A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom

[jgk3]

To quote a review on amazon of Whitall Perry's 1144 page masterpiece that presents to the reader the wisdom of the ages in a comprehensive anthology:

"This is it!!! The big book of the spiritual wisdom of the ages. From all the great wisdom traditions, east and west, this is the most comprehensive anthology I've ever seen. All the major themes of mankind's search for The Real are treated. From creation to sacrifice to magic to illusion to reality to visions to suffering, death, metanoia, prayer, grace, ecstacy, truth, union, the esoteric, the list goes on and on. Mr Perry has wisely organised this large book [over 1,000 pages] into a very accessable treasure trove of the world's greatest wisdom writings. Well referenced, indexed, foot noted, the book is awesome on many levels. Here you have quotes from the Bible, the Koran, the Buddhist Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, Shakespeare, Plotinus, Ramakrishna, Meister Eckhart, William Law, Thomas Aquinas, Kabir, Lao Tzu, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, Black Elk, Plato, and hundreds more. This beautiful book all by itself makes a fine library of both ancient and modern writings by the great prophets, seers, sages, mystics, and scholars who have sought to speak their deepest truths. I buy books all the time, this is one of those rare ones you fall in love with completely. With very few exceptions, I know of no more wonderful book of essential knowledge than this one. Along with the massive amount of wisdom assembled here by Mr Whitall N. Perry, the book is further enriched with a great introduction by Huston Smith and a beautiful foreward by Marco Pallis. The purchaser and reader of this book will get many times their money's worth."

K, now that you have an idea of what it's about, maybe you'd be interested in viewing a couple of the pages I've scanned from it Perry only uses his own words in the introductions to each chapter, and for footnotes when needed, the rest are quotes taken from mostly spiritual texts, but you'll find that he includes people like Shakespeare too in helping to discuss the theme at hand. All the quotes in a chapter (and more specifically in a sub-chapter) work to compliment eachother in explaining the theme. Whitall does an excellent job of this, showing the universality for all of mankind for these truths, shown through a rich diversity of religious standpoints and flavours of articulation (from simple Haikus or Taoist proverbs to fantastic tales of mythology, to excerpts of serious discourses of theologians).

I hope you enjoy. I included an example of one of his introductions to a chapter, the rest are pages full of quotes.

p.s. you might want to zoom in when viewing these scanned pages, they may be a bit blurry at first.

[jgk3]

Re: A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom

here's some more files:

[Sako]

Re: A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom

Seems like a great book. Actually more like a dictionary.

[Pedro Xaramillo]

Re: A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom

How much is the book about Jeff, sorry not bought from Amazon before, do they ship internationally?

[jgk3]

Re: A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom

http://www.amazon.com/Treasury-Traditional-Wisdom-Encyclopedia-Humankinds/dp/1887752331

I'm not sure about how the shipping works.

[jgk3]

Re: A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom

Seems like a great book. Actually more like a dictionary.

Yes, though the author's intended this work primarily for those serious about knowing the "perennial wisdom" of mankind by knowing what has been discussed by the world's religions on all possible themes pertinent towards mankind's ascension or reconnection with God/divine spirit/Tao/etc...

It is used as a reference book as well, as evidenced from scholars who quote from this book in their academic writings, very handy for that, but not the intention of the author.

I'm reading the book straight, page by page.

Here's the wikipedia page on Whitall Perry, the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitall_Perry

To provide some more details for the thread...

This whole genre of "Perennialism" or "Traditionalist School" is at the very least, important to recognize as an academic force in the scholarship of religions traditions and historiography. Other authors of interest include Rene Guenon, Frithjof Schuon and Julius Evola. They very pervasively and thoroughly challenge the mainstream preconceptions we have about mankind's religions, liberalism, individualism, mankind and the various ethos which direct the cultural and spiritual force of civilizations. Of interest... this genre does not place our modern cultural and civilization as a reference point for the most enlightened and advanced. It is in fact an extreme critique towards our modern day and age.

New Age literature does little in surveying man's spiritual expression throughout the ages in his discipline and asceticism used for meditation and contemplation of God, the metaphysical inspirations behind his undertakings (be they in warfare, art, ritualistic expressions of rank, or relations between the sexes). As such, to come to its conclusions, "New Age" must invent its way to truth. Perennialism invents nothing, it brings to light what every civilization has had to say on a religious theme, then finds out the essential theme, this allowing each civilization's interpretation to shine out.

[Sako]

Re: A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom

"New Age" must invent its way to truth.

The truth is all around us, we just don't want to see it or believe in it. There is nothing to invent ... but ... there is much to learn and follow! Saying that we need to do this or that is just a bunch of excuses. The knowledge is flying all around yet people still don't learn. THAT'S what they should be doing, not inventing the wheel again.

[jgk3]

Re: A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom

The truth is all around us, we just don't want to see it or believe in it. There is nothing to invent ... but ... there is much to learn and follow! Saying that we need to do this or that is just a bunch of excuses. The knowledge is flying all around yet people still don't learn. THAT'S what they should be doing, not inventing the wheel again.

Agreed.

Wise communities knew that their traditions were good teachers. They took them up and lived with the boundaries of their traditional ethos. They found freedom in their wisdom and understanding of reality, the way a scientist feels freer in their ability to make predictions on a phenomenon they can explain coherently.

[Anoush]

Re: A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom

Agreed.

Wise communities knew that their traditions were good teachers. They took them up and lived with the boundaries of their traditional ethos. They found freedom in their wisdom and understanding of reality, the way a scientist feels freer in their ability to make predictions on a phenomenon they can explain coherently.

Well thought out explanations. On another note, I happen to admire scientists that devoted a good deal of their lives by taking pleasure to try and retry new ways to find a cure for the good of mankind.

[Sako]

Re: A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom

Agreed.

Wise communities knew that their traditions were good teachers. They took them up and lived with the boundaries of their traditional ethos. They found freedom in their wisdom and understanding of reality, the way a scientist feels freer in their ability to make predictions on a phenomenon they can explain coherently.

I agree. Nowadays, people like to make a religion confortable for THEM instead of becoming comfortable with the RELIGION. When you go to school, it's like telling your teacher what homework to give you and/or what subjects to teach instead of learning exactly what your supposed to.