Synopsis
Huston Smith is revered in the world's spiritual community as an ecumenical sage of the twentieth century. From considerations of individual identity to reflections on humanity's broadest religious and philosophical venturings, he has bravely explored the deep connections among world spiritual traditions for over thirty years. The nineteen essays collected in Huston Smith: Essays on World Religions span the career and chart the intellectual journey of this groundbreaking thinker. Originally published in journals of very small circulation, this work has never been available to general readers before. Smith writes with erudition and a warm personal style on such varied phenomena as the psychedelic experience of soma and the vedic religion, the supernatural as it appears to the Chinese intelligentsia, spiritual discipline in Zen training, the simultaneous octave sung by a single Tibetan monk, and the West's obsession with a dichotomy between God and man. This collection provides an intimate glimpse into the development of an extraordinary mind. The guiding motive of Huston Smith's life and work has been to tenaciously bridge the gap between diverse cultural realities and a single transcendent reality. In this collection's new and engaging foreword, he discusses this approach to a truly global perspective on the spiritual life of humankind. Editor M. Darrol Bryant illuminates the backgrounds of Smith's life and thought in an insightful introduction.
Publishers Weekly
Marked by clarity, rare philosophical depth and a truly global perspective, these 19 essays in comparative religion are filled with challenging ideas and bold speculations. Smith ( The Religions of Man ) argues that each of the world's three great civilizations has overspecialized--the West in natural wisdom, China in social ethics, India in religious psychology--with disastrous consequences for each culture. He looks to Taoism for guidance in solving the ecological crisis, faults postmodernism for its blindness to transcendent experience, and interprets Western philosophy as a great religious enterprise fueled by a thrust toward transcendence. On a more mundane level, Smith discusses spiritual discipline in Zen, analyzes Tibetan lamas' chants and offers insights on Japanese Shintoism, the Christian ecumenical movement, ancient Vedic priests' imbibing of soma (possibly a psychedelic mushroom, he concludes) and how to teach religion. These highly accessible essays previously appeared in scholarly journals or books. (June)