Reverend Mary Manin Morrissey once said that everything in full bloom begins as a seed. As I write this, more than five decades have passed since Michael and I founded New Dimensions Foundation, which is known as New Dimensions Radio. Looking back, I can see that its seed began in a single, life‑changing conversation—the day I met Michael and something sparked that would change both our lives.
Roots of Restlessness
I grew up in the Episcopal Church and loved it deeply—the gentle solemnity, the hymns, the cadence of familiar prayers. But in my early twenties, when I moved to Alabama, my path took a turn. I joined a spirited Southern Baptist congregation and threw myself into it wholeheartedly. I sang in the choir, taught Sunday school, and loved the lively exuberance that filled our services. Yet even then, beneath the joy, there was a subtle restlessness I couldn’t name.
That restlessness stayed with me when I moved west to California. There, I found myself drawn into the community of Jehovah’s Witnesses. As before, I jumped in with both feet—studying, attending meetings, and knocking on doors to spread the “good news.” I wanted to serve, to share what I thought of as the truth. But beneath that devotion, a quiet question persisted: Was there more?
At the time, I didn’t see it as a spiritual quest. I thought of it as being faithful, obedient. Only later did I realize that what I was following wasn’t doctrine but a deep internal pull toward the broadest, most inclusive understanding of spirit possible. My soul was hungry for something vaster than any one faith could contain.
Meeting Michael
Then I met Michael.
He wasn’t a Jehovah’s Witness—far from it. But there was something in his calm, listening presence that quietly disarmed me. Still, before I could let down my guard, I needed to know where he stood on spiritual matters. So one day I called him and said, “I’d like to come over and talk about spiritual things.” He said yes.
I arrived that evening with an armload of material—different Jehovah’s Witness publications, and my treasured New World edition of the Bible. He led me downstairs to his library, and the moment I walked in, it took my breath away.
Every wall, from floor to ceiling, was filled with books. Volumes on the Kabbalah sat beside works on the Bhagavad Gita, The I Ching, Vedanta, Science of Mind, Judaism, mysticism, and comparative religions. There were books on psychology, mythology, cosmology, and consciousness. It was like stepping into a living map of the world’s spiritual imagination.
Still, I was not ready to be impressed. I set my books down on the table and said, “I only want to talk about my religion, using my translation of the Bible.”
Michael said quietly, “You mean this one?” and reached back to pull a green volume from his shelf—the same edition I was holding.
In that instant, something shifted inside me. A small door cracked open. I remember thinking, maybe he’s being more inclusive than I am. I didn’t say it aloud, but it stayed with me like a whisper through the evening.
The Conversation That Changed Everything
We began to talk—me with all my certainties, he with his patient curiosity. I would read a passage, explain its “correct” meaning, and confidently declare, “So you see, it’s obvious what this means.” Michael would listen carefully and then respond, “Yes, I see what you mean. And you might also look at it like this…”
Every time he said that, he didn’t negate what I’d said; he expanded it. He opened a window I hadn’t known was closed. My understanding of truth—once sharp-edged and narrow—began to soften and stretch. He placed what I believed within a larger pattern, a tapestry that could include all the sacred languages of humankind.
Had he argued, had he said, “No, you’re wrong,” I would have closed my heart and left. But he didn’t. He simply took my truth and gave it space to breathe. Because of that gentleness, I listened, really listened—for perhaps the first time in my adult life.
We talked through the night, our conversation winding through scripture, science, myth, and mystery. Dawn came, but neither of us was ready to stop. I didn’t realize it then, but that was the conception moment for New Dimensions.
In the mythic sense, it was as though something new had been born between us in those early hours before sunrise—a shared inquiry, a way of seeing that didn’t divide but connected. Instead of a battle of beliefs, it was a meeting in the open field of discovery.
Following the Thread of Curiosity
After that night, my life unfolded in an entirely new direction. I came to understand that my years of changing churches, of moving from one faith to another, hadn’t been about dogma at all. They were stages in a lifelong apprenticeship to curiosity.
What I had been seeking was not certainty, but expansion. Every tradition I entered gave me a piece of the puzzle, another glimpse of the sacred. Michael had simply shown me how to weave those glimpses into something larger—a tapestry that honored each thread without claiming that any single color was the whole picture.
