• New! Click here to order an SKS product—like the cool SKS T-shirt, Dave Gold's book After the Absolute, and August Turak's "5 Years with a Zen Master" talk.
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After the Absolute is a book written about Augie Turak's teacher Richard Rose, by another veteran Rose student, Dave Gold. Many people tried to capture the unique "flavor" of Richard Rose in writing, but no one ever really got it—until this book. At the Web site, you can read excerpts from Gold's book and find out more about it.
		Rose Publications distributes primarily the books and audio lectures by Richard Rose: the teacher, mentor, and life-long inspiration for SKS founder Augie Turak. Its goal is to maintain the integrity and originality of Richard Rose's teachings.
The TAT Foundation is the spiritual predecessor of the Self Knowledge Symposium, the spiritual group founded by Augie Turak's teacher Richard Rose.
		Visit the "Downloads" area of SearchWithin to read or download poems, stories, essays, journals and other wisdom, courtesy of Richard Rose and the TAT Foundation.
The True Self is a group that meets in the Saint Cloud, Minnesota area. But for those of us who are not able to attend their meetings, they have a very nice collection of essays posted anonymously to the Web, pointing away from the shadow-self of ego and toward the true self within.
		The Monroe Institute programs encourage the evolution and growth of human consciousness through personal exploration of profound states of expanded awareness."
	Mepkin Abbey is a Trappist monastery in Moncks Corner, South Carolina. They offer a monastic guest program, in which many members of the SKS have participated.
		Spirit Restoration is an ecumenical, contemporary Christian website that offers resources and articles in biblical studies, Christian news, etc.
	Adherents.com How many Methodists are there in Canada? Is Zoroastrianism still alive and well? This site is a surprisingly interesting collection of statistics about the world's religions.
		The Avila Retreat Center is a beautiful retreat center in Durham, North Carolina, where SKS holds its annual retreat.
	"The Kenan Ethics Program at Duke University promotes moral reflection and commitment in personal, professional, community, and civic life. The program encourages moral inquiry across intellectual disciplines and professions, and moral reflection about campus practices and policies."
		DailyZen "Enter a quiet haven and return to emptiness for inspiration through the quote of the day, a gallery of original art and a touch of humor. We offer this room with a view of the blue sky where all can be seen in perspective, the breath can be full and the skin line can be felt to soften."
	Spiritual direction is, according to this site, "the art of Christian listening carried out in the context of a one-to-one trusting relationship."
		BeliefNet A very extensive site with news and discussion groups about a wide variety of spiritual traditions and issues.
	Firewatch is dedicated to distributing information on the works of Thomas Merton and on religious contemplation in general.
		Thou Art That A truly impressive collection of spiritual articles and links from both Eastern and Western traditions. Another great place to get lost browsing!
	Critical Mass, the Internet Information Resource Guide, awards www.selfknowledge.org its "Critical Mass Award" for "helping make the Web a more interesting, useful and attractive place to visit"!
		Earth Mandala describes itself as "a wonderful journey through strange lands where some places bring up vague memories and some remind you of home." Buckle up!
	United Religions Initiative's purpose is to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation, to end religiously motivated violence and to create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings.
	"Education as Transformation" is a project which recognizes that the purpose of education (specifically University-level education) is not meant to be only a list of facts to learn, but a spiritual process of transforming the students.
	The Tulane Meditation Club is a non-sectarian, obligation-free community organization open to students, faculty, staff, and friends of Tulane University in New Orleans. The purpose of the club is to provide an avenue for members to explore the theories and practices of various sorts of meditation.
		Strictly Spiritual is the Web site of one of the humblest spiritual seekers on the path. Shawn Nevins had a very profound experience that answered the deepest questions of his heart: but he is not setting himself up as a teacher. Instead, his page simply recommends all the valuable (and value-less) teachers he has encountered along the way, as a guide to others.
