The world lost one of its best and brightest when Huston Smith died in December of last year. I love him because he helped me appreciate the great insight and wisdom of religion. (I said "religion.") Huston Smith was always clear that religions have much corruption and negativity mixed in with the good, true, and beautiful, but bad art does not give all art a bad name; nor does bad music give all music a bad name, etc. Why should bad religion give all religion a bad name?I have been reading and re-reading Huston Smith's book, _The World's Religions_, since the 1970s, and it's still an excellent---maybe the best---introduction to the philosophical study of religion and religions. For those who want to cynically write off all religion as bad, Smith's life's work is curative. I would also recommend Ross Douthat's book, _Bad Religion_, which sets us the task of separating the wheat from the chaff, so that we can identify, appreciate, and implement the best religious influences in our (individual and collective) lives. In brief, there is good religion, and there is good that we can only get from religion.
@mondaymedia-VedantaVideo7 жыл бұрын
Huston was a heroic advocate of sorting out the personal purpose and need of religion from the horrors of some organized religions. Today, many people have opted for the term "spiritual", which is fine, but it's still religion. He was a strong advocate of the Perennial Philosophy, which Huston's friend Aldous Huxley summarized this way: Each soul is potentially divine, and the purpose of life is to realize that divinity.The traditional religions at their core provide methods for that realization.
@Hiltie12 жыл бұрын
Absolutely brilliant 👏. I am a lifetime admirer of Huston Smith. God rest his soul 🙏. I love him.