8/16/2019 Dr Harry Oldmeadow - Interview - Perennial Philosophy

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Dr Harry Oldmeadow Interviewed by Abdul Saad on 28 May 2016Summary of Interview

Dr Harry Oldmeadow

Harry Oldmeadow studied at ANU, Sydney University, St John’s College Oxford,Canberra University and La Trobe. He has taught History, Literature, Philosophy,Religious Studies and Cinema Studies at various institutions.

Overview of interview

Two broad sections1. The modern world and its intellectual zeitgeist – modernism, scientism,

postmodernism, humanism, moral relativism and of course the theory ofevolution – defining the problems we are facing as viewed from a perennialistframework.

2. The Perennial philosophy – its chief features, its view of truth and orthodoxreligious traditions and their relationship to one another, including thetranscendent unity of religions.

Dr Oldmeadow, our topic is a serious one and I thought I would begin with a sobering recount of some salient points relating to our current social environment.

Dwindling fertility and birth rates – in almost all Western countries, birth rates arenot even at replacement levels and male infertility is at an all-time high

Trends to redefine and effectively destroy the nuclear family through the redefinitionof marriage

A generation of boys growing up without fathers – up to 2/3 of boys in certainsocioeconomically disadvantaged pockets of Western nations

The rise of militant atheism amongst the intellectual elites where belief in God is no

longer a credible option and the trickle down effect to the youth of today The desacralization of art and the disconnection of beauty from truth

58 million abortions in the USA since 1973

1 in 5 people suffering from a diagnosable mental disorder at any point in time andhundreds of millions on psychiatric medications (antidepressants and antipsychoticsnow blockbuster medications – the biggest sellers for the pharmaceutical industry)

Explosion in chronic diseases and neurological disorders – obesity, diabetes,

dementia and the epidemic of neurological and psychological maladies amongst our

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children.

My first question is, how can we begin to understand the predicament we findourselves in? What concepts and historical antecedents must we avail ourselves of to

begin to understand what has and is happening?

Dr Oldmeadow underlined the fact that modernism is not something that has recentlystarted but has its historical antecedents in late medieval and Renaissance period,unfolding with the Scientific Revolution of the 17 th century, with movements such ashumanism, individualism, democracy and a purely materialistic, scientific understandingof the world. He stated that the level of consciousness that modernism has produced isdirectly reflected in the various symptoms in the outer word, psychological and social,that we confront daily in the modern world. These symptoms/ailments are a direct resultof a state of false consciousness produced by the modernist mindset.

Modern stands in distinction to a traditional understanding of the world. To accept thetraditionalist view, one must dispense wi th the idea of “progress”, an idea which has atenacious hold on the modern mind. It is the idea of “progress” that leads us to the presentidea that “we know better than everyone in the past”.

People in the modern world pride themselves on being open, egalitarian and pluralistic. Ifwe look beneath the surface, we find that many of the influential intellectual movements,from individualism to modernism to existentialism to postmodernism, we see that there isa pseudo-diversity, as all these ideas are undergirded by materialism – what is material iswhat is fundamentally real. Materialism gives rise to a view of the fundamental nature ofthings as being material and all else, in whatever form they may exist, are mereepiphenomena of a material substrate (primacy of matter).

Dr Oldmeadow explained that the modernist views of the primacy of matter inverts thetraditional reality of the primacy of spirit, quoting the Gospel of St John (1:1), where theword descents from a celestial realm into an earthly realm. From the Darwinian

perspective, the flesh became Word (not the Word become flesh). The idea of an ascentfrom matter (muddy pools of protoplasm to evolve or “progress” eventually into humanconsciousness) is offcourse intimately linked to Darwinism, which Dr Oldmeadow wenton to critique on both metaphysical and scientific grounds.

Metaphysically, the greater coming from the lesser (consciousness ascending from matter,Shakespeare coming from muddy pools of protoplasm/primeval organisms) is a ludicrousnotion. The traditional view of a descent from the heavenly/celestial realm is much morecoherent. It is the traditional view, for example, that best explains human consciousness.

Dr Oldmeadow adumbrated various critiques of Darwinism at a physical level (the futilityof trying to find missing links or transitional forms between primates and humans) andreaffirmed the ontological distinctions between rocks (mineral), plants (vegetable),animals and humans (Aristotle). Dr Oldmeadow agreed that if evolution is a metaphysicalabsurdity, it can be dismissed without further need to explore it, for it will also surely failscientifically if it does metaphysically (“if evolution is wrong from a metaphysical

perspective it also must necessarily be wrong from a scientific perspective ”). However, inthe interest of meeting the Darwinists half way, it is important to be equipped with the

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scientific critiques of the theory (at this point Abdul Saad mentioned the work of StephenC. Meyer and his best seeling recent book, ‘Darwin’s Doubt’). Important to maintain bothfronts, metaphysical and scientific, against evolution.

The intellectual hold of evolution was due to its purported ability to explain the created

natural order without any recourse to God – symptomatic of the 19 th century mentalitythat God is to be erased from the picture (as per Marx, Freud, Nietzsche and Darwin).Evolution also fits neatly with the 19 th century myth of “progress”, as explained earlier. Itwas further explained as a sort of pseudo-religion; evolution demands orthodox adherenceand this means the paradigm continues to be modified, so that it must survive, no matterwhat devastating critiques are levelled against it.

