Jonas interviews Dana Sawyer, author of The Perennial Philosophy Reloaded, A Guide for the Mystically Inclined, and biographer of Aldous Huxley and Huston Smith on Zoom.
Dr. Sawyer teaches courses in philosophy and world religions, with an emphasis on Asian religions. His areas of expertise and research are Hindu asceticism, Tibetan Buddhism, and the perennial philosophy of Aldous Huxley. He is a biographer of the well-known spiritual writer Aldous Huxley, a biographer of Huston Smith, another perennial philosopher. and SUNY Press will soon release a book of Sawyer’s analysis of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and his influence on American spirituality. Professor Sawyer also teaches meditation and leads trips to India. Professor Sawyer has traveled extensively in India, Nepal, Pakistan, Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, and Japan. He has lectured at the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Banaras Hindu University, the University of Riga, Latvia, the Huntington Library, and at colleges at conferences throughout the U.S. In August 2005 he was an invited participant at the Oxford Roundtable, Oxford University, England, for a conference on “Government, Education, and Religion.”
Prof. Sawyer recently contributed an essay to Bruce Springsteen and the American Soul: Essays on the Songs and Influence of a Cultural Icon.