Perennial philosophy (Latin: philosophia perennis "eternal philosophy", also Philosophia perennis et universalis) is the notion of the universal recurrence of philosophical insight independent of epoch or culture, including universal truths on the nature of reality, humanity or consciousness (anthropological universals).
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The idea of a perennial philosophy has great antiquity and can be found in many of the world's religions and philosophies. Cicero mentions 'universal religion' in his Tusculan Disputations, and Ammonius Saccas in the 3rd century tried to reconcile differing religious philosophies.[1] St Augustine’s statement that “The very thing that is now called the Christian religion was not wanting among the ancients from the beginning of the human race, until Christ came in the flesh, after which the true religion, which had already existed, began to be called “Christian.”[2] can be taken as an assertion of the perennial philosophy.[3] However others see this statement as expressing the Roman Catholic notion of ‘semina verbi’ (‘seeds of the word’), whereby there is some truth (seeds of truth) in pre-Christian Greek thought, but these required purification by the light of the Gospels. This idea was current among many other early Christians including Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nyssa, and Leo the Great as well as Augustine[4]
Outside the European tradition of the philosophia perennis, one of the best known traditions to propose a similar idea of a common truth residing within all religions is Sanatana Dharma of Hinduism. Indeed this term can be seen as the original name of Hinduism, the latter being a term invented by ancient Persians.[5] This notion has influenced thinkers who have proposed versions of the perennial philosophy in the Twentieth Century. 'Dharma' is commonly taken to mean divine law or right way of living, while 'sanatana' corresponds to eternal or immutable, so 'Sanatana Dharma' is eternal law. This refers broadly to human identity, our relationship to God and paths to salvation. It also contains a sense of a universal religion that eclipses sectarian divisions, known as the 'Manava Dharma' or religion of man. Adherents of the Sanatana Dharma see it as referring to the common truths in all religions, rather than simply their own faith. The Sanatana Dharma includes a wide variety of beliefs, encompassing both the existence of a personal deity and an impersonal Absolute. [6] The Sanatana Dharma can be seen to have its roots in the belief, found in the Rig Veda, in one god combined with the belief in the existence of several gods, known as Henotheism.[7] There the phrase 'ekam sadavipra bahudha vadanti' (that which exists is one, sages call it by various names), is found in verse 1.164.46. Sanatana Dharma has also influenced the Indian conception of secularism, where the notion of 'sarva dharma sambhava' (all religions or truths are equal or harmonious to each other) prefers to tolerate all faiths equally rather than rejecting religion per se. [8]
The unity of all religions was a central impulse among Hindu reformers in the Nineteenth century, who in turn influenced many Twentieth century perennial philosophy-type thinkers. Key figures in this reforming movement included two Bengali Brahmins. Ram Mohan Roy, a philosopher and the founder of the modernising Brahmo Samaj religious organisation, reasoned that the divine was beyond description and thus that no religion could claim a monopoly in their understanding of it. The mystic Ramakrishna's spiritual ecstasies included experiencing the sameness of Christ, Mohammed and his own Hindu deity. Ramakrishna's most famous disciple, Swami Vivekananda, travelled to the United States in the 1890s where he formed the Vedanta Society. Roy, Ramakrishna and Vivekananda were all influenced by the Hindu school of Advaita Vedanta, which, arguably, emphasises unity over diversity.[9]
The term was first used by Agostino Steuco (1497–1548) who used it to title a treatise, De perenni philosophia libri X, published in 1540.[10] However, Steuco drew on an already existing philosophical tradition, the most direct predecessors of which were Marsilio Ficino (1433–99) and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–94).
Ficino, an important figure in early modern philosophy, was influenced by a variety of philosophers including Aristotelian Scholasticism and various pseudonymous and mystical writings. The key theme of Ficino’s philosophy held that there is an underlying unity to the world, the soul or love, which has a counterpart in the realm of ideas. Platonic Philosophy and Christian theology both embody this truth. Ficino saw his thought as part of a long development of philosophical truth, of ancient pre-Platonic philosophers (including Zoroaster, Hermes Trismegistus, Orpheus, Aglaophemus and Pythagoras) who reached their peak in Plato. The Prisca theologia, or venerable and ancient theology, which embodied the truth and could be found in all ages, was a vitally important idea for Ficino. [11]
Pico, a student of Ficino, embodies a more ambitious attempt to use the philosophies and theologies of the past, especially the priscia theologica. Pico went further than his teacher by suggesting that truth could be found in many, rather than just two, traditions. This proposed a harmony between the thought of Plato and Aristotle, and saw aspects of the Prisca theologia in Averroes, the Koran, the Cabala among other sources.[12] After the deaths of Pico and Ficino this line of thought expanded, and included Symphorien Champier, and Francesco Giorgio.
