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.
- ISBN10 1557784477
- ISBN13 9781557784476
- Publish Date May 1995
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 11 October 2009
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Paragon House Publishers
- Format Paperback
- Pages 315
- Language English