Huston Smith
Huston Smith
Huston Cummings Smithis a religious studies scholar in the United States. His book The World's Religionshas sold over two million copies and remains a popular introduction to comparative religion...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTheologian
Date of Birth31 May 1919
CountryUnited States of America
spiritual goal life-is
The goal of spiritual life is not altered states, but altered traits
healing government association
Institutions are not pretty. Show me a pretty government. Healing is wonderful, but the American Medical Association? Learning is wonderful, but universities? The same is true for religion... religion is institutionalized spirituality.
earth transformation used
Religion teaches us that our lives here on earth are to be used for transformation.
responsibility yield people
If human life is to survive on this planet, the old dualistic worldview, with people on one side and the environment on the other, must yield to a new vision that connects us with everything else and leads us to care for and take responsibility for it.
inspirational made humans
As human beings we are made to surpass ourselves and are truly ourselves only when transcending ourselves.
destiny church world
Not only is the destiny of the individual bound up with the entire Church; it is responsible for helping to sanctify the entire world of nature and history.
gratitude future responsibility
What is Zen? Simple, simple, so simple. Infinite gratitude toward all things past; infinite service to all things present; infinite responsibility to all things future.
reality emphasis ought
In nature, the emphasis is in what is rather than what ought to be.
spiritual makeup everyday
Built into human makeup is a longing for a 'more' that the world of everyday experience cannot requite.
different sanctity destination
...the single destination of sanctity could admit of so many different avenues leading to it.
islands wonder shoreline
As known unknowns become known; unknown unknowns proliferate; the larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder.
home leaving understanding
Daily the world grows smaller, leaving understanding the only place where peace can find a home.
religious attitude taken
Entheogens are not to be lightly trifled with... However, if taken with the right attitude and in the proper setting, psychoactive drugs may produce religious experiences. ...it is far less clear that they can produce religious lives.
fire way hearing
The Sufis say there are three ways to know fire - by hearing it described, by seeing it, or by being burned.