The Huston Smith reader / edited with an introduction by Jeffery Paine.

Includes bibliographical references.

The book now in your hands -- Grand tour of all the worlds -- Welcome to the reader -- BOOK ONE: A PERSONAL STARTING POINT. No wasted journey -- The way things are -- BOOK TWO: THE SACRED DIMENSIONS OF EVERYDAY LIFE. Two kinds of teaching -- The sacred dimensions of everyday life -- Light -- The revolution in western thought -- Empirical metaphysics -- BOOK THREE: I NEVER MET A RELIGION I DIDN'T LIKE. My three other religions -- Explaining fundamentalism -- What they have that we lack: on Native American religion -- Three ways of relating to the world; three geographies; three religious traditions -- Shinto: a Japanese sense of the sacred -- The spiritual heritage of India -- The importance of Buddha -- Tibetan chanting -- The relevance of the great religions for the modern world -- BOOK FOUR: THE BIG PICTURE. Educating the intellect: on opening the eye of the heart -- Do drugs have religious import? -- The levels of reality -- The levels of selfhood -- Western philosophy as a great religion -- BOOK FIVE: RETURN TO THE PERSONAL. Encountering God -- Reflections upon turning 90 -- Conclusion: the sacred unconscious -- Afterword: the man who rook religion seriously: Huston Smith in context / Dana Sawyer -- Works by Huston Smith.

For more than sixty years, Huston Smith has not only written and taught about the world's religions, he has lived them. This "Reader" presents a rich selection of Smith's writings, covering six decades of inquiry and exploration, and ranging from scholarship to memoir. Over his long academic career, Smith's tireless enthusiasm for religious ideas has offered readers both in and outside the academy a fresh understanding of what religion is and what makes it meaningful. "The Huston Smith Reader" offers a comprehensive guide to understanding religion and spirituality as well as a memorable record of Huston Smith's lifelong endeavor to enrich the inner lives of his fellow humans.