Philosophia Perennis: Uncreated Wisdom and the Subtle Contours of Truth

One cannot meaningfully or effectively practice a craft without understanding its foundation. Above all, one cannot practice a spiritual method except on the basis of a previously comprehended doctrine, which provides both the motivation and the paradigm for the work. Doctrine without method is hypocrisy, while method without doctrine leads to error. This underscores why doctrine must be "orthodox"—that is, in essential conformity with the subtle contours of truth. A doctrine born of mere human invention is one of the most potent catalysts for going astray.

 

Philosophia perennis refers to the uncreated wisdom taught by Platonism, Vedanta, Sufism, Taoism, and other authentic sapiential traditions. Meister Eckhart articulates the perennialist understanding of the "Intellect" (intellectus) in the sense of spiritus when he writes: "There is something in the soul which is uncreated and uncreatable; if the whole soul were such, it would be uncreated and uncreatable; and this is the Intellect." 

Intellectus is derived from the Latin verb intelligere, meaning "to recognize" or "to understand." Mysticism is the pursuit of communion with an ultimate reality, divinity, or spiritual truth through direct experience, intuition, or insight. It encompasses both mystical doctrine and mystical experience; the latter being the inward and unitive "realization" of the former. This realization is the domain of spiritual method. In Hinduism, spiritual method is represented by raja-yoga, the "royal art" of contemplation and union. Here, the Veda—or wisdom—constitutes the scientia sacra (sacred science): ars sine scientia nihil est—art without science is nothing.

The Essence

Proportion is to Space what Rhythm is to Music

In the sight of the Essence, which is one, the universe is like a single being. The essential unity of the world is the most certain of things but also the most hidden: all knowledge and every perception, however adequate or inadequate, presupposes the essential Unity of beings and of things. 

... It may thus be said that man, who is a microcosm, and the universe, which is a macrocosm, are like two mirrors each reflecting the other. On the one hand man only exists in relation to the macrocosm which determines him, and on the other hand man knows the macrocosm, and this means that all the possibilities which are unfolded in the world are principally contained in man’s intellectual essence. This is the meaning of the saying in the Qur'ān: “And He (God) taught Adam all the names (i.e. all the essences of beings and of things)” (2:31) 

Titus Burckhardt (1953): Introduction to Sufi Doctrine, p. 63-64.