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1. The Religions of Man The Relevance of the Religious Man
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10,013 views Mar 24, 2020 Religions of ManIn this first episode Dr. Smith presents background and introductory material for the series as a whole. Smith stresses that we should be interested primarily in the "force" behind religion and religious art, and how this "force" will help us to understand the people of the world. With the recent rebirth of interest in spirituality and religion, and its effect on the life people live, the 1955 NET Series, Religions of Man is a timely and informative example of early educational television. The programs give a clear insight into the great living religious of our world: Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Dr. Huston Smith discusses their origin, founders and what each teaches as to life’s meaning and the way to its fulfillment. The first college accredited course given on TV in St. Louis, this series features Dr. Huston Smith, at the time, the associate professor of philosophy at Washington University. Born in China of missionary parents, Dr. Huston Smith has had first-hand acquaintance with the religions of both East and West. Dr. Smiths graduate studies were completed at the University of California and the University of Chicago, where he received his PhD in 1945. He was president of the Missouri Philosophy Association and is the author of The Purpose of Higher Education, published in 1955 by Harper and Brothers. Dr. Smith taught at the University of Denver and the University of Colorado before joining the Washington University faculty. His course on The Religions of Man grew from 13 to 140 students in the first seven years he taught it. The 17 episodes that comprise this series were originally recorded on kinescope, and was broadcast nationally to millions of viewers. For other films of Huston Smith, Please visit www.HustonSmith.org
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Transcript
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Washington University and ket CSA OS
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educational television station present a
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course for television the religions of
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man with dr. Houston Smith
0:40
you have been looking at some objects of
0:43
religious art from all over the world
0:46
this for example is a Quan yang a
0:50
goddess of mercy which comes from China
0:53
in the Buddhist tradition it's really a
0:57
museum and that's all religion is for
1:01
many people a museum but that's not the
1:05
sense in which we are going to be
1:06
studying it here tonight some of these
1:11
objects they're very different in kind
1:13
some of them are very loved low take for
1:16
example this wood carver of a monk it
1:21
comes from Europe around oberammergau I
1:23
believe it's beautiful
1:26
and yet I'm not an art critic concerned
1:30
to analyze the style of these various
1:33
objects and compare them some of these
1:37
objects are very old take for example
1:41
this figure of Shiva the dancing Shiva
1:44
comes from South Indian I I don't know
1:49
how old this particular object is but
1:51
the Shiva figure is the oldest object
1:56
religious object which the archeologists
1:58
have dug up from India go back iron
2:02
about five thousand years but again I'm
2:06
not an antiquarian interested in digging
2:09
up the past and dusting it off some of
2:13
these objects are very strange there are
2:16
some strange ones up there on the shelf
2:18
some of these are different if one puts
2:23
for example these two objects
2:27
side-by-side the Christian monk and this
2:30
Hindu dancing figure what a different
2:33
impression they made but I'm not an
2:36
anthropologist interested in comparing
2:40
and contrasting the various culture
2:44
patterns in the world some of these
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objects also
2:49
have some very strange aspects take for
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example this head of the Buddha the head
2:58
itself is very serene but there were
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many things about Buddha's life which
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would sound very strange to you for
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example how in his quest for
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enlightenment he tried for a period of
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time to live on one beam a day until as
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he tells us when he reached for his
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stomach he seized his spine how he used
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to press the tongue up against the roof
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of his mouth and hold his breath
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so long that he would hear as he tells
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us the roaring of the ocean in his ear
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until it felt like a sword was leaving
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his stuff sometimes when he was trying
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to concentrate all his attention upon
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his spirit he would neglect his body
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completely not even bothering to wash it
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until again as the records tell us the
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dirt would accumulate until it fell off
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by itself but I'm not a tourist guy
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interested in the shock value of the
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strange the bizarre and fantastic know
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when when I turn to these religious
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objects I don't turn to them as relics I
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don't turn to them easily vain' as
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historical forces which had great
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vitality and power and influence in the
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past but somehow have become fossilized
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and outlived their useful I don't turn
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through these sacred books the brahma
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sutra the torah in here the other sacred
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books here assembled i don't turn to
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them as if they were simply great
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literature will hypo egg than you or
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items which would allow us to inspect
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the path to give us some idea how the
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old boys stopped no when i turn to this
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religion
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material when I turned to the religions
5:05
of man it is because I find here the
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most profound insights and answers which
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have ever been offered to the basic
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problems of life the inescapable problem
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the problems that I myself haven't been
5:26
able to get away from
5:27
but for example well take the problem of
5:32
suffering I was just saying pointing out
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some strange things about this man
5:38
Buddha but there's another aspect to his
5:41
life which is the part that really ended
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and this is the part of his life and
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teachings which speak just every man
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somehow they transcend time and space
5:55
and go right to the heart of problems of
5:58
which a terribly near home Buddha said
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you can put my whole philosophy really
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in a nutshell I show you suffering and I
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show you the end of the Sun he would say
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to those who were gathered around him on
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the dusty roads of India let me ask you
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just one question are you really as
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happy as you would like to be as you
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think you might be what about those six
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points those dangers in life what about
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the trauma of birth the pathology of
6:38
sickness the morbidity of decrepitude
6:42
and old age when the body begins to sail
6:45
the phobia of death what about those
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other two dangers when you find yourself
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trapped with that which you hate and
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there's no exit there's nothing you can
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do about or the other side of the coin
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when you find yourself separated from
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that which you love
