In an essay posted 2 April 2024, Father Peter Heers presented some thoughts on the future of religion in the world vis-à-vis perennialism. For those unfamiliar with this religious system, Fr Peter gives a brief outline of it:
Perennialist doctrine teaches that each religion has a formal, institutional aspect, which is the respective religion's exoteric aspect, where they differ most profoundly; and each religion has an esoteric aspect, which exists in the spiritual methods of the religions, where they seem to draw closer together, and may even reach a point of identity.
He then goes on to explain its main tenets:
The perennialist view of religion turns on the axiomatic notion of multiple and diverse Revelations, “which ‘crystallize’ and ‘actualize’ in different degrees according to the case, a nucleus of certitudes which...abides forever in the divine Omniscience” . 4 But, this begs the question: what is the compelling reason that God wills multiple revelations of Himself which are manifestly divergent and apparently opposed? For Schuon, the reason is that humanity’s divisions require it. Humanity “is divided into several distinct branches, each with its own peculiar traits, psychological and otherwise, which determine its receptivities to truth and shape its apprehension of reality.”5 To these diverse branches, then, God addressed diverse revelations which were shaped by the peculiarities of each grouping of humanity:
“...what determines the differences among forms of Truth is the difference among human receptacles. For thousands of years already humanity has been divided into several fundamentally different branches, which constitute so many complete humanities, more or less closed in on themselves, the existence of spiritual receptacles so different and so original demands differentiated refractions of the one Truth.” 6
Therefore, the Perennialists hold that God has assigned each of the “great world religions” to a specific sector or race of humanity, and “each is fully true in the sense that it provides its adherents with everything they need for reaching the highest or most complete human state.”7 Islam for the Arabs; Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism for the peoples of the Far East, Christianity for the peoples of the West; Judaism for a selection of the Semitic peoples, and so on.
Later on, he also shows what this religious system will bring forth in the world:
Just as the last generation of men will cry out for peace and security precisely due to their lacking it (and then the sword will fall), men who are now crying out for unity (indeed universal unity) — precisely because they lack it — will find it in perennialism, which gives them this unity almost effortlessly (without the Cross and crucifixion of the mind). Like communism, which could not satisfy the longing of men, due to its negative, repressive orientation, modernism’s syncretistic ecumenism does not satisfy men’s longing for a deeper, mystical unity of each man and mankind as a whole. Mankind will demand a robust, traditional and universally acceptable explanation (appealing to orientals) of how religion does not divide but unites mankind. Perennialism is poised to be the theoretical justification of many Christians (even “orthodox”) for the essential, if transcendent and esoteric, unity of religions under the Antichrist.
Fr Peter’s prediction of the embrace of perennialism is being confirmed in multiple ways. He noted one in his essay, the statement of the GOA’s Archbishop Elpidophoros: ‘When you elevate one religion above all others, it is as if you decide there is only one path leading to the top of the mountain. But the truth is you simply cannot see the myriads of paths that lead to the same destination, because you are surrounded by boulders of prejudice that obscure your view.’
More recently, we have the statement of the Roman Catholic Pope Francis about all religions leading to the same ‘God’: ‘“If you start to fight, ‘my religion is more important than yours, mine is true and yours isn’t,’ where will that lead us?” he asked,” according to Crux Now. “There’s only one God, and each of us has a language to arrive at God. Some are Sheik, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and they are different paths [to God].”’
And even more curiously, there is now a parallel development in the natural sciences promoting a form of perennialism/pluralism. It centers around a new form of pantheism, that each world in its totality is essentially a living being with intelligence and will (Adam Frank, writing for Noēma):
Understanding that life had the power to change an entire planet’s atmosphere was Lovelock’s lasting contribution to astrobiological science. But more than just an experimental method, Lovelock’s insight into the power of biospheres was also the basis for his invention of “Gaia theory.”
Originally called “Self-regulating Earth System Theory,” Gaia theory argues that life on Earth co-opted the planet for its own ends. Specifically, and as we will see, throughout the planet’s history, the biosphere has exerted strong feedbacks on the non-living parts of the planet. These feedbacks maintain the world in a habitable state. Human bodies keep their temperatures at an average of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit regardless of outside conditions. Lovelock was arguing that planets with biospheres achieve a similar kind of homeostasis: They self-regulate.
These living planets, god-like, give themselves a telos, an end goal – a healthy environmental equilibrium (Greta Thunberg would no doubt approve), which is described with a suitably pseudo-mythological term, ‘autopoiesis’:
. . .
The rest is at https://orthodoxreflections.com/perennialism-in-religion-and-science/.
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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
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