The Mystery of Individuality: Grandeur and Delusion of the Human Condition (Perennial Philosophy) - Softcover

The Mystery of Individuality: Grandeur and Delusion of the Human Condition examines what distinguishes humans as individuals in twelve chapters that explore spirituality, psychology, sociology, love, and the appreciation of sacred art. Complex social issues including leadership, justice, politics, and crime are also discussed in relation to the essence of human beings as creations in the image of God. If God deliberately created humans with individual personalities, then are the unique traits of personhood part of our divine essence, even though our frames are destined to return to dust? The Mystery of Individuality is a thoughtful, contemplative, and complex work, especially recommended for spirituality shelves. -- Midwest Book Review

The Mystery of Individuality explores the nature of human individuality through twelve chapter-mirrors, whose main focal points are spirituality, psychology, sociology, and love, and also the meaning of sacred art. The issues of leadership and justice, as well as of politics, and even crime, are also examined in depth, along with the roles of sexuality and marriage. Finally, man and woman are defined in the context of both cosmology and society, with a special emphasis on the divine nature of a human being and what this entails morally and socially. Perry bases his assessments on the guiding image of archetypal man, namely of a being created in the image of God. At the same time, he does not shy away from addressing what the distortion of this archetype entails. He asserts that in creating man, God lent him his own immortal personhood, namely all that we find most lovable in another human creature, in other words his personality. But finally the question for each of us comes down to remembering our divine essence without forgetting our human nothingness.