in the following, i describe the sufi path (tariqa) as a dialectical process which transforms the person through love. i examine the belief system of islamic mystics as a journey involving both creativity and passion. i do so by using a fresh approach, a perspective that has heretofore yet to be applied to the spiritual alchemy of the sufis.

Editor's note: At this year's Catholic Health Assembly in San Diego, two highly regarded professionals who are deeply committed to fostering holistic approaches to health and health care are scheduled to take the stage. Rose Shandrow, system director of Spiritual Care Services at Franciscan Health System in Tacoma, Wash., is being honored by CHA this year with a mid-career award for outstanding...

Over the last decade, new information and communication technologies have lived a secret life. For individuals and institutions around the world, this constellation of mobile phones, personal computers, the internet, software, games, and other computing objects have supported a complex set of religious and spiritual needs. In this paper, I offer a survey of emerging and emergent techno-spiritua...

Wellness is commonly conceptualized as having many dimensions, but little effort has been made to evaluate how spiritual and psychological dimensions are related to overall wellness. To explore the relationship between measures of spiritual and psychological wellness and perceived wellness in a college student population, the authors administered a series of survey instruments to 112 undergradu...

FRANCES VAUGHAN, Ph.D., is a psychologist in private practice in Mill Valley, California, and author of several books integrating psychological and spiritual development. 1-Icr most recent book; Shadows of the Sacred: Seeing Through Spiritual Illusions, draws on many years of experience as a practitioner of humanistic and transpersonal psychology and explores issues that individuals encounter o...

One of the things that initially attracted me to Buddhist thought and practices was the widespread description of Buddhism as the Middle Path or the Middle Way, denoting a central course between the extremes of asceticism and indulgence arrived at by the Buddha in his years of practice. Philosophically, I have also become increasingly impressed with the teachings of one of the major schools of ...