The Perennial Philosophy: A Study of Universal Mystical Philosophy (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)

This book is nothing short of a masterpiece. Not only because it's content is brilliant, but because Huxley put it together with such brightness, that only a genius mind could do it. The Perennial Philosophy is a manual for anyone interested in Eastern Philosophical and Religious Thought. It goes deep inside the heart and teachings of the most influential Mystics that ever lived. The book is practical, clear and detailed, covering important subjects that would take many students years to collect from several different sources. Huxley proves brilliantly the Unity, Truth and Wisdom behind most religions. They all share a common source and ground that passes from faith, repentance and death to self into a divine nature of pure love and joy. He covers topics such as "Personality, Sanctity, Divine Incarnation, God in the World, Charity, Truth, Grace and Free Will, Good and Evil, Rituals", etc. So many important topics for one interesting in pursuing a divine path with a sincere heart toward God. Here are just a few quotes to inspire you to read this book: "Liberation cannot be achieved except by the perception of the identity of the individual spirit with the universal spirit" "The best that can be said for ritualistic legalism is that it improves conduct. It does little , however, to alter character and nothing of itself to modify consciousnesses" "What could begin to deny self, if there were not something in man different from self?" "Love seeks no cause beyond itself and no fruit; it is its own fruit, its own enjoyment." "To the extent that there is attachment to "I", "Me" and "Mine", there is not attachment to, and therefore no unitive knowledge of, the divine ground" "Everything is ours, provided that we regard nothing as our property" "To find or know God in reality, by any outward proofs, or by anything but by God himself made manifest and self-evident in you, will never be your case either here or hereafter. For neither God, nor heaven, nor hell, nor the devil, nor the world, and the flesh, can be any otherwise knowable in you, or by you, but by their own existence and manifestation in you. And all pretended knowledge of any of these things, beyond or without this self-evident sensibility of their birth within you, is only such knowledge of them, as the blind man hath of that light, that never entered into him." "You are as holy as you wish to be" "if most of us remain ignorant of ourselves, it is because self-knowledge is painful and we prefer the pleasures of illusion." "Turning to God without turning from Self"- the formula is absurdly simple; and yet, simple as it is, it explains all the follies and iniquities committed in the name of religion" Enjoy the book!

I first stumbled on _The Perennial Philosophy_ decades ago as a teenager, and it provided a sense of direction which eventually led me out of the enchanted forest of religious absolutism -- not into "relativism", but into tolerant pluralism. The underlying design of how religious language works in the "perennial philosophy" is clear, plausible and logical -- but apparently incomprehensible to the strident fundamentalist, who prefers the use of political coercion to sober deliberation. . . The issues are really quite simple: 1. The ultimate source/goal of virtually every religious system is considered by its devotees to be undefinable, beyond the grasp of human reasoning, ineffable, surpassing understanding. Humans call this Ultimate: Godhead (as distinct from "God"), Brahman (as distinct from "Brahma"), etc. 2. Since this religious Ultimate cannot he rationally defined, described, analysed, or plotted by mathematical models, religious language usage differs from that of the physical sciences. It employs verbal, visual, musical, metaphorical, mythological, and allegorical symbolism to SUGGEST that which humans may experience without being able to define: "When I heard the Learn'd Astronomer, etc." (Whitman). . . (Here is where we part company with the rigid rationalist for whom there is no reality apart from what can be measured or weighed.) 3. Religious systems arise at different times and places with various mythologies adapted to local needs. As long as these anthropomorhic creations lead the devotee to spiritual realization, they have value -- but not necessarily EQUAL value with every other mythology. Every individual understandably considers his own belief system as BETTER than those of others, and possibly the BEST of all; but this is radically different from claiming that his beliefs are the ONE AND ONLY POSSIBLE WAY to religious realization. BEST leaves open the possibility that other practices may be viable, though inferior; ONLY is binary -- you're either in or you're out, and that can make all the difference in the world. Consider the following: 4. In 9th-century Buddhist Japan the Shingon monk Kukai wrote a treatise on "The Ten Stages of Religious Consciousness" in which he predictably placed his own Shingon Sect at the top of the list. A competitor, the Tendai monk Saicho had no problem with this but was annoyed that Kukai placed the practice of the Kegon sect on the 9th rung, just ahead of Tendai on the 8th. Note that both Kukai and Saicho clearly recognized that all three sects provided ways to achieve spiritual realization, although one might be considered a BETTER practice than another. This is pluralism, NOT relativism (one thing being just as good as another). And neither claimed that his was the ONLY possible method. 5. Almost 5 centures later in his _Sand and Pebbles(Shasekishu): The Tales of Muju Ichien, a Voice for Pluralism in Kamakura Japan_ says in his Preface: "There is not just one method for entering the Way, the causes and conditions for enlightenment being many. Once a person understands their general significance, he will see that the purport of the various teachings does not vary. And when he puts them into practice, he will find that the goal of the myriad religious exercises is the same." And where does Muju get this idea? Basically from the Mahayana tradition, especially as expressed in _The Lotus Sutra_,q.v. Once again, the alternative to religious absolutism is inclusive pluralism, not "relativism". In 1945 Aldous Huxley almost certainly never heard of these examples, but he was, and continues to be, a major force in introducing and defending religious pluralism in the West. _The Perennial Philosophy_ continues to inspire.

