The Way Things Are: Conversations with Huston Smith on the Spiritual Life

by Huston Smith

Book Overview

"Where can we find what is ultimately meaningful? How can we discover what is truly worth knowing?" In one form or another Huston Smith has been posing these questions to himself--and the world--all... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0520244893
• ISBN13: 9780520244894
• Release Date: March 2005
• Publisher: University of California Press
• Length: 338 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.7"

Customer Reviews

The Way Things Are: Conversations with Huston Smith on the Spiritual Life

Houston Smith never ceases to amaze me. I wish I could have made the around the world trips to practice the different religions as he did. His deep knowledge is presented so clearly, I sometimes feel I am sitting with him as I read his books.

Infinite Gratitude to Huston Smith

The way things are would be even better if there were more people like Huston Smith. This book is a window into the "winnowed wisdom of the human race," and the lifelong insight of a deeply devout and humble man that has spent his entire life seeking truth wherever it may be found, while upholding the sacred traditions of mankind. Smith is a perennialist in the tradition of Aldous Huxley (who he knew personally) and a traditionalist in the vein of Frithjof Schuon, who sees truth as principial, primordial, absolute, unowned, and variegated. Smith mentions that Schuon was instrumental in his own personal understanding of several religions. The book is actually a series of private conversations with various other seekers of truth and one will feel as if you are sitting in a zen garden sipping a nice cup of coffee while the bluebird sings in the background. The Way Things Are is also an easy read as it does not dwell long on any theoretical or philosophical depths. This is more of an inspirational book with many sweet gems of wisdom. I found myself feeling more at ease with the world as every possible important subject known to man is discussed with heartfelt sincerity and from personal religious experience for Smith spends every morning praying a Muslim prayer, performing hatha yoga, and reading a passage from the Holy Bible. On Sundays he is typically found worshiping in his Methodist church. Smith has also spent time with a Zen roshi, with Native American worship, using entheogens with Huxley and Leary, and his daughter has married a devout Jew with whom he observes Shabbat. You will be hard-pressed to ever find another person that is as well-versed and personally experienced in the richness of world religion as Smith, and yet Smith also speaks from several decades as a professor at prestigious universities, and as a son of Protestant missionaries to China (where he spent his childhood). Smith gives us his final advice from his roshi, "Infinite gratitude towards all things past; infinite service to all things present; infinite responsibility to all things future," to which I can only say a hearty AMEN. This book is highly recommended.

FInally, what does Huston really think...

If you are like me and have read nearly if not all of his other books--then you may also have wondered, "Okay, but what do you really think? That is, Mr. Smith, what have you concluded about the reality and nature of God, the one true religion, and other questions, etc?" I searched for a personal website, blog or something of his and still can't locate. So I tried this book. Some of these questions I found answers to which was fabulous. But really definitive answers are lacking. Questions that compared one religion to another--he sidesteps--basically refuses to answer. So bottom line, there's nothing new in here from his books, just in a much more conversational (question and answer) format. As a final note, I won't give the book away, but what I have deduced from reading all the interviews in the book, is Mr. Smith himself has studied religions, lived among other religions, but has not come to know God. Truly God is not religion. Most of you know this if you are reading here. Again, I can only go by the most recent interviews, he does not seem to have come to a point where he is living a life based on a back and forth relationship with God. For that, I will take a leap here--again working off these questions and answers and assuming he is answering them honestly and from his heart-- and say that he is not a mature believer--he attends Christian church at this point but he really didn't seem to grasp what mature non-religious Christians understand about Jesus. I've learned a lot from his books but I have to say I've needed to fill in many blanks by seeking other writers or people themselves--such as my Hindu friends. I've learned more about what it means to be Hindu by knowing them than reading books. I do hope this helps. I wish you the best in your own search and understanding. God will lead you if you ask.

The Way Things Are: Conversations With Huston Smith on the Spiritual Life

Among the most sought after religious writers of this century, author of The World's Religions and Why Religion Matters, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Huston Smith is a reference library of the rites, rituals and beliefs of world religions. In The Way Things Are Conversations with Huston Smith, author and editor Phil Cousineau records twenty three interviews in which Smith debates his thoughts and theories with renowned scholars, theologians and journalists. This new compilation encapsulates both his personal contemplation, and public conversations, regarding religion and spirituality in contemporary society. Brought up in China by Christian missionary parents, Smith describes his first contact with religion as one of simple trust. "We are in good hands and in gratitude of that fact it would be good if we bore one another's burdens." A frequent reference of Smith's is to his concept of a primordial tradition. By forming a list of the common elements within all religions, he has uncovered what he calls the spine of religion. Informing our similarities, while warning us to "Beware of the differences that blind us to the unity that binds us", he encourages readers to see beyond personal beliefs and acknowledge others relationship to divinity. This unity, or single religious root, should not be confused with the modern trend of religious pluralism. He banks on the integrity of individual traditions, rather than the scotch-taped spiritual beliefs of pluralism, which have left people alienated from their traditional roots. "The moral is to find some tradition and to steep one's soul in it. To me it is immaterial which tradition; it is of maximum materiality that it be a tradition." An area of concern for Smith is the ever-encroaching "Newtonian view.", in which all reality is relative. A reality of relativity provides no room for the existence of an Absolute, the foundational element of religion. Without an Absolute we are left floundering with what Smith describes as an unlivable philosophy, based on the technically competent but metaphysically impoverished methods of science. "Scientism", the religion of science, or oracle we now look to establish truth, leads us further into isolation, cynicism and despair. Conversations with Huston Smith guide the reader, using both religious traditions and scientific discovery as signposts, on the quest toward the greater mysteries. Revered for his insight and wisdom, this book is a tribute to Smith's life work and a challenging read for any curious seeker. Though cynics may be adverse to the constant reverence and faith Huston Smith places in God, reading The Way Things Are may result in a basic trust that things are as they should be.