Circles of Belief: The World’s Spiritual Traditions and Beyond

Most guides to the world’s spirituality are boring, academic, and limited in scope. By contrast, Circles of Belief covers not only mainstream religions, sects, and spinoffs—including Hinduism, Vedanta, Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto, Judaism, Kabbalah, Christianity, Islam, Sufism, and Baha’i—but also plenty of areas not included in academic surveys. A detailed chapter on the New Age traces its roots back to the 19th-century New Thought movement, mesmerism and hypnosis, Theosophy and Madame Blavatsky, Spiritualism, channeling, and mediumship. This lively narrative guide also covers the mind-body connection and holistic health, Jung and the archetypes, the Enneagram and Tarot. Perhaps the most exciting new developments detailed in this book are the rise of the “spiritual but not religious” movement and the growing relationship between spirituality and science—quantum physics as well as new scientific research into out-of-body and near-death experiences, after-life communications, the recall of past lives by children under the age of six, and other evidence suggesting that human consciousness continues beyond physical death. Circles of Belief condenses the entire scope of spirituality from ancient times to the most important new breakthroughs in energetic, easily readable language.