Perennial Tradition Study Program Screening Test



1. The Perennial Tradition is
A. the same as orthodox Christianity
B. the same as Buddhism
C. the single stream of initiatory teaching flowing through all the great schools of mysticism
D. the same as Zoroastrianism

 2. Perennialist books on philosophy, religion, mysticism, or the occult are
A. the results of teachers of a specific era borrowing from the ideas and practices of

        former thinkers and creating a syncretism of doctrines and procedures which they then
        represent as their own new system
B. new systems of metaphysics created by adaptation of Christian teachings
C. new systems of metaphysics created by adaptation of Buddhist teachings
D. the outcome of creative adaptation by the initiated teacher of the identical stream of
        Perennialist truth to contemporary needs

3. According to the Perennial Tradition, spiritual development is
A. like gaining intellectual comprehension which can occur in one reading (or several readings)

        of a chapter or an entire book
B. a step-by-step process which must occur over a period of time
C. made up of many disparate skills and insights which can be acquired in any sequence the
        student chooses
D. a single, momentary experience of enlightenment

 4. The Perennial Tradition is part of a more comprehensive curriculum which includes
A. reading the entire Bible
B. reading the teachings of Buddha
C. attending orthodox Christian worship services
D. studying other Perennialist books and completing individually prescribed assignments

5. The Perennial Tradition has taken many names over the centuries such as
A. Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, and Taoism
B. Hermeticism, Philosophia, Neo-Platonism, Illuminism, Alchemy, Cabala, Magic,

        Gnosticism, Esotericism, Sufism
C. parapsychology, astral metaphysics, transpersonalism, and tarot
D. astrology, theosophy, spiritualism, and shamanistic magic

6. Perennialist teachers can be understood only through
A. creating vast systems of "interconnections"


B. collating doctrines shared with other teachers to determine intellectual lineage
C. studying their teachings and practices
D. analyzing specific doctrines in their teachings and ignoring their practices as irrelevant

7. During times of religious and political tyranny, the Perennial Tradition has found it necessary

     to
A. take on a clandestine aspect, working through other organizations or activities
B. join forces with negative institutions such as the Inquisition
C. transmute entirely into a Masonic order
D. pretend to be a Cabalistic cult

8. Teachers in the Perennial Tradition, as distinguished from those who merely teach about the

    tradition, are
A. part of the orthodox religion of their time
B. members within the mainstream of the cultural religion
C. careful to avoid working within the esoteric or "secret" component of any religion or
        philosophy
D. not part of the orthodox religion of their time

9. The Perennial Tradition is an esoteric tradition, which means
A. it is is reluctant to help seekers
B. it considers itself an elite organization and does not share its knowledge with others
C. it deliberately makes things arcane and imponderable
D. it preserves its teachings in a hidden state to protect them from a hostile environment

 10. One of the distinctive themes of the Perennial Tradition is
A. we must confess our sins and accept Jesus Christ as our personal savior who died for us
B. we nust practice death and rebirth before final death
C. we should just all love each other and everything will be okay the way it is no matter what
D. we are all God's children and we must fight against Satan and his kingdom

11. In the Perennial Tradition, knowledge is said to be
A. derived from argument from authority--whether the authority of the Church or the State
B. attained through a spiritual guide prescribing enlightening experience for a seeker
C. gained by forcing reality to reveal the truth
D. the money-capitalist, imperialist world that any sane person takes for granted

12. Perennialist teaching material must be
A. new scholastic formulations of theoretical concepts
B. carefully protected from barbarian minds by placing it in secret works decipherable only by

        adepts in magic
C. so scholastically expressed that people cannot understand it
D. revitalized and adapted relative to the needs of the people and the time involved

13. Concerning human consciousness, the Perennial Tradition teaches that
A. the conspiracy to reduce consciousness to intellectual awareness of the physical world has

        been in evidence for at least five thousand years
B. ordinary consciousness is normal
C. our current intellect-based awareness is natural
D. exclusive reliance on sense data is the only reasonable way to achieve awareness

14. Concerning psychic or spiritual powers, the Perennial Tradition teaches that
A. the ideology of material wealth as the highest value has conditioned untold generations to

        believe that mind-bound consciousness of the physical world is not all there is
B. have become forgotten and atrophied from neglect
C. non-ordinary states are evil, abnormal and debilitating
D. persons who even speak of spiritual or psychic powers are weird, insane, and perverse

15. The fact that there are plants that manufacture molecules with the power to change the

       subjective experience of reality we call consciousness
A. is a defect in God's creation
B. should make us vigilant to imprison any who make use of such plants
C. is also made more mysterious by the discovery that the human mind has a built-in
        receptivity to certain plants
D. makes it even more terrible that such people as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Aeschylus, and
        Euripides participated in initiation rituals in which the participants ingested powerful
        mind-altering potions

