A sermon delivered at Mission Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation on August 2, 2009
Sermon - The Perennial Philosophy
"Many windows, one light,
Many rivers, one sea,
All lifted hearts are free..."
These bars are from the Sources Cantata written about our Unitarian Universalist sources of truth. [1] They suggest that there is some central truth shared by all.
Today, I'll explore whether there is some fundamental core of religious truth that underlies all religions. Let's consider the people who originated the religions most prominent in the world today. There is something they have in common; the founding personalities of all major world religions were mystics who had visions and heard the word of God, or of a truth they took to be ultimate. As the psychologist Brent Dean Robbins says, "Mysticism is the raw material of all religion and is also the inspiration of much of philosophy, poetry, art, and music, of something which is not of the external material world."
Examples of mystics who around whom religions were founded are the following:
Gautama Buddha Received enlightenment while meditation under a Bodhi tree and seeing visions of the birth and death of beings and armies clashing.
Jesus of Nazareth spent 40 days and nights alone in the wilderness and had visions of the Devil who tempted him.
Mohammed received a revelation from God while meditating in a cave. This led to the founding of Islam.
Shamanic calling for native cultures throughout the world: One does not chose to be a Shaman; the "spirits" call you.
The fact that these experiences have many important similarities is the impetus behind the term Perennial Philosophy, which is sometimes referred to in Latin as Philosophia Perennis. It was used by the mathematician Gottfried Leibnitz to denote the common, eternal philosophy that underlies all religions, and in particular the mystical streams within them. Today, the term Perennial Philosophy has come to refer to a fundamental core of truth to be found at the heart of all religions.
So what is this philosophy?
Aldous Huxley wrote a book entitled "The Perennial Philosophy" [2] Here is his definition, with some commentary.
The Perennial Philosophy is the metaphysic that recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds
By this he means that the divine is part of the world, including all things, lives and minds. In particular, the divine is within each person. This is called the divine Reality.
The Perennial Philosophy is the psychology that finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality.
In other words, the indwelling soul of each being is either similar to or identical with divine Reality
The Perennial Philosophy is the ethic that places man's final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being. The last end of every human being, is to discover the fact for himself, to find out who he really is.
Thus, mankind's goal is to know the indwelling and transcendent Divine. That is, knowing the God within and the God without will reveal to each person that person's true identity.
The Perennial Philosophy is maintains the thing is immemorial and universal.
In other words, these ideas are universal
According to Huxley, "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.
This is a philosophy that has been formulated by those who have experienced direct communion with God or the Ultimate. However brief the experience, it transforms the thinking mind of the experiencer, so that they are never the same again. Such revelatory experience, captured however dimly in symbols supplied by human language or by whatever artistic expression, however often repeated through the ages by people of all races, genders, cultures and religious beliefs." [3]
From this core of beliefs, are derived a number of characteristics of the philosophy as described by Huxley: Listen and see how many of them you agree with.
He uses the term "the divine Ground of all existence" to mean what many people mean by the word "God" or "the Ultimate." In the Perennial Philosophy, the divine Ground of all existence is a spiritual Absolute, something that is difficult to put into words, but something that can be directly experienced by a human being. This is what happens when mystics have a spiritual experience.
What is meant by Good and Evil? Good is a person's conformity to the divine Ground of existence. Evil is the refusal to know that the Ground exists.
What is the purpose of Prayer? Huxley identifies four kinds of prayer: petition (in which we ask for something for ourselves), intercession (which is asking for something for someone else), adoration (or devotion to God) and contemplation. Contemplation is the alert passivity in which the soul lays itself open to the immanent and transcendent divine Ground of all existence.) Contemplation is the state of union with the divine Ground of all being.
What is Faith? Faith is a pre-condition of all deep knowing, all purposive doing and all decent living. The Perennial Philosophy doesn't require a faith that insists that you agree to propositions which are known to be unverifiable. What it does require is faith as trust in one's fellow beings, in faith in authority to those who know the spiritual Ground of all being.