That enduring curiosity became my compass. It guided me as Michael and I began imagining a way to invite others into this widening circle of conversation. If our dialogue had transformed us, perhaps it could also serve others who were seeking new ways to understand spirit, self, and the world.
Giving Form to the Vision
Nine months after that first night—about the time it takes for a baby to come to full term—we founded New Dimensions Foundation, a nonprofit educational organization. Our shared vision was to explore consciousness, human potential, and the evolving spiritual landscape through conversation.
Not long after, we were invited by KQED Public Radio in San Francisco to create a weekly live program known as New Dimensions. Every Saturday night, from eight until midnight, we hosted four hours of live conversation with thinkers, mystics, scientists, artists, and explorers of the inner world. Listeners would call in and add to the dialogue. We were still learning, still finding our rhythm, but the response was immediate. Letters poured in from listeners who said, “It feels like I’m sitting in the room with you.”
Those early years were exhilarating. The studio became a sanctuary of dialogue. The microphones were like windows, opening one living conversation into countless listening hearts across Northern California. After six years, New Dimensions expanded to nearly 100 public radio stations nationwide. The seed planted that first night in Michael’s library had begun to bloom.
Over the decades, those conversations have continued—with poets, physicists, spiritual teachers, social visionaries, environmentalists, healers, and artists. Each one brings another facet of wisdom into the circle. The technology has evolved from reel‑to‑reel tape and live broadcasts to podcasts, archives, and our New Dimensions Café on YouTube, but the essence remains unchanged: a living dialogue dedicated to the unfolding of consciousness and the promise of a more compassionate world.
The Spirit of Dialogue
When I look back now, I see that New Dimensions was never simply a radio program—it was a way of being. It was, and still is, rooted in the same spirit that animated that first conversation between Michael and me: deep listening, openness, curiosity, and respect for the mystery that lives between people when they truly meet.
For me, dialogue has become a sacred practice. It begins with wonder—the willingness to set aside what we think we know and listen for what’s asking to be born. Over the years, I’ve come to believe that every genuine conversation has the potential to be transformative, if we meet each other with curiosity rather than judgment. That’s what happened that night, when two strangers sat up till dawn asking eternal questions. That’s what continues to happen with each new guest, each listener, each unfolding exchange.
Seeds That Keep Blooming
Reverend Morrissey’s words about seeds ring truer to me with every passing year. The seed of New Dimensions was planted not by strategy or ambition but by listening—by the pure alchemy of curiosity and love. Out of that simple beginning grew a life’s work that has touched countless others, weaving together the voices of scientists, sages, and seekers into a shared story of evolution and awakening.
And like all living things, New Dimensions continues to grow and adapt. It has changed with the decades—adding to its radio affiliates, to digital, from local to global, from analog signals to streams of sound that flow through the ether of the internet. Yet what lies at its heart remains the same: one conversation, still unfolding.
Sometimes I think back to that night in Michael’s library—the green Bible, the hush between our words, the quiet thrill of discovery—and I realize that what began as a desire to explain my truth became an invitation to discover truth itself, in its ever-widening landscape.
That conversation has never ended. It continues still, each time someone listens in and feels their own perception gently open, each time we remember that wisdom is not a possession but a living field we enter together.
Today, New Dimensions continues to serve as a meeting ground for the world’s wisdom voices—scientists, mystics, artists, and change‑makers—dedicated to exploring the evolving story of human consciousness. What began as a single night of conversation continues across generations, inviting listeners everywhere to live more awake and compassionate lives. The seed of curiosity that first took root in that small library still blooms today, reminding us that through dialogue, we create the new dimensions of what it means to be fully human.
I invite you to discover
Ask yourself: ●What have I hung my hat on that forms the foundation of my spiritual faith? ●What am I still curious and uncertain about? ●What has stood the test of my experience and scrutiny? ●Have I staked out my territory and set up my tent on the side of the mountain, or am I willing to continue up to the summit and see what is on the other side?
If you have chosen to set your sights on the summit, you’ll find the horizons are wider than you can imagine. And there’s always another mountain to climb, another summit to attain, and each new landscape is more vast than the one you left behind.
