A Wisdom That

Transcends All Times

and Places
An Introduction to the Perennial
Philosophy

SAMUEL BENDECK SOTILLOS

here is a unanimous recognition, encompassing the diverse

T cultures of the world across time, that the human being is
inseparable from the Absolute and that there are many paths to
realising this Truth. To be human is to exist in both the horizontal and
vertical domains; that is, in time and in what is timeless, both in the
physical and metaphysical realms. Yet we require a spiritual path to
partake of the Divine and thus realise the full potential of our human
condition. A defining symbol that is used to describe the perennial
philosophy and the diverse spiritual paths is the circumference and the
centre of a circle, and correspondingly the mountain and the summit.

Samuel Bendeck Sotillos is a practicing psychotherapist who has worked

for years in the field of mental health and social services, focusing on the
intersection between spirituality and psychology. His works include Paths
That Lead to the Same Summit: An Annotated Guide to World Spirituality,
Dismantling Freud: Fake Therapy and the Psychoanalytic Worldview and
Behaviorism: The Quandary of a Psychology without a Soul. His articles have
appeared in numerous journals including Sacred Web, Sophia and Parabola.

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MOUNTAIN PATH
Regarding the circumference and the centre, the outer dimensions of
the religions are situated along the points of the circumference, while
the inner or mystical dimensions of the religions are the radii leading
from the circumference to the centre. From this schema, it logically
follows that in aligning oneself with an authentic spiritual form, one
can by similitude know other traditions and where they converge—
as radii travelling from the periphery of the circle to its centre. The
centre, being the Ultimate Reality or the Absolute as Truth, is one.
The symbol of the mountain and the summit illustrates the diverse
religions and at the same time the ‘transcendent unity of religions’
or ‘paths that lead to the same summit.’ At the bottom or the base of
the mountain the distances between the various religions or paths up
the mountain appear to be wide and incompatible, yet at the summit
there is the unanimity of the One or Ultimate Reality. There are many
other names for this universal and timeless wisdom known as the
perennial philosophy. Aldous Huxley (1894–1963) is responsible for
popularising the term in recent times with his anthology The Perennial
Philosophy (first published in 1944).
It was in the early twentieth century that several key figures, later
regarded as the Perennialist or Traditionalist school of comparative
religious thought, became associated with the perennial philosophy.
Among the most prominent of these luminaries are René Guénon
(1886–1951), Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877–1947), Frithjof
Schuon (1907–1998), and Titus Burckhardt (1908–1984). Other
noteworthy individuals are Marco Pallis (1895–1989), Lord
Northbourne (1896–1982), Martin Lings (1909–2005), Leo
Schaya (1916–1985), Whitall N. Perry (1920–2005), Joseph Epes
Brown (1920–2000), William Stoddart (b. 1925), and Seyyed Hossein
Nasr (b. 1933).
Although the perennial philosophy is not a monolith and has
innumerable variations and expressions, this does not mean that there
are multiple or divergent forms of the perennial philosophy. To suggest
the existence of perennial philosophies in the plural is erroneous and
contradicts the very principle of its underlying transcendent Unity.
It is also of paramount importance to clarify that the existence of a
single perennial philosophy means neither that all religions are the
same nor that one religion or spiritual path is superior to another.