Throughout human religious history are iniquities committed in the name of religion. They are committed by ambitious idealists, self-deluded by their own verbiage and a lust for power. They use magical rites to compel God to answer their petitions. They use the name of God to justify what they do in pursuit of place, power and wealth, and to perpetuate abominations. The Perennial Philosophy does not require these kinds of activities.
In our modern world, sometimes idolatry comes in the guise of men of science as a substitute for genuine religion. They set up a pantheon of strictly human ideas and ideals. It can be classified under three main headings: technological, political and moral.
Technical idolatry: a redemption and liberation depends on material objects and in technology.
Political idolatry: Worship of social and economic organizations.
Moral idolatry: cease to worship God, but rather their own ethical ideals. Virtue becomes an end in itself.
None of these are part of the Perennial Philosophy.
Another phenomenon that is antithetical to the Perennial Philosophy is something we might call Emotionalism. Or an experience induced by revivalist sermons, impressive ceremonials, theatrical techniques in order to stimulate remorse and induce the crisis of sudden conversion. Its music and its incense, its numinous darknesses and sacred lights in which the emotion becomes an end in itself, to be eagerly sought after and worshipped, as the addicts of a drug spend life in the pursuit of their artificial paradise.
Perhaps surprisingly, the Perennial Philosophy also rejects the miraculous. As Huxley sees it, miracles are veils intervening between the soul and God.
The role of Ritual, Symbol, Sacrament is to give us words, rites, sacraments, and ceremonials that are valuable to the extent that they remind us of what might be their own relation to the world and God. They are not ends in themselves.
What about Contemplation, Action and Social Utility? According to the Perennial Philosophy, the end of human life is contemplation; action is the means to the end; that a society is good to the extent that it renders contemplation possible for its members; and that the existence of at least a minority of contemplatives is necessary for the well-being of any society.
Contrast this with the popular philosophy of our own time: the end of human life is action; that contemplation is the means to that end; that a society is good to the extent that the actions of its members make for progress in technology and organization; and that a minority of contemplatives is perfectly useless and perhaps even harmful to the community which tolerates it.
In the Perennial Philosophy, the mystics are not only the ultimate source of our knowledge of the soul and its capacities and defects, but also the salt which preserves human societies from decay. The Islamic philosopher Muhammad al-Ghazali states it like this: "God does not deprive the world of them, for they are its sustainers."
I can hear you thinking: Hmmm. What does this have to do with Unitarian Universalism?
Mysticism is our First Source of Religious Truth. As we say: "Direct experience of that transcending mystery and wonder, affirmed in all cultures, which moves us to a renewal of the spirit and an openness to the forces that create and uphold life."
What are the characteristics of mystical experience that lead people experiencing it to these conclusions?
If you were here a few weeks ago, you heard The Rev. Joy Atkinson tell of her mystic experience when preparing to go to seminary. I have also had such an experience. In my case, the experience happened when I was undergoing intense psychotherapy to discover and deal with the source of debilitating depression. My psychiatrist suggested I might try meditation, something I had never done before. Several weeks into this process, while at a meeting at work I saw halos around the heads of several people in the meeting. At that time, I hadn't gone to church in nearly 20 years, but the first thing that I thought was "God is trying to tell me something." That vision was the start of my return to religion and my eventual change of my life's path as a minister.
In her sermon, Joy identified some of the important characteristics of mystical experience. These were described by psychologist and philosopher William James in his classic book: The Varieties of Religious Experience. And, I'll summarize them here. According to James, such an experience is:
Transient -- the experience is temporary; the individual soon returns to a "normal" frame of mind.
Ineffable -- the experience cannot be adequately put into words.
Noetic -- the individual feels that he or she has learned something valuable from the experience.
Passive -- the experience happens to the individual, largely without conscious control. Although there are activities, such as meditation, that can make religious experience more likely, it is not something that can be turned on and off at will.
(This last one is added by contemporary religious scholar Huston Smith) Lasting Effect -- Though the mystical experience is transient, the memory of the experience lasts and has the power to change one's life.
