There is a unique meeting of light and dark in this moment of history. On one hand life on earth has never been better. Our societies are freer, there is greater opportunity, and our health, our lifestyles and our education are at a higher level than they have ever been. Yet on the other hand there is great discontent and unhappiness in the world. We suffer from the bondage of our psychological and spiritual limitations. These include the immense power of the instincts, negative emotions and thinking, fears and aggressions. These inner psychological and spiritual problems are responsible for the great majority of outer problems and limiting structures existing within our society. These range from the obvious; small-minded bureaucracies, environmental damage, political instability, economic imbalances, corruption, crime, violence and poverty, to the more subtle limitations within our educational systems, religious ideologies and business structures. More importantly, they include the internal struggles that each of us has with ourselves. We wrestle with our fears, insecurities and self-judgments, our inability to form wholesome intimate relations and our emotional and mental limitations. And most important of all, we suffer from the sense of being disconnected.

We all know that the world is beset by many challenges. The question is what can we do about it and where can we start?