Philosophia Perennis

The "Yin-Yang" among the Insignia of the Roman Empire?

Tue, 25 Apr 2006 21:59:38 -0000

Giovanni Monastra
«Sophia», vol. 6, n. 2, 2000 [it. ed. «Futuro Presente», a. IV, n. 8, inverno 1996].
Translated from the Italian by John Monastra

We have seen above that Altheim singled out, among the insignia of the Notitia Dignitatum, the presence of ornaments of the typical wagons of Asian people, understanding this to mean the people of the Middle East, as is seen from the context of the book from which we quoted. In general, the German historian only emphasizes the symbolism ascribable to the Nordic, Indo-European peoples. He makes no mention of the presence of at least one emblem17 which represents a two-color, yellow and red symbol (fig. 1), similar in all, graphically speaking, to the Taiji of the Chinese tradition: the yin and the yang are paired there, first the black and secondly the white (fig. 2), in their "dynamic" representation, expressed through a clockwise motion. Such an emblem identifies the Armigeri (esquires, shield-bearers), included in Chapter 5 of the Insignia viri illustris magistri peditum, i.e. detachments of infantry, Western Roman Empire.

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Alberto Lombardo - The reception of Evola in Italy - An overview on the traditionalist world

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 12:37:03 -0000

When Julius Evola died on June 1974 the eleventh, his books used to be read by a huge part of the right-wing political youth in Italy. The traditionalist thought of Evola, since the first years after World War II, had been a central point of reference for people who didnt accept the destiny of decadence and spiritual destruction of his country and of the whole world. As well known, and as Evola often wrote, not only the defeated countries, infact, lost parts of their national territory, prestige and international authority, but all the european coutries lost in a few years their colonial dominions and empires (England, France, Portugal, Spain) and went losing their influence with all the advantage of the two more powerful political blocks, the western and the eastern one: the world of Las Vegas, Coca-cola and Hollywood and the communist empire.
So, when in 1948 Evola came back in Rome (after the long stays in many hospitals in Austria and Italy), he met a group of young men «who didnt let drag themselves in the general collapse» . Between these lads were Clemente Graziani , Fausto Gianfranceschi , Roberto Melchionda , G.A. Spadaro , Enzo Erra , Paolo Andriani , Rutilio Sermonti and Pino Rauti, who remembers with these words his discovery of Evola: «we didnt know him. During the fascist regime he did have a little official relief, though the articles he wrote on «Diorama» were, in my opinion, something enormous. But we did ignore at all the cultural life of Fascism []. We discovered Evola during one of our many stays in prison. We read Rivolta contro il mondo moderno, which had for us a decisive importance» .

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Some thoughts on Evolution - Lennard Bertram

Sat, 22 Apr 2006 12:23:15 -0000

Darwins theory of evolution today is widely regarded as valid. This is quite comfortable for many people as it serves as an analogy of democratic or communist ideology transposed on the animal kingdom. But is Darwins theory coherent? Does positive data prove Darwin? These questions today are posed most of all by religious groups in the United States, there are also some scientists who challenge said theory on grounds of a lack of objectivity towards it.

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R. Coomaraswamy - Introduction to "Guardians of the Sun-Door"

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 00:33:49 -0000

Review of one of his father's unpublished essay.

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Metanoia in Tales of Power

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 00:30:00 -0000

Metanoia in Tales of Power
Alan Gullette

University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Fall 1975 (11/25/75)
Philosophy 1520
Dr. Kathy Emmett

The concept of metanoia, as delineated in Joseph Pearce's The Crack in the Cosmic Egg1, is very similar in meaning and implication to certain ideas expressed in Tales of Power by Carlos Castaneda.2 These latter include: "the totality of oneself;" the tonal and the nagual; reason and will; "the bubble of perception," and generally "the sorcerer's explanation." I will discuss these similarities here, with mention of the work of Dr. John Lilly to help resolve the ideas of "will" and "belief."

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Nagarjuna's Negative Dialectic And the Significance of Emptiness

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 00:28:11 -0000

Nagarjuna's Negative Dialectic And the Significance of Emptiness
Alan Gullette

University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Winter 1975
Philosophy 3660: Buddhism
Dr. Lee

Of the two great schools in Buddhism, the Hinayana and the Mahayana, the latter is divided into two major systems of thought, of which the Madhyamika predominates. As the Mahayana school is the more widespread school that has evolved from Buddha's original Order, so is the body of underlying principles of the Madhyamika system of considerable importance in relation to other doctrines. Apart from this distinction, it is considered to embody the central philosophy of Buddhism and so created a revolution in that religion which carried over, in its influence, into the whole of Indian philosophical thought (Murti, vii see Bibliography; citations are given in parentheses within the text of this paper). I will discuss the negative dialectic process of Nagarjuna (AD 200), the founder of Madhyamika, in order to clarify the doctrine of Emptiness (sunyata).

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R. Coomaraswamy - PHILOSOPHIA PERENNIS AND THE SENSUS CATHOLICUS

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 00:23:59 -0000

The wise man will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients, and will be occupied in the prophets... Ecclesiastes 39: 1-5

It is generally assumed that there is no room within Christianity for accepting the concept of Sanatana Dharma, or what in the west has been called philosophia perennis or priscorium. This Sophia perennis, to use a phrase preferred by Wolfgang Smith holds that certain metaphysical truths, and hence access to a knowledge of the divine, have always been available throughout history and are to be found within the framework of every valid religious tradition.

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R. Coomaraswamy - THE PROBLEMS THAT RESULT FROM LOCATING SPIRITUALITY IN THE PSYCHE

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 00:20:57 -0000

Arnold Toynbee has clearly delineated the prevailing attitudes and convictions about the nature of spirituality. This opinion however is a gross distortion, the consequences of which are fraught with dangers for those who legitimately seek out the higher things in life. Our Psychies, which include not only our subconscious drives, but also our egos and our thinking processes are notoriously unstable in the sense that what we think or feel at any given time can easily shift and change. Moreover, they fail to embrace the totality of what we are as human beings. That spirituality should have its foundation on such shifting sands belies its intrinsic nature, for Spirituality, if it be True and Real, must be established on more solid ground .At the same time, it ignores what is most central to our nature as human beings made in the image of God. It almost inevitably follows that Spirituality has become divorced from religion, from true intellectuality, rom reason, and even from common sense; and that some of the most bazaar cults get characterized as religion.

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James Cutsinger - Toward a Method of Knowing Spirit

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 00:19:36 -0000

It is often useful to be reminded of something that is already well known. When addressing the question of method, such a reminder seems especially important. For in asking about method and in framing a methodology, we are concerned above all with assumptions: with what, in particular, is assumed to be known, and with the problem of how to proceed from the alreadyknown to the as-yet-unknown. In the case of contemporary academic theology, the need for reminders is uniquely acute, in proportion as it is uniquely ironic. For in todays theology, what is best known is the fact of how little is known. And it is of this, I suggest, that we need reminding.

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Theophanies and Lights in the Thought of Ibn 'Arabi

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 00:15:10 -0000

Theophanies and Lights in the Thought of Ibn 'Arabi by Osman Yahya, whose bibliographic work established the co-ordinates for modern studies of the Shaykh's work, who, for more than twenty years, worked on the critical edition of the Futuhat al-Makkiyya, and who also edited and published the text of Ibn 'Arabi's Kitab al-Tajalliyat. The poem from that work, memorably translated by Henry Corbin as "Listen, Dearly Beloved", occurs in this paper in another guise. It was delivered in Oxford at a Symposium held by the Society.

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