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how am i strong how will it go when it
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comes to you in this less friendly guys
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if the answer is well enough indeed then
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Buddha would say in effect to his friend
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go your way I I have nothing to say but
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if there be anything those of you who
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know the meaning of pain and want really
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stay around there may be some things I
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can say which will hopefully and I for
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one when I hear those words
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I find myself ringing yes I found some
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things in Buddhism which speak to me
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very meaningfully about the problem of
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suffering as likewise I have also found
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in Judaism in the word writing of the
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form well we're going to be talking
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about suffering some of the answers of
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the world's great religions to this
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problem but how about another problem
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well let's take a problem which is very
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much in our public mind these days the
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problem of social and iron this is what
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we're really occupied with business what
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the papers are are full of international
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Antarctic we don't have a world
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government and here we have the atomic
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bomb and the hydrogen bomb destroys oh
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also the problem of an Ikea home you
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must have noticed as I did that our
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crime rate has jumped 100 percent in
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each of the last two years that's that's
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alarming how long can it go that way and
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a society still keep together not to
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mention the problem of juvenile
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delinquents well are these religious
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problem well in a way I guess we think
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they are but we think of them sort of as
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secondarily religious for the most part
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we think of them
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as being political pop oh it's true that
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the presence of the United States now
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opens his cabinet meetings with a prayer
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but somehow we think of the solution to
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these as going on in a social sphere but
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there are people on the other side of
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the world who view this very differently
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who's ridden quickly in the social
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problem of man how do we get along with
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one another without destroying each
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other how can we live together in the
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maximum harmony and creativeness this
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really is the heart of Confucius concern
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he was a believer in God he prayed to
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God he was a believer in ritual but it
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was really the social problem with
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Africa now I don't have an object of an
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image of Confucius here tonight there
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aren't any images of enthuses in China I
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do have a little pebble that I happen to
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have picked up when I was at the place
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of his birth and I wanted a little
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momento you won't look like anything to
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you but I wanted a little remembrance of
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that place but let's go beyond the man
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to his teeth when I first encountered
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the Analects of Confucius which contain
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really the heart of this doctrine it was
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one of the most surprising experiences
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I'd ever had because here I knew that
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this man had influenced a civilization
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like few other men had ever influenced
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any civilization before and yet the
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amazing thing was how ordinary he was
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how unimpressive the things that he
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would say for example they seemed though
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so obvious saws and old maxim he
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reminded me you know who he reminded me
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of in our culture you remind me a little
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bit a Bernard Baruch
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ah senior state but what has booth ever
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said that was really dramatic the things
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that he says are always the obvious
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sorts of thing have a plan or prepare
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for the worst this kind of statement and
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yet he has worked his way to the senior
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statesman in our society by general
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acclaim Confucius was sort of like that
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now qualms by this tremendous impact and
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it suddenly dawned on me that the reason
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was that this man had hold of the
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crucial question and he refused to be
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distracted from well in the weeks ahead
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we're going to be looking into what
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Confucius had to say about the social
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problem and we're going to look at what
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some of the other religions had to say
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again coming back to Judaism with the
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prophets of Israel those tremendous see
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what they had to say about social
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justice yes the social problems of our
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day will come
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into a kind of religious focal as we
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proceed in this course let me mention
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just one other problem it's a problem of
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self-esteem here's one that we all have
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with us all the time logically speaking
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every man ought to count for just one
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and I ought to be as concerned tonight
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about a child that doesn't have who in
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China as I am about my own child but I
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don't need all that let me put it this
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way suppose I were to show you a picture
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a group picture in which you were a