16. Religious "conversion" is
A. something much different than mind-control, programming, or brainwashing
B. cerainly not the process of frightening a repentant, submissive person or group into a state

        of terror and subsequent release
C. certainly not an artificial, deleterious state induced in a submissive person by a self-serving
        religious leader
D. a counterfeit state of "religious consciousness"

17. Which of these concepts would the Perennial Tradition reject?
A. We should examine ourselves objectively, observing our reactions and notions, while

        avoiding unproductive self-abasement, questioning our assumptions without becoming
        compulsive about the process
B. Our conditioned consciousness is composed of a series of "selves," an aggregation of shifting
        moods and personalities which moves so quickly that it fools us into thinking that we have a
        unified consciousness
C. We should attain a deeper understanding of reality through disturbing our own equilibrium
        and that of our society
D. Purgation involves recognizing that one is, to begin, merely a bundle of conditionings--fixed
        ideas, prejudices, automatic reactions--which has been concocted by our culture and foisted
        on us as our "self"

18. Our search for contact with spiritual forces should be
A. a self-absorbed search for psychic powers
B. the development of extrasensory "gifts" for personal aggrandizement
C. trying to contact a spiritual current so we can fill up a mental reservoir for our personal

        enjoyment
D. the creation of a dynamic channel between spiritual realities and earthly concerns

19. Spiritual contact is
A. at first so subtle and so unaccustomed that it seems to be a groping for the intangible and

        the unattainable
B. a pious, posey, parsony sort of thing
C. much like the "See-how-holy-and-calm-I-am" idea
D. the affectation of a benign pussy-cat smile towards all humanity

20. Hermes Trismegistus was
A. unquestionably the Roman god, Mercury, messenger of the gods
B. a figure associated with wisdom transmitted to man from divine sources
C. unquestionably the Greek god Hermes, son of Zeus and Maia
D. unquestionably Thoth, Egyptian god of wisdom and sciences

21. The Corpus Hermeticum
A. could not possibly have been written by an ancient Egyptian sage--whether Hermes

        Trismegistus or anyone else, since the Greek style of the Corpus was of the period of
        Plotinus (second and third Century C.E.)
B. could not have been a first to third century C.E. translation of extremely ancient writings
C. was written by Poimandres, a Roman Catholic priest
D. was a compilation of ancient wisdom by scholars in Alexandria in the second or third
        century C.E. which survived in Greek libraries and later in the Arab world

22. The Corpus Hermeticum
A. was translated into Greek by Plato in 627 B.C.E.
B. first appeared in ancient China and was translated into Mandarin
C. was translated into Latin in 1471 C.E. by Marsilio Ficino
D. was destroyed during the burning of the library at Alexandria

23. Homo Erectus evolved into Homo Sapiens through
A. the single factor of having a brain four times the size of apes
B. the invention of language and the understanding made possible by linguistic meaning
C. the invention of fire and hunting
D. the invention of tools

24. The powers of mind that we call "rational intelligence"
A. were invented by Plato and the thinkers who followed in his path
B. are secondary to human instincts and feelings
C. are capabilities that could never conceivably be lost by humankind
D. were invented by Homer (Simpson) in preliterate Greek society

25. The distinguishing feature of Perennialist art is
A. its occurrence only in painting and music and only at the intellectual level
B. its invention by Mozart in the thirteenth century
C. only recognized by aesthetically superior people such as those who attend the opera
D. its power to produce psychic upheaval in a prepared mind and transport that mind to a

        higher dimension

26. Which of these is not a key aspect of enlightened artistic creativity?
A. appreciative discernment of artistic manifestations
B. capturing a person's personality structure in a computer and then using this computer

        model to control the person's behavior
C. rediscovering and preserving the human wealth of art
D. opening oneself to inspiration from higher sources

27. Human wealth is
A. the possession of expensive art treasures such as the collected works of Shakespeare
B. affluence and aesthetic superiority as in the case of Hollywood producers
C. the possession of fame and money as in the case of the rich and famous
D. the possession of deathless qualities such as appreciation of beauty, truth, harmony, justice,

        and freedom

28. The Perennialist exercise of dying before we die
A. is the same as what is called astral projection
B. involves liberating ourselves from our body-bound consciousness and learning to live in the

        spiritual domain
C. means getting outside the evil, unholy body and remaining in the astral world of pure ideas
D. involves developing such psychic powers as telepathy and telecommunication

29. Philosophy, the search for wisdom
A. is the actual practice of learning to leave the body and live in the soul, the spiritual body
B. is the academic analysis of language and meaning
C. is precisely what is now taught as philosophy in colleges and universities
D. is a defunct academic discipline because it has been replaced by more exciting studies such

        as psychology and multiculturalism

30. Understanding that Plato was a Perennialist teacher
A. we view his writings as the works of a mystic savant assisting students to achieve a higher

        state of consciousness
B. we see him as attempting to prove the existence of a priori notions that make synthetic
        statements possible through reference to perceptions that have their sources not in human
        understanding but in the primordial ground (Urgrund) of all things (Kant)
C. we then see philosophy as the dissolution and rebuilding of concepts by the rational
        understanding through logic alone
D. we find in his writings the usual theoretical system-building and logistical argumentation as
        with modern philosophers

