John said:
Challenged recently as to my understanding of what "The Perennial Philosophy"
means, I thought I'd look it up on the internet and see if it meant what I
think it means. But then I decided not to. Why let criticism turn me into just
another wiki-spouting dweeb? ... That's my perennial philososophy, in a
nutshell. Squeeze all the juice out of life you can, with as little
expenditure as possible.
dmb says:
Your description of the perennial philosophy shows that "wiki-spouting dweeb"
is something you should hope to become. Dude, you weren't even close. I'd have
to make a whole lot of qualifications to bring this Wiki extract into alignment
with my own view, but here is the basic idea for your edification and
enjoyment...
Definition
According to Huxley, the perennial philosophy is: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. Rudiments of the perennial philosophy may be found among the
traditional 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 (The
Perennial Philosophy, p. vii).
He also pointed out the method of the Buddha:The Buddha declined to make any
statement in regard to the ultimate divine Reality. All he would talk about was
Nirvana, which is the name of the experience that comes to the totally selfless
and one-pointed. […] Maintaining, in this matter, the attitude of a strict
operationalist, the Buddha would speak only of the spiritual experience, not of
the metaphysical entity presumed by the theologians of other religions, as also
of later Buddhism, to be the object and (since in contemplation the knower, the
known and the knowledge are all one) at the same time the subject and substance
of that experience.
The Perennial Philosophy and that in the Upanishads:The Perennial Philosophy is
expressed most succinctly in the Sanskrit formula, tat tvam asi ('That thou
art'); the Atman, or immanent eternal Self, is one with Brahman, the Absolute
Principle of all existence; and the last end of every human being, is to
discover the fact for himself, to find out who he really is.
According to Karl Jaspers:"Despite the wide variety of philosophical thought,
despite all the contradictions and mutually exclusive claims to truth, there is
in all philosophy a One, which no man possesses but about which all serious
efforts have at all times gravitated: the one eternal philosophy, the
philosophia perennis."
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