Ward M. Powers, Interview #62

Name: Ward M. Powers
Where you live: Northville, Michigan USA

What you do as a vocation or avocation?
Attorney and Filmmaker

Your two favorite books:"The Prophet" by Kahlil Gibran & "Seven Story Mountain" by Thomas Merton
Your two favorite songs:
"Does Anyone Really Know What Time It Is?" by Chicago &
"The Pizza Pie Song" by The Beta Band
Why you are interested in spirituality?
Because ultimately it is the gateway to expanded human consciousness. The physicality and intellect can engage the administrative processes of life, and if nurtured can afford more range of human action; However, unless the actions can then be manifested within the eye of the witness of a universal consciousness, these actions in the world will not result in the evolution of the human.
It requires an awakened perception of reality to transmute the mundane fodder of the ordinary human experience into the fuel for authentic personal transformation.
And it all begins with awareness of the spiritual.
Your favorite quote:
"Be the change that you want to see." - Mohatma Gandhi

Your favorite web sites:
http://www.onetheproject.com/

Your hero? My Wife, Diane. She walks in the world simply and with a fully open heart. Rare indeed:)

A spiritual lesson you hope to learn?
To experientially come to know my true nature.

A place in the world where you feel spiritually "connected?" Anywhere...In laughter.

(Editor's Note: Ward is a lawyer who had a vision to make a film in 2002. He mail-ordered a camera, spent 3 years meeting and interviewing people on the street, along with many of the world's leading spiritual personalities, and this culminated in "One, The Movie" which has been seen by over a million people in almost 100 countries. For more about this journey and "One, The Movie" go to http://www.onetheproject.com/)

Usiku, Interview #61

Name: Usiku
Where you live: USA, Chicago, IL
What you do as a vocation or avocation? Writer
Your two favorite books: Two Thousand Seasons by Ayi Kwei Armah and The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
Your two favorite songs: Jazz and Alternative Music Genres
Why you are interested in spirituality? Spirituality is the pathway to learning and loving self. This is the essential state of harmony.
Your favorite quote: “If you believe the most important thing about an accomplishment is the accomplishment itself, you don’t know the half of anything. Your thinking makes me finite, incapable of being all that I am. Blessings become abominations if they stop with your life.” - - The Spirit
Your favorite web sites: CRPS/RSD A Better Life

http://crps-rsd-a-better-life.blogspot.com/
Your hero? Those who get up or help someone up.
A spiritual lesson you hope to learn? How to balance passion and persistence with patience.
A place in the world where you feel spiritually "connected?" Anyplace there is a positive connection with nature or another person.
http://www.usiku.net/
http://www.writerswhirlpool.blogspot.com/

Eloquence, Rhythm and Renaissance

Allan J. Hamilton, Interview #60

Name: Allan J. Hamilton

Where you live: Tucson, Arizona

What you do as a vocation or avocation? I am a brain surgeon and horsetrainer
Your two favorite books: Ernest Hemingway, In Our Time and Peter Schaeffer, Equus
Your two favorite songs: Beatles: "While My Guitar Weeps"; Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova "Falling Slowly"
Why you are interested in spirituality? Because it seems the most relevant existential question
Your favorite quote: Mark Twain: "Your faith is what you believe, not what you know."
Your favorite web sites: Amazon.com (it's where I look for books)

Your hero? Teddy Roosevelt

A spiritual lesson you hope to learn? How to focus on the valuable things in life without having to lose them first

A place in the world where you feel spiritually "connected?" Riding a horse

allanhamilton.com

ranchobosque.com

Dr. Hamilton is the author of The Scalpel and the Soul

Jan Hice, Interview #59

Name: Jan Hice

Where you live: Fort Lauderdale, FL

What you do as a vocation or avocation? photograph and write

Your two favorite books:

Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra

Creating The Work You Love by Rick Jarow

Your two favorite songs:

In the Company of Angels by Tom Kenyon

Lion Paw by Tarrus Riley

Why you are interested in spirituality? Because it strikes me that we (human beings) are meant to evolve and that the driver and core of our individual and collective evolution is our spirit. Spirit is our essence.

Your favorite quote: "Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then, go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."-- Harold Thurman Whitman

Your favorite web sites: http://www.thework.com/ - The Work of Byron Katie

Your hero? My grandmother - a combination of grace, humility and humor.

