Matthew Fox’s spiritual enthusiasm has taken him beyond the dogma of the Catholic Church and for this he’s been censored by the Vatican and ultimately expelled from the order of the Dominicans. However, this has not stilled his voice for a theology that both harkens back to such religious philosophers…

Ralph White came to America in the early 1970s while the Vietnam War was still raging. On his Christmas break while teaching courses in Chicago he drove Route 66 to Los Angeles. In the desert of New Mexico he had his first spiritually transcendent experience. He says, “I felt like my…

There is a Native American concept of a seemingly malignant spirit called wetiko and it’s known by many other names in many other traditions. It’s a psychological force within the unconscious mind that predisposes us toward unwholesome impulses such as the thirst for power and control, greed, and jealousy. It…

Magic can be described as the art of sensing energy, then learning how to flow with the energy rather than resisting it. It’s spiritual aikido. As humans we find comfort in what is predictable and unchanging. However, the nature of reality is that everything changes, everything is in flux, everything…

Zen priest and actor Peter Coyote gives us a concise description of Buddhism and the pursuit of enlightenment as “[T]he wisdom that transcends likes and dislikes.” He also has conceived and conducts mask workshops that offer improvisational mask games as a way to see more clearly into a deeper wisdom available…

A spiritual experience has been described by some as an encounter with the presence of the infinite within our finite universe of time and space. It takes on many forms and can be conceived of in a wide variety of ways. Here Steve McIntosh addresses such questions as: How do…

Phil Cousineau was once told by master teacher and psychologist, the late Rollo May that the myth of Sisyphus is an antidote to the modern myth of progress. Myths can and do reveal perennial truths about human nature and culture. Mythographers are fond of saying that myths are stories that…

Poetry is a deep collaboration of language, music, psyche, and soul. A poet reveals to us the beauty, the sorrow, and even the humor of the world. It guides us in being ever curious and observant, helping us to notice even the smallest details of life. A ripening peach or…

Susan Campbell reminds us that “Our unprocessed emotional wounds and the reactions that arise from them are what makes us go to war, blow up at our children, get hostile on the freeways, hit “send” on that email rant, walk out of meetings, argue with loved ones, and make shortsighted…

After experiencing a spontaneous transcendent mystical experience, Tim Burkett sought spiritual instruction in Buddhist meditation. This was in 1964 before meditation was even on the American radar and there were hardly any Buddhist teachers on the scene. Looking in a San Francisco phone book he found a listing for a…