Difference between revisions of "Perennial Philosophy"

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<div class="definition">
<blockquote class="definition">The '''Perennial Philosophy''' is  "a non-sectarian formulation of recurring ontological themes locatable in a wide variety of religious and philosophical traditions throughout history"<ref>Shear, Jonathan. “Mysticism and Scientific Naturalism.” Sophia 43, no. 1 (May 2004): 83–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02782439.</ref> It is also a book by Aldous Huxley which gathers evidence for the existence of a timeless philosophy of the same name. According to Aldous Huxley, the '''Perennial Philosophy''' (PP) is a set of teachings found throughout the ages, everywhere in the world.  
The [[Is a::Connection Manual|Perennial Philosophy]] is a book by Aldous Huxley which gathers evidence for the existence of a timeless philosphy of the same name. According to Aldous Huxley, the '''Perennial Philosophy''' (PP) is a set of teachings found throughout the ages, everywhere in the world. The PP consists of:
</blockquote>
 
: a metaphysics that "recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds." 
: a psychology that "finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality.
: an ethic that suggests "man’s final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being."
 
</div>


==Syncretic Terms==
==Syncretic Terms==


[[Authentic Spirituality]] > {{#ask:[[Is a syncretic term::Authentic Spirituality]]}}
[[Perennial Philosophy]] > {{#ask:[[Is a syncretic term::Perennial Philosophy]]}}
 
==Notes==


The PP is Huxley's term for what we call [[Is an:: Authentic Spirituality]], which as noted in ''Rocket Scientists' Guide to Authentic Spirituality'' (Sosteric, 2018h), is spirituality that [[Connection|connects]].
'''Endogenous to the LP'''  
Huxley suggests, the "Rudiments of the Perennial Philosophy may be found among the traditionary 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."


However, '''I would absolutely disagree''' that the PP finds its "fully developed" form in traditional religion. In fact, because of the revolutionary potential of authentic [[Connection Experience]], traditional religions are attempts to obscure and sanitize the core elements of the PP to make actual [[Connection]] harder to accomplish.
[[European Grand Narrative]] > {{#ask:[[Is a related LP term::European Grand Narrative]]}}


Huxley recognizes the importance of [[Alignment]] without which the potentialities of the human mind may not be actuated. "In the ordinary circumstances of average sensual life these potentialities of the mind remain latent and unmanifested. If we would realize them, we must fulfil certain conditions and obey certain rules, which experience has shown empirically to be valid." or "ultimate Reality is not clearly and immediately apprehended, except by those who have made themselves loving, pure in heart and poor in spirit."
==Related LP Terms==


Huxley terms those who achieve [[Connection]] and apprehend [[Reality]] saints, prophets, sages, or enlightened ones.
[[European Grand Narrative]] > {{#ask:[[Is a related LP term::European Grand Narrative]]}}


===Spiritual Ego vs. Bodily Ego===
==Non-LP Related Terms==


Huxley notes the PP makes a distinction between [[Spiritual Ego]] and [[Bodily Ego]]
[[European Grand Narrative]] > {{#ask:[[Is a related term::European Grand Narrative]]}}


<blockquote>...all the exponents of the Perennial Philosophy make, in one form or another, the affirmation that man is a kind of trinity composed of body, psyche and spirit.<ref>Huxley, Aldous. The Perennial Philosophy. McClelland & Stewart. Kindle Edition. </ref>
==Notes==
</blockquote>


and suggests that the goal of spirituality is to someone connect with, be united with, spiritual ego. Huxley makes the common mistake of suggesting, however, that [[Bodily Ego]] needs to be suppressed or annihilated if a connection is going to be made.
The PP is "a non-sectarian formulation of recurring ontological themes locatable in a wide variety of religious and philosophical traditions throughout history"<ref>Shear, Jonathan. “Mysticism and Scientific Naturalism.” Sophia 43, no. 1 (May 2004): 83–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02782439.</ref>


