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Sarah Masters reviews the audio series

The Big Picture

Huston Smith, a leading authority on comparative religion, describes for the listener in this 2-CD set, the “journey we are on: how deep is the longing within us for a larger world than our everyday senses and common sense, even when amplified by science.”

Smith, author of the classic The World’s Religions (formerly Religions of Man), interweaves contemporary scientific data with the underlying commonalities found among the world’s great religions in terms of their spiritual traditions, mystical visions, and concepts of the afterlife. He discourses on the ability of science to enhance our appreciation of life and spirituality as well as the inability of science to wrestle with “values and purposes.”

This comparative religion scholar comments that the modern age has moved past the “half-worlds” resulting from a schism between religion and science, and he describes a “more complete world” in which individuals no longer have to choose between the two.

Huston Smith discourses in The Big Picture on what he describes as “the widest-angle view of the world that is available to the human mind at this point in history.” It’s a journey worth taking.

Completed: 2002
Running Time: 2 ¼ hours
Producer: Sounds True

If you are interested in purchasing this audio series, you can do so at www.hartleyfoundation.org. Just click on “Masterworks” on the homepage for more information. The cost of the 2-CD set is $24.95.

Sarah Masters is the Managing Director of the Hartley Film Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to cultivation, support, production and distribution of the best documentaries and audio meditations on world religions, spirituality, ethics and well-being.

Book Review

Dr. Diane Bridges reviews

Mama’s Going to Heaven Soon

This is a brightly illustrated book to help parents speak about death with children.

While the predominant theme of reassurance for young children at a very confusing time is helpful, I question the lack of tears in the illustrations and the sometimes too upbeat stance of both daddy and mommy in the face of such a gut-wrenching experience for the entire family.

The book reassures children that they are loved and will always be cared for and that heaven is a good place. But there is something about the bluntness of the message, “My life on earth with you and daddy will be over. I will live and stay in heaven forever and I will never be sick or tired again!” which might lead children to fear that fatigue and sickness will surely lead to death.

While the author alludes to people coming over who whisper or cry, I would recommend that this be dealt with more openly. It’s okay for daddy and adults and mommy and the family to cry out loud together.

The concluding suggestions at the back of the book, “How to Talk to Children About Death” is a necessary inclusion to round out the author’s sincere attempts to deal with a very difficult discussion.

Copeland, Kathe Martin, illustrated by Elissa Hudson. Mama’s Going to Heaven Soon, Augsburg Fortress Press, Minneapolis, 2005, pp 32.

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