Spirit Matters

When the world gets chaotic and uncertain, we need spiritual practice more than ever—not just to sustain our souls and restore our inner peace, but to recharge and prepare ourselves to take on challenges with effective action.

A few years ago, Philip Goldberg, the author of “Spiritual Practice in Crazy Times” and host of the Spirit Matters podcast. interviewed twelve spiritual leaders to help us get through the pandemic. We’re now re-releasing the interviews as an encore series, because the messages are as relevant today as when they first aired.

Renowned author and expert on the world’s mystical traditions, Andrew Harvey, tells us how we can thrive spiritually while also helping birth a new humanity in this perilous time for our planet. The founder and director of The Institute of Sacred Activism, Andrew invites concerned people around the world to take up the challenge of our global crises by becoming inspired, effective, and practical agents of change in order to create peace and sustainability.

When the world gets chaotic and uncertain, we need spiritual practice more than ever—not just to sustain our souls and restore our inner peace, but to recharge and prepare ourselves to take on challenges with effective action.

A few years ago, Philip Goldberg, the author of “Spiritual Practice in Crazy Times” and host of the Spirit Matters podcast. interviewed twelve spiritual leaders to help us get through the pandemic. We’re now re-releasing the interviews as an encore series, because the messages are as relevant today as when they first aired.

In this interview, the first of a 12 part series, Philip talks with poet, philosopher, and author Mark Nepo. Mark has written  23 books, including the bestseller, The Book of Awakening. He shares his hard-earned insights on  how to secure a foothold in the sanctuary that

resides within us.

When the world gets chaotic and uncertain, we need spiritual practice more than ever—not just to sustain our souls and restore our inner peace, but to recharge and prepare ourselves to take on challenges with effective action.

A few years ago, Philip Goldberg, the author of “Spiritual Practice in Crazy Times” and host of the Spirit Matters podcast. interviewed twelve spiritual leaders to help us get through the pandemic. We’re now re-releasing the interviews as an encore series, because the messages are as relevant today as when they first aired.

In this interview Philip talks with meditation pioneer, renowned teacher and bestselling author Sharon Salzberg. She was among the first to bring Buddhist practices to mainstream

American culture over fifty years ago, inspiring generations of mindfulness practitioners, spiritual teachers, and wellness influencers.

When the world gets chaotic and uncertain, we need spiritual practice more than ever—not just to sustain our souls and restore our inner peace, but to recharge and prepare ourselves to take on challenges with effective action.

A few years ago, Philip Goldberg, the author of “Spiritual Practice in Crazy Times” and host of the Spirit Matters podcast. interviewed twelve spiritual leaders to help us get through the pandemic. We’re now re-releasing the interviews as an encore series, because the messages are as relevant today as when they first aired.

The popular workshop leader, relationship expert, and author of numerous best-selling books, including The Choice for Love, Barbara De Angelis tells us why it’s vital to treat difficult times as part of our “cosmic curriculum.” She counsels us to always remain authentic, and to

practice “courageous compassion.”

Beth Nielsen Chapman is a Nashville-based singer-songwriter who has recorded hits of her own and written hits for a multitude of artists (to name a few, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, Bette Midler, Trisha Yearwood, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings). She has won numerous awards and was nominated for a Grammy in 1999.

Her most recent album, “Crazytown,” was released in 2022, and recently, a song from that album, Put a Woman in Charge, went viral. In addition, Beth is an inspirational speaker, a workshop leader, and a lecturer on the magic of creativity. Some of her songs are rooted in deep personal experience of grief and loss (she’s lost two husbands to cancer). Her best-known song, Sand and Water,” was famously performed by Elton John in memory of Princess Diana. We spoke about the spiritual alchemy of both grief and creativity (songwriting in particular). 

Find out more about Philip Goldberg

Just in time for Christmas 2024, we have two ministers who are associated with Progressive Christianity, a growing movement that runs counter to fundamentalism and the mainstream churches whose attendance continues to decline. Together, they present a vision of a different kind of Christianity. 

