Margo Anand describes the "anti-ecstatic conspiracy" in modern life. We often forget the potential of our perceptual and emotional systems to create states of bliss. She discusses Hindu "tantra" as the art of expanding consciousness through an appreciation of the senses and the body. She takes is...

Archetypal energies beckon us to live a larger life. We are all healers, warriors, visionaries and teachers -- but often these potentials remain in latent form. Through song, dance, storytelling and meditation we can activate these archetypes.

The late Angeles Arrien, Ph.D., a cross-cultural ant...

Author Richard Bach describes the relationship between fact and fiction in his imaginative autobiographical books. He describes his own internal process of integrating the memories of his childhood. Through his work he has come to realize that ultimate reality is far deeper than the physical appe...

Sylvia Boorstein presents the essence of the eightfold path and the four noble truths of Buddhism. She discusses Vipassana--or mindfulness--meditation which entails detaching from the thoughts, cravings and aversions that pass through the mind. Through this practice one gains insight into the imp...

Many new trends in the field of biology--including systems theory, complexity theory, chaos theory, the Gaia hypothesis--suggest a new approach to the understanding of living systems. this view of our intimate involvement with the web of life can lead us toward ways of living that are ecologicall...

Sree Chakravarti describes her journey of awakening from the life of a sickly housewife to that of a healer. She maintains that the pace of modern life is so rapid that people do not take enough time to appreciate each other even within families. This, she claims, causes much illness. We not only...

Philosopher David Chalmers points out that most modern attempts to explain consciousness fail to address the fundamental problem of subjective experience--i.e., what it is like to be conscious. He argues for a "naturalistic dualism" in which non-physical consciousness is viewed as a fundamental a...

Westerners often mistakenly believe that tantric yoga is essentially a sexual practice. The essence of tantra is a focus on life energy or kundalini associated with the nervous system and the environment. The goal of tantra, as with other spiritual practices, is the achievement of unity conscious...

A noted scientist discusses free will, consciousness, attention and memory and their relationship to the human nervous system. In a wide ranging discussion, Crick points out that the hypothesis that the brain is the seat of consciousness has not yet been proven.

The late Francis Crick, Ph.D., re...

A distinguished law professor points out that many problems associated with drug use actually result from the prohibition of drugs. These include deaths, by violence and by overdose, theft, health risks, huge law enforcement expenditures. He notes that legalized drugs could still be highly regula...

Dr. Emery outlines a series of steps for activating the intuitive mind. These include framing the problem, centering, relaxing, receiving imagery, interpreting the imagery and taking action. She also enumerates the positive and negative emotional factors that can interfere with the intuitive proc...

The spiritual and philosophical traditions of humanity all point toward an underlying first principle which Dr. Ashok Gangadean refers to as the Logos. This principle partakes of both infinity and relationality. It speaks of the underlying unity of all reality, yet it is expressed differently in ...

The late Nobel laureate Murray Gell-Mann addresses the relationship between the world of everyday experience and the mysterious world of sub-atomic particles. He points out that chaos theory shows that many large-scale events are extremely sensitive to initial conditions. Regarding complexity, he...

Just as quantum mechanics has been a powerful theory unifying our understanding of physics, it can also serve as a unifying theory in the field of creativity. Dr. Amit Goswami maintains that the discontinuities observed in quantum physics allow for the creative leaps that are at the heart of all ...

The late Christina Grof describes her own struggle to overcome alcoholism and suggests that the impulse that leads to addictive behavior stems from our yearning for spiritual union. Crises of spiritual opening, she says, may often look like episodes of acute psychosis and are often difficult and ...

Dr. Stanislav Grof makes the case that the experience of those in altered "holotropic" states—through psychedelic drugs or through certain breathing exercises—are virtually indistinguishable from classic mystical experiences. He maintains that the worldview cultivated in such states of consciousn...

Contemporary science is engaging in a process of integrating human consciousness into its body of knowledge. As an example of this new direction, Dr. Harman summarizes research into the conscious survival of the death of the body. He points to several lines of evidence suggesting a need for a lar...

A leading visionary thinker, Barbara Marx Hubbard suggests that we are in a unique evolutionary phase in which the universe is coming to understand itself through the vehicle of human consciousness. She argues that the spiritual attainments of the great religious founders and avatars are now beco...

A leading visionary thinker, Barbara Marx Hubbard suggests that we are in a unique evolutionary phase in which the universe is coming to understand itself through the vehicle of human consciousness. She argues that the spiritual attainments of the great religious founders and avatars are now beco...

Spiritual teacher IsanaMada maintains that many people today are experiencing an awakening, but that the isolation of the ego keep us from awareness of the fullness of our possibilities. She also describes the process of surrender as essential to spiritual work. This process is opposed by the ten...

Knowledge of nutritional principles, says Deborah Kesten, does not necessarily lead to a healthy diet. In examining our attitudes toward food, she initiated a search of the world's spiritual traditions. She reviews the regard for food in Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and the American ...

Rabbi Lawrence Kushner suggests that all religioius traditions point humanity toward the goal of unity with God. He suggests that the connections between people transcend death and help us to face both life and death. He speculates that god is the source of synchronicities and coincidences in our...

Lucid dreams are dreams in which you are aware that you are dreaming. Researcher LaBerge discusses techniques for inducing lucid dreams as well as some practical applications. These include anxiety reduction, practicing various skills, creative problem solving and exploring decision scenarios.

S...

Physician/healer Leonard Laskow discusses the visionary experiences and scientific experiments that led him to formulate a healing process based on the energies of unconditional love. He describes the four steps in the healing process: recognition, resonance, release and reform. Then he demonstra...