Spirit Quest 1969: Tripping Through Lands of Enchantment, is the true tale of a disaffected suburban kid hitchhiking through western America to discover the counterculture communes in 1969. In 1969, when he was seventeen years old, Ronald dropped out of high school near Chicago to explore the counterculture in the Rocky Mountains. After taking a huge dose of LSD, he wandered into the Navajo reservation seeking supernatural visions, meeting missionaries and students of Indian lore. He joined a group marriage commune in Taos at the height of the Hippie-Chicano conflict. The domineering personalities he found in communal life disappointed him, but the concept of living together in non-monogamous families inspired him to continue working to improve the concept. Low on cash, Ron decided to return to the city to earn enough money to continue exploring the street scene and New Left world in Chicago and New York, which will soon appear as a follow-up book.

Robert Torrance's wide-ranging, innovative study argues that the spiritual quest is rooted in our biological, psychological, linguistic, and social nature. The quest is not, as most have believed, a rare mystical experience, but a frequent expression of our most basic human impulses. Shaman and scientist, medium and poet, prophet and philosopher, all venture forth in quest of visionary truths to transform and renew the world. Yet Torrance is not trying to reduce the quest to an "archetype" or "monomyth." Instead, he presents the full diversity of the quest in the myths and religious practices of tribal peoples throughout the world, from Oceania to India, Africa, Siberia, and especially the Americas. In theorizing about the quest, Torrance draws on thinkers as diverse as Bergson and Piaget, van Gennep and Turner, Pierce and Popper, Freud, Darwin, and Chomsky. This is a book that will expand our knowledge—and awareness—of a fundamental human activity in all its fascinating complexity.

The Qur'an is the sacramental foundation of prayer in Islam. Its inspirational power is perpetually renewed through being recited and meditated upon by Muslims on a daily basis throughout their lives. This succinct monograph provides a unique contemporary insight into the spiritual, intellectual and moral dynamics set in motion by the short Qur'anic chapters recited in their prayers by Muslims of all traditions, but which are particularly recommended within Shi'i Islam. Dr Shah-Kazemi engages creatively with the chapters of the Qur'an, including the 'Opening' (al-Fatiha) chapter, basing his own philosophical reflections on the teachings of Imam 'Ali. He focuses in particular on the relationship between the moral and the mystical aspects of the texts. The result is a stimulating philosophical meditation probing the depths of meaning comprised within the verses of a Revelation by which the spiritual quest of Muslims has constantly been inspired, nourished and fulfilled.

The Twelve Steps of Twelve-Step programs can be used to attain spiritual transformation and unshackle the true self from the constraints of the ego. Incorporating concepts of Carl Jung, Spiritual Transformation in the Twelve Steps is a workbook that provides exercises and an in-depth, psycho-spiritual analysis of how each step is designed to be practiced to achieve this spiritual awakening whether or not you believe in God. It describes a powerful process of personal transformation anyone can use, but is particularly oriented to those in addiction and codependency recovery. The Twelve Steps are based upon universal principles, which provide an effective model for living. “Working the steps” not only frees you of addiction, but also a holds the promise of a personality transformation, attested to by thousands of members of Twelve-Step programs. Renowned psychiatrist Carl Jung had a major influence on the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill Wilson. Jung believed that each person has a personal journey of transformation to enable expression of his or her innate potential. Jung felt that this transformation involved replacing the ego with the larger Self as the driving force of one’s life and that spirit replacing spirits could cure alcoholism.

An exploration of the greatest minds and how they have struggled to find the deepest truths about the human condition.