subscribeDesire is the first datum of our conciousness; we are born into sympathy and antipathy, wishing and willing. Unconciously at first, then conciously we evaluate: “This is good, that is bad.” And a little later we discover obligation. “This being good, ought to be done; that being bad, ought not to be done.” – Aldous Huxley
I return repeatedly to Aldous Huxley’s Perennial Philosophy. It is a comprehensive compendium of metaphysical thought. It investigates topics ranging from, “Personality, Sanctity, Divne Incarnation” to “Good and Evil” to “Time and Eternity” to “Faith” and “Suffering”. Excerpts from authors include Eckhart, William Law, Chuang Tzu, The Bhagavad Gita, Maitrayana Upanishad, Kabir, Rumi and St. John of the Cross. All of us, who put time aside to contemplate the relationship between Atman, “the personal self”, and Brahman, “the universal Self”, will profit from these readings. In Chapter 1 “That Art Thou” Huxley opens with these words:
“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 the mind and matter, action and thought have their meeting place in human psychology.”
