Whitall Perry
Whitall Perry | |
---|---|
Academic work | |
School or tradition | Traditionalism, Perennial Philosophy |
Main interests | Esoterism, Traditionalism, Perennial Philosophy |
Notable works | A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom |
Whitall Nicholson Perry (January 19, 1920 - November 18, 2005) was an American author born in
Biography
According to Harry Oldmeadow, Whitall Perry is one of the leading perennialist writers of American origin. Initially interested in Plato and Hindu Vedanta, he traveled to the East before settling in Cairo in 1946 with his wife. There he developed close ties with the French metaphysician René Guénon, which led him to join the tariqa of Frithjof Schuon.[2]
He left Cairo in 1952, a year after Guénon's death, and settled in
Work
The metaphysician and art historian Ananda Coomaraswamy, whom Perry had known while studying at
In 1978, an English publisher commissioned him to write a study on George Gurdjieff in order to "help clear up the confusion surrounding the Armenian thaumaturgist"; the critical work was entitled Gurdjieff in the Light of Tradition. He is also the author of The Widening Breach: Evolutionism in the Mirror of Cosmology (1995) and Challenges to a Secular Society (1996), a collection of essays on the pseudo-mysticism generated by drugs, reincarnation, psychotherapy, modern gurus, Shakespeare, cosmology, and psychology.[5]
Perry has also published some twenty articles in the English journal Studies in Comparative Religion on a variety of metaphysical and religious topics.[6]
Bibliography
- Challenges to a Secular Society. Oakton, VA: Foundation for Traditional Studies, 1996.
- Gurdjieff in the Light of Tradition. Bedfont: Perennial Books, 1978; reed. Ghent, NY: Sophia Perennis, 2001.
- A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1971; reed., with a preface by Huston Smith, San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1986; reed. Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2000; reed. as The Spiritual Ascent: A Compendium of the World's Wisdom, Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2008.
- The Widening Breach: Evolutionism in the Mirror of Cosmology. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1995.
See also
- Perennial Philosophy
- Traditionalist School
- Titus Burckhardt
- Ananda Coomaraswamy
- Martin Lings
- William Stoddart
- Angus Macnab
- Bernard Philip Kelly
Notes and references
Notes
References
- ^ a b c d e Markwith, Zachary (2009). "Muslim Intellectuals and the Perennial Philosophy in the Twentieth Century". Sophia Perennis. 1 (1). Iranian Institute of Philosophy: 39–98 [90].
- ISBN 978-094153257-0.
- ISBN 978-1-935493-09-9.
- ISBN 978-094153257-0.
- ^ "Whitall Perry's life and work". World Wisdom. Retrieved 4 September 2022.
- ^ "Studies in Comparative Religion: Whitall Perry". Retrieved 4 September 2022.