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René Guénon (1886–1951)
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The perennial philosophy, like metaphysics, cannot be the exclusive
property of any individual or school.
Philosophy as it is associated with the perennial philosophy,
pertains to the ancient understanding of philo-sophia, or the ‘love of
wisdom’ that grounds a way of life devoted to the primacy of truth.
The central pillars of the perennial philosophy have been underscored
as Truth, Prayer, Virtue, and Beauty; and all these integral elements
of the perennial philosophy are situated within an authentic religion.
Truth is essential here, as without it there would be no way to
discern between the Real and the unreal, the Absolute and the relative,
or Ātmā and Māyā. Prayer is a bridge to the Divine and provides the
means to access our transpersonal dimension. There are three basic
modes of prayer: personal prayer, which is free and spontaneous;
canonical prayer, which involves prayers that are common to believers
of all faiths; and invocatory prayer, its highest form, which connects
us to the inner dimension of religion through repetition of a Divine
Name. Examples of invocatory prayer include japa-yoga in Hinduism,
nembutsu in Buddhism, the Jesus Prayer in Christianity, and dhikr in
Islam. Prayer is what gradually transforms our nature and brings us
closer to our source. For this reason, St. Paul urges us to “Pray without
ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Virtue pertains to intrinsic morality,
which requires humility and impartiality toward oneself and one’s
neighbour along with service. Beauty is vital to the human condition,
as it encompasses all forms, our surroundings, our clothing, and how
we live our lives. We recall Plato’s dictum here that summarises the
role of beauty and our conformity to the Absolute: “Beauty is the
splendour of the True.”
This approach recognises that there exists a divine Reality that
the religions express differently, yet each human being needs to
practise one of these religions. To embark upon and travel the
spiritual path requires both doctrine (theory) and method (practice):
doctrine provides Truth, and method provides a way of practising and
assimilating this metaphysical Truth.
Metaphysics refers to a way of knowing that is the direct
apprehension of the Real pertaining to a universal order of reality,
particularly as it is actualised in the human realm as a realisation of
our true identity. What can be known through the five senses pertains

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to the corporeal realm and cannot transcend it. Empirical perception
is only one way of knowing, just as reason is another. The Intellect
(intellectus), as traditionally understood, is a transpersonal faculty
that grasps things in themselves. It relies on unmediated intuition, not
on the senses or rationality, which are much more restricted in their
capacity to discern reality as it is.
One Truth, Many Religions
Perhaps no theme is more perplexing to the contemporary mind than
religion and how to understand religious pluralism in today’s world
amidst all of the confusion that surrounds it. Due to the militant
secularism and skepticism of these times, an integral framework for
building bridges between the religions is imperative. Without the
integral framework of the perennial philosophy, authentic bridge-
building between the religions cannot take place. As the Real is both
absolute and infinite, it provides upāyas (or ‘saving means’), which
allow for diverse religions to emerge. This plurality satisfies the
great variety of spiritual needs and temperaments to be found among
human beings.
While the word ‘religion’ has become off-putting and is less
used today than ‘spirituality,’ it is necessary to remember that the
etymological root of the English word ‘religion’ is the Latin religare,
meaning to ‘to re-link,’ or ‘to bind back’ to the Divine or the Supreme
Identity that is at once transcendent and immanent, or to that which
is beyond the human and at the same time resides within us. There
is a timeless and universal recognition found across the religions, as
emphasised in the Hindu tradition, when the Divine speaks in the first
person through Krishna: “I am … seated in the heart[s] of all.̄ (Śrī
Bhagavad Gītā 10:20); however, this presupposes a prior recognition
of transcendence. The etymology itself alludes to religion’s role in
restoring the integral human condition, which has in large part been
forgotten in the present day. Originally, religion was understood to
be essential for both the individual and the human collectivity, as it
was seen as the unitive force of humanity.
All of the religions establish that there is an inseparable link
between the human and the Divine. The task of the world’s religions
and their inner dimension is to awaken or reintegrate into our

