NEW DVD: Released January 21, 2012
The Arc of Life: Huston Smith on Life, Death & Beyond
Huston Smith and Ken Dychtwald

Author, teacher, and lecturer Huston Smith is best known for his scholarship, being the father of world’s religions studies in America. But on December 27, 2009, Ken Dychtwald, psychologist, gerontologist, and visionary thinker on the subject of the age wave that is upon us, interviewed Smith with the objective of getting not his academic view, but rather his personal view, of the maturation process. Dychtwald brought out the warmth, depth, common sense, and wonderful humor of Huston Smith in the course of elucidating Smith’s perspective on life at 90 from the age of 90-plus. Huston Smith has been a pioneer and role model for the Boomer generation in the field of Religious Pluralism. He now has something to teach about the aging process.

The DVD is called The Arc of Life but it could easily bear the subtitle: How to Grow Old and Remain Forever Young."

-Jeffery Paine, co-author with Huston Smith, Tales of Wonder: Adventures Chasing the Divine and the new Huston Smith Reader, author of Re-enchantment: Tibetan Buddhism Comes to the West (signed copies) & Father India (signed copies)

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The Roots of Fundamentalism
A Conversation with Huston Smith and Phil Cousineau

After watching this interview, you may find yourself asking whose side Huston Smith is on. In the present atmosphere of "with us or against us," Smith’s informed and dispassionate take on Fundamentalism falls into neither familiar, comfortable camp.

The occasion for the interview was a Phil Cousineau article, entitled Why Fundamentalism Matters, for Parabola Magazine. The interview begins with Christian Fundamentalism, a topic Smith came to, in his own words, "loaded for bear," having just written the book The Soul of Christianity: Restoring the Great Tradition. However, the topic develops into fundamentalism as it manifests itself in religion in general.

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The Mystic's Journey
The Hartley Series

Author Huston Smith (The World's Religions) and filmmaker, Elda Hartley, have each spent decades exploring worldwide spiritual practices. Here are three of the most profound films they made together. These timeless classics provide penetrating insights into some of civilizations esoteric traditions.

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REQUIEM FOR A FAITH: Tibetan Buddhism

Filmed in Tibet this video is about Tibetan Buddhism. Since the Chinese seized Tibet in the 50's and the Dalai Lama escaped to India, this form of Buddhism has spread across the Western world, brought by monks who were able to escape. The great historian, Arnold Toynbee, wrote that when the history of this century is written one of its major episodes will be the spread of Buddhism to the West. This video sheds light on the reason for this extraordinary movement. See it and learn why.

ISLAMIC MYSTICISM: The Sufi Way

Shot in both Africa and India, ending in Turkey, home of Rumi and the whirling dervishes. Why has its message inspired some of the world's greatest art? A rare glimpse into the mystical and frequently misunderstood heart of Islam.

INDIA and the INFINITE: The Soul of a People

The country where mankind first took a quantum leap in consciousness . . . her many religions, the almost universal belief in reincarnation, her appeal to seekers from all over the world, and her extraordinary art.

These three videos, all award winners, are included in separate cassettes in an attractive box for the incredible price of $49.95, or $16.66 each! a discount over the individual titles.

The Thinking Allowed Video Series

THE WORLD'S PHILOSOPHIES

Philosopher Huston Smith points out that we confront three essential relationships with nature, with other people, and with ourselves, and that these relationships correspond to the enduring philosophical traditions of the West, of China and of India. He also argues that human history may be divided into four philosophical epochs archaic, traditional, modern and post-modern.

BEYOND THE POST-MODERN MIND

PSYCHOLOGY OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE

THE PRIMORDIAL TRADITION

Huston Smith, Ph.D., author of Forgotten Truth and The Religions of Man, delineates the common threads that run through spiritual traditions of all cultures. Because the science of acoustics has nothing to say about beauty, he says, does not mean that Brahms isn't beautiful. Similarly, the notions of the soul and spirit persist regardless of their lack of relevance to a modern, materialist world view.

THE SACRED UNSCONCIOUS

At the height of his extraordinary career, a man who exemplifies the virtues of the spiritual path speaks of some of his own transforming experiences and insights.

With anecdotes, humor, radiance,and a twinkle in his eye, a giant in the field of world religions shares profoundly personal experiences which have changed his life. Speaking at Kentucky's Cathedral Heritage Foundations' Festival of Faiths 2000, Professor Smith observes that the Festival's theme, Healing Mind, Body, and Soul "comes down to who we "are"-the recovery of the original divine station." Professor Smith describes what he considers to be the "deep lying elements" for understanding the healing of mind, body, and soul. He answers the basic questions of "who we are" by providing an insightful analysis of the four levels of the unconscious, the most important being the sacred which, he maintains, is linked with God as our "imago Dei." And, he recounts his own transforming experience of this place of Beauty, Bliss, and Joy, which each of us knows in dreamless sleep. Were the mind, body, and soul not re-charged or "healed" every night by direct contact with the Divine, we could not endure our lives. Professor Smith believes we must think more highly of our "selves." Additional treats are his mention of a personal hero: Wendell Berry, and his moving tribute to Ram Dass/Richard Alpert (Be Here Now), whose paralyzing stroke gave him the "gift of suffering": closeness to God and the dismantling of the "persona." But what is most moving about this precious footage is the wise and luminous presence of Huston Smith himself, a man who clearly embodies the virtues of the spiritual path. 

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