<blockquote class="definition">Man’s final end, the purpose of his existence, is to love, know and be united with the immanent and transcendent Godhead. And this identification of self with spiritual not-self can be achieved only by “dying to” selfness and living to spirit.<ref>Huxley, Aldous. The Perennial Philosophy. McClelland & Stewart. Kindle Edition. </ref></blockquote>
According to Shear, the PP consists of three things, these being:


===Free Will===
# The phenomenal world is the manifestation of a transcendental, ground
# Human beings are capable of attaining immediate knowledge of that ground
#In addition to their phenomenal egos, human beings possess a Transcendental Self which is of the same or like nature with that transcendental ground."<ref>Shear, Jonathan. “Mysticism and Scientific Naturalism.” Sophia 43, no. 1 (May 2004): 89. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02782439.</ref>


The notion that humans have someone been given the privilege of "free will" and that we are free to between identification with Bodily Ego or identification with spiritual ego is commonly found in the PP.  
Sheer suggests that [[Connection Experiences]]s provdie ''prima facie'' support for these theses and that mystical experiences provide ''prima facie'' evidence that [Ontological Naturalism]] is false.<ref>Shear, Jonathan. “Mysticism and Scientific Naturalism.” Sophia 43, no. 1 (May 2004): 89. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02782439.</ref>


<blockquote class="quotation">The will is free and we are at liberty to identify our being either exclusively with our selfness and its interests...or exclusively with the divine within us and without...<ref>Huxley, Aldous. The Perennial Philosophy. McClelland & Stewart. Kindle Edition. </ref></blockquote>
According to Huxley, generally, the PP consists of:


Note this is quite incorrect. The choice is between healthy and strong connection, and the pathology of disconnection. Nobody "chooses" disconnection. They become disconnected as a result of [[Toxic Socialization]], and they "settle and accept" because [[Spiritual Ideology]] gives them excuses and justifiction. That is, informs them their disconnection has been their choice.
: a metaphysics that "recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds."
: a psychology that "finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality.
: an ethic that suggests "man’s final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being."  


===God incarnated in human form / Periodic Rebalancing===
The PP is Huxley's term for what we call [[Is an:: Authentic Spirituality]], which as noted in ''Rocket Scientists' Guide to Authentic Spirituality'' (Sosteric, 2018h), is spirituality that [[Connection|connects]].
Huxley suggests, the "Rudiments of the Perennial Philosophy may be found among the traditionary 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."


<blockquote>“Know, Vasetha, that from time to time a Tathagata is born into the world, a fully Enlightened One, blessed and worthy, abounding in wisdom and goodness, happy with knowledge of the worlds, unsurpassed as a guide to erring mortals, a teacher of gods and men, a Blessed Buddha. He thoroughly understands this universe, as though he saw it face to face.… The Truth does he proclaim both in its letter and in its spirit, lovely in its origin, lovely in its progress, lovely in its consummation. A higher life doth he make known in all its purity and in all its perfectness. <ref>Tevigga Sutta quoted in Huxley, Aldous. The Perennial Philosophy . McClelland & Stewart. Kindle Edition. </ref></blockquote>
However, '''I would absolutely disagree''' that the PP finds its "fully developed" form in traditional religion. In fact, because of the revolutionary potential of authentic [[Connection Experience]], traditional religions are attempts to obscure and sanitize the core elements of the PP to make actual [[Connection]] harder to accomplish.


===Importance of real Connection===
Huxley recognizes the importance of [[Alignment]] without which the potentialities of the human mind may not be actuated. "In the ordinary circumstances of average sensual life these potentialities of the mind remain latent and unmanifested. If we would realize them, we must fulfil certain conditions and obey certain rules, which experience has shown empirically to be valid." or "ultimate Reality is not clearly and immediately apprehended, except by those who have made themselves loving, pure in heart and poor in spirit."


Can't understand this stuff intellectually. Have to make a connection.
Huxley terms those who achieve [[Connection]] and apprehend [[Reality]] saints, prophets, sages, or enlightened ones.
 
