Since time immemorial, one perennial Wisdom permeates the whole history of mankind, expressing itself in the spiritual traditions of all peoples. Even though these traditions often differ in their forms of expression in different places and times, they nevertheless fully coincide in their essential contents. A.K. Coomaraswamy once said: “The time is coming when a summa of the Philosophia Perennis will have to be written, impartially based on all orthodox sources whatever.” Whitall N. Perry, after fifteen years of patient work, completed this anthology containing several thousands of quotations gathered from a wide range of spiritual authorities, pointing to this One trascendent Truth which manifests through many languages. In Perry’s words: “The reader is invited to enter upon a spiritual journey. In this book he will encounter the heritage he shares in common with all humanity, in what is essentially timeless and enduring and pertinent to his final ends. Out of this myriad mosaic of material emerges a pattern of the human personality in the cosmos that is unerringly consistent, clear, and struck through with a resonance infallible in its ever renewed reverberations of the one same Reality.” “Marco Pallis [in his foreword] distinguishes three classes of reader to whom this book is likely to be of service: those who are already ‘spiritually committed’; those who are still seeking to become such; and those who, from any motive or angle, concern themselves with ‘Comparative Religion’. In any case it is to be hoped that the presence of this work on the shelv... See more
Since time immemorial, one perennial Wisdom permeates the whole history of mankind, expressing itself in the spiritual traditions of all peoples. Even though these traditions often differ in their forms of expression in different places and times, they nevertheless fully coincide in their essential contents. A.K. Coomaraswamy once said: “The time is coming when a summa of the Philosophia Perennis will have to be written, impartially based on all orthodox sources whatever.” Whitall N. Perry, after fifteen years of patient work, completed this anthology containing several thousands of quotations gathered from a wide range of spiritual authorities, pointing to this One trascendent Truth which manifests through many languages. In Perry’s words: “The reader is invited to enter upon a spiritual journey. In this book he will encounter the heritage he shares in common with all humanity, in what is essentially timeless and enduring and pertinent to his final ends. Out of this myriad mosaic of material emerges a pattern of the human personality in the cosmos that is unerringly consistent, clear, and struck through with a resonance infallible in its ever renewed reverberations of the one same Reality.” “Marco Pallis [in his foreword] distinguishes three classes of reader to whom this book is likely to be of service: those who are already ‘spiritually committed’; those who are still seeking to become such; and those who, from any motive or angle, concern themselves with ‘Comparative Religion’. In any case it is to be hoped that the presence of this work on the shelves of many a private, public and university library not only will illumine an enliven the study of religion on the more academic levels [...] but also will lead many individuals to a truer and more fruitful personal response to religion and spirituality [...]. Indeed, for whatever purpose this anthology is consulted, few individuals will be able even to skim through its pages without being drawn somewhat into its dephts.”