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member what face would you look for
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first well you don't need to tell me
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we are search the road to see how we
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came and yet we know that this kind of
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selfishness often works against our
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truth happen we find ourselves in
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self-concern standing in our own life as
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it were well there are things in these
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religions there are things in
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Christianity which helped me with this
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problem helped me as to how to overcome
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this to stomach them and how to live
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with myself to accept myself even with
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that part which I'm unable to overcome
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Christianity has helped me on that
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problem Hinduism also has some marvelous
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thing to say on that sub when we turn
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them to the religions of man
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the basic reason which we will always
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have before in this course is that here
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we find answers final answers maybe but
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certainly helpful answer to the deepest
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and most inescapable problems of human
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life now there's another reason however
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that makes me interested in this myth
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here and that is that there's power here
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there's real power these religions they
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affect nation they are moving forces
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channeling forces in the affairs of
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native nations we hear average religion
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as a power that moves mountains well
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it's true more than mountains and moves
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whole name
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let's look for example at India here it
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is everybody knows about anyway he's
15:28
very much in the news today and she
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doesn't like some of the things we're
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doing we don't like some of the things
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she's good but never mind she's very
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much there and exercising a tremendous
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place in world of thing now let's look
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from the nation to a man
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this man
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who is it well I don't need to tell him
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tell me you know everybody knows who
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this man
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someone once said are there any people
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who if their pictures were flashed on a
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screen anywhere in the world would be
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recognized and at this time when the
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person was asking that question he
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suggested there were three Charlie
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Chaplin Mickey Mouse and this man gone
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so universally known that they would be
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recognized every here is the man who was
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the power behind free indians but now
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let's take it back one step further if
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this was the man behind the country in
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this move for liberated was there a
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power behind the man and I think the
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answer is yes and the less power we need
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to look at a book here it is the
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Bhagavad Gita's an awkward name you will
16:59
be learning to pronounce it as we go
17:03
along gandhi secretary once said that
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gandhi like every moment of it was a
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conscious attempt to fulfill the spirit
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of this book well this is going to be
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one of the texts that we are reading in
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this court and that which was a part of
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done will also become a part of you and
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I for my part will be more problem
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because there are people in our
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community who know this great religious
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classic of another length now we study
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the religions of the world them not only
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because they give us help in our
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personal problem the ones we can't get
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away from we also study them they
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because they are moving portable in
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world but there's another reason a final
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reason why I turn to this religious
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material for the religion is name and
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that is because it helps us understand
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the other peoples of the world someone
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is once asked this question the
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historians 500 years a thousand years
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down the line when they're writing the
18:39
record of the 20th century for will
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they remember will it be because we were
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the ones who unlocked the secret of the
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atomic bomb will our century be
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remembered for the spread of communism
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during the first half of the century see
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I don't think there's something about
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our century which overshadows the others
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forces and in comparison with which the
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atomic bomb and communism itself will in
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the perspective of history look like
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mere episode the most important thing I
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believe about the 20th century and after
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which we will be remembered is that this
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is the first century in which East and
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West have met each other not merely
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significantly but as equal now there's
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been plenty of meetings in the past on
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an insignificant and equal basis there
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have also been meeting on a momentous
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basis but as unequal but today for the
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first time we find these two halves of
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the world looking at top at one another
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as now in this situation nothing nothing
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is more important than world understand
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we we live in a day when science has
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annihilated space when the world has
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become not so much of globe
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as a globule we live in a time when
