Tag: the world’s religions

“Things are more integrated than they seem, they are better than they seem, and they are more mysterious than they seem”

From Huston Smith’s The World Religions [Kindle]:

Plato, speaking philosophically for Greek religion, presents the body as a tomb. The Hebrew Scriptures contrast the created world with a holy, righteous, transcendent Lord. For Hinduism the world is maya, only marginally real. The Buddha likened the world to a burning house from which escape is imperative. An apocryphal account has Jesus saying, “The world is a bridge; pass over, but build no house upon it.” The Koran compares the world to vegetation that will be quickly harvested or turn to straw.

And yet, as different as they might appear, all religions surface the same underlying reality:

Things are more integrated than they seem, they are better than they seem, and they are more mysterious than they seem; something like this emerges as the highest common denominator of the wisdom traditions’ reports.

The days are long, but the cosmic cycles are short

The Himalayas, it is said, are made of solid granite. Once every thousand years a bird flies over them with a silk scarf in its beak, brushing their peaks with its scarf. When by this process the Himalayas have been worn away, one day of a cosmic cycle will have elapsed.

From The World’s Religions [Kindle] by Huston Smith. An incredible book.

If the title sounds familiar, it’s thanks to Gretchen Rubin.