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Speakers

In the last dozen years the SKS has formed bonds with many learned, insightful, fascinating and articulate people—who know how to get their message across to young minds. The best of the best of these will be presenting at the conference. Hover your mouse over the pictures and see what happens! August Turak Described by William Willimon, Dean of the Duke Chapel, as "A modern day Socrates," businessman, teacher and SKSF Board Chair, August (Augie) Turak has the unparalleled ability to touch students where they live. Sharing intimate stories from his own remarkable life, whether as a founding executive of MTV or from his five years spent working with an American Zen Master, Turak forces students to ask the tough questions about their own lives in a way that demands honest answers. One student described an Augie Turak talk as "the most intense two hours of my life." Another remarked that he "makes me want to rethink all the things I've convinced myself I've already 'figured out.'" Read Augie Turak's article in the latest issue of The Symposium! Father Francis Kline Foregoing a brilliant career as a Juilliard-trained musician for the life a monk, Father Francis Kline brings the mystical beauty of music, the unadulterated yearning for the transcendent and a tremendous intellect and sense of humor to those fortunate enough to find themselves in his company. The Duke SKS sponsored "Spiritual Bach" concert sold out the 1700 seat Duke Chapel, and it is only as a result of his close personal and working relationship with the SKS that the Abbot of Mepkin Abbey, a Trappist Monastery near Charleston South Carolina, will be appearing at Inward Bound. Rabbi Niles Goldstein Rabbi Goldstein was the Jewish chaplain for the New York City Police Department and counseled at Ground Zero following the events of September 11. He was the voice behind "Ask the Rabbi" on the Microsoft Network and has authored 5 books, including God at the Edge which recounts his experiences dog sledding above the Arctic Circle, taking the Silk Road into Central Asia without a visa, being chased by a grizzly bear in Alaska, and spending a night in the tombs of a New York City jail. His life is a tribute to the incredible adventure of a full-throttle search for God and is incredibly relevant and appealing to university students. Read Niles Goldstein's article in the latest issue of The Symposium! Dave Gold Dave Gold spent fifteen years living on the farm of Richard Rose, a demanding American Zen master. He chronicles some of this time in his book After the Absolute (Click here to read the first chapter of this book.) In his introduction to Gold’s book, After the Absolute, Joseph Chilton Pearce, world-renowned author of Crack in the Cosmic Egg and Magical Child, writes that Gold’s story is "one of the most gripping, intensely dramatic…heroic-mythic yet poignantly human accounts I have ever read. "[H]is account is not just a superb narrative but THE universal drama. [Gold is] an exceptional human, mature, kind, intelligent, responsible, the kind of citizen our society and earth need so badly." Read Dave Gold's article in the latest issue of The Symposium! Noah Levine Noah Levine is the only bald, tatooed, punk-music-loving meditation-teaching speaker at the entire Inward Bound conference. He spent much of his teenage years in juvenile hall or on some form of probation. At seventeen in juvenile hall he began both a meditation practice and twelve-step recovery. He now teaches meditation in his community and in juvenile halls and prisons around the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1999 he was a featured faculty for the Whole Life Expo's in Chicago, Phoenix, Austin and Minneapolis where he spoke on his generation and spiritual practice. In 2000 he was featured in Tricycle, The Buddhist Review Magazine in an article called "Confessions of a Dharma Punk." He is currently the Director of the Family Program at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California. He also leads rites of passage groups for teenage boys both privately and for the San Francisco Zen Center and has recently co-founded a non-profit organization called The Mind Body Awareness Project, that focuses on bringing awareness practices to incarcerated youth. Read Noah Levine's article in the latest issue of The Symposium! Fleet Maull The subject of the award-winning documentary, "The Prison Sutras," Fleet Maull’s story would be unbelievable if it were not true. A former full time Buddhist and part time drug smuggler, Fleet spent 16 years in a Federal Penitentiary, where he not only maintained but amplified his spiritual aspirations. Founder of the both the Prison Dharma Network, which provides spiritual books to inmates and the National Prison Hospice Society, which tends to the needs of dying prisoners, Fleet brings an eye opening "real-world" perspective that rivets and inspires students around the world. Mariana Caplan Mariana Caplan holds degrees in Cultural Anthology from the University of Michigan and Counseling Psychology from the California Institute for Integral Studies. However, she attributes the majority of her education and inspiration to years of research and practice in the world's mystical traditions, and to studying and living in villages in India, Central and South America, and Europe. She is a popular guest on radio and television due to her emphasis on the need for authenticity in an increasingly impersonal world. She presently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of Halfway up the Mountain: The Error of Premature Claims to Enlightenment, Untouched: The Need for Genuine Affection in an Impersonal World, When Sons and Daughters Choose Alternative Lifestyles, and The Way of Failure: Winning Through Losing. Read Mariana Caplan's article in the latest issue of The Symposium! Jim and Cheryl Keen     Jim and Cheryl Keen teach at Antioch College and are the authors of Common Fire: Leading Lives of Commitment in a Complex World, a book based on the stories of over 100 people who devoted their lives to the common good. Arthur Levine, president of the Teachers College at Columbia University, says, "Common Fire is the most creative and insightful work I have ever read on how people develop social responsibility and lives of commitment. It is a must-read for all educators." The Keens also lead workshops and retreats which focus on the participants' commitment, resulting in a sharpening of their understanding of how to work with others to renew and deepen their commitments. They will be leading the Educator's Track for the conference. Claudia Horwitz Claudia Horwitz is the founding director of Stone Circles, a nonprofit organization that helps individuals and organizations integrate spiritual and reflective practice into the work of social justice. Based in Durham, North Carolina, Stone Circles has worked thousands of people across the country through training, organizational development, and interfaith gatherings. Her previous work includes developing youth leadership, supporting struggles for economic justice, and strengthening nonprofit organizations. Her book The Spiritual Activist: Practices to Transform Your Life, Your Work, and Your World (Penguin Compass 2002) is a practical guide to individual and social transformation through spirit and faith. She is a Rockefeller Foundation Next Generation Leadership Fellow and teaches Kripalu yoga. Claudia will be co-leading the educator's track with Jim and Cheryl Keen.

Planning Committee

Georg Buehler

Ed Cheely

Eric Clark

Kenny Felder

Doug Friedlander

Kavita Kapur

Kathryn Kerr

Zach Klughaupt

Leila Plummer

Conference Sponsors

Self Knowledge Symposium (SKS)

Education as Transformation (EasT)

John Templeton Foundation

National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA)

Duke University Chapel

Exhibit Resources