His love for wisdom and meaning in all its historic diversity may only be compared to his love of humanity and its higher potentials. It was an occasion to find a thinker or philosopher with whom he wasn’t acquainted. For philosophy to him meant comparative philosophy, involving dialogue, debate, discussion, and exchange of ideas. In this — the realm of thought — he was most American, accepting all philosophies from around the world as valid perspectives but demanding an open exchange through rational discussion. And if he demonstrated a preference, it was for the spirit of Greek philosophy where the spirit and principles of democracy itself were born some 2500 years ago.
He is an American philosopher in the tradition of Ralph Waldo Emerson, wherein he placed upon himself the demand to acknowledge and investigate man’s striving for a nobler life as bodied forth in its diverse cultures, religions, and philosophies. He studied under Christian Jesuits, Hindu pundits, Zen Buddhists, N.Y.U. professors. Yet, like Emerson, he had to go his own way in the face of opposition from all quarters — friends, foes, family, and students; not in the spirit of criticism and rejection but in the need for‑universalism of approach and understanding in our times which flowed from his vision.
Like other great leaders he had an ennobling vision, in which different thinkers, religions, philosophers could think together, contemplate divinity together, laugh together, without giving up their own heritage, could side by side enrich life through their different approaches.
For all his erudition he was no scholar or academician, but more like an artist inspiring those around him to explore the mysteries of the universe, soul, and God. Always egging one on, ensnaring one into thinking, and in the act of thinking he would point to those diviner implications in Man, the light of his soul, its ordering presence, and the facticity of each person’s higher potentials.
Philosophy for Anthony was this inalienable aspect of Man. No school, religion, or group has a monopoly on it, for it flows and follows along the spirit of wonder and enquiry itself. For, as he once expressed, philosophy aims to bring about Good Citizenship with the whole of mankind and the world.
composed for Anthony’s memorial service, October 7, 1984, by his son, Paul Damiani
Looking into Mind Copyright 2019