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primordial nature (fiṭrah), the ‘image of God’ (imago Dei), Buddha-
nature (Buddha-dhātu), or Self (Ātmā), our true identity in divinis.
The traditional doctrine of identity that can be found across the
religions is closely related to the image one has of Reality itself. It
is the metaphysical order that restores harmony to a consciousness
that has been bifurcated into mind and matter or subject and object.
The human being exists in both the horizontal and vertical domains,
in both time and what is timeless, in both the corporeal and the
spiritual. The human being is therefore a bridge between these two
domains, and this is why religion is imperative for understanding
what it means to be human and consequently for the realisation of
the human condition.
The Perennial Philosophy and the Perennialists
Despite some noteworthy selections, Huxley’s work is incomplete
because of its adoption of an individualistic pick-and-choose approach,
rather than letting the wisdom traditions speak for themselves. Very
different from Huxley’s anthology is Whitall N. Perry’s work A
Treasury of Traditional Wisdom (1971 – later republished as The
Spiritual Ascent: A Compendium of the World’s Wisdom, 2008),
consisting of more than a thousand pages; this work has been praised
as the ‘Summa of the Philosophia Perennis.’ Perry came into close
personal contact with Coomaraswamy in 1946, and it was through this
contact that Perry first conceived of the idea of compiling an anthology
underscoring the world’s religions and spiritual traditions, both in
their universality through their esoteric (or inner) dimensions and in
their necessary differences in their exoteric (or outer) dimensions. In
1943, Coomaraswamy had written of the pressing need for an authentic
portrayal of the philosophia perennis or perennial philosophy. After
seventeen years, Perry’s labour of love bore fruit; unfortunately,
Coomaraswamy was not alive to see its publication.
Tradition as it is understood through the perennial philosophy in
its fullest sense pertains to the supra-formal order which includes
all that can be known by the human being through revelation as it
applies to all dimensions of human existence and cannot be in any
way reduced to the observance of customs, habits, or the transitory
events of history. Tradition is therefore the infusion of the sacred into

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an entire civilisation and its culture. This said, Tradition is in a sense
ineffable like the notion expressed in the Tao Te Ching: “The Tao that
can be expressed is not the eternal Tao.”
Huxley attributed the initial use of the Latin term philosophia
perennis or ‘perennial philosophy’ to Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
(1646–1716). Leibniz used the term in a letter that he wrote on
August 26, 1714 to Nicolas-François Rémond de Montmort, yet the
term was employed earlier by the Vatican librarian and theologian
Agostino Steuco (1497–1548). However, careful research indicates
that the idea dates even further back, to the Middle Ages. The
influential philosopher and priest Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499)
termed it the philosophia priscorium or prisca theologia (ancient or
venerable philosophy). The leading Byzantine scholar and philosopher
Gemistus Plethon (1355–1452) used the term vera philosophia (true
philosophy). Within Hinduism this teaching is known as the sanātana
dharma (eternal religion) and in Islam as al-ḥikmat al-khālidah
(eternal wisdom; jāwīdān-khirad in Persian) or al-dīn al-ḥanīf
(primordial religion). Other phrases that are also used to articulate
the perennial philosophy are sophia perennis (perennial wisdom),
religio perennis (perennial religion), and religio cordis (religion of the
heart). It is sometimes known as the transcendent unity of religions,
the underlying religion, the Great Chain of Being, the Primordial
Tradition, or simply Tradition.
One Truth, Many Truth Claims
A fundamental question remains as to how to make sense of the
world’s different religions, when each asserts its own exclusive
validity and truth claims. How can all of the religions be true? And
if they are all true, does this then suggest that one religion cannot
possess the fullness of Truth? The integral framework of the perennial
philosophy is able to reconcile these apparent differences.
The main criticism of the perennial philosophy is that the
affirmation of the universality of religion comes at the expense of
the loss of the distinctions between the faith traditions. Yet it is the
metaphysical framework of the perennial philosophy, especially its
ability to reconcile and discern vital differences between the religions,
which is necessary and providential. From one point of view the