	The Mysticism Resources Page is a very nicely formatted list of links to a variety of spiritual groups, organized into categories such as "Asian," "Modern," "Prayer and Meditation," and so on.
		Douglas Harding had an enlightenment experience when he realized that he "had no head"—that is, that he could never see his head. This simple observation brought him to a new level of seeing what is actually there, instead of projected expectations. He offers exercises to help bring you to the same point.
	The The Lucidity Institute studies "Lucid Dreaming," meaning that you are dreaming but you know you are dreaming. They offer a host of carefully researched techniques and devices for creating the lucid dreaming experience, and for using that experience for personal and spiritual growth.
		"In a time when the ecumenical spirit seems to be waning, Duke Chapel is still a place that struggles with being an ecumenical, interdenominational place of worship."
	The Theosophical Society in America is a "nonsectarian, undogmatic, worldwide organization devoted to human solidarity, cultural understanding, and self-development." Richard Rose—the teacher of SKS founder Augie Turak—always said that he found great wisdom in the writings of Theosophical Society founder Madame Blavatsky. (For more fun, click here for the Canadian Theosophical Association!)
		Experiential learning in world religions emerges in this project-centered course at Kent State.
	"What is enlightenment, and what does the internet have to do with it?" Enlightenment Online suggests that the Internet allows us to find kindred spirits—and in that spirit, provides a central jumping-off point for your Internet spiritual browsing.
		Tools for Transformation offers courses and tools to help analyze and understand yourself. Like the Self Knowledge Symposium, they seem to focus on psychological tactics to achieve spiritual goals.
	ikosmos is A tremendously detailed, categorized list of spiritual books, Web sites, and other resources.
		Sounds True is one of the only explicitly commercial sites we link to. But they are a great resource, offering books, audiotapes, videotapes, and music on spiritual topics. And their Website also has exclusive interviews with some of their better-known authors, such as Ram Dass.
	"Our purpose at Amorology, Inc is to create a venue for people to help people...and for each individual voice to be heard and counted...all belief systems honored equally." They also awarded SKS their "divinity in action" award for providing service to students seeking spiritual answers!
		LiveReal is a Web site for people who want to make the most of their lives. It offers products, articles, and peer conversation about the life worth living in four categories: physical, psychological, relationships, and spiritual.
	Sri Ramanasramam is almost 1500 pages devoted to the teachings of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi.
		College Values is a Web site devoted to values and character issues on college campuses. My favorite part was the "Students' Reflections on Moral Conflicts in College" which reads surprisingly like The Symposium—personal essays by students about difficult issues.
	A magazine with "useful articles, including tips from experienced campus leaders at schools across the country."
		The Temple of Understanding is dedicated to a vision of mutual understanding and cooperation between the world's religions. Eleanor Roosevelt called it a "Spiritual United Nations."
	Living Routes develops accredited, college-level programs based in ecovillages around the world, which help students gain the knowledge, skills and inspiration to build sustainable lifestyles for themselves, their communities and the Planet.
		The University of Human Goodness "offers a continuum of experiential learning opportunities for service-minded individuals" that can "assist people to clarify their own sense of meaning and purpose, and to develop the skills and means to achieve them."
	The Philosophical Self-Inquiry Discussion Group is, like SKS, an offspring of Richard Rose's TAT Society. It describes its aim as "implementing maximum systems of self-discovery—an approach which can be duplicated anywhere by finding a few people to work with."
		Educate Yourself for Tomorrow is a radically new idea of what education should be—a great idea! It is an online college where you can get an interdisciplinary liberal arts degree based on the maxim "Know Thyself." The reading list ranges from Jung to Hesse to Sandburg to Somerset Maugham to Dostoevski to Rudolf Steiner to...well, you just have to check this out.
	"It is Not Real" is the personal account of Ed Muzika, a seeker who journeyed through psychoanalysis, Zen masters, and a variety of teachers before meeting his true teacher, Robert Adams (pictured at right). Reading through it, I had my feeling was that he was a genuine student with a genuine teacher.
