Search For Spirituality

Originally broadcast on ABC-TV as a special presentation, this documentary journey across America takes us on the spiritual paths of people who feel the pinch of just being alive--people committed to a more complete understanding of themselves in relation to the larger mystery of being, whether they call it “God,” or “the true nature of reality,” or simply “wisdom and compassion.” Search For Spirituality uncovers the mystical roots beneath the surface of traditional beliefs and practices. It ventures out with those who are experimenting with native spiritualities, and it peers into the nourishing silence with people who are probing ancient eastern disciplines. Eminent spiritual teachers of our time guide us on this journey.

• Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam, helps veterans of that war and their families heal their emotional wounds by transforming anger into understanding.
  
• Bede Griffiths, a Benedictine monk who lived his life in India, combines Christian mysticism with the essence of Hindu spirituality.
  
• Matthew Fox draws on Hebrew and Christian scriptures to uncover the ancient tradition of “creation spirituality,” which invites us to gain nourishment from our link with all living things.
  
• Charlotte Joko Beck, of the San Diego Zen Center, works with people of all religious backgrounds to bring them into a new awareness and appreciation of the ordinary moments that make up a life.
  
• Brother David Steindl-Rast and Rabbi Jack Bemporad offer insights that have universal bearing on the transformation of pain and suffering.

Awards
Cine Golden Eagle Award

Broadcasts
ABC-TV special

How to use this film
Search for Spirituality encourages viewers to consider the truth claims of their own religious tradition against those of other traditions. That sort of inquiry inevitably raises questions about:

• where traditions differ and where they come together,
• how we can hold or reconcile conflicting claims,
• whether there might be more than one spiritual truth, and
• what we might learn from one another.

More fundamentally, the film leads us to ask how religion has been a source of conflict in the world and what role it might play in establishing justice and peace. 

For additional information we recommend our film Missing Peace and the following websites: 

Bede Griffiths
http://www.bedegriffiths.com/biography.html

Catholic Worker Movement (Dorothy Day)
http://www.catholicworker.com/

Council for a Parliament of World Religions
http://www.cpwr.org

Graduate Theological Union
http://www.gtu.edu/library/links/ecumenical.html

Thich Nhat Hanh
http://www.plumvillage.org/

Various Spiritualities
http://www.beliefnet.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirituality

World Conference for Religion and Peace
http://www.wcrp.org