THE UNANIMOUS TRADITION

In 1981 I wandered into a second-hand bookshop in the Charing Cross Road and picked up one of the great bargains of my book-buying career in the shape of Whitall N. Perry's Treasury of Traditional Wisdom, a 700 page hardback book on sale for £1.50. Since that time I have spent many hours studying this thematised book and it proved a fitting introduction to the philosophers who constitute the Perennialist School of the 20th century. If you mention names such as René Guénon, Frithjof Schuon, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Titus Burckhardt, Marco Pallis or Seyyed Hossein Nasr in a university philosophy or religious studies department, they are unlikely to elicit any form of recognition. And yet they provide some of the most substantial philosophical nourishment of modern times and give real meaning to the word 'philosophy' (love of wisdom), which has been eviscerated by logical positivism and linguistic analysis.

These two books, both published by the Sri Lanka Institute of Traditional Studies (PO Box 1204, Colombo, Sri Lanka) provide the best critical introduction to the universalist viewpoint that espouses 'the essential unity of all religions'. This position is a controversial one within religious studies and critics accuse it of a certain circular logic whereby its method and conclusions are self-reinforcing. Reader will note that the above list does not include Aldous Huxley or Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, both of whom are regarded as tainted with evolutionary modernism by the purists. This brings us to one of the central themes of the perennialist view, namely their root and branch critique of modernism and corresponding defence of continuity and tradition.

The critique of modernism implies a critique of the metaphysical underpinnings of modern science in so far as they deny the existence of higher intuitive faculties and insist on the adequacy of a materialist or naturalist world-view. S.H. Nasr categorises the shortcomings of modernism under four headings: secular anthropomorphism, evolutionist progressivism, the absence of any sense of the sacred and 'an unrelieved ignorance of metaphysical principles'. This amounts to an attack on scientism, rationalism, materialism, positivism, humanism and narrow individualism that form the very fabric of modern consciousness. Oldmeadow comments that 'by its very nature modern science is unable to apprehend or accommodate any realities of a suprasensorial order'. In so far as the philosophical thrust of the Network also questions the metaphysical assumptions of modern science, the perennialist critique provides a rigorous and penetrating analysis that is well worth studying. Most members would insist that science is not necessarily tied into these assumptions, and here they would disagree with Philip Sherrard's contention that science can only be materialistic. However they might well share Sherrard's concern that modern science has in some respects led to the dehumanisation of man.

These two books are complementary and should ideally be read together. Arguably Oldmeadow's book is the best place to start for readers new to this kind of thinking. He provides biographical overviews of the main thinkers before moving on to the definition and discussion of Tradition. Lord Northbourne defines tradition as 'the chain that joins civilisation to Revelation (a higher or deeper form of knowledge) while Schuon points out that a sense of the sacred is 'fundamental for every civilisation because fundamental for man; the sacred - that which is immutable, inviolable, and so infinitely majestic - is the very substance of our spirit and our existence'. This is a view shared and indeed advocated by the Prince of Wales, who is constantly calling for a recovery of the sense of the sacred and hence for a spiritual renewal of Western culture as a whole. Oldmeadow himself draws a useful distinction between Tradition as primordial wisdom or immutable and unformed Truth; and traditions as formal embodiments of Truth in a particular historical manifestation. However, the important point is not to claim absolute status for relative embodiments of Truth: the inner essence is expressed through an outer form but cannot be contained within it.

Another important section of Oldmeadow's book deals with symbolism and sacred art, another expression dear to the Prince of Wales with the Prince's Foundation programmes on traditional Islamic art and traditional architecture. Central to the nature of sacred art is the embodiment and expression of beauty and proportion, which is related in the Platonic scheme to the Good and the True. The traditional view deplores mere subjective self-expression and argues that the function of sacred art (and indeed of the artist) is to exteriorise transcendent ideas and profound virtues. Originality is therefore not defined in terms of individual creativity but rather as the artist's reflection of our transcendent Divine Origin and its corresponding qualities. Needless to say this is a million miles from the ethos of modern art. Our recent visit to Gaudi's burgeoning Familia Temple in Barcelona did however restore some faith that the embodiment of a transcendent vision was alive and well in the 21st century.

Oldmeadow's third section is devoted to the relationship between traditionalism and modernism and makes for very well informed and stimulating reading. Oldmeadow is much better informed about his opponents than they are of traditionalism, and his discussion unearth a number of rarely questioned assumptions and patterns of thought even is such distinguished figures as Radhakrishnan an Mircea Eliade. Moving on to The Unanimous Tradition the reader can now enjoy classic essays by the great figures of the Perennial Philosophy school themselves and which are introduced with an essay by Whitall Perry. These essays cover 'the unanimous tradition', modernism and the prospects for renewal.

One underlying theme is the distinction between intellect and reason, which are often confused in modern parlance. As Radhakrishnan said. 'intuition gives us an idea of the whole and intellect an analysis of the parts'. The traditionalist would substitute intellect for intuition and reason for intellect. So the intellect becomes a higher faculty capable of 'intellection' (needless to say this word is not recognised by the Microsoft spell-checker!) or an intuitive grasp of unifying principles while reason separates and discriminates, giving us an analytical understanding. Enlightenment rationalism insists that Reason is our highest faculty, while Perennialists argue that the unitive Intellect (or intellectual intuition) is even more important since it opens 'the eye of contemplation' or the gnostic eye of the heart that can disclose more subtle aspects of reality. This is not to denigrate reason but to put it in its rightful place so that it can perform its function on the basis of a deeper set of metaphysical principles. These books are essential texts for understanding the Perennial Philosophy and the way in which it can provide a more universal outlook on human affairs that highlights the myopia of scientific materialism and points towards a world-view that corresponds with the deeper structure and identity of the human being.