In 2006, Baltimore’s Jewish Community Center invited Bob Hieroinmus to participate in a show titled “Of Doors and Keys.” The end result was Perennial Philosophy. The 17″ x 17″ piece combined symbols of dominant religions in Europe/the United States to show how they are all keys to unlock the truth of “One People, One Planet.”

A perennial philosophy suggests universal truths and principles indigenous to all peoples and cultures. People across time recorded their perceptions about the nature of reality. At their roots, these perceptions are more similar than different. A simplified analysis and interpretation of this piece demonstrates deep similarities between these three sacred symbols: the Star of David, the cross, and the crescent and star.

Aldous Huxley noted in his 1944 book, The Perennial Philosophy, that the term philosophia perennis was popularized by the 17th century philosopher, Gottfried Leibniz. Huxley updated the definition to read: “the metaphysic that recognizes a divine Reality substantial to the world of things and lives and minds; the psychology that finds in the soul something similar to, or even identical with, divine Reality; the ethic that places man’s final end in the knowledge of the immanent and transcendent Ground of all being; the thing is immemorial and universal. Rudiments of the perennial philosophy may be found among the traditional lore of primitive peoples in every region of the world, and in its fully developed forms it has a place in every one of the higher religions.”

To read more about the symbolism of this painting, see the One People, One Planet, Hon! guide, available in the store.