Maybe Huxley's finest work. Purchsed for a friend ( I have had several copies over the past 50-odd years). Remarkable read!

that comes directly from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What Huxley has done in a nearly apotheosis like manner, is bring to the fore the common threads which pervade and are deeply inherent in all major religions. Quoting sources from such manifold schools of thought as: Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen, Islam, Christian Mysticism ad infinitum, the author clearly demonstrates that the roots of these major religions are quite similar and that the main tenant of these practices is singular - in order to turn towards God one must turn away from the self. This work is quite grand in scope and hybridized in that it is part philosophy, part religious study, part historical review with a healthy smattering of psychological and sociological discourse thrown in for good measure. And while this work is replete with excellent insights and wisdom it harbors certain detractions and distractions as well. For example: it is abundantly clear the author is highly intelligent and a gifted writer, yet the way he formulates and communicates his thoughts is inordinately complex owing to superfluous content. Huxley routinely uses multi - compound sentences complete with parenthetical thoughts and hyphenated asides, which too often served to confound this reader. It is said that 90% of the English language is redundant; well, that point is well evidenced in this book. The next most prominent distraction found in Aldous' writing style is his use of undefined quotes and/or statements given in foreign languages such as Latin, French, and I think there were a couple in Spanish. This book is of high value, but is a rather slow study, thus I offer 4 stars for this perennial masterpiece.

Huxley’s book is a masterpiece! Despite it being an extensive survey and analysis of the Godhead through encounters with the traditions of both Eastern and Western strains of mysticism, it also contains a prescient warning and criticism of the dark and destructive direction of global politics in relation to humanity’s lack of “unitive knowledge” of the Godhead. Here, readers will encounter a thinker writing in historical proximity with Camus and the metaphysical critique of failed historical manifestations of “rebellion” (The Rebel), and in addition, Huxley’s work precedes, by some sixty years, the well-known, vociferous critique of secular humanism (non-religious eschatological utopian progress-thinking) encountered in the essays of John Gray. My only critique of Huxley: He draws from the same Eastern sources as that inspired Schopenhauer, e.g., the Upanishads. Huxley displays the Schopenhauerian tendency – although I must stress that Huxley does not write like a German metaphysician! - to over-saturate the text with examples contributing to the development of his arguments – “example over-kill,” we’ll call it. Be aware that Huxley incorporates extensive use of original quotations from the primary “religious” writings, which will inspire readers to seek out the original sources that Huxley so liberally and expertly interweaves into the tapestry of this text. The Perennial Philosophy will greatly appeal to all those interested in non-academic sanctioned philosophical thought, because, outside of Hume, Huxley actively avoids mentioning/quoting the greats from the Western philosophical cannon. Dr. James M. Magrini Former: Philosophy/College of DuPage

This is a book that I think I will be referencing back to for the rest of my life. If you basically want to understand the entire perspective of a Western thinker on the commonalities of Eastern religion and mysticism as well as Christian mystic thought, this is the book. Think of it as the complete tutorial on what people *think* they're saying when they utter the cliche "I'm not religious but I'm spiritual." Now if a person were truly that, and very intelligent as well, then this book explains how they might think about God, self, universe, time, idolatry, salvation, truth, good, evil, immortality, mortification, charity, prayer... yeah, you name it everything you've stuffed in a closet in the back of your mind and called it 'religion' is presented here from the mystic point of view and collected wisdom of multiple 'religions'. This might properly be called, at least I will, the set of ultimate goals for the self, or perhaps the self-less perfection of the realization of the divine in the individual and the purpose of all human consciousness. I'm not used to speaking this way, it will take me some time to get through all of the material in this course of study, but I can feel it working on me. Several years ago I wrote that all I care about is wisdom. This is true. But one tends to think of wisdom as an attribute of the self. The Perennial Philosophy extends that challenge beyond the self (and yet within the self) towards the human infinite. So instead of the pursuit and capture of wisdom like a trophy to put on your mantle and show off, the Perennial Philosophy explains that this is an attainment of psychic, spiritual as well as intellectual dimensions. There's some speculation in this which is especially clunky in the dated volume which contemporaries more well versed in psychology will easily spot. Also Huxley had been taken in by claims of faith healing and ESP that should not be taken seriously, but he seems to understand this. Also the book gets a bit murky in dealing with the concepts of time vis a vis Time and Eternity. And yet the book becomes quite persuasive in describing how nations and religions and philosophies that deal with reality in progressive time rather than in eternal timelessness, inevitably make bloody violent sacrifices to time (God the destroyer of all things, in time). Huxley presents a convincing case for the unification of purposeful thought in this volume by taking contextualized quotes from a variety of wise ancients and mystics. It puts, for me, God back where God should belong in all thought, and the discipline of finding God central in human moral purpose. I am convinced that this is the kind of material that is central to the human experience. It clears up a lot of things.

