"Reading through this volume is to be taken on a journey. It is to walk with Robert Sardello on his journey as he pushes forward toward new realities. In a sense, each step is not so easy. The thinking often appears dense, the ideas often new and therefore disconcerting. But each individual piece, as the whole, is bathed in an aura--in a way, we may say it is bathed in soul; in love, in generosity, and friendship. Attending to these, we find the ideas and the new possibilities begin to make sense. We are moved to change our lives." --
Christopher Bamford (from his introduction)
In these introductions, Robert Sardello introduces us to many people we may not otherwise have met and introduces us to many ways of being and thinking, which we didn't know before. The range of those we meet in these pages is staggering. At the same time, there is a sweet harmony and ever-unfolding deepening of a single theme. Miraculously, it pervades and shapes the entire sequence of those whom he presents, even though he often wrote in response to a request, and not initially on his own initiative.
Robert writes of matters with which he has made a deep friendship, and out of that friendship he has received and participated in a communion of ideas. He is able to do this because he has entered the aspiration of those he is introducing at the deepest level, making their insights his own and deepening them in his own way.
An introduction conveys a particular soul capacity. For Robert Sardello, "soul capacities" are of the essence of what he calls Spiritual Psychology. Together with the worlds and beings to which they correspond, it is such capacities that make us human and enable us to fulfill our human tasks.
Reading these introductions is an astonishing experience. Within their short, individual compasses, they allow us to participate in Robert's own journey: to catch, as it were, the bird in flight and fly with it. That is, they map his journey--at least, that portion of it that began to unfold as his destiny began to crystallize.
"Robert Sardello's insights navigate many hazardous abstractions, from the so-called New Age through the perennial philosophies. With Sophia as his muse, the 'current from the future' calls him, carrying its many imaginations as energy, the always-immediate now, and the truly new. Across these authors' writings, his visionary perspective deepens in dialogue with the different works as authored beings. For writings possess their own spirit, or how otherwise do they engender a unique spirit when reborn within our own imagination?" --
Scott R. Scribner (from his introduction)
Robert Sardello, PhD, is cofounder (with Cheryl Sanders-Sardello, PhD, in 1992) of the School of Spiritual Psychology. At the University of Dallas, he served as chair of the Department of Psychology, head of the Institute of Philosophic Studies, and graduate dean. He is also cofounder and a faculty member of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture, as well as author of more than 200 articles in scholarly journals and cultural publications, and is a former faculty member of the Chalice of Repose Project in Missoula, Montana. Having developed spiritual psychology based in archetypal psychology, phenomenology, and the spiritual science of Rudolf Steiner from more than thirty-five years of research in this discipline, as well as holding positions in two universities, Dr. Sardello is now an independent teacher and scholar, teaching throughout the US, Canada, and the UK, as well as the Czech Republic, Philippines, and Australia. He is a consultant to many educational and cultural institutions and a dissertation adviser at numerous academic institutions. He is author of several books, including
Facing the World with Soul (2003) and
Love and the World (2001).
Dr. Gail Thomas, is a Founding Fellow of the Dallas Institute and creator of its Center for the City. She served as the Institute's Founding Director for seventeen years and has throughout her career been a strong advocate for the active presence of the humanities in the life of the city. Dr. Thomas has taught at The Dallas Institute, Schumacher College in the United Kingdom, and The University of Dallas, where she directed the Center for Civic Leadership. She was instrumental in the creation of Pegasus Plaza in downtown Dallas and also led the successful effort to recreate the Flying Red Horse landmark sign in downtown Dallas. A recipient of the Kessler Award, she currently serves as President and Executive Officer of the Trinity Trust Foundation, whose mission is to raise private funds to implement the "Balanced Vision Plan" for the Trinity River Corridor and coordinates with the City of Dallas and the Trinity Commons Foundation in the effort to build public support, secure public funding and build the project. She is the coeditor of several books, including
Images of the Untouched: Virginity in Psyche, Myth, and Community and
Imagining Dallas.Dr. Joanne Stroud is a founding fellow of the Dallas Institute, Director of Institute Publications, and Editor of the Gaston Bachelard Translation Series, which consists of seven works on elemental imagination written by the twentieth-century philosopher of science, and which Joanne is on the verge of completing after two decades. The 2002 Bachelard Symposium she chaired in Dallas, "Matter, Dream, and Thought," attracted international attention. She received her M.A. and Ph.D in Psychology and Literature from the University of Dallas and lectures in Dallas, New York City, and Connecticut. She has taught literature and psychology and is author of
The Bonding of Will and Desire, the four-volume series Choose Your Element and
Time Doesn't Tick Anymore.
Christopher Bamford (1943-2022) was born in Cardiff, South Wales, and lived for a while in Hungary and then in Scotland. He studied as an undergraduate at Trinity University in Dublin and earned his master's degree at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. For nearly thirty years, he was Editor in Chief at SteinerBooks (Anthroposophic Press) and its imprints. A Fellow of the Lindisfarne Association, he lectured, taught, and wrote widely on Western spiritual and esoteric traditions. His books include a selection of his numerous introductions, Encountering Rudolf Steiner: Introductions to Essential Works (2022); Healing Madonnas: Exploring the Sequence of Madonna Images Created by Rudolf Steiner and Felix Peipers for Use in Therapy and Meditation (2017); An Endless Trace: The Passionate Pursuit of Wisdom in the West (2003); and The Voice of the Eagle: The Heart of Celtic Christianity (1990). He also translated and edited numerous books, including Homage to Pythagoras: Rediscovering Sacred Science (2001); The Noble Traveller: The Life and Writings of O. V. de L. Milosz (1984); and Celtic Christianity: Ecology and Holiness (1982). Essays by Mr. Bamford are included in The Best Spiritual Writing 2000 ("In the Presence of Death") and The Best American Spiritual Writing 2005 ("The Gift of the Call"). Christopher passed over the threshold on May 13, 2022, at his Mt. Washington, Massachusetts home.
Scott Scribner is a member of the International Advisory Board of the School of Spiritual Psychology in Benson, North Carolina. He studied astronomy and cultural anthropology at Harvard University's Mount Hermon Liberal Studies Program; physics and sociology at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (where he joined NASA's Mars Survey Vehicle Development Group); philosophy and cognition at the University of New Hampshire; and the relationship between religion and psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary and Fuller Graduate School of Psychology. His doctoral research--chaired by Robert Sardello--examined phenomenological descriptions of fear in alien abduction narratives. Scott works in the computer software industry and lives in Southern California with his wife Michele and several cats.
