?" 57 iv) The Monster 58 v) Inferno 61 vi) The Last Ride Together 63 Little Mexican 66 IV. THE SEARCH FOR A NEW DIMENSION 78 Those Barren Leaves 78 i) "An Evening at Mrs Aldwinkle's" 78 ii) "Fragments from the Autobiography of Francis Chelifer" 82 iii) "The Loves of the Parallels" 89 iv) "The Journey" 93 Along the Road 97 Two or Three Graces 104 The Spectator: Jesting Pilate 110 i) Religion 112 ii) Art and Other Matters 114 iii) The Later Stages of the Journey 117 Proper Studies 118 i) The Idea of Equality 120 ii) Varieties of Intelligence 122 iii) The Way of the Solitary 124 iv) Personality and Ideals 126 V. LIFE WORSHIP 130 Point Counter Point 130 i) Philip and Elinor Quarles 132 ii) Returning from India 137 iii) Back Home 138 iv) Predestination 141 v) Rampion and Philip 144 vi) Walter Bidlake and the Siren 146 vii) Rachel Quarles and Marjorie Carling 150 viii) Spandrell 153 ix) Rampion 155 x) The "Spiritual Thermopylae" 160 xi) The Riddle of Burlap 163 xii) The Case of John Middleton Murry 166 xiii) Little Phil's Death 169 Do What You Will 170 i) Unity and Diversity 170 ii) The Two Humilities 174 iii) "Pascal" 176 iv) "Holy Face" 184 VI. -
Timothy M. E. Scott, Phd Lat I See Myself As a Scholar of Religion, With
Timothy M. E. Scott, PhD LaT I see myself as a scholar of religion, with a broader knowledge of the areas informed by this, in particular philosophy, symbolism, literature and art. A passionate teacher with experience and success at both secondary and tertiary levels, I seek to develop the student’s knowledge, understanding and critical ability. As an author I am interested in the deepest meaning of religion and religious thought. I am committed to promoting good writing through my teaching, editing and mentoring. I am available for these roles in a freelance capacity (timothyscott.com.au/editing). From June 2007 to December 2010 I was employed as the editor-in-chief of Eye of the Heart: A Journal of Traditional Wisdom (EoH), a peer-reviewed, scholarly journal in the field of traditional philosophy and religious studies (visit EoH). My editorial work within the PRS program was augmented with lecturing, tutoring, marking, and the examination of Honours and postgraduate theses. To my role as an editor I bring a wide range of interests in the field of religious studies as well as my experience as a proof-reader and copy-editor. I believe that to be a good editor is to engage in an open, honest and respectful relationship. Prior to my position at La Trobe I taught Religious Studies (Yr. 7 - A-level) at Oxford High School, specializing in A-Level Theology, achieving outstanding examination results: seven out of my GCSE cohort received commendations for being in the top ten students for GCSE Religious Studies in the UK in 2006; my last year of AS-level students received an unprecedented 100% A grades, and three of my A2-level students were accepted into Oxbridge courses in the field of Religious Studies/Theology.