Expanding Human Spirit with Huston Smith, Ph.D.

MP3 Download

Westerners look to science to explain the way things are. Yet science often overlooks something essential to life: the human spirit. Although spirit cannot possibly be seen through the lens of a microscope, captured on a video camera, or explained through scientific experiments, few of us would deny that it exists. Huston Smith dismantles the walls that separate science and religion, breathing new life into our search for truth, meaning and the nature of reality. He illustrates eloquently why, “more than any other single factor,” the manner in which the “two most powerful forces in history - science and religion - settle into relationship with each other” is what will determine the future of humanity. (hosted by Michael Toms)

Bio

Former professor at Washington University, M.I.T., and U.C. Berkeley, Smith was also the Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion, Emeritus, at Syracuse University. His compelling classic, The World’s Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions, has been the preeminent text for introducing the world of religious wisdom to millions, and its subject and author were the focus of a highly acclaimed 1996 series of interviews with Bill Moyers on PBS.

He is the author of many books, including:

• The World's Religions, Revised and Updated (HarperSanFrancisco 1992)
• Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals (Putnam 2000)
• Why Religion Matters: The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief (HarperOne 2001)
• Beyond the Postmodern Mind: The Place of Meaning in a Global Civilization (Quest Books 2003)
• The Soul of Christianity: Restoring the Great Tradition (HarperOne 2005)

To learn more about the work of Huston Smith go to www.hustonsmith.com.

Topics Explored in This Dialogue

• How can we determine the truth in a relative world
• What is the inherent value of truth in a materialistic world
• Why spirituality has taken a back seat to science for four hundred years
• Why physics and philosophy go hand in hand
• How the idolatrizing of science has diminished the human spirit
• What is the highest honor Smith has been given
• Why children need stories

Host: Michael Toms                   Interview Date: 7/8/1999             Program Number: 2784  

Music Included

From Album: Wind and Reed
Artist: Nancy Rumbel
1993 Narada Lotus #ND-61037
Track 6 - The Night Tribe

From Album: Stories: A Narada Artist Collection
Artist: Scott Wilkie
1998 Narada #72438-46700-2-3
Track - What Lies Ahead

From Album: Into the Mystic
Artist: Jeff Beal
1995 Triloka #7213-2
Track 3 - Contemplation

From Album: Globalarium
Artist: James Asher
1993 Silver Wave Records #SD-802
Track - Bushwackers