In my own experience, the fact that God existed and was telling me something important was the first thing that occurred to me. It instantly converted me from an atheist to a theist. Many years later at Seminary, I was fascinated and dumbfounded to learn that for some people, mysticism doesn't imply a deity. Charles Francis Potter was a Unitarian minister and Humanist in the early 1900s whose beliefs did not include in an imminent or transcendent God. But, he too had what was clearly a mystical experience as described in the book American Religious Humanism [4]. He experienced something he called the Cosmic Consciousness with the following characteristics:
visual sensation as a bright light
auditory sensation of a voice or music
sudden sense of mental clarity
sense the immensity and unity of the universe
conviction that even material things are alive
self-expansion to include all things
disappearance of guilt, doubt and confusion
joy
immortality has begun
How remarkable that he interpreted this experience through his humanist lens as a confirmation of what he was doing with his non-theist ministry. He wouldn't agree with much of the Perennial Philosophy with its clearly theistic Ground of all being, but I think some of the implications of his experience have similarities. For example: the unity of the Universe and that even material things are alive led him to deeply respect our interdependent web of existence. And, importantly, he was led by his experience to help make life better for people on earth - make a heaven on earth now, rather than after death - was one of his main beliefs. This remains a core Unitarian Universalist conviction. I think Potter would have agreed with the Perennial Philosophy's view of emotionalism, the miraculous, and iniquities committed in the name of religion. I don't think he would have agreed with the negative characterization of moral idolatry. I can imagine him having a deep conversation with Huxley about the importance of science - and suspect they would end up agreeing that science without mystery is not a good thing.
Other things that are similar between religions
Others have observed similarities between various world religions that go beyond those outlined by the Perennial Philosophy. The most often mentioned is the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. There is a version of this rule, sometimes nearly word-for-word in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Taoism and Baha'i. Here are a few others that are widely shared:
It is more blessed to give than to receive
Blessed are the peacemakers
Love your enemies
Seek and ye shall find
I would like to suggest a topic for further study would be to explore the possibility that the values in the perennial philosophy imply these other universal similarities as well.
You might be thinking: How is mysticism different from psychotic experience?
Psychotic shares many characteristics with mystical experience. People see things no one else can see and hear things not heard by others. Psychologist David Lukoff explains the difference lies with whether the person is understandable, whether the person can function in everyday life, and whether they have common sense. These are the factors that allow us to make this differentiation. [5]
The place of mysticism within UUism
Are there UU Mystics? Yes. In fact there is an organization called UU Mystics in Community. You can find them on line.
What about atheists? Can they be mystics? Again, yes. Charles Francis Potter clearly explained this as part of his ministry. It is carried forth in another source of UU truth: "Humanist teachings that heed the guide of reason and the results of science and warn us against the idolatries of the mind and spirit." Humanist teachings help us balance the over-the-top enthusiasm that sometimes comes with mystical experience - both reason and passion are necessary for a whole world view. The UU minister Rev. Tom Owen-Towle says, "as freethinking mystics we're dedicated to a reasonable faith that pushes our minds as far as they can go, then bows before the mysteries."
I'll end with quotes from two well-known scientists.
Albert Schweitzer said: "The highest knowledge is to know we're ultimately surrounded by mystery." [6]
Albert Einstein said: "The most beautiful thing we can experienced is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. ...This insight into the mystery of life, coupled though it be with fear, has also given rise to religion. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their most primitive-this knowledge, this feeling, is at the center of true religiousness."[7]
Footnotes:
[1] "All Lifted Hearts," the movement for the Third Source, "Wisdom from the world's religions." From the Sources Cantata by Jason Shelton and Kendyl Gibbons.
[2] The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley, New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1945.
[3] Huxley, The Perennial Philosophy, p. vii.
[4] American Religious Humanism by Mason Olds,Fellowship of Religious Humanists, 1996 p. 141.
[5] Lukoff, David. "The Diagnosis of Mystical Experience With Psychotic Features." Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, 17; 1985: 155-181.
[6] Schweitzer, Albert, The Spiritual Life, Beacon Press, 1947.
[7] The World as I See It, an essay by Albert Einstein in Ideas and Opinions, based on Mein Weltbild, edited by Carl Seelig, New York: Bonzana Books, 1954 (pp. 8-11).