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World Wisdom The Library of Perennial Philosophy The Library of Perennial Philosophy is dedicated to the exposition of the timeless Truth underlying the diverse religions. This Truth, often referred to as the Sophia Perennis—or Perennial Wisdom—finds its expression in the revealed Scriptures as well as the writings of the great sages and the artistic creations of the traditional worlds. The Underlying Religion: An Introduction to the Perennial Philosophy appears as one of our selections in the Perennial Philosophy series. The Perennial Philosophy Series In the beginning of the twentieth century, a school of thought arose which has focused on the enunciation and explanation of the Perennial Philosophy. Deeply rooted in the sense of the sacred, the writings of its leading exponents establish an indispensable foundation for understanding the timeless Truth and spiritual practices which live in the heart of all religions. Some of these titles are companion volumes to the Treasures of the World’s Religions series, which allows a comparison of the writings of the great sages of the past with the perennialist authors of our time. UURR FebruaryFebruary 008-07.indd8-07.indd i 55/29/2007/29/2007 112:12:252:12:25 PPMM Cover: Carpet page from the Lindisfarne Gospels, late 7th century UURR FebruaryFebruary 008-07.indd8-07.indd iiii 55/29/2007/29/2007 112:12:502:12:50 PPMM THE UNDERLYING RELIGION An Introduction to the Perennial Philosophy Edited by Martin Lings & Clinton Minnaar UURR FebruaryFebruary 008-07.indd8-07.indd iiiiii 55/29/2007/29/2007 112:12:502:12:50 PPMM The Underlying Religion: An Introduction to the Perennial Philosophy © 2007 World Wisdom, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission, except in critical articles and reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data The underlying religion : an introduction to the perennial philosophy / edited by Martin Lings & Clinton Minnaar. p. cm. -- (The library of perennial philosophy) (The perennial philosophy series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-933316-43-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Religion--Philosophy. 2. Philosophy and religion. 3. Tradition (Philosophy) I. Lings, Martin. II. Minnaar, Clinton, 1972- BL51.U64 2007 200--dc22 2007015535 Printed on acid-free paper in Canada. For information address World Wisdom, Inc. P.O. Box 2682, Bloomington, Indiana 47402-2682 www.worldwisdom.com UURR FebruaryFebruary 008-07.indd8-07.indd iivv 55/29/2007/29/2007 112:12:502:12:50 PPMM Dedicated to the memory of FRITHJOF SCHUON (1907-1998) on the occasion of the centenary of his birth UURR FebruaryFebruary 008-07.indd8-07.indd v 55/29/2007/29/2007 112:12:502:12:50 PPMM UURR FebruaryFebruary 008-07.indd8-07.indd vvii 55/29/2007/29/2007 112:12:502:12:50 PPMM CONTENTS Preface Martin Lings ix Introduction Clinton Minnaar xi I. TRADITION AND MODERNITY 1. Religion and Tradition Lord Northbourne 3 2. Modernism: The Profane Point of View Lord Northbourne 11 3. Looking Back on Progress Lord Northbourne 18 II. TRADITIONAL COSMOLOGY AND MODERN SCIENCE 4. The Past in the Light of the Present & The Rhythms of Time Martin Lings 35 5. Evolutionism Titus Burckhardt 55 6. Modern Science and the Dehumanization of Man Philip Sherrard 70 III. METAPHYSICS 7. Oriental Metaphysics René Guénon 95 8. The Decisive Boundary Martin Lings 110 9. Scientia Sacra Seyyed Hossein Nasr 114 10. Understanding and Believing Frithjof Schuon 141 IV. SYMBOLISM 11. The Symbol Martin Lings 153 12. The Traditional Doctrine of Symbolism Ghazi bin Muhammad 157 13. The Language of the Birds René Guénon 172 14. Symplegades Ananda K. Coomaraswamy 176 V. THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY 15. The Spirit of the Times Martin Lings 203 16. Paths That Lead to the Same Summit Ananda K. Coomaraswamy 217 17. Mysticism William Stoddart 230 18. The Perennial Philosophy Frithjof Schuon 243 UURR FebruaryFebruary 008-07.indd8-07.indd vviiii 55/29/2007/29/2007 112:12:502:12:50 PPMM VI. BEAUTY 19. Foundations of an Integral Aesthetics Frithjof Schuon 251 20. An Introduction to Sacred Art Titus Burckhardt 258 21. Do Clothes Make the Man? The Significance of Human Attire Marco Pallis 266 VII. VIRTUE AND PRAYER 22. Virtue and Morality Tage Lindbom 285 23. Frithjof Schuon and Prayer Reza Shah-Kazemi 295 24. A Letter on Spiritual Method Titus Burckhardt 310 Afterword: The Revival of Interest in Tradition Whitall N. Perry 312 Acknowledgments 331 Notes on Contributors 333 Biographical Notes 339 Index 341 UURR FebruaryFebruary 008-07.indd8-07.indd vviiiiii 55/29/2007/29/2007 112:12:502:12:50 PPMM PREFACE It was suggested to me that I should write a preface to this collection of essays, but in fact an ideal preface already exists in the form of a poem, namely The