Global Spirit

The dramatic increase in global warming and a thinning ozone layer made the United Nations realize that native peoples may possess some keys to the survival of our species. The Global Spirit crew attends the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York City. The program documents the proceedings and interviews a range of renowned indigenous leaders and tribal representatives.

Sound Of The Soul is a compelling portrait of an Arab country where Muslims, Christians and Jews have lived together in relative peace for centuries. This powerful documentary demonstrates how music is a unifying, transcendent force and a strong starting point for reducing conflict and crossing religious divides. This episode reveals the essential oneness among all faiths through music.

Examine the true nature of wisdom, how it is recognized, and why our survival today as a species and a planet may depend on it. THE CALL TO WISDOM features Jean Shinoda Bolen, an author, Jungian analyst, and activist, and Roger Walsh, a professor of psychiatry, philosophy, and anthropology. These two come together to discuss this topic and address a range of important questions.

With global warming on the rise and the number of animal species now declining at alarming rates, are humans trapped in a never-ending destructive cycle fed by ever-increasing desires? Or do our most serious environmental problems stem in part from our very concept or understanding of “self”? Are our human notions of “ecology” or of “the sacred” blind to nature’s fundamental laws and truths?

How did a 13th-century Sufi mystic from Central Asia become the most widely-read poet in the United States? This program mixes knowledgeable, in-depth conversations with evocative film segments to explore the depths of Rumi’s poetry and teachings. What is Rumi’s concept of divine Love, or “Iskh,” and how is this love similar or different than what other great teachers, such as Jesus, taught?

Our most basic understanding of life is in many ways determined by our understanding of death. While to some, death is an end in itself, to others it is the final test of faith in the existence of a God or an afterlife. Two dedicated spiritual leaders in the end-of-life movement, explore how a less fearful and more conscious relationship to death can radically shift our experience of life.

Life’s three fundamental questions: 1. Who are we? 2. Where did we come from? 3. Where are we going? -- have often been approached through philosophy or science. These same questions have been posed and explored through the power of story. From different cultures come those stories we tend to remember, the stories that connect us, not just with others, but with that which gives our lives meaning.

Abrahamic faiths place the concept of “God” as an entity separate from and above man, indigenous peoples understand God or “Creator” as an integral, indivisible aspect of life, or nature. Some non-theistic faiths, such as Buddhism, focus on a transcendent quality or attribute that the Buddha attained. Two teachers from different faiths come together for a discussion on the concept of "God."

Explore the origins, translations and interpretations of sacred texts and shed light on the mystical experience these texts originate from. Engaging scholars, translators and practitioners from three faiths come together to explore how these seminal texts, which form the foundation of most world religions and have influenced entire civilizations, are in some cases, now being reappraised.

Communities have played a role for hundreds of years in supporting individuals' well-being, growth, and transformations. Visit two contemporary communities to witness their most important practices and to access their potential to transform consciousness and catalyze positive societal change. Guests share valuable insights about working with young LGBT and other communities of need in the U.S.

For thousands of years, people of every tradition have embarked on long, difficult and often costly journeys to sacred places in search of various benefits, from health or material well-being to spiritual renewal. Explore various dimensions of this timeless ritual, which is an important part of most, if not all religions and spiritual traditions.

While most people consider the opposite of love to be something related to the English word, “hate,” this Global Spirit program explores the oppositional relationship between love and fear, featuring guitarist and spiritual practitioner Carlos Santana, drummer-composer Cindy Blackman-Santana and authors and therapists Jerry Jampolsky MD and Diane Cirincione-Jampolsky Ph.D.