Huxley notes that those attempting to develop an "empirical theology" are doomed to fail. Suggests that one actually has to "directly apprehend" divine Reality in a state of "detachment, charity and humility" if one is to be able to provide a proper revelation. "they are doomed to the perpetual stultification of their best efforts" and "The self-validating certainty of direct awareness cannot in the very nature of things be achieved except by those equipped with the moral ‘astrolabe of God’s mysteries’" and "mysteries’. If one is not oneself a sage or saint, the best thing one can do, in the field of metaphysics, is to study the works of those who were, and who, because they had modified their merely human mode of being, were capable of a more than merely human kind and amount of knowledge." I believe there is some truth to this. The word [[God]] means one thing to someone who has never [[Connected]] and quite another to somebody who has.
 
 
 
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==References==


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[[category:source]][[Is a syncretic term::Authentic Spirituality| ]]
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[[Is a::Connection Manual| ]]
[[Is a syncretic term::Connection Curriculum| ]]
[[Is a related term::European Grand Narrative| ]]

Latest revision as of 21:25, 5 March 2023

The Perennial Philosophy is "a non-sectarian formulation of recurring ontological themes locatable in a wide variety of religious and philosophical traditions throughout history"[1] It is also a book by Aldous Huxley which gathers evidence for the existence of a timeless philosophy of the same name. According to Aldous Huxley, the Perennial Philosophy (PP) is a set of teachings found throughout the ages, everywhere in the world.

Syncretic Terms

Perennial Philosophy > Common Core, Philosophia Perennis

Endogenous to the LP

European Grand Narrative > Elite Religion, Elite Spirituality, Regime of Accumulation

Related LP Terms

European Grand Narrative > Elite Religion, Elite Spirituality, Regime of Accumulation

Non-LP Related Terms

European Grand Narrative > Common Core, Perennial Philosophy, Philosophia Perennis, Pia Philosophia, Platonic Orientalism, Prisca Theologia

Notes

The PP is "a non-sectarian formulation of recurring ontological themes locatable in a wide variety of religious and philosophical traditions throughout history"[2]

According to Shear, the PP consists of three things, these being:

  1. The phenomenal world is the manifestation of a transcendental, ground
  2. Human beings are capable of attaining immediate knowledge of that ground
  3. In addition to their phenomenal egos, human beings possess a Transcendental Self which is of the same or like nature with that transcendental ground."[3]

Sheer suggests that Connection Experiencess provdie prima facie support for these theses and that mystical experiences provide prima facie evidence that [Ontological Naturalism]] is false.[4]

According to Huxley, generally, the PP consists of:

a metaphysics that "recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds."
a psychology that "finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality.
an ethic that suggests "man’s final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being."

The PP is Huxley's term for what we call Authentic Spirituality, which as noted in Rocket Scientists' Guide to Authentic Spirituality (Sosteric, 2018h), is spirituality that connects.

Huxley suggests, the "Rudiments of the Perennial Philosophy may be found among the traditionary 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."

However, I would absolutely disagree that the PP finds its "fully developed" form in traditional religion. In fact, because of the revolutionary potential of authentic Connection Experience, traditional religions are attempts to obscure and sanitize the core elements of the PP to make actual Connection harder to accomplish.

Huxley recognizes the importance of Alignment without which the potentialities of the human mind may not be actuated. "In the ordinary circumstances of average sensual life these potentialities of the mind remain latent and unmanifested. If we would realize them, we must fulfil certain conditions and obey certain rules, which experience has shown empirically to be valid." or "ultimate Reality is not clearly and immediately apprehended, except by those who have made themselves loving, pure in heart and poor in spirit."

Huxley terms those who achieve Connection and apprehend Reality saints, prophets, sages, or enlightened ones.


Footnotes

  1. ↑ Shear, Jonathan. “Mysticism and Scientific Naturalism.” Sophia 43, no. 1 (May 2004): 83–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02782439.
  2. ↑ Shear, Jonathan. “Mysticism and Scientific Naturalism.” Sophia 43, no. 1 (May 2004): 83–99. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02782439.
  3. ↑ Shear, Jonathan. “Mysticism and Scientific Naturalism.” Sophia 43, no. 1 (May 2004): 89. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02782439.
  4. ↑ Shear, Jonathan. “Mysticism and Scientific Naturalism.” Sophia 43, no. 1 (May 2004): 89. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02782439.



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