The Perennial Philosophy Reloaded - by Dana Sawyer (Paperback)

About the Book

"Dana Sawyer unpacks the philosophy-spirituality of Huxley, Watts, and Dass (as well as contemporaries, including Mirabai Starr and Richard Rohr) in ways readers will find intriguing, creating an original view of human nature, revealing why this mystical understanding of the world is called "perennial." During the 1960s and '70s, "Perennial Philosophy" was the most popular theory regarding what the world's mystical traditions held in common, and it was touted as the best platform for understanding the nature of human consciousness, including how to expand it therapeutically with meditation, yoga, and psychedelic drugs. Consequently, books by Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, Huston Smith, Stanislav Grof, Frances Vaughan, Ram Dass, and other Perennialists were widely available and sold like hotcakes. However, during the '80s, their shared perspective fell out of fashion. The Perennial Philosophy Reloaded corrects several common errors while providing a short, up-to-date overview of the general perspective. The goal is to reveal the continued relevance of Perennial Philosophy during this time of psychedelic renaissance, when many are seeking ways to interpret their experiences, with an engaging narrative free of philosophical shop talk. The result is a demonstration of how Perennial Philosophy applies to all who are interested in self-realization. This book will appeal to the millions today who are involved with mindfulness meditation, hatha yoga, Transcendental Meditation, Tibetan Buddhism, Kabbalah, Zen, Sufism, Shamanic drumming, Christian Centering Prayer, or their own DIY approaches to spiritual awakening"--

Book Synopsis

Dana Sawyer unpacks the philosophy-spirituality of Huxley, Watts, and Ram Dass (as well as our contemporaries, including Mirabai Starr and Richard Rohr) in ways readers will find intriguing, creating an original view of human nature, revealing why this mystical understanding of our world is called "perennial."

During the 1960s and 70s, "Perennial Philosophy" was the most popular theory regarding what the world's mystical traditions held in common, and it was touted as the best platform for understanding the nature of human consciousness, including how to expand it therapeutically with meditation, yoga, and psychedelic drugs. Consequently, books by Aldous Huxley, Alan Watts, Huston Smith, Stanislav Grof, Frances Vaughan, Ram Dass, and other Perennialists were widely available and sold like hotcakes. However, during the 80s, their shared perspective fell out of fashion.

The Perennial Philosophy Reloaded corrects several common errors in understanding the perennial philosophy while providing a short, up-to-date overview of the general perspective. The goal is to reveal the continued relevance of perennial philosophy during this time psychedelic renaissance, when many are seeking ways to interpret their experiences, inside an engaging narrative free of philosophical shop talk.

The result is a demonstration of now perennial philosophy applies to all who are interested in self-realization. This book will appeal for the millions today who are involved with mindfulness meditation, hatha yoga, Transcendental Meditation, Tibetan Buddhism, Kabbalah, Zen, Sufism, Shamanic drumming, Christian Centering Prayer, or their own DIY approaches to spiritual awakening.

Review Quotes

"Dana Sawyer makes a persuasive case for the contemporary relevance of Perennialist Philosophy, not as dogmatic religious belief but as unitive mystical experience and provisional ideas about its nature and implications. Sawyer is to be applauded for his nuanced account, which dispels persistent misunderstandings and recognizes a variety of Perennialist perspectives on religion, God, spiritual awakening, nature, art, and much else. An indispensable, highly accessible introduction to Perennialist Philosophy and what it can be today." -Paul Marshall, PhD, author of Mystical Encounters with the Natural World and The Shape of the Soul

"The recent flurry of research articles on the therapeutic benefits of psychedelic medicines has focused on the therapeutic impact of the mystical experience. However the context has been medical, primarily about psychiatric symptom reduction. Professor Dana Sawyer, in Perennial Philosophy Reloaded, gives us a spiritual and ethical context for valuing a mystical experience. The book is a reader friendly tour of the Perennial Philosophy which is well-needed in our current cultural milieu. A must read for students of world religion, philosophy, psychedelic studies and those brave souls embarking on a spiritual path." --Rachel Harris, PhD, psychologist in private practice for thirty-five years, author of Swimming in the Sacred

"Dana Sawyer, who previously authored excellent biographies of Aldous Huxley and Huston Smith, here goes on to provide a theoretical and practical guide to mystically-informed Perennialist worldviews of the sort both men regarded as our current best guess about the metaphysically ultimate nature of the world and our place and purpose within it. Wide-ranging, thoughtful, balanced and entertaining." --Edward F. Kelly, PhD, professor, department of psychiatry and neurobehavioral sciences, University of Virginia Health System, Charlottesville, VA; lead author of Consciousness Unbound

"A unique, in-depth study of the Unitive Mystical Experience, the red thread running through the mystics' insights across time and space, articulated in the body of knowledge we know as Perennial Philosophy." --Shantena Augusto Sabbadini, PhD, director emeritus of the Pari Center, in Italy; author of Pilgrimages to Emptiness: Rethinking Reality through Quantum Physics

"The Perennial Philosophy Reloaded is both provocative and nourishing and an indispensable read for all of us who know both the dire straits we are in and the massive opportunity for renewal and rebirth that our global dark night offers." --Andrew Harvey, author of The Direct Path and, with Carolyn Baker, Radical Regeneration: Sacred Activism and the Renewal of the World

"There has always been cosmic unity and ultimate meaning, not because human beings have made it up, but because it is simply so. We only have to access and become that already existent truth in awakened states of consciousness--in mystical and psychedelic ways, in particular. This is good news beyond the gospel, robust comparison outside the academic nay-saying, spiritual

About the Author

Dana Sawyer is professor emeritus of philosophy and world religions at Maine College of Art & Design in Portland. He frequently teaches at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California and is author of many articles for Tricycle, Parabola, and Yoga Journal. In 2002, he published Aldous Huxley: A Biography (Crossroad Publishing). Subsequently, Sawyer was approached by Huston Smith to write his authorized biography, which came out as Huston Smith: Wisdomkeeper (Fons Vitae Press, 2014) and was endorsed, on its back cover, by Jeffrey Kripal, Deepak Chopra, and H.H. the Dalai Lama.