		The Virtues describes itself as "an ongoing, evolving exploration of personal growth, character and virtue via sacred and philosophical teachings, visual art, quotations, book recommendations, and web site links." It's a very cool site: my favorite part is the quotations, a host of thought-provoking comments on personal virtues such as faith, courage, gratitude and purity.
	The Center for Progressive Christianity "provides guiding ideas, networking opportunities and resources for progressive churches, organizations and individuals with connections to Christianity."
		The Inspiration Station is a really nice mix of traditional religions with New Age, of serious with light, of information with enjoyment. They have a Bible Trivia Quiz, overviews of the major religions of the world, the entire text of the Tao Te Ching, a section of jokes and cartoons...a little bit of everything!
	Nurturing the Now was put together by Vicki Woodyard to support her husband Bob, who has multiple myeloma. It contains a record of Vicki's spiritual journey, as well as links to her favorite sites.
		Motto Citizens is a resource for (W)hole® perspectives on conflict resolution. For thoughtful entertainment and education through contemplation, Motto Citizens produces "Speaking for Virtue," an on-air and Internet broadcast for civil society.
	Welcome to the Website of Fellowship in Prayer, publisher of the nonprofit interfaith journal Sacred Journey. Here you will find the spiritual insights, practices, and beliefs of women and men from a broad spectrum of the world's faith communities. May their experience of the holy inspire and help you on your own sacred journey through life."
		The Center for Contemplative Mind in Society "works to integrate contemplative awareness into public life. This means encouraging people in public life to pursue contemplative practice as part of their lives so that practice becomes a counterbalance to the high speed, impatient styles that are our cultural norm."
	Spirit Dimension is an impressive collection of resources devoted to human spiritual growth and development, including buddhism, zen, taoism, advaita, sufism, toltec teachings, transpersonal psychology and others.
		The Institute of Noetic Sciences was founded by Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell. Returning from the moon, Mitchell had a transcendent moment in which "The presence of divinity became almost palpable, and I knew that life in the universe was not just an accident based on random processes....The knowledge came to me directly." He founded the institute to investigate links between science and spirituality.
	YogaVidya.com publishes high-quality translations of original Yoga texts. You can preview their first title, The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, which contains the original Sanskrit followed by the translation paragraph-by-paragraph.
		Daily Afflictions is a quirky site with a nice sense of humor and a very thought provoking angle. ("You often hear about believers who have a crisis of faith, but what of the skeptics among us who have a crisis of doubt?")
	The Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction course is for people who are experiencing the symptoms of stress in their daily life and/or health, and who want to experience more balance in their life. They teach stress reduction through the use of mindfulness, meditation, and yoga. They currently offer courses in Raleigh and Cary, North Carolina.
		Friends of Reality is a collection of essays by Melvyn Wartella, an ordinary guy who quite unexpectedly had an extraordinary experience. Enlightened master or clever wordsmith? You be the judge—he seems like the real deal to me.
	the-Insight.com is a search engine where you can find Web sites across a wide range of spiritual and religious traditions.
		Spirit and Sky awarded awarded our Web site their "Top Spiritual Site of 2004" recognition!
	Sundari is attempting to create a library in Romania that will make spiritual books available in a place where they are very hard to find. A brave and admirable group of people who remind us, if nothing else, how easy we have it in the United States...and how much can be accomplished with determination.
		What is the level and intensity of spiritual experiences among today's college students? How are spiritual searching and behavior changing on campus? And what does this mean for higher education institutions and students? Spirituality in Higher Education is a multi-year research project into the spiritual search on college campuses today, being conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI).
Cain's Self-Exploration Site is the most impressive collection of spiritual quotes that we have found yet, on the Web or anywhere else. You can spend hours browsing this site before you realize how much time has gone by!