What people say?
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
Father Thomas Keating
Founder, Centering prayer
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.
Rabbi Zalman Schachter
Founder, Jewish renewal
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!
Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf
Founder of ASMA, American Sufi Muslim Association
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.
Carol Pearson
Past President, Pacifica Graduate University
ISM is an open-hearted and truly universal practice. If ever there was a practice to help us get spiritually unstuck, this is it.”
Rev. Cynthia Bourgeault
Author and Teacher
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.
Juliet Rohde-Brown
Dept. Chair, Pacifica Graduate University