Perennial Philosophy

Perennial Philosophy:

“The psychology that finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality; the ethic that places man's final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being the thing is immemorial and universal.”

This definition of Perennial Philosophy appears in the introduction to the book The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley.

Huxley (1894-1963), an English writer, is mostly known for one of the greatest dystopian novels of the 20th century (and perhaps of all time) Brave New World. 

Here in this book, Huxley introduces and perhaps popularizes the lesser known school of thought known as Perennial Philosophy. The term itself (according to Huxley) was first coined by Leibniz and it refers to the esoteric or mystical ideas within religions.

The word itself - ‘perennial’ means something which is recurring and everlasting and is mostly used in botanics (perennial plants.)

Perennial Philosophy begins with the idea that all religions, however different, share a mutual and identical core. That core is the unified divinity which is in the base of all things and is both immanent and transcendent, meaning, it manifests in the observable world and at the same time is external to it. While all religions developed fundamentally different doctrines, practices and theologies, it is the esoteric part of each religion which appears to be similar, the part in which one can tap into divinity itself, communicate and participate within it. This participation always carries the same virtuous values of love and justice.

It is important to mention here that Huxley was considered an amateur of the school and was not one of its great thinkers; he created an anthology to bring the idea to the public. Some 20th century thinkers of the school (also called Traditionalist Philosophy) are René Guénon, Ananda Coomaraswamy and Frithjof Schuon. 

Perennialist thinking can be found in our tradition in our esoteric writings that we know as Kabbalah. It is important to mention though, that Kabbalah is more than esoteric in our tradition, as it lives in the foundation of the entire Hasidic movement and is prevalent in the spiritualist influence of religious and non-religious Jews alike in a manner which only keeps growing and spreading. This isn’t the place to begin a lengthy explanation of Kabbalah, but I do want to focus on one core term which describes the divine immanence in the world and that is the term Shechinah.

Shechinah comes from the root SH.CH.N -  ש.כ.נ, which means “to dwell.” The word Mishkan - tabernacle, comes from the same root. In our tradition God has two aspects, the masculine, one which is transcendental, external to reality and the feminine, one which is imminent and manifests in our reality. This feminist part is called Shechina.

Our portion this week, Chayyei Sarah, despite its name (the life of Sarah,) focuses on finding Rebecca who becomes Isaac’s wife. This turns out to be a successful match as once Rebecca is brought to Isaac by his father’s servant, they both fall in love with each other at first sight. This success story ends like this:
 

"וַיְבִאֶ֣הָ יִצְחָ֗ק הָאֹ֙הֱלָה֙ שָׂרָ֣ה אִמּ֔וֹ וַיִּקַּ֧ח אֶת־רִבְקָ֛ה וַתְּהִי־ל֥וֹ לְאִשָּׁ֖ה וַיֶּאֱהָבֶ֑הָ וַיִּנָּחֵ֥ם יִצְחָ֖ק אַחֲרֵ֥י אִמּֽוֹ׃ {פ}

"Isaac then brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah, and he took Rebekah as his wife. Isaac loved her, and thus found comfort after his mother’s death.”

Rashi on this verse has this to say: “He brought her into the tent and she became exactly like his mother Sarah — that is to say, the words signify as much as, [And he brought her into the tent] and, behold, she was Sarah, his mother). For whilst Sarah was living, a light had been burning in the tent from one Sabbath eve to the next, there was always a blessing in the dough (a miraculous increase) and a cloud was always hanging over the tent (as a divine protection), but since her death all these had stopped. However, when Rebecca came, they reappeared” (Genesis Rabbah 60:16).”

Here in the Midrash which Rashi quotes, we learn that Sarah was constantly visited by the Shechinah, her candle never burnt out, her bread dough never ceased to rise and a cloud dwelled over her tent. Once Rebecca came in, these miracles if you will, which stopped with Sarah’s death, returned.

The Ramban (Nachmanides) explains that our forefathers (and mothers) were chariots of God, meaning they carried God’s imminent presence with them. He then describes how in Exodus, the people of Israel became that chariot and carried God’s presence on a national level through the Mishkan, the tabernacle that they built.

Rabbi Shmuel Bornstein in his book Shem Mishmuel, points to a direct comparison between Sarah’s tent and the tabernacle, the Ner Ma’aravi of the tabernacle - the eternal flame, was like Sarah’s candles, Lechem Hapanim (the showbread or the bread of display) was like Sarah’s dough and the cloud dwelled on both.

According to the Kabbalist book Shaary Orah, a medieval work written in Spain in the 13th century by Joseph Gikatilla, at first the Shechinah dwelled in our world, but due to the First Man’s sin, followed by generations of sinners, it went away. It was Abraham who began to pull it back down from the higher spheres and back into our world. He and the rest of our forefathers and mothers were not able to pull it down into the world so that that it would be everywhere, so they carried it with them wherever they went.

It then went away again but was pulled back down by Moses to dwell in the Mishkan. Kings David and Solomon brought it back to the Holy Temple. Its power at the Temple was so great that it projected all throughout the world and to all nations. 

With the Temple’s destruction the Shechina remained only within individuals, inside each and every one of us, the people of Israel and it goes with us wherever we go.    

The Shechinah - God’s immanence in the world will grow and spread once we build another Temple, but that Temple will only be built once we unite as a people. Our unity will be the beginning of a universal unity and redemption. 

Perennial Philosophy stemming from Platonic and Neo-Platonic thought shows how there is oneness beneath all spiritual beliefs and practices that we all strive to get back to. That is the universal unity.

The way to tap into that whole energy is by transforming ourselves into beings of love and justice and unselfing everything else. These principles are shared by all traditions and religions. 

Huxley, who wrote his book right at the end of the Second World War, saw a hopeful message in this. A possible bridge between us all, a bridge which is always here, we just need to expose it. 

He wrote:
“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 dream, who do the persecuting and make the wars.”

Our portion this week calls on us to never drop our guard and let ego, hatred, anger and control take over us. We need to keep our candles burning, our dough fresh and the cloud of the divine immanence within us, until the day it will finally be able to come out. 

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