I've read this book nine times now. After the first reading, I slowed down, and began reading it, well, almost devotionally. The reason: it's densely woven together, but seamlessly integrated. Each of the 28 chapters stands on its own; but, each one is embellished and clarified by the other chapters. The strands fit together like the threads of a fine Persian rug. The result is a whole that is much, much greater than the sum of its parts, a whole that becomes more axiomatic and present with each subsequent reading. Another reason I read this book slowly and carefully is that it's littered with gems that one might otherwise miss. This book will not only nourish your mind: it will also feed your soul and spirit. If you simply meditate on the contents of this book, it will alter your assumptions, perceptions, and attitudes. What it says is, I have found, true; and, the truth, once perceived and understood, will alter you. And it will challenge the hell out of you, something I especially like. Not only that, but it will comfort you. I mean, here's a line from Fenelon that I have returned to over and over: "It is mere self-love to be inconsolable at seeing one's own imperfections; but to stand face to face with them, neither flattering nor tolerating them, seeking to correct oneself without becoming pettish -- this is to desire what is good for its own sake and for God's." When you're feeling beat up over some personal failure or other, this advice is absolutely spot-on: just stand face to face with your faults, and deal with them. Simply standing face to face with your faults isn't easy. You have to man up to do it. But, it's worth it. You get solid traction that way. This is a spiritual guidebook that I've found to be unerringly true. I am constantly amazed at the depth of understanding that Huxley had. Astounded, really. That man was a genius who used his brilliance in the best possible way. Buy this book, and read it over and over. I promise you, you won't be sorry. The ninth time around, I'm still loving it.

A great book at a great price. So glad I bough it. Huxley was a very deep thinker. BTW, the classic 1960's band "The Doors" got their name from one of Huxley's books, "Doors of Perception."

Eigenlijk mis je de essentie van het leven als je het boek niet leest!

The author is one of grandsons of Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895), the zoologist, agnostic and controversialist ("Darwin's Bulldog"). Probably however, Aldous never believed in Darwin's theory, because he wrote a foreword to the abridged version of the book "Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death" by F.W.H. Myers, one of the founders of the society for psychical research in 1882. My motivation of reading this book is due to Schroedinger, the scientist who invented the basic equation of quantum mechanics, Schroedinger equation. He praised this book very much; the cause and effect of his praise is as follows. Schroedinger wrote (1944) about the problem of "free will" in the epilogue "On Determinism and Free Will" in his essay "What is Life?" He dared to say to the effect that: I, in the widest meaning of the word, am the person, if any, who controls the 'motion of the atoms' according to the Laws of Nature. This statement is very much understandable because (a) we know that we have free will and (b) deterministic science says that our free will is the results of the 'motion of the atoms' in our brain; hence, (c) we need to control the motion of the atoms. Then the question arises: Where are we, if not in our brain? Probably, Schroedinger answered the question by the equation, "atman = Brahman," the well-known Upanishad mantra, which appears in the first chapter of Aldous' book.

The title intrigued me that is why I bought this one...although i was a little sceptical about the review on the cover by New york times “the most needed book in the world...a masterpiece” but halfway through the book I reiterate the same...

No he llegado a leer el libro aún porque lo he devuelto directamente para comprarlo de AMAZON.COM. Parece una fotocopia de lo que sólo puedo llegar a imaginar que fuera el libro original, pero más feo. Seguramente el contenido estaba bien, pero para el precio espero recibir un libro que este mejor presentado.

I have read literally thousands of spiritual books. This one exceeds them all by orders of magnitude. I spent decades discovering (the hard way) stuff he clearly spells out here. A friend of Krishnamurti, who was extremely bright, I wish I'd been a fly on the wall in their conversations. Now, if you really care about the spiritual path - as I have - you will flip over this book. I've toured with mighty gurus. I've devoured mystical Christian organizations. I've visited Trappist Monasteries. Heck! I live directly across from a Tibetan Gonpa and have met all the really wonderful Rimpoches. This book can save you decades of hard earned, sometimes painful, crushing and difficult revelations. I bought it for each of my family members. It is a tour de force of everything from the fundamentals to the very highest level of spiritual information. It's kind of "The Whole Path For Dummies". Buy it. If you 'get it', you will never see the world the same way. I very strongly recommend it. Should I say that again?