Forgotten Truth : The Common Vision of the World's Religions

Rating:
Summary: What do religions have in common?
Review: As Huston Smith writes in his introduction to this valuable work, it was some twenty years after he wrote _The World's Religions_ (originally entitled _The Religions of Man_) that he came to understand the "core" worldview common to all religions. That was in 1972, when this book was first published.

It is that "core" view which he presents here. Essentially it is this: there are "levels of being" such that the more real is also the more valuable; these levels appear in both the "external" and the "internal" worlds, "higher" levels of reality without corresponding to "deeper" levels of reality within. On the very lowest level is the material/physical world, which depends for its existence on the higher levels. On the very highest/deepest level is the Infinite or Absolute -- that is, God.

Basically this volume is an attempt to recover this view of reality from materialism, scientism, and "postmodernism." It does not attempt to adjudicate among religions (or philosophies), it does not spell out any of the important _differences_ between world faiths, and it is not intended to substitute a "new" religion for the specific faiths which already exist.

Nor should any such project be expected from a work that expressly focuses on what religions have in common. Far from showing that all religions are somehow "the same," Smith in fact shows that religions have a "common" core only at a sufficiently general level. What he shows, therefore, is not that there is really just one religion, but that the various religions of the world are actually agreeing _and_ disagreeing about something real, something about which there is an objective matter of fact, on the fundamentals of which most religions tend to concur while differing in numerous points of detail (including practice).

Of course any two religions therefore have much more in common than any single religion has with "materialism". In fact one way to state the "common core" of the world's religions is simply to say that they agree about the falsehood of "materialism."

The volume stands well enough in its own right, of course, but it also makes an excellent companion to _The World's Religions_. (And if you are looking for an introductory overview of what the great world religions believe and teach, that other work is highly recommended.)

It also contains a critique of Darwinism which, as Smith notes in his introduction, has since found some gratifying confirmation in the writings of others. Smith, writing in 1991, mentions Phillip Johnson's _Darwin On Trial_; since that time a number of other critiques have been published, including a few more by Johnson.

The reader of this book might therefore also wish to look into Johnson's books as well as some or all of the following: Lee Spetner's _Not By Chance!_, Michael Denton's _Evolution: A Theory in Crisis_ and _Nature's Destiny_, William Dembski's _Intelligent Design_ and _The Design Inference_, and Michael Behe's _Darwin's Black Box_. (On the "pro" side, one of the best positive accounts of Darwinian evolutionary theory is still John Maynard Smith's _The Theory of Evolution_.)

Rating:
Summary: What do religions have in common?
Review: As Huston Smith writes in his introduction to this valuable work, it was some twenty years after he wrote _The World's Religions_ (originally entitled _The Religions of Man_) that he came to understand the "core" worldview common to all religions. That was in 1972, when this book was first published.

It is that "core" view which he presents here. Essentially it is this: there are "levels of being" such that the more real is also the more valuable; these levels appear in both the "external" and the "internal" worlds, "higher" levels of reality without corresponding to "deeper" levels of reality within. On the very lowest level is the material/physical world, which depends for its existence on the higher levels. On the very highest/deepest level is the Infinite or Absolute -- that is, God.

Basically this volume is an attempt to recover this view of reality from materialism, scientism, and "postmodernism." It does not attempt to adjudicate among religions (or philosophies), it does not spell out any of the important _differences_ between world faiths, and it is not intended to substitute a "new" religion for the specific faiths which already exist.

Nor should any such project be expected from a work that expressly focuses on what religions have in common. Far from showing that all religions are somehow "the same," Smith in fact shows that religions have a "common" core only at a sufficiently general level. What he shows, therefore, is not that there is really just one religion, but that the various religions of the world are actually agreeing _and_ disagreeing about something real, something about which there is an objective matter of fact, on the fundamentals of which most religions tend to concur while differing in numerous points of detail (including practice).

Of course any two religions therefore have much more in common than any single religion has with "materialism". In fact one way to state the "common core" of the world's religions is simply to say that they agree about the falsehood of "materialism."

The volume stands well enough in its own right, of course, but it also makes an excellent companion to _The World's Religions_. (And if you are looking for an introductory overview of what the great world religions believe and teach, that other work is highly recommended.)

It also contains a critique of Darwinism which, as Smith notes in his introduction, has since found some gratifying confirmation in the writings of others. Smith, writing in 1991, mentions Phillip Johnson's _Darwin On Trial_; since that time a number of other critiques have been published, including a few more by Johnson.

The reader of this book might therefore also wish to look into Johnson's books as well as some or all of the following: Lee Spetner's _Not By Chance!_, Michael Denton's _Evolution: A Theory in Crisis_ and _Nature's Destiny_, William Dembski's _Intelligent Design_ and _The Design Inference_, and Michael Behe's _Darwin's Black Box_. (On the "pro" side, one of the best positive accounts of Darwinian evolutionary theory is still John Maynard Smith's _The Theory of Evolution_.)

