Forgotten Truth

This is a great little book for people that are searching for meaning in a modern world. It looks at the common core of the world's wisdom traditions in a very thoughtful and sometimes even poetic way. It is not really a comprehensive, academic exploration of the world's wisdom traditions, but rather a summary with personal reflections from a man who studied religions all of his life. The power of this little book is revealed in the language that the author uses to express his points so beautifully. It sheds light on the interiority of the universe in a way that the average person can relate to. In other words, it's not written like a philosophical treatise. There are some criticisms below that indicate that this book is dated. There is some truth to that if what you are looking for is the most up-to-date, factual and well-referenced book on the subject. However, if you are new to this area, you will find an enjoyable, educational, fascinating and thought provoking journey into the very heart of the world's religions. Because of the nature of the subject matter, Huston Smith is sharing a lot of his own personal viewpoints. However, as someone who has been exploring this territory for his entire 80+ year life with a best seller on world religions under his belt, he is a quite a credible tour guide in this subject. That is not to say there aren't shortcomings to the book, but he writes from his heart and years of experience, which to me is well worth listening to. I like Huston Smith's reflections on the shortcomings of science and I think most people will find them good food for thought. Science holds such a place of prominence in our culture that alternatives to the modern and post-modern worldviews are not often entertained. This book certainly raises the right questions in the area, but some of the criticism about not touching on quantum physics, living system theory, etc. is warranted. This would have given the book more punch in these chapters. I still give Huston Smith a 5 for his power to use words that touch the heart and provoke responses from people's depths. It is very difficult to write a book that is all things to all people, but for its length, this is a wonderful read and introduction to the perrenial philosophy.

Huston Smith doesn't seem like the type to write a subversive book. A highly respected academic and scholar of religion, Smith comes off, in his other works, as the soul of moderation (and by all accounts, he is). Here we see a different side of Dr. Smith, however- for 167 all-too-brief pages, he takes the gloves off. In "Forgotten Truth", Smith goes on the warpath. His target? All the "sacred cows" of modernity. Neo-Darwinism? Smash. Materialist ontology? Bash. Progress? Crash. In their place, Smith creates a syncretic view of spiritual realities throughout history, and their basic structure- the psychic plane of the shamanistic "spirit world", the celestial realm of angels and archetypes, all the way up to absolute spirit- the Godhead, Sunyata, Brahma. Contesting modernity's "reign of quantity", Smith insists on the superiority of hierarchies of quality. Smith isn't always entirely convincing, but he does present a daring critique of materialism and neo-darwinism. The appendix, on Stan Grof's LSD research, is also a worthwhile addition.

if you are lloking for an introduction to world religions, look further; His book "religions of Man" is the "intro" the atlanta review would want. this is far more involved and is even better for you if you have a general idea of the religions involved. Fabulous, have purchased it for friends. Pay attention to the authors who are footnoted so extensively (Guenon, Coomaraswamy, schuon, Burckhardt).

The second semester of my senior year @ Villanova University; I was blessed to have Professor Emeritus Huston Smith for an honor's class: Philosophy and Religion. This book was one of the texts that we read and discussed. It helped me put my Catholic upbringing in perspective and further understand the age old calling of deep unto deep. As above so below. Microcosm mirrors Macrocosm. Ten years later I am learning these same truths over and over again on a daily basis. Thank you Huston Smith.

This book clearly explains how the many divergent religious traditions are indeed referring to the same ultimate reality. If there is an infinite being, then it can be described in infinite ways. If there is an infinite being, then there is nowhere else for another infinite being to exist. This book is an extremely cogent argument for pluralism.