Elixir Issue 2

Ralph Abraham has been Professor of Mathematics at the University of California at Santa Cruz since 1968, and has held teaching posts at Berkeley, Columbia, Princeton, and many visiting positions in Europe and Asia. He is author of seven books in print. Ralph has been active on the research frontier of mathematical dynamics since 1960. He has been a consultant on Chaos Theory and its applications in medical physiology, ecology, mathematical economics, psychotherapy, etc., and is an active editor for the technical journals World Futures and the International Journal of Bifurcations and Chaos. In 1975, he founded what is now the Visual Math institute. He has performed works of visual and aural mathematics and music (with Ami Radunskaya, Peter Broadwell, and Pablo Viotti) since 1992.

Anne Baring a writer and retired Jungian analyst, is author and co-author of five books including The Myth of the Goddess: Evolution of an Image, The Mystic Vision, The Divine Feminine, and a book for children, The Birds Who Flew Beyond Time. Anne's website address www.annebaring.com explores the deeper issues facing us at this crucial time of choice. She lives near Winchester, England.

Paul Devereux is a researcher in the field of cognitive archeology. He holds the position of Senior Research Fellow at the International Consciousness Research Laboratories group at Princeton. Some of his original contributions to this field are described in this article. He is also a lecturer, writer, and TV documentary producer. His books include Re-visioning the Earth, Stone-Age Sountracks, and The Sacred Place. More information about his work can be found at his website: www.pauldevereux.co.uk.

Ayeda Husain Naqvi is a writer in Pakistan specializing in Sufism and women's issues in the Indian subcontinent. She writes extensively for Pakistani publications including the Friday Times, the Daily Times and Libas magazine. The International Museum of Women recently included her article on spiritual abuse in a book titled Imagining Ourselves: A Global Generation of Women. Ayeda has an MA in Journalism and Near Eastern Studies from an NYU/Princeton program.

Swami Sundaranand was drawn to the life of a Sadhu from an early age. His guru Swami Tapovanam Maharaj lived remotely at Gangotri near the source of the Ganges. He encouraged Swami Sundaranand to go on mountain journeys. For fifty years the Swami crossed the Himalaya range many times recording the vistas in thousands of photographs. Through slide shows in major Indian cities and TV shows abroad he won world-wide acclaim. His book Himalaya: Through the Lens of a Sadhu was published in 2002. For information about tours with Swami Sundaranand contact Deborah Morin at debmorin@aol.com.

Linda Hess teaches in the Department of Religious Studies at Stanford University on topics related to religions of India: Hinduism, Gandhi and Nonviolence, Indian Religious Poetry, and Hindus and Muslims in South Asia. Her research focuses on religious poetry and performance in North India. Author and co-translator with Shukdev Singh of The Bijak of Kabir, she frequently spends time in India and is a long-time practitioner of Zen.

Carl W. Ernst is a specialist in Islamic studies, with a focus on West and South Asia and the study of Islam and Sufism. His most recent book, Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World (UNC Press, 2003), has received several international awards. His publications include Sufi Martyrs of Love: Chishti Sufism in South Asia and Beyond (co-authored with Bruce Lawrence, 2002); Teachings of Sufism (1999); a translation of The Unveiling of Secrets: Diary of a Sufi Master by Ruzbihan Baqli (1997); Guide to Sufism (1997); Ruzbihan Baqli: Mystical Experience and the Rhetoric of Sainthood in Persian Sufism (1996); Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History, and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center (1993); and Words of Ecstasy in Sufism (1985). He is now William R. Kenan Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

June McDaniel is Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the College of Charleston, SC, specializing in the religions of India. She is co-chair of the Mysticism Studies Group for the American Academy of Religion, and author of Madness of the Saints (Chicago, 1989), Making Virtuous Daughters and Wives (SUNY, 2002), and Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls (Oxford, 2004). Her recent focus is on the demise and transformation of religious ecstasy in the modern world.

H. Talat Halman is a Research Assistant Professor in the King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. From 2004 to 2005 he served as a Fulbright Senior Scholar based at the Universitas Islam Negeri Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta, Indonesia. He has published articles on Sufi saints, Islamic advocates of nonviolence, and Indonesian Islam. His forthcoming book on the story of al-Khizr will explain its significance for select Sufi Qur'an commentators.

Lee Irwin is Director of the Religious Studies department at the College of Charleston specializing in Native American spirituality and Western mystical traditions. He sits on the board of the Association for the Study of Esotericism. Lee is the author of many books including The Dream Seekers: Native American Visionary Traditions of the Great Plains, Visionary Worlds: The Making and Unmaking of Reality, and Awakening to Spirit: On Life, Illumination and Being. He has books forthcoming on spiritual alchemy and Sophianic studies.