The interview next discussed modernism and postmodernism and the distinction betweenthese two. Dr Oldmeadow stated that his personal view was that postmodernism wasmuch less of an issue that what its proponents make it out to be. He explained that it isanother manifestation or iteration of modernism. The crucial thing about postmodernismis relativism – the outright rejection of any objective or absolute truth. This is its most

pernicious, destructive, sinister feature of postmodernism. He explained that relativism,sooner or later leads to cynicism, scepticism, a refusal to commit to anything becauseeverything is relative, everything is shifting, everything is a kind of mirage.

The interview next discussed the rise of the militant atheism over the past decade, withthe publishing of Richard D awkin’s ‘God Delusion’ in 2 006 and how this is locatedwithin a modernist mindset, which is the prevailing view of reality today. He pointed outthe large amount of air time characters such as Dawkins were getting in the popularmedia.

In summary of the first part of the interview, Dr Oldmeadow explained that there is adirect link between the state of our consciousness and the state of the outer world. Whatwe need to help young people understand is that their state of consciousness, their way ofthinking about the world, their way of thinking about themselves, is the result of a rangeof ideological influences which they very much take for granted (unquestionedassumptions, such as progress, democracy, relativism). These ideologies can be directlytraced to the full range of current maladies outlined at the beginning of the interview. Oneexample is the total loss of meaning in life – what meaning can modernism give a human?One can connect this loss of the transcendent with the rise of psychological ailments inour current age.

The interview briefly touched on ways we can inoculate our children against these pernicious ideas, specifically, equipping them with the tools to critically appraise theseideas when they come across them in the modern education and wider social system. DrOldmeadow emphasised the importance of connecting our children to a sense of tradition,a reverence for the past and its value, in addition to introducing them to certain writings atthe appropriate age.

The final part of the interview focused on the perennial philosophy (Sophia Perennis). DrOldmeadow underlined that the perennial philosophy, as espoused by thinkers and sagessuch as Frithjof Schuon , is different from the popularised ‘perennial philosophy’ of

Aldous Huxley, who sought to do away with the outer forms of religious traditions anddistil the world’s religions into their quintessence. Dr Oldmeadow explained that the

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perennial philosophy he was speaking about was one in which there is a singletranscendent truth that has revealed itself in different revealed religions (forms)throughout history. The traditions, scriptures and modes of being within each respectivetradition are sacred and integral, not to be done away with in the name of some pluralism.He used the metaphor of a language. Each language is in of itself complete and sufficient

to communicate with other members who speak that language, akin to each divinelyrevealed religion. However, the reality is there are other languages that also convey truthand meaning without detracting from any of the other languages. Or the metaphor of amountain top with various ways of reaching its summit. Each of us must find andfaithfully adhere to one way and once we make it to the top, any notion of quarrellingabout which was the right way becomes futile. Religions are like paths of a mountain.

Religion in the perennialist view is a means to an end; it is not an end in of itself. Whatwe want is not an aggressive religiosity but a sincere pursuit of the truth, a sincere pursuitof God. The perennialist wants a commitment to an Orthodox revealed religious tradition,not to new age ideas or mixing and matching of ideas.

Dr Oldmeadow agreed that perennialism is not a prerequisite for salvation nor will most people concern themselves with such metaphysical issues. The perennialists basicallyform an intellectual elite that is inaccessible to most people. It is a framework which isfruitful in helping us to understand the nature of the relationship between the world ’sreligion, the role of tradition, the pernicious influence of modernism. Perennialism is theonly way in which we satisfactorily resolve this pressing problem of conflict betweenreligions and in some cases their competing truth claims. Perennialism also offers anantidote to another pressing problem in religions today, which on the face of it appeardivergent but in reality are offshoots of modernism – the problem offundamentalism/literalism/theological rigidity (reducing religion to simple pieties andsimple truths) and liberalism (diluting religion to very little, leaving a sort of socialwelfare, pseudo-religion. The core features of the religion become peripheral underliberalism).

The perennialist school of thought rejects any notion of needing to dilute central featuresof each orthodox revealed tradition in order to overcome any religious or other conflicts.Perennialism is not a way of reconciling fundamentalism with liberalism but rather allowsus to preserve the more positive values of each. It was also made clear that an individualwho affirms the exclusive truth claims and unique salvific nature of his or her religion isnot per se a fundamentalist in the negative sense of the word. It is natural for people to

believe their tradition is the best tradition and naturally this is why they belong to it.

Perennialism promotes a respect for sacred and of other traditions, a fundamentalunderstanding of the natural world, a scepticism of the pseudo-mythologies (humanism,

positivism, evolutionism). These fruits are available to people who can access perennialistwritings even though they may not be able to fully penetrate the more difficultmetaphysical insights in some of these writings.

Abdul recommended those interested in further reading on the areas discussed to purchaseDr O ldmeadow’s book, Frithjof Schuon and the Perennial Philosophy , published byWorld Wisdom (2010).