This chapter tries to chart the degree of religiosity at which saturation creeps in and has attritions effects. Quite paradoxically, the subject of inquiry, Huston Smith, an erstwhile practitioner of all religions, literally, and a consequential religious scholar, does not display any trace of exhaustion after reaching an objective point of saturation—he has meditated with Zen masters in Japan,...
This chapter discusses the experience of Ram Dass at his bar mitzvah. Ram Dass or Richard Alpert is the epicenter of America's spiritual searchings, a teacher, eloquent guide, and agile translator of Eastern thought into American practice. Since the 1960s, he has helped shape Americans' attitudes toward consciousness, faith, drugs, religion, and mysticism, giving them perspective and a...