Rev. Nicole Lamarche has been an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ since 2005 and now serves as pastor of Community UCC in Boulder, Colorado. She believes that “communities of faith can be powerful places for personal and social transformation.” 

Rev. Jim Burklo is the pastor of the UCC church in Simi Valley, CA, and also serves as Executive Director of Progressive Christians Uniting.  Formerly the Associate Dean of Religious and Spiritual Life at the University of Southern California, he’s the author of seven books on Progressive Christianity, the latest of which is Tenderly Calling: An Invitation to the Way of Jesus. 

Christopher Key Chapple is Doshi Professor of Indic and comparative theology at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and the founding director of the Master of Arts in Yoga Studies at the same school. He’s a specialist in the religions of India and the author of more than twenty books, most recently Living Landscapes: Meditations on the Elements in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain Yogas and The Samkhya System: Accounting for the Real.

He serves as an advisor to multiple organizations including the Forum on Religion and Ecology, the Ahimsa Center, the Dharma Academy of North America, the South Asian Studies Association, and the International School for Jain Studies. Our conversation centered around the five yamas and five niyamas of Classical Yoga. These are essential guidelines for living a profoundly ethical and deeply spiritual life. 

Jeffery D. Long is a professor of religion, philosophy, and Asian studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, where he has taught since receiving his Ph.D from the University of Chicago Divinity School in 2000. Both a practitioner and a scholar of Hinduism, his work focuses primarily on the religions and philosophies of India and themes such as nonviolence, pluralism, religion and popular culture, and the concept of rebirth.

He has spoken three times at the United Nations and appears in documentaries for PBS and the History Channel. He is also the author, editor, or co-editor of twelve books, including A Vision for Hinduism: Beyond Hindu Nationalism; The Historical Dictionary of Hinduism; and the award-winning Hinduism in America: A Convergence of Worlds. His latest book is Discovering Indian Philosophy: An Introduction to Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist Thought. 

Find Jeffrey Long on Facebook

Rev. Carol Allman-Morton is the minister of the Unitarian Universalist Meeting of South Berkshire, and her husband, Rev. Tadd Allman-Morton, is the pastor of the First Congregational Church of Great Barrington, United Church of Christ. They met at Andover Newton Theological School, where Carol was awarded the James Luther Adams Award for excellence in the study of liberal theology” and Tadd was a member of the Jonathan Edwards Honors Society. We talked about their early spiritual experiences, their motivation for seeking ordination, the decline in church participation and doctrinal belief, and what the marriage of ministers of different theological orientations is like. 

Read this article in the Berkshire Edge about Rev. Tad Allman-Morton

Find out more about Philip Goldberg here

With the Middle East aflame with violence, we explore the opposite with two of the three Interfaith Amigos. Laura Duhan-Kaplan is Rabbi Emerita of Shalom Synagogue in Vancouver and professor emerita of philosophy at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. The recipient of many awards for teaching excellence, she is a popular lecturer and retreat leader, and the author or editor of ten book, including The Infinity Inside: Jewish Spiritual Practice Through a Multi-Faith Lens; Encountering the Other: Christian and Multi-Faith Perspectives; and Spirit of Reconciliation: A Multi-Faith Resource.

Imam Jamal Rahman teaches at Seattle University and Pacific Lutheran University, and is the co-founder and Muslim Sufi minister at Interfaith Community Sanctuary. A popular speaker on subjects related to Islam, Sufism, and interfaith relations, he is the author of several books, including Sacred Laughter of the Sufis: Awakening the Soul with the Mullah's Comic Teaching Stories and Other Islamic Wisdom; Spiritual Gems of Islam; and The Fragrance of Faith. He is also coauthor of Finding Peace Through Spiritual Practice: The Interfaith Amigos Guide to Personal, Social, and Environmental Healing; Religion Gone Astray; Out of Darkness Into Light; and other works. Their inspiring work together has healing messages for harmony among religious traditions.