The Perennial Tradition--Introduction Introduction "Philosophia Perennis--the phrase was coined by Leibniz; but the thing-- the metaphysic that recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds; the psychology that finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality; the ethic that places man's final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being--the thing is immemorial and universal." Aldous Huxley. (1944). The Perennial Philosophy 1 This book provides an entrée into the Perennial Tradition, the secret legacy, the single stream of initiatory teaching http://www.hermes-press.com/Perennial_Tradition/PTintroduction.htm (1 of 15)02/10/2008 14:56:06 The Perennial Tradition--Introduction flowing through all the great schools of mysticism. Relative to the time and place in which they work, teachers within the Perennial Tradition adapt earlier and contemporary teachings to meet the needs of their students. "I have meditated on the different religions, endeavoring to understand them, and I have found that they stem from a single principle with numerous ramifications. Do not therefore ask a man to adopt a particular religion (rather than another), for this would separate him from the fundamental principle; it is this principle itself which must come to seek him; in it are all the heights and all the meanings elucidated; then he will understand them." Al-Hallaj, a Sufi Perennialist teacher "Hence there is a single religion and a single creed for all beings endowed with understanding, and this religion is presupposed behind all the diversity of rites." Nicolas of Cusa The conception that the Perennial Tradition is the single stream of initiatory teaching flowing through all the original, authentic expressions of the great religions and philosophies does not point to an indiscriminate syncretism or a vacuous eclecticism. It is important for seekers to realize what a unique approach to teaching the Perennial Tradition embodies. Non- Perennialist books on philosophy, religion, mysticism, or the occult are the results of teachers of a specific era borrowing from the ideas and practices of former thinkers and creating a syncretism of doctrines and procedures which they then http://www.hermes-press.com/Perennial_Tradition/PTintroduction.htm (2 of 15)02/10/2008 14:56:06 The Perennial Tradition--Introduction represent as their own new system. Perennialist teaching material and teaching methods are, on the contrary, the outcome of creative adaptation to contemporary needs of the identical stream of Perennialist truth by the initiated teacher. Certain material within the tradition becomes superseded and a Perennialist teacher does not repeat it just because it had been used at an earlier time. Each Perennialist teacher will arrive at a different embodiment of the fundamental truths, not because she is borrowing from her predecessors and building her own philosophical system on the basis of their ideas, but because the needs of her students, relative to her own time and place in history, require new compilations and techniques. The Perennialist teacher makes genuine contact with the essence of the Perennial Tradition and the originating impulse indicates what and how instructional material is to be used. In many instances, the immediate disciples of Perennialist teachers do not understand their masters' esoteric teachings, http://www.hermes-press.com/Perennial_Tradition/PTintroduction.htm (3 of 15)02/10/2008 14:56:06 The Perennial Tradition--Introduction misinterpreting and distorting the genuine precepts, creating a fixed system of senseless dogma. As we'll see in chapter thirteen, this is precisely what occured with Jesus' teachings: his immediate disciples distorted his ideas into a neo-Jewish travesty of what Jesus had taught. It took Paul, a disciple of Jesus by virtue of his mystical experience, to understand the true nature of what Jesus had taught. When disciples of a Perennialist master are able to follow in the same line as the original teacher, it is because they have tapped into the Perennialist initiatory current in an authentic way. "Only by a rare stroke of fortune has one or another of these pioneers of thought found a single disciple who could grasp his meaning well enough to perform the task of handing it on. Even so, there arises a curious dilemma, which can hardly be escaped. Unless this disciple is himself a man of genius, he is not likely to rise to the height of his argument. If he is a man of genius, he will not stop short at a mere reproduction of what he has understood from his master. He will carry the thought farther, following out its implications in fields beyond its original scope; and in so doing he may transform the truth into a shape the master would hardly recognise. "Something of this sort happened in the case of Socrates and Plato. It was the unique good fortune of Socrates to have, among his young companions, one who was not only to become a writer of incomparable skill, but was, by