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Richard's Daily Meditations

Tree Roots (detail), © Shirin McArthur  

THE PERENNIAL TRADITION

Sunday, June 17, 2012
Father's Day

I can’t believe that God expects every human being to start from zero and to reinvent the wheel of life in their own small lifetime. We must build on the common "communion of saints" throughout the ages. This is the inherited fruit and gift which is sometimes called the Wisdom Tradition. It is not always inherited simply by belonging to one group or religion. It largely depends on how informed, mature, and experienced your particular teachers are. Most seminaries, I am afraid, merely exposed ministers to their own denomination's conclusions and did not have time for much interfaith or ecumenical education, which broadens the field—from "my religion which has the whole truth" to "universal wisdom which my religion teaches in this way.” If it is true, then it has to be true everywhere.

There have been generations who’ve gone through the same human journey and there is plenty of collective and common wisdom to be had. It is often called "the perennial tradition" or the "perennial philosophy" because it keeps recurring in different religions and with different metaphors. But the foundational wisdom is usually the same. I guess on this "Father's Day,” I would say these master teachers are the true "Fathers of the Church"—of course, with lots of Mothers doing the same. This is what we hope to hand on in the Living School that we will start in 2013 (for more information, visit cac.org after July 1, 2012).

Adapted from a non-published talk at a conference in Assisi, Italy, May 2012

Prayer:
“That all may be one” (John 17:21)