Hinduism: Details about 'Huston Smith'
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Huston Cummings Smith (born May 31, 1919) is among the preeminent religious studies scholars in the United States. His work The Religions of Man later revised and retitled The World's Religions is a classic in the field, having sold over two million copies, and is a particularly useful introduction to comparative religion.
LifeSmith was born in Soochow, China to Methodist missionaries and spent his first 17 years there. He taught at the Universities of Colorado and Denver from 1944–1947, moving to Washington University in St. Louis, MO for the next ten years, and then Professor of Philosphy at M.I.T. from 1958–1973. While at M.I.T. he participated in some of the experiments with entheogens then-Professor Timothy Leary conducted at Harvard University. He then moved to Syracuse University where he was Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion and Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Philosophy until his retirement in 1983 and current emeritus status. He now lives in the Berkeley, CA area where he is Visiting Professor of Religious Studies at U.C. Berkeley. During his career, Smith not only studied, but practiced Vedanta Hinduism, Zen Buddhism, and Sufism for over ten years each. He is mentioned on the autodidactism (self-teaching) page. As a young man, Smith, of his own volition, after suddenly turning to Mysticism, set out to meet with then famous author Gerald Heard. Heard responded to Smith's letter, invited him to his home, and then sent him off to meet the legendary Aldous Huxley. So began Smith's experimentation with meditation, and association with Vedanta Society in Hollywood, California under the auspices of Swami Prabavananda of the Ramakrishna order. Via the connection with Heard and Huxley, Smith eventually experimented with Timothy Leary and others at the Center for Personality Research, of which Leary was Research Professor. The experience and history of the era are captured somewhat in Smith's book Cleansing the Doors of Perception. In this period, Smith joined in on the Harvard Project as well, an attempt to raise awareness around entheogenic plants. He developed an interest in the Traditionalist School formulated by Rene Guenon and Ananda Coomaraswamy. This interest has become a continuing thread in all his writings. In 1996, Bill Moyers devoted a 5-part PBS special to Smith's life and work, "The Wisdom of Faith with Huston Smith." Smith has produced three series for public television: "The Religions of Man," "The Search for America," and (with Arthur Compton) "Science and Human Responsibility." His films on Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Sufism have all won awards at international film festivals. Books
Quotes"Religiously conceived, the human opportunity is to transform flashes of illumination into abiding light." "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." — Mother Jones November/December 1997. |
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