TESTIMONIALS

Father Thomas Keating,
Founder of Centering Prayer

Spiritual Paths is an excellent program that grew out of the Snowmass Inter-religious Conference at St. Benedict’s Monastery. As inter-religious dialogue continues to deepen and spread, experienced spiritual practitioners, with some capacity for scholarship, need to suggest what works best for spiritual growth. This is the thrust of the Spiritual Paths conferences and educational activities.
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Rabbi Zalman Schachter, Ph.D.
Founder of Jewish Renewal

Spiritual Paths brings together the wisdom of authentic teachers from the worlds spiritual traditions, provides an excellent curriculum based on those traditions, and leads us toward a new paradigm of InterSpiritual education and practice.
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Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf
Founder of ASMA, American Sufi Muslim Association

I am particularly excited by this initiative of Edward Bastian and the Spiritual Paths Foundation. It as a sea change in the evolution of what we used to call the ecumenical activity. I see us coming into the next phase of inter-religious dialogue, to introduce one another to the inner experience of each others faith traditions. For when we do, we shall come to the realization that the end is One. In a sense, the previous intellectual phase of inter-religious dialogue was like reading cookbooks on French food, or Indian food  what Spiritual Paths is suggesting we do now, is to taste and sample it!
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Rabbi Rami Shapiro

InterSpiritual Meditation is a practice that transcends and bridges secular divides.
It engages us in a more inclusive pursuit of awakening.
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Sheikh Kabir Helminski

InterSpiritual Meditation illuminates the common elements of many contemplative disciplines.
It will enrich and deepen your perspective on the spiritual process.
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Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault

InterSpiritual Meditation is an open-hearted and truly universal practice.
If ever there was a practice to help us get spiritually unstuck, this is it.
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Dr. Carol S. Pearson,
“The Hero Within” and “Awakening the Heroes Within”

Dr. Bastian has done for spirituality what I’ve worked to do with archetypes, developing a system through which anyone–religious or not–can identify his or her own natural mode of assessing spiritual truth.   Dr. Bastian’s work is a great and important breakthrough, as so many believe they are not spiritual because they do not follow a particular dogma or because the tradition in which they were raised does not fit for them.  His work also can be of assistance to those within any spiritual tradition to expand their horizons and to promote respectful interfaith dialogue.
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Reverend John Wilde, Presbyterian Minister

The InterSpiritual Meditation Internet Course taught by Ed Bastian has offered a systematic and comprehensive process for engaging in prayer, contemplation and meditation.  Most or all of the ideas and practices can be used by followers of a great variety of wisdom traditions.

Ed is gentle and compassionate, wise and challenging.  The challenges make the course effective since many of us need to be reminded that serious spiritual practice means serious effort and a desire to be transformed through diligent practice of the seven steps of InterSpiritual Meditation.

Journaling is a vital part of the course.  Ed asks many thoughtful and penetrating questions which prompts many reflections on the many parts of the ISM process.  This requires commitment.  It is worth it.
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Professor Juliet Rohde-Brown, Pacifica Graduate Institute

While many religions propose superiority to other traditions, Ed Bastian has been promoting an integrative approach to becoming intimate with one’s sense of spiritual purpose for many years now. His book takes the reader through a journey of many ways of knowing the awe of sacred connection and encourages each person to accept their own unique mosaic of meaning. He shares some of his own path with the reader in an open and genuine manner and demonstrates the wisdom of complexity in an expanded vision for what is possible on this planet.
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Your course has been one of the most wonderful experiences I have ever had. I can’t put the feeling in words. The fellow students were such vibrant and vivacious souls. Search for spiritual truth is its own reward but I also see some sublime beauty this search bestows upon some sincere seekers. I am so touched and grateful that I met some of them during this course.

Nomi Naeem  (InterSpiritual Meditation, Spring 2013)
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This course offers excellent scholarship, experiential practice, and wise leadership within an engaged and supportive community. Together, we learn and practice InterSpiritual Meditation while exploring and honoring our own beliefs and way of being in the world. Through our time together, we remove barriers and misconceptions widening our acceptance of, and interconnection with, others from diverse backgrounds. All of this opens our hearts and eyes to a new way of being in the world, in which we walk in peace and compassion together.

Susan O’Connell, InterSpiritual Meditation, Fall, 2011
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I am in the middle of a Masters of Divinity, studying to become a Unitarian Universalist minister. Interspiritual Meditation is something I plan to offer to congregants. Anyone (clergy or lay people) interested in interfaith justice work and dialogue would benefit greatly from this course and this meditation practice. I can imagine interfaith dialogue always beginning with interspiritual meditation.

Kelly Dignan, InterSpiritual Meditation, Fall, 2011
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