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validity and truth of a given religion appears to contradict the validity
and truth of the other; yet when viewed through the metaphysics of the
perennial philosophy, their inner dimensions illuminate the validity
and truth of each faith or tradition without falling into religious
exclusivism or syncretism.
Numerous passages from the world’s religions can be found
demonstrating the formal incongruities among their theological
perspectives. We recall the Latin phrase extra ecclesiam nulla salus,
‘outside the Church there is no salvation,’ which is the dogma of the
Catholic Church. Yet within every religion, similar exclusivist claims
can be identified, as the founder of each faith tradition represents the
eternal Logos. According to the Christian tradition, “Jesus saith unto
him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,
but by me” (John 14:6); in Islam, “No man shall meet God who has not
first met the Prophet” (ḥadīth); a corresponding principle, although not
exclusivist in its outlook, can be found within the Buddhist tradition:
“He who sees the Dhamma [Dharma] sees me, and he who sees me
sees the Dhamma [Dharma]” (Samyutta Nikāya 3.120).
While passages expressing religious exclusivism are to be found, it
is also vital to balance these passages with the abundant examples of
statements exemplifying universality to obtain a fuller understanding
of the perennial philosophy. In the Hindu tradition, the Bhagavad Gītā
declares, “They worship me as One and as many, because they see
that all is in me” (9:15).
Within the Christian tradition, we need to recall that Jesus declared
that “In my Father’s house are many mansions” (John 14:2), and that
there are “other sheep who are not of this fold” (John 10:16); Jesus
also emphasised that “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). All
of these passages allude to Jesus as the Logos. The manifestation
of the Logos in Christianity does not therefore suggest that it is in
anyway limited to a single religion, for the principle of the Logos can
manifest in other religions as well. We recall the often-cited passage
with reference to this idea: “The wind [or Spirit] bloweth where it
listeth” (John 3:8).
According to the Islamic tradition, “We never sent a messenger
save with the language of his folk, that he might make the message
clear for them” (Qur’ān 14:4). The validity of the diverse religious

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Ananda K. Coomaraswamy (1877–1947)
MOUNTAIN PATH
paths is also illustrated in the following Qur’ānic passage: “Truly those
who believe, and the Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabeans —
whoever believeth in God and the Last Day and performeth virtuous
deeds — surely their reward is with their Lord, and no fear shall come
upon them, neither shall they grieve” (2:62). The metaphysical reality
of the Prophet of Islam is expressed in the ḥadīth that attributes to
Muḥammad the words “I was a Prophet when Adam was between
water and clay.” Another point regarding religion is that one’s
religion is often determined by the family that one is born into and
not necessarily by one’s own choice. According to a famous ḥadīth:
“Every child is born according to primordial nature (fiṭrah); then his
parents make him into a Jew, a Christian, or a Zoroastrian.”
To go beyond the exclusivist or formalistic interpretations of
religion requires the vantage point of metaphysics to realise the
common ground among the religions, without which the ‘transcendent
unity of religions’ or ‘paths that lead to the same summit’ is
indiscernible. This point of view provides a higher or more inclusive
perspective than exclusivist or formulaic interpretations of religion.
While a deep immersion in the sapiential traditions is needed
to comprehend what they say about each other, to recognise their
uniqueness and even the necessary and providential nature of these
differences, the goal is simultaneously to realise their multiplicity-
in-unity and unity-in-multiplicity.
This does not in anyway minimise the formal practise of religion,
as each orthodox faith tradition provides the fullness of truth through
its doctrines and methods, which contain truth sufficient for salvation.
When the religions are understood through metaphysics, they are no
longer viewed as a limitation, but rather as a necessity leading to the
doorway of the supra-formal.
The Religions and the Absolute
The notion of religious exclusivity can be understood and even
reconciled with pluralism if we recognise the ‘relatively Absolute,’
a term established by Frithjof Schuon that signifies the existence of
the Absolute within the relative that is each religion. Each religion
derives from the Absolute, yet each religious form is relative in and
of itself. The Divine expresses itself in absolute terms because it alone

