Author : Huston Smith
Man has profound need to believe that the truth he V' perceives is rooted in the unchanging depths of the universe; for were it not so, could the truth be really important? Yet how can he so believe when others see truth so differently? Archaic man, wrapped in his tribal beliefs like a chrysalis in a cocoon, did not have this problem. Even civilised man on the whole has been spared it, for until recently the various civilisations have been largely self contained. It is we-we moderns, we worldly wise-who experience the problem acutely. This essay speaks to that problem. Twenty years ago I wrote a book, The Religions of Man, which presented the world's enduring traditions in their individuality and variety. It has taken me until now to see how they converge. The outlooks of individual men and women (the militant atheist, the pious believer, the cagey sceptic) are too varied even to classify, but when they gather in collectivities the outlooks of tribes, societies, civilisations, and at deepest level the world's great religions these collective outlooks admit of overview. What then emerges is a remarkable unity underlying the surface variety. When we look at human bodies what we normally notice is their surface features, which of course differ markedly. Meanwhile on the insides to spines that support these motley physiognomies are structurally very much alike. It is the same with human outlooks. Outwardly they differ, but inwardly it is as if "invisible geometry" has everywhere been working to shape them to a single truth. The sole notable exception is ourselves; our contemporary Western outlook differs in its very soul from what might otherwise be called "the human unanimity". But there is an explanation for this: modern science and its misreading. If the cause were science itself, our deviation might be taken as a breakthrough: a new departure for mankind, the dawning of an age of reason after a long night of ignorance and superstition. But since it derives from a misreading of science, it is an aberration. If we succeed in correcting it, we can rejoin the human race.
Size : 14x22 / 6 x 9 inches
Weight : 410 gm / 0.90 lbs
Pages : 182
Binding : Hard Bound