native gift, a poet and a thinker no less subtle than Socrates himself. Plato was about twenty-eight when Socrates died, and he went on writing till his own death at the age of eighty. A philosopher of his calibre could not limit himself to reproducing the thought of any master, however great. True, the central germ of Platonism, from first to last, is the new Socratic morality of spiritual aspiration; but under Plato's hands this germ has grown into a tree whose branches cover the heavens." F. M. Cornford, Before and After Socrates Seekers can understand and assimilate the dynamic contained in Perennialist teachings at several different levels, http://www.hermes-press.com/Perennial_Tradition/PTintroduction.htm (4 of 15)02/10/2008 14:56:06 The Perennial Tradition--Introduction depending on their capability. An attentive reader, with appropriate goals, preparation, and motivation, can use this book to develop a heightened capacity for discernment. In this book we will concentrate on the Perennial Tradition in Western Civilization, including the 2 Near-Eastern Perennialist teachers, but excluding Asian or Oriental sages such as Zoroaster, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Confucius, Shankara, Patanjali, and others. The extant works of the Asian masters contain innumerable direct references to Perennialist themes. Focusing on Western themes, we will review material from a variety of expressions of the Perennial Tradition: Sufism, 3 Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, Illuminism , Cabala, Alchemy, Magic, Mysticism, and Gnosticism. "It is necessary, my dear brothers in the Lord, to give you a clear idea of the interior Church; of that illuminated Community of God which is scattered throughout the world, but which is governed by one truth and united in one spirit. This enlightened community has existed since the first day of the world's creation, and its duration will be to the last day of time. This community possesses a school, in which all who thirst for knowledge are instructed by the Spirit of Wisdom itself; and all the mysteries of God and of nature are preserved in this school for the children of light. "Perfect knowledge of God, of nature, and of humanity are the objects of instruction in this school. It is from her that all truths penetrate into the world, she is the School of the Prophets, and of all who search for wisdom, and it is in this community alone that truth and the explanation of all mystery is to be found. It is the most hidden of communities yet possesses members from many circles; of such is this school. From all time there has been an exterior school based on the interior one, of which it is but the outer expression. From all time, therefore, there has been a hidden assembly, a society of the Elect, of those http://www.hermes-press.com/Perennial_Tradition/PTintroduction.htm (5 of 15)02/10/2008 14:56:06 The Perennial Tradition--Introduction who sought for and had capacity for light, and this interior society was called the interior Sanctuary or Church." Karl von Eckhartshausen, The Cloud Upon the Sanctuary, 1795 In Chapter One we will examine the defining characteristics of the Perennial Tradition and trace the Perennialist line of transmission, from the ancient Semitic and Persian savants to modern-day teachers within the Perennial Tradition. With sound preparation, a seeker can discern whether particular teachers--living or dead--reside within the Perennial Tradition, not by looking for secret hand- shakes, outlandish garb, mysterious rituals, or esoteric symbols, but by discovering distinctive characteristics in the teachers' words and actions. We'll examine the defining themes of the Perennial Tradition in Chapter Two, those concepts and activities which constitute crucial criteria for determining whether a person worked within the Perennial Tradition or was merely touched or influenced by this spiritual legacy. One of the extraordinary characteristics of Perennialist concepts and exercises, including those in this book, is that they merely seem like nonsense or imponderable speculation to readers not properly prepared for the subtle dimensions http://www.hermes-press.com/Perennial_Tradition/PTintroduction.htm (6 of 15)02/10/2008 14:56:06 The Perennial Tradition--Introduction involved. " Words should not be withheld from the worthy, but the unworthy will be annoyed by the words of real men. The hearts of the unworthy and those who are alienated from reality are like wicks that have been drenched in water instead of oil. No matter how much fire you put to such a wick it will not burn." Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi The Mystical and Visionary Treatises The Perennial Tradition teaches a new way of discerning the world, different from ordinary intellect or reason, requiring training in this way of Higher Cognition, and involving both seeing subtle or "invisible" entities and "not-seeing"--freeing oneself from the ordinary visual and mental conditionings.