31. The Perennial Tradition sees Jesus as
A. the Jewish Messiah come to bring salvation to the chosen people
B. a revolutionary terrorist who was legitimately executed by the Roman authorities with the

        approval of the Jewish leaders
C. a Perennialist teacher, bringing the message of rebirth into a new being
D. the founder of orthodox Christianity in which a penitent accepts Jesus as his personal savior
        who died for him

32. Which of these is not a movie with Perennialist strains?
A. American Beauty
B. Mel Gibson's movie, the Passion of the Christ
C. Resurrection
D. Made in Heaven

33. The true meaning of Alchemy is
A. a materialistic transformation of baser metals into gold or silver
B. the spiritual transformation of the human person into a higher state of being
C. an evil Christian heresy against which the Church quite rightly issued several encyclicals and

        papal bulls
D. identical with Rosicrucianism

34. The true meaning of Cabala is
A. penetrating an unknown world by means of a manner of thinking which has to be

        experienced by the use of the language which must be learned in order to understand it
B. the decoding of the Cipher of Genesis by transposing A-B-C to Aleph-Bayt-Ghimel
C. the translation of the cipher of Genesis into Hebrew words, sentences, and books
D. the translation of the Hebrew letters Aleph-Lammed-Hay-Yod-Mem as a word, Elohim, and
        interpreted as "God"

35. Which historical movement embodied distinct facets of the Perennial Tradition
A. the Venetian Renaissance of the House of de Medici
B. the French revolution
C. the eighteenth century Enlightenment
D. the Romantic movement

36. Shakespeare's play, "The Tempest"
A. represents his attempt to discount the magical concepts of John Dee
B. was written to show that Giordano Bruno was a Christian heretic
C. was taken from a story by Pythagoras
D. is an allegorical work, a Perennialist Mystery Play

37. Betty and Stewart Edward White
A. were two spiritualists who founded the American Psychical Research Society
B. travelled in their astral bodies to Egypt and solved the riddle of the Great Pyramid
C. were two outstanding twentieth-century Perennialist teachers
D. solved the ancient mystery of the Eiffel Tower

38. Which of these is not a literary work containing Perennialist strains
A. Kinship With All Life by J. Allen Boone
B. Dorthy Bryant's The Kin of Ata Are Waiting For You
C. Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged
D. Daniel Galouye's Dark Universe

39. In regard to humor, the Perennial Tradition
A. uses it as a touchstone to determine if a person is a participant in the tradition or not
B. finds it inferior to serious study and studious seriousness
C. believes it is often used to ridicule truly important dogmas such as the divine night of kings
D. eschews it whenever possible and even when impossible

40. Which is the wrong answer to this significant enigma: How many mystics does it take to

        change a light bulb?
A. only one, but the bulb really has to want to change
B. this is a stupid question and I refuse to answer it
C. none, because a mystic has a Higher awareness that the light bulb doesn't really need
        changing; it's okay the way it is
D. two, one to distinguish the light bulb from a tulip bulb and the other to enlighten it

41. The achievement of the higher unitive state is
A. an end in itself
B. solitary, continuous rapture
C. for the purpose of learning how to use these powers for the betterment of the whole
D. self-indulgence in rhapsodic flights of mystical vision

42. You can only gain certainty that you are developing spiritual awareness
A. as you participate in the distribution of your spiritual heart force to others
B. through feeling really really high
C. when you talk to other people about how wonderful and mind-blowing your new spiritual

        awareness is
D. only when your guru confirms that you have achieved enhanced metaphysical dynamic

43. Regeneration into a higher consciousness
A. is only a metaphor and not an actual experience
B. is only something that a person such as Jesus or Buddha could achieve
C. is the actual realization of our oneness with our Higher Self through spiritual death

        and re-birth
D. was one of the false doctrines of the Gnostic heresy

44. The teaching that the human soul has sustained a declension from its original state of union with the All, the Divine, into a separate physical existence in this world of Nature
A. is the same as the Old Testament doctrine of the Fall of Adam and Eve
B. is the first concept within the regeneration process that the initiate is taught
C. means that regeneration to and re-attainment of our original state is neither desirable nor possible
D. implies a total separation of the soul from its original state of being

45. The state of consciousness into which the Perennialist teacher induces the aspirant lays open

       the most secret recesses of the human psyche
A. points to such a dangerous psychological state that no one should fool around with it or try
        to experience it
B. requires that the aspirant reflect thoughtfully on whether or not she is prepared to go into
        this state
C. means that there are dangers in the aspirant's psyche which would inevitably lead
        to negative results
D. is a teaching of the evil heresy called Illuminism