Perennialism

What is perennialism?

Simply stated (according to McNergney), it is the idea that the truth is the same for everyone no matter where they live. Another idea often associated with perennialism is that all religions say the same thing.

How can you you defend perennialism?

I chose to research perennialism because it struck me as highly unrealistic and ignorant of the world. The first thing that came to mind was Plato's "The Allegory of the Cave," that basically fights against perennialism. Plato's essay explains how the truth varies by the environment you grow up in and your surroundings. He explains this by describing a group of prisoners who are kept in a dark cave their entire lives and led to believe only the shadows on the walls to be truth. When they are finally let out into the light, they have trouble believing that anything they see is reality. I first read this essay in a sociology class and found it to be very true, we believe what our senses and environment allow us to believe. For those of us who live in New England, that could be very different from what they believe in the Mid-West or in another country.
Then there is the idea that all religions say the same thing; well if the perennialists know anything about religions, they would see that this is not true. Not all religions talk about God, preach individual salvation, or teach reincarnation. (Integral World) According to the article, the problem is that "it tries to overgeneralize and ignore individual differences."

So back to my question about how to defend perennialism. Well first of all, perennialists separate exoteric and esoteric religions. "Exoteric religion is culturally conditioned, specific, local, dogmatic -- esoteric religions is cross-cultural, generic, global and tolerant" (Integral World). The article continues to explain how each religion contributes unique values that are then combined to form a type of "harmony." In this way they work together to create a common truth. The more I read about how it is possible to defend perennialism, the more it seemed they were reaching for ways. For example, to prove that the various holy trinities used by different religions propose common truths, they state that they "reflect the universal spiritual principles of Will, Love/Wisdom and Manifest Activity."

In my opinion, they are ignoring the differences and anything that could prove them wrong and searching for the small areas that can be linked in some far-off, abstract way. Sure, sometimes it is okay to overgeneralize, but most of the time, I would try to sway away from that. It can be detrimental in some aspects of life to really overgeneralize like this, especially when trying to teach a multicultural class.