Aberdeen Unitarian Church
THE
CHALICE SCHOOL OF
CONTEMPLATIVE MEDITATION
SESSION No. 7
PART TWO - THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY
In this second part of the session I would
like to deal with the type of philosophy or thinking that often provides a
background of belief for a great deal of meditation practice. In a
previous session it was mentioned that the old concept of God was dying
and that a new concept was being born - and it was this new concept that
many people now felt they could believe in and pray to. In reality this is
not a new concept as such, but rather one which has always been there at
the heart of each religious tradition - especially within the mystical
tradition. The only difference is that it is now beginning to come to the
surface as being many people's new understanding of God. (Sometimes it
appears as if it is something to be found in new age thinking - but there
is nothing new about it.). It is however, no longer the old benevolent man
in the sky idea, or even the kind of God that you often find in the Old
Testament - a God of wrath and thunder - a God always outside somewhere,
judging us, and sometimes rather sternly. But rather it is something
deeper, more profound and certainly a lot closer to home. It is to be
found in the deeper part of ourselves, and in the whole of creation. The
philosophy itself is sometimes named as the Philosophia Perennis or
the Perennial Philosophy. In Aldous Huxley's well known book the
Perennial Philosophy he gives an outline of this kind of thinking,
however, many people have come to view it only in terms of comparative
religion. There is however a definite mystical philosophy and dimension
behind it as we will see.
In his book on Mysticism, F.C. Happold
gives a very condensed and concise outline. This is helpful because it can
be quite a difficult process to go through all the various ideas that
Huxley deals with. Happold outlines the philosophy in this way (and
perhaps we can see this new idea of God emerging). He starts off by
explaining what mysticism is, how it has its origin in the Geek mysteries,
and that the word comes from the Greek verb, muo, "to shut or
close the lips or eyes". But, he adds, "in the course of time
the word has come to have an extended, indeed a different meaning",
especially through Neoplatonism where the whole question of reality
has been in question. During the course of time there has been a fusion of
Christian and Neo-platonic thought and this has resulted in a system of
mystical theology. This then has been the main background of Christian
mysticism. In short, it is from this background that there has arisen the
Perennial Philosophy, although it must be said that to the Hindu and the
Buddhist mystics, as well as the mysticism in other religious traditions,
this philosophy has always been there in one form or another. In all
religious traditions, indeed in all forms of mysticism there has been a
similar and even an identical expression. And it is because of this there
has arisen a way of thinking, indeed a whole way of looking at life which
embraces this common approach - a common experience - often refereed to as
the Perennial Philosophy. Happold then gives the following assertions,
which have come out of that common experience :
| 1. |
"This phenomenal world of matter and
individual consciousness is only a partial reality and is the
manifestation of a Divine Ground in which all partial realities
have their being. |
| 2. |
It is of the nature of man that not only can he
have knowledge of this Divine Ground by inference, but also he can
realise it by direct intuition, superior to discursive reason, in
which the knower is in some way united with the known. |
| 3. |
The nature of man is not a singe but a dual one,
he has not one but two selves, the phenomenal ego, of which he is
chiefly conscious and which he tends to regard as his true self,
and a non-phenomenal, eternal self, and inner man, the spirit, the
spark of divinity within him, which is his true self. It is
possible for a man, if he so desires and is prepared to make the
necessary effort, to identify himself with his true self and so
with the Divine Ground, which is of the same or like nature. |
| 4. |
It is the chief end of mans earthly existence to
discover and identify himself with his true self By so doing, he
will come to an intuitive knowledge of the Divine Ground and so
apprehend Truth as it really is, and not as to our limited human
perceptions it appears to be. Not only that, he will enter into a
state of being which has been given different names, eternal life,
salvation, enlightenment, etc. |
Further, the Perennial Philosophy
rests on two fundamental convictions:
| 1. |
Though it may be to. a great extent
atrophied and exist only potentially in most men, men possess an
organ or faculty which is capable of discerning spiritual truth,
and, in its own spheres, this faculty is as much to be relied on
as are other organs of sensation in theirs. |
| 2. |
In order to be able to discern spiritual
truth men must in their essential nature be spiritual; in order to know
That which they call God, they must be, in some way, partakers of the
divine nature; potentially at least there must be some kinship between God
and the human soul. Man is not a creature set over against God. He
participates in the divine life; he is, in a real sense, 'united' with God
in his essential nature, for, as the Flemish contemplative, the Blessed
John Ruysbroeck, put it:
This union is within us of our naked
nature and were this nature to be separated from God it would fall into
nothingness."
|
You can perhaps see a relationship here
with some of the stages of prayer, meditation and contemplation that we
covered in the other sessions. But this is the realm of mysticism in depth
- indeed it is the deeper part of meditation and contemplation. Within the
Perennial Philosophy there is this aspect of the Divine Ground - it is
both Immanent and Transcendent, at the same time. This is the Divine
Ground of all existence and provides the basis of the entire structure of
the philosophy. But this, it is believed, takes away the notion that God
or Divine Reality is something outside us. It prevents us from pushing the
Divine Ground away from us - sometimes too far away - a remote Divine
Power that only intervenes when it has a mind to. Seen from both a
Transcendent and an Immanent aspect one then realizes that the Divine
Ground - sometimes understood as the Spirit with us - is also the same
Ground which sustains the whole of creation. The main difference in this
approach is that it comes from a common experience that is found in all
the great world traditions, especially at the heart of those traditions.
When we speak about meditation and
contemplation like this, and if we go into it in any real way - to
understand the process, and especially the thinking behind it - if we look
at the heart of the tradition that the particular meditation method comes
from (and it has to be the heart and centre, and not the circumference) -
we will see that common ground - that common denominator - that common
experience.
Bede Griffiths (a Benedictine Monk who went
to India and adopted the Sanyasin way of life and thought) speaks about
the Divine Ground as the Sacred Mystery. He writes: "What is this
'transcendent Mystery', this 'ultimate Truth'. This 'universal Law'? These
are words we use to express the inexpressible. This is the whole problem
of life, which continually baffles our reason. The ultimate meaning and
purpose of life cannot be expressed, cannot properly be thought. It is
present everywhere, in everything, yet it always escapes our grasp. It is
the 'Ground' of all existence, that from which all things come, to which
all things return, but which never appears. It is 'within' all things,
'above' all things, 'beyond' all things, but it cannot be identified with
anything. Without it nothing could exist, without it nothing can be known,
yet it is itself unknown. It is that by which everything is known, yet
which itself remains unknown. It is 'unseen but seeing, unheard but
hearing, unperceived but perceiving, unknown but knowing'. This is the
mystery upon which both Indian and Chinese thought lighted in the sixth
century before Christ. They called it Brahman, Atman, Nirvana, Tao, but
these are only names for what cannot be named. We speak of 'God', but this
also is only a name for this inexpressible Mystery." (Return to
the Centre p 19-20).
In conclusion
Prayer, meditation and contemplation, when
seen in the light of the Perennial Philosophy experience, that common
mystical/spiritual experience to be found at the heart of all religions,
leads to the Sacred Mystery - it has a name, but paradoxically it is
beyond all names. Its ultimate goal is Divine Union, which is the highest
stage of contemplation - Union with the Ground of all existence.
This concludes our Meditation
Sessions. Go forward in the Light and in the Truth.
May we all attain
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