A spiritual lesson you hope to learn? Patience and instant forgiveness

A place in the world where you feel spiritually "connected?" The beach

Karen Wright, Interview #58

Name: Karen Wright
Where you live: Elmer City, WA
What you do as a vocation or avocation? Author, spiritual teacher/student
Your two favorite books:
A Course in Miracles, The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Your two favorite songs:
Somewhere Over the Rainbow, In the Arms of the Angels
Why you are interested in spirituality?
That’s like asking why I’m interested in breathing! Spirituality is our state of being when awakened. It IS life itself. I’m grateful that I’ve been awakened to a deeper reality of our existence. We have dual citizenship: human and spirit. Human is obvious and obsessive; spirit is quiet and patiently awaiting our return.
Your favorite quote:
The real voyage of discover consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes. Marcel Proust. This quote has become my motivating mantra for the past 12 years. Everything I do is about having new eyes – seeing beyond the illusion of this world.
Your favorite web sites:
http://www.trans4mind.com/
Your hero?
Any woman who has faced her empty life head on, and had the courage and determination to find herself again.
A spiritual lesson you hope to learn?
Love trumps intellect. Control is in letting go.
A place in the world where you feel spiritually "connected?"
Deep in a little known part of the Sequoia National Park in California. Far along the trail, in a valley of enormous trees as the path curves. There is a fallen tree there where I sit and all about me are the sounds and smells of nature.
Websites:
http://www.wrightminded.com/ Karen's site
www.blogtalkradio.com/Hearts-on-Fire Karen's web radio show

E. Benjamin Skinner, Interview #57

Name: E. Benjamin Skinner
Where you live: Brooklyn, NY, Madison, WI and, starting in January, Cambridge, MA
What you do as a vocation or avocation?I'm a writer, an antislavery activist, and a fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government
Your two favorite books:
Samuel Butler's The Way of All Flesh and Voltaire's Candide
Your two favorite songs:
Lorraine Ellison, Stay With Me and Radiohead, All I Need. Respect to Radiohead for putting together this very moving antislavery video for the song with MTV Exit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdrCalO5BDs
Why you are interested in spirituality?I was raised Quaker, and I try to live my life and conduct my work according to certain Quaker precepts--though I actually believe those are universal principles, not specific to any one sect. The faith that there is that of God in everyone has been at the core of Quaker activism from the earliest abolitionists to today's antiwar activists. That belief goes a long way towards explaining why it's worth the daunting task of fighting to eradicate slavery forever.
Your favorite quote:
"As long as you know of it, you are particeps criminis. What business have you, if you are "an angel of light," to be pondering over the deeds of darkness?" --Henry David Thoreau, April 10, 1861, two days before the first shots of the Civil War. Thoreau, torn between his deeply held beliefs in pacifism and abolitionism, was cautioning his friend about looking too closely at evils such as slavery, and the rumbling disunion. He meant it as an admonition. As someone who has spent the last five years pondering over the deeds of darkness, I take it as an exhortation, a call-to-arms.
Your favorite web sites:
http://www.acrimesomonstrous.com/, which also links to the two best abolitionist organizations doing work worldwide to eradicate slavery.
Your hero?I've met a number of quiet heroes over the last few years, many of whom work for little recognition on the frontlines of the fight against slavery. Some of these are partners of Free The Slaves (http://www.freetheslaves.net/) and Anti-Slavery International (http://www.antislavery.org/), the American and British wings of the world's oldest human rights organization. But, for now, I'll just highlight Bill Nathan, a drummer and an abolitionist who runs a home for boys called St. Joseph's in Port-au-Prince Haiti (http://www.heartswithhaiti.org/). He's my hero not only because he transcended his own slavery as a child to rise up, get an education, and free others. From a deeply personal standpoint, he's also my hero because when I was sick with malaria, he nursed me back to health, fed me, and prayed for me.
A spiritual lesson you hope to learn?I would love to learn how to unlock the potential for healing across cultures. The work of Desmond Tutu with the Truth and Reconciliation Commision in South Africa, the Anabaptist tradition of forgiveness embedded in Amish community--these models inspire me.
A place in the world where you feel spiritually "connected?"Quaker meeting--although I too rarely have time to go! But also the Lincoln Memorial, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cinncinati. Really any place that marks the tremendous sacrifice for freedom made by our ancestors who were slaves and abolitionists.
http://www.acrimesomonstrous.com/

Oliver Haindl, Interview #56

Name: Oliver Haindl
Where you live: Zurich, Switzerland
What you do as a vocation or avocation? actor, mime and comedian
Your two favorite books: two authors: Tomas Eloy Martinez and Arto Paasilinna
Your two favorite cd's: Natalie Cole "unforgettable" and Gotan Project "la revancha del tango"
Why you are interested in spirituality? simply because I'm interested in life
Your favorite quote: "It is your mind that creates this world" (Buddha)
Your favorite web sites: http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/ for the daily news and http://www.braunwald.ch/ for winter in the mountains
Your hero? None
A spiritual lesson you hope to learn? be patient and let go
A place in the world where you feel spiritually "connected?" Anywhere... when I'm quiet
http://www.olivenhain.ch/