Huston SmithReligion Saturated the House
October 18, 2006 DOI: 10.1525/california/9780520245457.003.0006 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Huston Smith's extensive engagement with multiple religious traditions did not produce saturation or attrition effects, and that his approach avoided lopsided comparisons that typically disadvantage Western faiths. |
Abstract
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, prayed with Buddhist monks in Burma, danced with Sufi dervishes in Iran, practiced tai chi with Taoist masters in China, observed Shabbat with his daughter and her Jewish husband, and taken peyote with Indians in Mexico and psychedelics with Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert. Smith's rigor has been voluntary and without any traces of spiritual adventurism, and his quest is justified by its purity. His mettle is evident in the balance he strikes by avoiding the customary lopsided comparison between eastern and western faiths, mostly bludgeoning the western variant.