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formosa is on our backyard and India is
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our next-door neighbor now in a time
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like this nothing is more important then
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that the peoples of the world understand
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what I'm oh I'm not saying that there
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has been no understanding in the past
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certainly there had the role for example
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over a hundred years ago could say that
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his life had been made by two books
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Emerson's essay on nature and the
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bhagavad-gita which we were just looking
20:58
Schopenhauer
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the day of the Upanishads one of which
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we shall also be reading that in the
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whole world there is no study so
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beautiful and so elevating as that of
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the Upanishads it has been the solace of
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my life
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it will be the solace of my death
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certainly there have been exchanges in
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the past but now today these exchanges
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are crescendo that which was merely a
21:30
trickle is becoming a torrent of
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interchange that which was only a
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whisper is now becoming a rule our very
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lives now are closely interlocked with
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the lives of other men the daily paper
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carries an account of stories from 26 in
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the world some of the inter relation
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between the people are of a very trivial
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nature you know for example crackerjack
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everybody knows about crackerjack my
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children like to pull out little favors
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whistles in the life last summer you
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know what one of my girls pulled out
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from a cracker jack box here it is let's
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see if we can you see it's a coral
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reproductive Shiva this is Shiva the
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image
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we were just looking well crackerjack it
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says trivial' it's a humorous symbol of
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the web and yet Cracker Jack and Sheila
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the kind of symbol of our tongue now not
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all the symbols are trivial of this time
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let me tell you one other which again to
22:53
me is a kind of symbol this is in
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concerns Robert Oppenheimer I suppose
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there's no one whose name the public
23:05
linked more with the discovery of the
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atomic bomb than Robert Oppenheimer he
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stands in a way as a kind of symbol for
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the web well do you remember back to
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1945 when the first experimental bomb
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was exploded on the desert of the sands
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of Alamogordo oh we didn't know about it
23:29
it was secret then but the story came
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out late it and the reporters crowded
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around Oppenheimer afterwards and they
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asked him what went through your mind
23:38
during those final seconds as they were
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ticking away four three two one down to
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zero and Oppenheimer said well frankly I
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can't remember I suppose I was
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concentrating so much on whether the
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bomb would go up think about anything
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else but I do remember that when the
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explosion took place the brilliant
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blinding flash and the mushroom cloud
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rose up there flashed through my mind of
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births from the bhagavad-gita a whole
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I am comas death the waste juror of the
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key this too is a kind of symbol to me a
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man's interrelated this man a symbol of
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the web but in this crucial moment in
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human history
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what flashes through his mouth a burger
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from halfway around the world over 2,000
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years ago
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we live then in a time when any man who
24:45
is only animal who is only and who is
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only a European or only an Asiatic is
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only half human the other the universal
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aspect of his life has yet to be born
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and those of you who follow us through
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this material will emerge I feel sure
25:05
citizens of the world in a dimension
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that you have never been before now let
25:13
me come back and closing to religious
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off it's wonderful it's beautiful we
25:20
could fill the studio with marvelous
25:23
example Michelangelo this Sistine
25:26
ceiling we could have the reproductions
25:29
here we could have Bach's music
25:31
filling this room they're not here they
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won't be you and why not the answer is
25:41
because we're not really interested in
25:43
the aesthetics style we're interested in
25:46
the source of this great art the idea in
25:49
a way you and I here will be standing
25:52
parallel to Michelangelo and to Bob
25:55
we'll be looking at the things that they
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look at that when they created now this
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is going to be a course they're gonna be
26:06
system in it there's going to be rigor
26:08
there's gonna be a good deal of hard
26:11
work I just thought this morning rather
26:15
a surprise I'm gonna be on TV I'm gonna
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have a program I'm gonna be a performer
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in away and yes I'm not I'm not a
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performer I'm a teacher and those of you
26:29
who follow me seriously are students
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you're going to be reading assignments
26:36
you're going to take an examination will
26:38
it be worth it well ultimately the
26:42
answer is yours but to
26:48
quotations come into my mind one is that
26:52
of the medical teacher who tez says to
26:54
his students we're gonna be dealing with
26:57
flesh with nerves with sinners we're
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gonna be dealing with them in a
27:02
cold-blooded way but never forget
27:04
fellows
27:05
this stuff is along and that's what I
27:09
hope you will never forget
27:11
during these walls the final quote I
27:15
think really we could come back to
27:17
Buddha when he says it is peaceful those
27:22
of you who have no problems go your way
27:25
we have nothing but if there be anything
27:30
then linear those of you who know the
27:35
meaning of pain and wish release follow
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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the religions of man is produced by
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Washington University and ket see the
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st. Louis educational television and
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production Center this is national
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Educational Television
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