Wine-Song (Al-Khamriyyah) of ʿUmar ibn al-Fārid, which opens with these words: Rememb’ring the Belovèd, Wine we drink Which drunk had made us ere the vine’s creation.1 We are given the wonderful privilege of drinking an altogether transcendent Wine to the Glory of God, and becoming thereby drunk, a Wine that is far beyond the level of the created universe to which the vine itself belongs. But by way of preface let us simply quote the poet’s closing lines which speak for themselves. On analogy with what has been said about the transcendence of the Wine, our readers will be able to exalt other words also to a correspondingly higher level. I have written “Tavern” with a capital because it signifies here the secluded place where the Sufis assemble to perform their rites. The words “bid It unveil” are suggestive of a flagon that has been kept so long in trea- sured storage that it is covered with cobwebs. Go seek It in the Tavern; bid It unveil To strains of music. They offset Its worth, For Wine and care dwelt never in one place, Even as woe with music cannot dwell. Be drunk one hour with It, and thou shalt see Time’s whole age as thy slave, at thy command. He hath not lived here, who hath sober lived, And he that dieth not drunk hath missed the mark. With tears then let him mourn himself, whose life Hath passed, and he no share of It hath had. My being asked for a preface has also been ideally anticipated, but in a very different way, by the late Frithjof Schuon in a hitherto unpublished text which forms part of a series of messages or instruc- 1 For the original Arabic with my English translation on the opposite page, see Sufi Poems: A Mediaeval Anthology (Cambridge, UK: The Islamic Texts Society, 2004), pp. 68-74. ix UURR FebruaryFebruary 008-07.indd8-07.indd iixx 55/29/2007/29/2007 112:12:502:12:50 PPMM The Underlying Religion tions concerning the spiritual path and which had been set down on behalf of his disciples. The text in question, number 717, is entitled “Two Unequal Heredities.” In it he reminds us that despite whatever we may have inherited from recent and not very gifted ancestors, each one of us has in the depths of his or her soul man’s primordial heredity which is precisely Religio Perennis, the Perennial Philosophy. He begins by pointing out that this deep-seated “absolute” heredity “can erupt in the soul by a kind of providential atavism.” In these words he is clearly thinking of the very rarely granted Divine Grace of becoming suddenly a “throwback” to the far past. But quite apart from such mir- acles, there could clearly be no such thing as esoterism in the ordinary sense, that is, humanly organized esoterism under Divine Guidance, if it were not for the hidden reality of man’s higher heredity. Every esoteric order is itself a chain of spiritual heredity going back to the Divine Messenger whose function it was to found the religion in question and who himself, as such, is necessarily a personification of the Primordial Heredity. The rite of initiation into the Mysteries, often referred to as a second birth, is nothing other than the grafting of this chain of spiritual succession onto the psychic substance of the new initiate, thereby replacing the profane natal heredity which must not be allowed to reassert itself. It may attempt to do so, but normally any such attempts dwindle to nothing. There is no power at the psychic level that can resist the power of the Spirit to which the new initiate now has access thanks to his initiation. Martin Lings April 14, 2005* * Editor’s Note: A special debt of gratitude is owed to Dr. Martin Lings (1909-2005) for having generously agreed to co-edit The Underlying Religion when he was already in his early 90s and at a time when he was preparing several other manuscripts for publication; then, for having taken such considered efforts (over a period of some two years) to select a balanced collection of articles suitable for serving as an introduction to the perennial philosophy; and fi nally, for having written the valuable Preface to this anthology, which he completed less than a month before his death at age 96. (In fact, work on the anthology was concluded less than two days before his passing away.) x UURR FebruaryFebruary 008-07.indd8-07.indd x 55/29/2007/29/2007 112:12:512:12:51 PPMM INTRODUCTION The essays compiled in this anthology are intended to provide an accessible introduction to the “traditionalist” or “perennialist” school of comparative religious thought. This current of thought, which saw the light of day in the early twentieth century in the pioneering writings of the French metaphysician and symbologist René Guénon (1886-1951), and which was amplified by the prodigious scholarship of the Anglo-Ceylonese orientalist and art historian Ananda K.
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