1. Spiritual Themes, Explored From Many Angles
By NEIL GENZLINGER
Channel surf around the television
landscape, and it’s not hard to find
experts earnestly discussing politics
or economics or even home deco-
rating. But you’ll rarely encounter
anyone talking about spiritual mat-
ters, unless it’s a megachurch pastor
with an 800 number scrolling across
the screen.
“Global Spirit,” a series that
begins on Sunday on Link TV (and
can be viewed free at linktv.org/
globalspirit), is hoping to change
that, and to capitalize on what the
LINK TV
program’s creators see as a growing Edward Tick, center, comforts a Vietnam War veteran in a segment from “Global Spirit.”
interest in spiritual exploration. Each
strong, the scholar and author, who ONLINE: ‘GLOBAL SPIRIT’
week the show will bring together Excerpts from the series:
was once a nun, and Robert Thur-
scholars and other experts from nytimes.com/television
man, the Columbia professor, who
different religious and philosophical
in the early 1960s was a Buddhist show, and right now we’re thinking:
backgrounds, not to sell a faith
monk, share their stories and their ‘It’s an internal travel series,’ ” said
or argue hot-button issues, but
thoughts on subjects like compas- Lorraine Hess, a creator and execu-
to discuss universal themes like
sion and militarism. tive producer of the program, along
forgiveness or the nature of the
“Forgiveness and Healing” fea- with Stephen Olsson.
spiritual journey.
tures Edward Tick, a psychothera- Diane Winston, a professor of me-
“Who are we? Why are we here?
pist who counsels war veterans, and dia and religion at the University
Where are we going?” said Phil
Azim N. Khamisa, who after his of Southern California, said that al-
Cousineau, the program’s host,
son was killed in a robbery teamed though there have been occasional
paraphrasing the title of a Gauguin
up with the killer’s grandfather to attempts to use television to exam-
painting. “In a sense, we’re asking
spread a message of reconciliation ine spiritual themes — Bill Moyers,
those three questions in every pro-
and peace. for instance, has such programs on
gram.”
The discussions are broken up his résumé — the subject has gener-
Mr. Cousineau, a lecturer and au-
with short documentaries related to ally been seen as having little com-
thor whose books include “Soul:
the guests and topics. In the “For- mercial potential.
An Archaeology,” has the job each
giveness” installment, for instance, Now, however, might be an op-
week of moderating a genteel dis-
Dr. Tick accompanies Vietnam vet- portune time for such an endeavor,
cussion between people who may
erans back to that country to meet she said: other niche-television
not have ever met but may find
and learn from the people they once markets have proved fruitful, and
they have much common ground.
thought of as the enemy. spiritual tourism (travel to holy sites
In the opening installment, titled
“We have been trying to come and places of meditation) is boom-
“The Spiritual Quest,” Karen Arm-
up with a theme that describes the ing. Also, she noted, the number of

2. fundamentalists in many religious
A TV series avoids traditions,” he said. “Talking to peo-
hot-button issues ple who come from different back-
grounds is absolutely essential.”
and selling faith.
Though the program is having its
premiere on Easter, Christianity is
people who identify themselves as but one of many perspectives in the
spiritual but claim no religious af- segments. An episode on April 26
filiation — and thus might be more explores “Earth Wisdom” with rep-
open to accepting a range of ideas resentatives of several indigenous
— is growing. peoples. “In Search of Ecstasy,”
Stewart M. Hoover, director of the scheduled for broadcast next month,
Center for Media, Religion and Cul- includes footage from Africa, Aus-
ture at the University of Colorado, tralia and other parts of the globe.
also cited Mr. Moyers’s work as Dr. Tick said getting insights from
among the precedents for the Link all over the world is one step to
TV program, but said the series was broader understanding, but another
new in several respects. is getting the perspective of history,
“What is different about ‘Global something he knows from study-
Spirit’ is that it lacks the endorse- ing post-traumatic stress disorder.
ment of specific authority, biblical Americans tend to think of that
or doctrinal or historical,” he wrote problem as a recent phenomenon,
in an e-mail message. And, he said, but countries where war has been
it reflects the character of the cable- a fact of life for many generations
TV and Internet age. know better.
“The digital realm carries with it “The wounding of war is not new,”
an ethic of inquiry, of leveling,” Dr. he said. “A cultural understanding
Hoover said, as opposed to the tra- of the depth and complexity of that
ditional voice-of-authority structure wounding is not new.”
of many religions. “That is the way For Mr. Cousineau, keeping the
we think when we go to the new dialogue flowing among his varied
media.” guests is both the challenge and the
Dr. Thurman said the types of dis- fun.
cussions fostered on “Global Spirit” “I try to put myself in the position
are urgently needed. of people I know who are curious
“The world as it has been function- about cultures,” he said, “and try
ing is kind of crumbling,” he said. “I to ask what they would ask if they
think that a complete reconstruction were in my lucky shoes.”
will have to go on, and very critical
to building that new world that we
now need is that we need to rethink
things. And a very important place
to begin is the world of spirit.”
That view was echoed by Ravi Ra-
vindra, a scholar who has written
extensively on spirituality and reli-
gion and who is a guest on a seg- The story online:
ment titled “The Journey Towards http://www.nytimes.com/
Oneness.” 2009/04/11/arts/television/
“We have all sorts of fanatics and 11spiri.html