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is Absolute, yet the distinct religious forms are not absolute; they are
relatively absolute.
All of these exclusive truth claims, while necessarily differing
from each other in their exoteric or outer dimensions, do not present
contradictions or irreconcilable differences within their esoteric or
inner dimension.
If each Revelation differentiates itself from others, it is because
of its supra-formal essence, which cannot be reduced to its formal
manifestation. Without the perennial philosophy, the complexities of
how the religions differ on the formal level and where they meet on
the supra-formal level cannot be fully understood.
We are reminded to approach the spiritual path on the terms of the
Divine and not on our own terms: “We ought to obey God rather than
men” (Acts 5:29). As it has been pointed out, we should “enter houses
through their proper doors” (Qur’ān 2:189). The inner dimension of
religion is only accessible through the outer dimension. The inner and
outer dimensions of religion are inseparable from one another and are
complementary, since both are revealed by God alone.
The Inner and Outer Dimensions of Religion
The particular forms of religion and spirituality become intelligible
through understanding the relationship and interdependence of the
exoteric and esoteric. Again, in order to participate in the inner or
mystical dimension of a religion, the outer dimension needs to be
present; religion cannot be discarded in an attempt to solely practise
its inner dimension. While the saints and sages transcended the
formal limitations of their respective religions, this does not mean
that they therefore abandoned the doctrines and methods of these
faith traditions; they in fact conserved the outer dimension or exoteric
elements while practising the inner or esoteric dimension.
The perennial philosophy, while timeless and universal, does not in
anyway advocate a religion or tradition of its own: that it does so is a
common misconception. There cannot be a ‘supra-religion’ or ‘meta-
religion’ that places one religion above all others, as the diverse religions
correspond to the diverse human beings and derive from the Absolute.
Each faith tradition is sufficient for the return or reintegration into the
Divine and requires diverse means of facilitating this function.

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An ad hoc all-encompassing construction of religion is erroneous,
as no such formation can exist that replaces all the sapiential traditions.
This would distort the intrinsic tenet of the perennial philosophy
that all the religions are fundamentally unique manifestations of the
Absolute. As the perennial philosophy acknowledges the ‘transcendent
unity of religions’ or ‘paths that lead to the same summit,’ it can
sometimes be confused with New Age pseudo-spirituality, which is
syncretic in nature and is a parody of integral spirituality. Let us be
clear: the perennial philosophy has nothing to do with this counterfeit
spirituality. Although it is certainly true that “The wind [or Spirit]
bloweth where it listeth” (John 3:8), every human person must
travel one of the timeworn paths that have been travelled since time
immemorial by the distinct saints and sages of the religions.
One Truth, Many Paths
This recognition of many paths leading to the unanimous Truth differs
from endless dabbling in the various religions or mystical practices,
as it is decisive that one path be taken and traveled until its end. The
non-committal way of approaching religion is very deceptive and
ultimately goes nowhere. There are exemplars, like Śrī Rāmakrishna
(1836–1886), who have demonstrated the unique ability to remain
firmly rooted within a single religion (in his case that of Hinduism)
and at the same time to be universal in their orientation, allowing them
to simultaneously travel other spiritual paths. In fact, Rāmakrishna
spent time devoutly practising both Christianity and Islam to verify
these religions from within.
Rāmakrishna in no way repudiated or brought into question his
participation in Hinduism but rather affirmed the universality of all
sapiential traditions, while abiding within the fold of his own faith
tradition. It goes without saying that Rāmakrishna is unique and a
rather remarkable embodiment of the perennial philosophy, yet it
needs to be remembered that the universality of religion can be realised
by practising a single religion; and that one need not attempt, nor is
it recommended that one attempt, to travel multiple spiritual paths.
It is important to point out that the ‘transcendent unity of religions’
does not absolve one from the responsibility of following the moral
precepts of a chosen path. All the traditions have prescribed codes of