Agostino Steuco was the strongest defender of the tradition of the prisci theologica, and De perenni philosophia was the most sustained attempt at philosophical synthesis and harmony.[13] Steuco represents the liberal wing of 16 Century Biblical scholarship and theology, although he rejected Luther and Calvin.[14] De perenni philosophia, is a complex work which only contains the term philosophia perennis twice, it states that there is “one principle of all things, of which there has always been one and the same knowledge among all peoples.”[15] This single knowledge (or sapientia) is the key element in his philosophy. In that he emphasises continuity over progress, Steuco’s idea of philosophy is not one conventionally associated with the Renaissance. Indeed, he tends to believe that the truth is lost over time and is only preserved in the prisci theologica. Steuco preferred Plato to Aristotle and saw greater congruence between the former and Christianity than the latter philosopher. He held that philosophy works in harmony with religion and should lead to knowledge of God, and that truth flows from a single source, more ancient than the Greeks. Steuco was strongly influenced by Iamblichus’s statement that knowledge of God is innate in all [16], and also gave great importance to Hermes Trismegistus.
Steuco’s perennial philosophy was highly regarded by some scholars for the two centuries after its publication, then largely forgotten until it was rediscovered by Otto Willmann in the late part of the 19 century. [17] Overall, De perenni philosophia wasn’t particularly influential, and largely confined to those with a similar orientation to himself. The work was not put on the Index of works banned by the Roman Catholic Church, although his Cosmopoeia which expressed similar ideas was. Religious criticisms tended to the conservative view that held Christian teachings should be understood as unique, rather than seeing them as perfect expressions of truths that are found everywhere. [18] More generally, this philosophical syncretism was set out at the expense of some of the doctrines included within it, and it is possible that Steuco’s critical faculties were not up to the task he had set himself. Further, placing so much confidence in the prisca theologia, turned out to be a shortcoming as many of the texts used in this school of thought later turned out to be bogus. [19] In the following two centuries the most favourable responses were largely Protestant and often in England.
Gottfried Leibniz later picked up on Steuco's term. The German philosopher stands in the tradition of this concordistic philosophy, his philosophy of harmony especially had affinity with Steuco’s ideas. Leibniz knew about Steuco’s work by 1687, but thought that De la Verite de la Religion Chretienne by Huguenot philosopher Phillippe du Plessis-Mornay expressed the same truth better. Steuco’s influence can be found throughout Leibniz’s works, but the German was the first philosopher to refer to the perennial philosophy without mentioning the Italian.[20]
Al-Farabi (872–950), the 10th century Islamic philosopher advocated the idea of philosophy and religion being two avenues to the same truth. His own personal philosophy strongly emphasized a classification of knowledge and science on the basis of methodology. Thus, he described his notion of an esoteric philosophy which referenced the eternal truth or wisdom which lies at the heart of all traditions as a "science of reality" based on the method of "certain demonstration" (al-burhan al-yaqini). This method is a combination of intellectual intuition and logical conclusions of certainty (istinbat). He reasoned that it was therefore a superior kind of knowledge to the exoteric domain of religions (millah) since that relied on a method of persuasion (al-iqna), not demonstration. This philosophy is compared with the philosophia perennis of Leibniz and later in the 20th century, Schuon.[21]
Al-Farabi developed a theory to explain the diversity of religions. He posited that religions differed from one another because the same spiritual and intellectual truths can have different "imaginative representations". He further stated that there was a unity of all revealed traditions at the philosophical level, since all nations and peoples must have a philosophical account of reality that is one and the same.[22]
The term was popularized in more recent times by Aldous Huxley in his 1945 book: The Perennial Philosophy. A "philosophia perennis" is also the central concept of the "Traditionalist School" formalized in the writings of 20th century thinkers René Guénon, Frithjof Schuon, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Titus Burckhardt, Martin Lings, and Seyyed Hossein Nasr. The idea of a perennial philosophy, sometimes called perennialism, is a key area of debate in the academic discussion of mystical experience. Writers such as WT Stace, Huston Smith, and Robert Forman argue that there are core similarities to mystical experience across religions, cultures and eras.[23] For Stace the universality of this core experience is a necessary, although not sufficient, condition for one to be able to trust the cognitive content of any religious experience. Karen Armstrong's writings on the universality of a golden rule can also be seen as a form of perennial philosophy.[24] For writer Stephen Prothero, many perennialist thinkers (including Armstrong, Huston Smith and Joseph Campbell) are influenced by Hindu reformer Ram Mohan Roy and Hindu mystics Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda.[25]
Meditation teacher Eknath Easwaran came to the U.S. in the 1960's with a message based on the term, but quickly adapted his teachings to reflect the busy, hurried nature of modern American life. His concept of "slowing down" inevitably leads back to a broader understanding of Perennial Philosophy.
Under the term 'Sanātana Dharma'-- the eternal law—the concept of a philosophy which is 'authorless' but perceived by the great ancient seers, has been a fundamental concept of Hinduism for over two thousand years. It is identified with the Veda and Purana, and as 'shruti', 'heard', is potentially to be added to by such seers.
