Anthology: Aldous Huxley - The Perennial Philosophy
...that mortification is the best which results in
the elimination of self-will, self-interest, self-centred
thinking, wishing and imagining. Extreme physical austerities
are not likely to achieve this kind of mortification. But the
acceptance of what happens to us in the course of daily living
is likely to produce this result... Thus in the matter of
diet, most people will find it sufficiently mortifying to
refrain from eating all the things which the experts in
nutrition condemn as unwholesome. And where social relations
are concerned, self-denial should take the form, not of
shadowy acts of would-be humility, but of control of the
tongue and words - in refraining from saying anything
uncharitable or merely frivolous (which means, in fact,
refraining from about fifty percent of ordinary
conversation), and behaving calmly and with quiet
cheerfulness when external circumstances or the state of our
bodies predisposes us to anxiety, gloom or an excessive
elation. (chapter 6)
The reign of violence will never come to an end until, first, most human beings
accept the same, true philosophy of life; until, second, this Perennial Philosophy is recognized as the
highest factor common to the world religions; until, third, the adherents of every religion renounce the
idolatrous time-philosophies, with which, in their own particular faith, the Perennial Philosophy has
been overlaid; until, fourth, there is a world-wide rejection of all the political pseudo-religions, which
place man's supreme good in future time and therefore justify and commend the commision of every
sort of present iniquity as a means to that end. If these conditions are not fulfilled, no amount of political
planning, no economic blueprints however ingeniously drawn, can prevent the recrudescence of war
and revolution. (end of chapter 12)
PIERS
Clement
Last updated 11 May 1999
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