While Spiritual Paths continues to provide classes and retreats, we are revising the structure of our two-year institute structure. Therefore we won’t be offering Semester One in-person Intensive this September at La Casa de Maria in Santa Barbara. We are working on ways to present some, if not all our courses online with the possibility of an intensive in 2012. I‘d like to share the reasons for this decision.

During the past few years, our Spiritual Paths Institute teachers and students have been blessed to experience the formation of a new paradigm of intellectual study, InterSpiritual dialog, and contemplative practice. Through our work together we have created and refined a four-semester curriculum that cultivates the emergence of InterSpiritual Wisdom that is inclusive of many, if not all the world’s great spiritual traditions.

We have nurtured a new understanding of the unifying currents among all religions. We have experienced the emergence of a new InterSpiritual consciousness that can become the foundation for cooperation between people of all religions to solve the major challenges of our times.

While our program has been marvelous on many levels, it has not been economically sustainable based on tuitions alone. Generous donations pulled us through the first two years, but due to today’s economic challenges, these donations are not continuing at a sufficient level. We are exploring additional funding sources for scholarships, and hope that additional funds will soon be available.

These economic challenges have created an opportunity for us to look closely at the structure of our programs and our curriculum in order to find more cost-effective ways to serve. While we have created a solid foundation, we now must design a new structure that rests on that foundation.

Our new structure will include audio and video podcasts, classes, and weekly live interactions. It will include readings and interaction between students and teachers via our website. And, it will include periodic in-person classes and seminars. However, due to the costs and logistics of retreat facility scheduling, teacher schedules, student travel and lodging, we are unlikely to offer a six-day in-person intensive for the Institute twice a year.

During the coming months, we will be reviewing the hundreds of hours of audio and videotapes of Spiritual Paths programs over the past decade. We will be re-creating our InterSpiritual Wisdom courses so that they can be offered in a new structure and available to a wider international audience.

Thank you so very much for your continued interest, participation and support!

Ed Bastian, Ph.D.