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conduct, as morality is an important dimension of any religion. Each
human being has a choice in the matter, as the Qur’ān asserts: “There
is no compulsion in religion” (2:256). With that said, morality is not
prescribed just to induce fear, even though some individuals may
require it. Rather, it allows wayfarers to remain on a straight path
towards the Divine, which is our sole good. This demands humility,
generosity, vigilance and gratitude, along with the patience and trust
required to efface the ego. We recall the saying of Christ, “Why callest
thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God” (Matthew
19:17). Here we need to make a distinction between moral virtues and
‘social’ morality. The first pertains to the divine qualities inherent in
the spirit, and the second relates to the conformity of actions to this
morality. Ultimately, however, no virtues are ours— they belong to
God alone. The saints and sages of the world’s religions never ignored
the importance of moral precepts. Some demonstrated unconventional
behaviour or paradoxical teaching methods, but this cannot be
confused with antinomianism or a repudiation of morality as a whole.
Truth Both Beyond and Within
Attempted revisions of the religions or their mystical counterparts of
the perennial philosophy essentially lead to relativistic pluralism that
cannot go anywhere and ends in a cul-de-sac. Privileging immanence
at the cost of transcendence is not only a reduction, but a fundamental
error, for it must be remembered that transcendence is prior to
immanence and there can be no immanence without transcendence.
In the same way, the horizontal dimension cannot access the vertical
dimension, as the former is of time and contingent, whereas the latter
is timeless and Absolute.
We are first called to recognise that “My kingdom is not of this
world” (John 18:36), yet this is coupled with the second recognition
that “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21). Within
Islamic spirituality, we are reminded of God’s transcendence: “Eyes
do not perceive Him” (Qur’ān 6:103) or “There is nothing like Him”
(Qur’ān 42:11) and yet also of God’s immanence: “Wherever you
turn, there is the face of God” (Qur’ān 2:115) or “We are nearer
to him than the jugular vein” (Qur’ān 50:16). In the Divine, both
can exist simultaneously without contradiction, as there are distinct

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levels of perception and modes of knowing depending on the diverse
understanding of human beings. Metaphysics pertains to the domain of
immutable principles, to which nothing can be added and from which
nothing can be taken away. As stated earlier, there is only a single
metaphysics and a single perennial philosophy — which is timeless
and universal, originating in the supra-formal reality.
The relative and the Absolute characterise two distinct domains
of knowing; however, the perennial philosophy also includes all
contingent modes of knowing and levels of reality that connect
them. The perennial philosophy provides a framework that remedies
the Cartesian dualism between mind and matter, which has plagued
the mindset of the West since the seventeenth century. Rather than
asserting that matter is the origin of all things as modern science
does, the perennial philosophy upholds that, in the beginning, was
consciousness itself or the Absolute.
The One and the Many
Some have criticised the perennial philosophy as it privileges a
purely metaphysical perspective in keeping with the teachings of Ādi
Śaṅkara, the great eighth-century exponent of Advaita Vedānta. Such
a view overlooks the fact that his doctrine of Unity, or Nonduality,
is the essence of metaphysics. It is universal and timeless and can be
found within all the world’s religions and their mystical dimensions,
including the religions of the First Peoples and their Shamanic
traditions. This view does not deny that each of the religions provides
the fullness of truth through its doctrines and methods, which is
sufficient for salvation. Through metaphysics, the religions are not
seen as limitations but, rather, understood as a necessary path to the
supra-formal or Absolute.
Ultimate Reality transcends linguistic limitations and the
rational mind’s definitions and conceptualisations; it is beyond all
categorisation. The cataphatic way, also known as affirmative theology
(via affirmativa), concerns what can be articulated about the Divine
or God. By contrast, the apophatic approach, also known as negative
theology (via negativa), pertains to the unknowable nature of the
Divine Essence or Godhead. These are both valid ways of approaching
spiritual reality.

