“Why dost thou prate of God? Whatever thou sayest of Him is untrue” ~ Meister Eckhart
In The Perennial Philosophy, Aldous Huxley offers a comparative study of Eastern and Western mysticism, articulating universal themes about the Divine. I summarize the themes here with personal reflections.
Monotheism. God is a divine unity, the ground of the human condition. The concept of God being a united ground is quite different than the traditional notion of an omnipotent being. I personally prefer polytheism. When the knower is poly-psychic the universe they know by immediate experience is polytheistic. The plural form of the pronoun has a new and suitable meaning here.
The human condition is multiplicity. The self has no substance and must be in a state of discontent of suffering, always desiring other, and idolatrous. Political monism is idolatry, causing suffering and obstructing spirituality. The politics of those whose goal is beyond time are always pacific. It is the idolaters of past and future, of reactionary memory and Utopian dreams, who do the persecuting and make the wars. Very Buddhist, especially if one extends monism and idolatry beyond politics to rigid narrowness of thought in general.
Morality, worship and spiritual exercises. Morality is selflessness, loving others, and vigilance to do good. Rituals can facilitate insight, or they can be idolatry. Spiritual exercises include contemplative prayer, meditation and silence. Miracles are not important; it is important to perform common tasks with love.
Trinity. God is immanent, a personal inner light; god is transcendent, beyond time and the human condition, a rule-maker; and god is incarnate, in the world. Huxley might agree with my rejection of the Christian concept of a fall from which humans need to be redeemed through intervention. I prefer the Gnostic notion that we can become Christ.
Unitive knowledge. The soul is identical with the Divine Ground, so we may have a direct experience of God. The experience transcends self, words, truth, even faith. Again, this fits with Gnosticism.
Two excellent quotes praising the virtue of silence: “Physical noise, mental noise and noise of desire — we hold history’s record for all of them. And no wonder, for the resources of our almost miraculous technology have been thrown into the current assault against silence.” Huxley said that in 1945. One of my all-time favourite quotes from Meister Eckhart, “Why dost thou prate of God? Whatever thou sayest of Him is untrue.”
Last Updated on May 15, 2025 | Published: January 6, 2011