- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Flamingo; (Reissue) edition (10 Jan 1994)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0006547338
- ISBN-13: 978-0006547334
- Product Dimensions: 23 x 15 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,255,675 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
This reissue, in Huxley's centenary year, illustrates his belief in a universal truth. Beneath the revelations of all the great world religions, the teachings of the wise and the holy of all faiths and the mystical experiences of every race and age, Huxley believed in a basic unity of belief.
About the Author
Aldous Huxley was born in 1894 near Godalming, Surrey. He began writing poetry and short stories in his early twenties, but it was his first novel, ‘Crome Yellow’ (1921), which established his literary reputation. This was swiftly followed by ‘Antic Hay (1923), ‘Those Barren Leaves’ (1925) and ‘Point Counter Point ‘(1928) – bright, brilliant satires in which Huxley wittily passed judgement on the shortcomings of contemporary society.
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First Sentence
"IN STUDYING the Perennial Philosophy we can begin either at the bottom, with practice and morality; or at the top, with a consideration of metaphysical truths; or, finally, in the middle, at the focal point where mind and matter, action and thought have th" Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
"IN STUDYING the Perennial Philosophy we can begin either at the bottom, with practice and morality; or at the top, with a consideration of metaphysical truths; or, finally, in the middle, at the focal point where mind and matter, action and thought have th" Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
58 of 59 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am reading the Perennial Philosophy for a second time and it will be a book that I regularly take off my bookshelf for the rest of my lifetime, I'm sure. Aldous Huxley is a rare thinker who was never defined by a particular discipline - this means that he is not encumbered with the technical jargon that specialist academia tends to hide under. He uses accessible prose to analyse the shared threads within spiritual writings in Christian, Sufi, Buddhist and Vedantic mystical thinkers. His argument that there is a common denominator underneath the cultural additions and rituals of the different religions is an important one, perhaps even more now that when he wrote it in 1944.
84 of 90 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
My hands are shaking as I write these very lines. Anything anybody could say about this opus magnum would only be a wink in the direction of its greatness.
Since time out of memory, mankind has wondered what lies behind existence. What it means to exist and what lies beyond our senses and our short lives.
Huxley points out that while this is the noblest, most important preocupation a being can have, the search for religious 'truth' has plagued our world with, at best, petty finger pointing between denominations, and, at worst, outright war and even genocide.
Since the dawn of humanity, organised religions have denied that each individual has a personal path to salvation. This denial has been necessary for the survival of the relgious leaders who need as many followers as possible so that they can afford the luxurious headquarters that they are recognised by. (Sorry, of course, the headquaters are built for God!)
Aldous Huxley, with a detached coolness that I can only wonder at, presents what an all too small minority consider common sense, backing it with quotes from mysics from all religions from Meister Eckhart to Jalal-uddin Rumi passing by William Law, Chuang Tzu and Srimad Bhagavatam. With these mystics (who, he insists, have experienced what they preach first hand)and many more exemplifying his premise, he exposes the fact that we each have our own 'way to salvation' or 'dharma', depending on our character, and even physiology. He also warns that our own dharma might not be the one imposed upon us by whichever 'spiritual' corporation has monopolised our part of the world.
This is not to say that Huxley forsakes organised religion (that's just me...) He warns us against pure philosophy also. Philosophers lie on the other extreme from the church/mosque/temple goers who mumble their creed without understanding a word of it and who go home to preach the hate of their neighbour to their families, fearing God because they only know of the external God which is the only part of God they have been told about.
The philosophers, on the other hand, have discovered God inside themselves and neglect the necessary other half of God which is external to themselves and which requires action, not mere understanding. Philosophers of this nature never fully realise the true nature of God which is in all things and in which all things are, and the little which they have, will even be taken away.
Huxley presents a comprehensive observation of the world's spiritual condition, where it's been, where it's going to, and most importanly of all, he shows us the many paths to salvation while, once again, emphasising the fact that only one is right for each individual.
For anyone who disagrees with anything I've just written, I have to add that Huxley's 'Perennial Philosophy' judges no-one, unlike my weak self, only giving factual insight into the workings of the world and what lies beyond.
It's just so hard to believe that all this information has been packed into so few pages. A thousand life-times' wisom in one book of quotes and reflexions. That's real value for money. No other book, to my knowledge is as complete or readable.
Spread the word!
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Many, many authors have tackled the eternal subject of truth. Truth behind existence, truth behind metaphysics, truth behind faith and its eternal antagonist, organised religion. Aldous Huxley has succeeded in covering the issue from beginning top end in a narrative that alienates no one, Not the philosopher, not the scientist, not the moderate church-goer, not the fanatic extreemist. He gives us the common point, the divine ground that links us all and binds all things, including dogmas and theories, in a prose so ethereal and exact all at once, that one wonders from where the words really flow.
Divine.
Divine.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Boring crap
It might have been relevant 50 years ago but now it's just dusty old man thinking. The time spent reading this is time that I'll never get back - can I sue someone?
Published 5 months ago by Andy Rubio
The perennial Huxley
Aldous Huxley must have been a busy man: novel writer, non-fiction writer, psychedelic trailblazer and self-proclaimed mystic, this man seems to have lived the life to the full. Read more
Published 6 months ago by Ashtar Command
HARD WORK AND NOT WORTH THE EFFORT
I don't recommend this book. It may appeal to people learned in the philosophy of religion and mysticism. Read more
Published 15 months ago by King Brosby
A world-view that transcends space and time
The Perennial Philosophy by Aldous Huxley, Harper & Brothers, 1945; HarperCollins 2009, 324 ff.
A world-view that transcends space and time
By Howard Jones... Read more
A world-view that transcends space and time
By Howard Jones... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Dr. H. A. Jones
Mysticism in England
At the beginning of the book Huxley says that the heart of the actual world is Absolute Mind. To integrate your own mind with that of the Absolute Mind, you have to give up your... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Jason Powell
"Nibb'na" - "blowing out" (your brain)
This is not a book about philosophy, or even religion, it is about spirituality, and the most aesthetic and least practical kind that exists. Read more
Published on 6 Feb 2009 by nastler
Archaic gobbledegook
I must disagree with previous reviewers: this book is not essential reading. The entire concept of it is now incredibly dated; that we should try and live our lives according to... Read more
Published on 12 Sep 2007 by Charles
Stunning
This would be my Desert Island Discs book choice. I have read it three times now & have found it inspiring & uplifting each time. Read more
Published on 22 Jan 2006
"We read to know that we are not alone" (C.S. Lewis)
This is a good anthology of the perennial philosophy. The design is easy to follow and too interesting to put aside. Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2003 by bernie
One of the deepest books you will ever read
It's not an easy going book, by any standards, you really have to read every line and think about what he is saying ... Read more
Published on 11 July 2002 by Cameron Braidwood
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