Perennial philosophy is the philosophical concept, which states that each of the world’s religious traditions share a single truth. Perennial philosophy asserts that there is a single divine foundation of all religious knowledge, referred to as the universal truth. Each world religion, independent of its cultural or historical context, is simply a different interpretation of this knowledge. World religions including, but not limited to, Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto, Sikhism and Buddhism, are all derived from the same universal truth. Although the sacred scriptures of these world religions are undeniably diverse and often oppose each other, each world religion has been formed to fit the social, mental and spiritual needs of their respective epoch and culture. Therefore, perennial philosophy maintains that each world religion has flourished from the foundation of the same universal truth, making these differences superficial and able to be cast aside to find religion’s deeper spiritual meaning.
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.
Aldous Huxley
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."
And according to Frithjof Schuon:
It has been said more than once that total Truth is inscribed in an eternal script in the very substance of our spirit; what the different Revelations do is to “crystallize” and “actualize”, in different degrees according to the case, a nucleus of certitudes which not only abides forever in the divine Omniscience, but also sleeps by refraction in the “naturally supernatural” kernel of the individual, as well as in that of each ethnic or historical collectivity or of the human species as a whole.[26]
Religious pluralism is the philosophical concept that states that various world religions are formed by their distinctive historical and cultural contexts and thus there is no single, true religion. There are only many equally valid religions. Each religion is a direct result of humanity’s attempt to grasp and understand the incomprehensible divine reality. Therefore, each religion can hold an authentic but ultimately inadequate concept of divine reality, producing a partial understanding of the universal truth, which requires syncretism to achieve a complete understanding as well as a path towards salvation or spiritual enlightenment.[27] Although perennial philosophy shares the idea that there is no single true religion, it differs when discussing divine reality. Perennial philosophy states that the divine reality is what allows the universal truth to be understood.[28] Each religion provides its own interpretation of the universal truth, based on its historical and cultural context. Therefore, each religion provides everything required to observe the divine reality and achieve a state in which one will be able to confirm the universal truth and achieve salvation or spiritual enlightenment. According to Aldous Huxley, in order to apprehend the divine reality, one must choose to fulfill certain conditions: “making themselves loving, pure in heart and poor in spirit.”[29] Huxley argues that very few people can achieve this state. Those who have fulfilled these conditions, grasped the universal truth and interpreted it have generally been given the name of saint, prophet, sage or enlightened one.[30] Huxley argues that those who have, “modified their merely human mode of being,” and have thus been able to comprehend “more than merely human kind and amount of knowledge” have also achieved this enlightened state.[31]
Traditionally, evangelical Christianity has been considered hostile towards the concept of perennial philosophy. To most evangelical Christians, their religion is the one true faith and is either exclusive or inclusive. That is to say that either, anyone who is not of the Christian faith is denied salvation, or, those who are ignorant to Christianity will still be able to obtain salvation if they embrace the Christian faith. However, perennial philosophy asserts that Christianity is only one of many religions, all of which are true faiths, and that non-Christians can achieve salvation without Christianity. This assertion has appeared to most evangelical Christians as heretical and contrary to their faith. However, the purpose of religion is to provide salvation to as many people as possible. People can only take their faith seriously and without question if they are assured that their religion is the best, if not only, way to attain salvation and reach God. Therefore these claims are not surprising, as providing salvation takes precedence over interfaith dialogue within evangelical Christianity as well as the religions of the world. However, considering that all religions originate from the universal truth, evidence of this underlying truth can be found in the most essential principles and doctrine of each religion. The most essential principle of Christianity is the concept of Christ. Christians who oppose perennial philosophy and believe Christianity to be the one true faith often quote Christ to support their position, quoting John 14:6 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me"[32] This is interpreted as proclaiming that anyone who has not accepted Christianity will be denied access to God and salvation. However, according to the Nicene Creed, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, and, "of one being with the Father." In accordance with this most essential Christian doctrine, it is impossible to refute that there is only one Son of God, or that this son is responsible for the salvation of humanity, or even that Jesus of Nazareth was that son. However, there is no Biblical or dogmatic foundation to support the belief that the Son of God has limited his responsibility for the salvation of humanity to his incarnate presence as Jesus of Nazareth. As stated in John 1:14, the Son of God, "became flesh and dwelt among us."[33] Even during his time on Earth, the Son of God was not limited to, or restricted by his body. Therefore the concept of the Son of God, as an eternal source of salvation, can be found throughout the world religions. James S. Cutsinger writes, "Though truly incarnate as Jesus Christ in Christianity, he is salvifically operative in and through non-Christian religions as well. In some he is present in an equally personal way, as in Krishna and the other Hindu avatars, in whom he was also 'made man', while in others he appears in an impersonal way, as in the Qur'an of Islam, where he made himself book." [34] St. Augustine said: "That which we today call Christian religion also existed among the ancients, and has not been absent amongst humankind from the time of its origin up to the time that Christ became flesh; true religion, which had already existed, began then to be called Christian".[35]