A concern with nature and humanity is primary to the social conventions of organized religion, according to Matthew Fox, a Dominican priest and spiritual theologian. Fox is director of the Institute for Culture and Creation Spirituality at Holy Names College. Author of numerous books, including A...

Neil Freer is author of Breaking the Godspell, a book which delves into the implications of the radical theories of scholar Zecharia Sitchin (The Twelfth Planet, Stairway to Heaven, etc). Here he discusses the hypothesis that the gods of ancient cultures were actually from another planet that col...

While conventional religion and science are often in conflict, says Willis Harman, Ph.D., there is a growing convergence between non-reductionistic science and internally oriented religious traditions. Dr. Harman points out that this movement reflects an important new area of public interest.

Wi...

Ancient cultures cultivated a sensitivity to the environment, to the body and to the inner workings of the mind which is often lost in modern life. Gay Gaer Luce, Ph.D., is author of Body Time and founder/ director of the Nine Gates Mystery School. Today, she says, we have an unparalleled opportu...

The original gospel is one of loving kindness and forgiveness. Stephen Mitchell is a poet, translator and scholar. He compares the core teachings of Jesus to the perennial spiritual traditions of humanity -- particularly those found in Buddhism.

The essential tension between our material and spiritual natures is often forgotten as we pursue contemporary concerns. Jacob Needleman, Ph.D., author of The Heart of Philosophy and The New Religions, points to Socrates as the ideal philosopher who, through his questioning, brought people to an a...

Philosophers have questioned how one can live a meaningful life in a social milieu that lacks clear values. One response is to define oneself by accepting as a role model one who is truly committed--such as Christ or Buddha. Jane Rubin, Ph.D., teacher of religious studies at U.C. Berkeley, contra...

"Evaluation phobia" is Dr. Michael Scriven's term for the fear that individuals and organizations have about carefully examining the logic of their own decisions. Scriven, D.Phil., is a philosopher and multi-disciplinary scholar whose speciality is the very process of thinking itself. He is the a...

Gnosticism involves a fusion of middle-east traditions including Judaism, Christianity and Manicheanism. June Singer, Ph.D., is author of Seeing Through the Visible World: Jung, Gnosis and Chaos and A Gnostic Book of Hours. She discusses the Gnostic belief in the direct apprehension of a spiritua...

The modern western worldview is dominated by the materialist values of science. According to Huston Smith, Ph.D., this withdrawal of emphasis from human values--and from essential elements such as meaning, quality and purpose--has lead to widespread alienation and social discontent.

Huston Smit...

Charlene Spretnak is a scholar who has contributed to the framing of woman's spirituality, eco-feminism and green politics. Author of States of Grace, here she discusses Buddhism, native American spirituality, contemporary goddess spirituality and the Abrahamic traditions -- Judaism, Christianity...

The genuine spiritual tradition of all religions encourages the cultivation of independent action and conscience. David Steindl-Rast, Ph.D., a Benedictine Monk, is co-author, with Fritjof Capra, of Belonging to the Universe. He proclaims that the message of Christianity is that we are all related...

Stan Tenen is the director of the Meru Foundation. Here he suggests that the ancient alphabets embody a system of knowledge that is self-referential and not inconsistent with modern thinking in theoretical physics and general systems theory. He claims to have discovered the sacred spiral shape th...

The late Irina Tweedie is the author of Daughter of Fire, a diary of her intensive spiritual training in India with a Hindu Sufi master. In this moving and personal interview, Mrs. Tweedie, who was a Sufi teacher in London, describes the bliss, peace and love--and the despair, hatred and loneline...