Rating:
Summary: Great read, but not a follow up to World's Religions!
Review: The World's Religions was the single greatest caption of the different faiths I've ever encountered. Smith's organization and articulation of his knowledge was so good in WR, that I wonder if I really understood Forgotten Truth. How was it a common vision of religions? I can't say I ever really enjoyed a book that didn't cover it's intentions, but I did. Know what you are getting into first though.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly disappointing and dated
Review: This book surprised me. I expected a seasoned synthesis of the world's religions from one of the foremost experts in that field. I hoped that Smith might make a persuasive presentation of the foundation upon which they all were founded. Instead, this book more closely approximates a polemic against the Western scientific perspective.

Chapter one denounces science as merely quantitative, and therefore unable to speak to the qualitative concerns of religion and humanity. Science is concerned with objectivity, predictability, control and number. Religion with values, purpose, meanings and quality. Science corrupted becomes scientism, the reduction of all reality to the material.

In chapters two and three Smith begins to present his alternative. Reading more like a personal ideology than a research synthesis, he amends the ancient two-story universe (natural and supernatural) by adding an inner level (psychic or psychological) and by splitting the supernatural into celestial and infinite levels. This four-story, hierarchical model of reality is Smith's personal explanation of the construct underlying all world religions, but those looking for documentation to support his view will be disappointed. Smith does jazz up his perspective by allusion to quantum physics, but this material is quite dated (originally published in 1976).

Chapter four is the longest chapter in the book. In it Smith likens his four-story model to levels of selfhood: body, mind, soul and spirit. Inexplicably, he spends eleven pages arguing that the mind is not equivalent to the brain. The inclusion of an appendix on Stanislav Grof's experiments with LSD is a strange way of supporting Smith's views.

Chapters five and six return to his critique of science. The first focusing on his view that science, in its proper place, supports the "common vision" of religion. Essentially, this common vision is the assertion that "things are not as they seem." Tables appear solid, but quantum physics says they are largely composed of space. In the second Smith rejects evolutionary progress. He claims that the evidence for evolution would not be persuasive for science were it not for the predisposition for material, rather than transcendent, explanations. He also argues that there has been no human progress. His preference for the hunter/gatherer, as opposed to technological man, seems romantic, if not absurd.

Smith presents his personal interpretation of the "common vision" of world religions as a top-down explanation for reality. Human conceptualizations for the ideal and infinite are essential, in his view, to understanding all aspects of human existence. Western science takes a bottom-up approach, with hypothetical constructs resting upon material facts. Smith's view is really quite simple - science will never penetrate the infinite by working with the finite.

Unless you are looking for insight into the personal beliefs of Huston Smith, I do not recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Surprisingly disappointing and dated
Review: This book surprised me. I expected a seasoned synthesis of the world's religions from one of the foremost experts in that field. I hoped that Smith might make a persuasive presentation of the foundation upon which they all were founded. Instead, this book more closely approximates a polemic against the Western scientific perspective.

Chapter one denounces science as merely quantitative, and therefore unable to speak to the qualitative concerns of religion and humanity. Science is concerned with objectivity, predictability, control and number. Religion with values, purpose, meanings and quality. Science corrupted becomes scientism, the reduction of all reality to the material.

In chapters two and three Smith begins to present his alternative. Reading more like a personal ideology than a research synthesis, he amends the ancient two-story universe (natural and supernatural) by adding an inner level (psychic or psychological) and by splitting the supernatural into celestial and infinite levels. This four-story, hierarchical model of reality is Smith's personal explanation of the construct underlying all world religions, but those looking for documentation to support his view will be disappointed. Smith does jazz up his perspective by allusion to quantum physics, but this material is quite dated (originally published in 1976).

Chapter four is the longest chapter in the book. In it Smith likens his four-story model to levels of selfhood: body, mind, soul and spirit. Inexplicably, he spends eleven pages arguing that the mind is not equivalent to the brain. The inclusion of an appendix on Stanislav Grof's experiments with LSD is a strange way of supporting Smith's views.

Chapters five and six return to his critique of science. The first focusing on his view that science, in its proper place, supports the "common vision" of religion. Essentially, this common vision is the assertion that "things are not as they seem." Tables appear solid, but quantum physics says they are largely composed of space. In the second Smith rejects evolutionary progress. He claims that the evidence for evolution would not be persuasive for science were it not for the predisposition for material, rather than transcendent, explanations. He also argues that there has been no human progress. His preference for the hunter/gatherer, as opposed to technological man, seems romantic, if not absurd.

Smith presents his personal interpretation of the "common vision" of world religions as a top-down explanation for reality. Human conceptualizations for the ideal and infinite are essential, in his view, to understanding all aspects of human existence. Western science takes a bottom-up approach, with hypothetical constructs resting upon material facts. Smith's view is really quite simple - science will never penetrate the infinite by working with the finite.

Unless you are looking for insight into the personal beliefs of Huston Smith, I do not recommend this book.