Margaret Thatcher was a big part of my formative landscape. She fueled much of my political consciousness, my sense of justice and injustice, my outrage at lies and oppression, my sense of right and wrong.

If everyone were coming from the same place, then being born-again thanks to an epiphany would be a valid prescription to cure all spiritual ills. But it is just not that simple.

"You don't hit bottom," says an old 12-step adage, "until you stop digging." In other words: no bad experience, painful consequence or downright awful time of it in and of itself will lead people to change their behavior. Hurricane Sandy is a case in point.

The second Wild Goose Festival has just ended. I left a piece of my heart in the hills of North Carolina.

The Evolver Social Movement has just released a free e-book anthology examining the unprecedented spiritual activism of the Occupy Movement.

In the United States, religion and politics have always been (fitful) bed buddies. But whether faith drives people left or right (or neither) is not obvious.

The notion that social change can be sparked by an inner revolution is not only realistic. It also gives us a gift that conventional "realism" withholds -- a chance to do something that might make a difference.

It seems every minute there is some new disaster making the headlines. Out of the rubble of destruction we find proof that the human spirit is illuminating our way home in the darkness.