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Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998)
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The correlation between human diversity and religious pluralism
is made evident in the application of the perennial philosophy to
psychology or the ‘science of the soul.’ Each religion originates in
the Absolute and requires the integral metaphysics of the perennial
philosophy to discern and reconcile human diversity and the
corresponding diversity of religions. It is the perennial psychology
rooted in metaphysics that provides integration of the human being
consisting of Spirit, soul, and body and its diverse modes of knowing
and treatment.
Esoterism as a Basis for Ecumenical Dialogue
Contemporary ecumenical or interfaith dialogue, although often well-
intentioned in accepting other faiths as legitimate and advocating
tolerance towards other religions, does not truly plumb the depths of
the religions and radically falls short of understanding how authentic
bridges may be established between them. Without necessarily
realising it, such dialogue ends up concluding that no one religion
can possibly possess the fullness of the Truth: since they are thought
of as all being the same and each facilitating a part of the Truth, it
is implied that each religion is an imperfect receptacle of Truth.
Paradoxically, concluding that no religion is true contradicts the
very rationale of ecumenical dialogue. It goes without saying that no
amount of tolerance is the same as understanding, and, while tolerance
is much needed, it is limited, to say the least. Again, while we need
to be cautious and critical of religious exclusivism, the same applies
to ecumenical or interfaith movements.
Most ecumenical dialogue unequivocally restricts the full scope
of what religion signifies, and therefore it cannot facilitate a true
understanding and authentic meeting between the diverse religions.
What is needed is to build bridges between the religions based on an
‘esoteric ecumenicism,’ as Schuon noted, which transcends sectarian
boundaries, is rooted in metaphysics, and is an expression of the
universal and timeless wisdom of the perennial philosophy that is
“neither of the East nor of the West” (Qur’ān 24:35).
The expositors of the perennial philosophy in no way attempt
to alter or update the religions and their mystical dimensions, as
this would be unnecessary and even mistaken, but rather allow the

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traditional sources and their saints and sages to speak for themselves
on their own terms, in order to present the universal and timeless
wisdom to contemporaries seeking the one Truth hidden in all the
forms. From this perspective, each human being praises the Divine
in accordance with his or her own essence. Likewise, each human
being is a receptacle with distinctive and unique beliefs and traits that
assimilates one and the same transpersonal Essence.
The Necessity of Living One’s Religion
What is of essential importance in this topsy-turvy and radically
confused time is to adhere to an authentic religious form and to
practise it with all of one’s heart and mind. Yet this commitment
cannot be imposed from without and needs to come directly from the
individual, as we are reminded: “There is no compulsion in religion”
(Qur’ān 2:256).
While religion derives from a supra-formal order, human beings
need forms to travel the spiritual path in order to return to the Spirit.
Forms themselves are the disclosure of the supra-formal order. Human
beings live in the world of forms and analogously require them for
their return to the Divine: Spiritual forms correspond to both human
diversity and religious pluralism.
The resolution to the confrontation between the plurality of
religions and their transcendental unity is none other than the universal
metaphysics that has existed at all times and in all places, known
as the perennial philosophy. Yet it needs to be made clear that the
recognition of the perennial philosophy is not a prerequisite for a
human being’s salvation or for spiritual realisation and should not
serve as a substitute for a divinely revealed tradition.
What any serious seeker on the path must understand is that not all
facets of religion will be comprehended at once and that these matters
are not dependent on the human (for “He guides whomsoever He will
to a straight path” [Qur’ān 10:25]), but derive from a higher source,
from what is above. We cannot ask God, along with the Psalmist, to
“take off the veil from mine eyes” (119:18) without first adhering to
an authentic religious form. The veil exists for the protection of the
seeker and cannot be lifted prematurely without grave consequences,
and this is articulated in various ways through the traditional exegeses.

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In the same way that we give common courtesy to a friend by entering
the house through the front and not the back door, we must likewise
embark on the spiritual path through one of the revealed traditions and
not attempt to access its precinct without the consent and blessing of
the religion. Travelling the spiritual path requires defending the True
and the Real within the heart and mind in order not to be diverted
away from the “one thing needful” (Luke 10:42), which is none other
than the remembrance of the Divine. Each human being again is a
reflection of the diverse and unique religions and spiritual paths that
lead to the same summit. In the same way, each of the religions is a
path of return. 

What’s the Chemistry?

Suresh Kailash

A billion, zillion photons,

gently bounce off
your form and face,
fall on a strip of acetate,
(or photographic plate)
coated with halide salts
of sodium, potassium
and silver nitrate,
where they react and create
a replica of your image.
How this happens,
any chemist can illustrate.

But, the chemistry

between your devotees
and your portrait?
This, Ramana,
is a mystery.

46 January - March