All humanity's miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.

Blaise Pascal,
Seventeenth-century French philosopher

Center for Spiritual Studies

ONE Center for Spiritual Studies provides a "spiritual space" or center for those of various faiths and religions to come together and discuss common spiritual values and principles, rather than continuing to emphasize exclusive claims to God and define ourselves differently from one another. The Center offers educational and training programs in spiritual practice and religious acceptance. It neither promotes any particular spiritual or religious tradition nor espouses a political philosophy.

We believe that creating a center for spiritual study and practice dedicated to fostering human compassion and religious acceptance meets a critical need of humanity. We feel that we are in the initial stages of major technological advancements that will substantially increase communication and connectivity between various cultures and peoples of our world. Increasing communication and connectivity will highlight the truly interdependent nature of the human condition and function to break down barriers to understanding and accepting diverse cultural and religious traditions. Without a broad spiritual base that specifically values accepting and respecting diverse cultural and religious traditions, humanity may encounter difficulty benefiting from increased communication and connectivity and its consequent interdependence.

One Center for Spiritual Studies, therefore, is a center that promotes religious acceptance and tolerance where diverse religious traditions may be explored, appreciated, and accepted without threatening one's own religious integrity. In discussing spiritual concepts common among our major world religions, we hope to support an understanding of universal nonjudgmental acceptance and compassion for one another and our differing religious traditions and viewpoints, and increase a person's understanding of his or her own religious tradition by demonstrating how other faiths describe and understand similar concepts. By reflecting upon the various nuances and images of a particular spiritual truth as reflected within the world's major religions, perhaps we may unbind that truth from its linguistic and cultural limitations and develop a deeper, intuitive understanding of it. Please click here for a more detailed program description.