Aldous Huxley engaged intensively with ancient wisdom teachings during his second creative phase. He sought knowledge of the divine reality behind the multifaceted world of things, life, and the human spirit in the transcendent truths of sacred texts and the living experiences of mystics from Europe as well as the Near and Far East. The fruits of his labor can be found in this work, first published in 1944 (in Germany in 1949): In "The Perennial Philosophy," he compiles religious and mystical texts from various cultures spanning three millennia on different themes and embeds them in his own commentary. The latter serves to connect the quotes, develop thought processes, illustrate, and explain. The essence of this anthology is the astonishing similarity, the universality of what is.