July 24, 2026, marks the 40th anniversary of the inaugural meeting of the “Friends of the Spirit” study
group I founded and moderated in Northern California, which was active for just over 14 months.
This was an informal, nonacademic study group. We met 22 times at three different venues. I produced 19 original essays, which I read aloud, then participants discussed the subject of my talk. The topics were mainly interfaith religion, spirituality, and certain philosophers such as Kierkegaard and Thoreau.
In the early 2000s, I revised a number of these essays for publication, but was sidelined during the 2010s with personal issues, including surviving the 2018 Camp Fire. Still, I received endorsements for several essays from several prominent figures, including Swami Swahananda (senior minister and spiritual leader of the Vedanta Society of Southern California from 1976 until his passing in 2012), Huston Smith (preeminent 20th-century scholar of religious studies in the U.S.), Jonathan Kirsch (prolific author, primarily on Jewish studies; prominent publishing-law attorney), and Michael Murphy (co-founder of world-renown Esalen Institute; primary figure in the Human Potential movement), and Reverend Canon Christopher Seal, A.B., MDiv. (pastor emeritus of Trinity Episcopal Church, Nevada City, CA), which have been posted on my website since 2008.
This year, I am publishing a collection of these essays. Stay tuned for updates!
In addition, June 24, 2026, marks the 20th anniversary of the original publication of my website, “Explorations in Contemporary Spirituality” at johnrogerbarrie.com. The basic structure of my website is the same now as it was back then, insofar as there are several informative pages outlining key areas of and resources about various facets of spirituality.
According to statistics from my website host, johnrogerbarrie.com receives an average of several hundred human visitors per week. This is hugely rewarding, especially when I’m not continuously active and am only updating content approx. twice a month. In any event, I unequivocally, joyfully affirm my strong emotional, intellectual and spiritual affinity with my website: the content reflects the very nexus of my spiritual message. I’m extraordinarily honored to have (soon) been active on the internet, broadcasting my interfaith message of experiential spirituality uninterruptedly 24/7 for two decades.
What lies ahead? God willing: additional books, continued website postings, and, as time permits, more YouTube video readings. And – most important – my own ongoing spiritual evolution.
Thank you, my devoted subscribers and valued website visitors, for your continued support, which means the world to me. I am privileged to provide this spiritual service. – John Roger Barrie, May 26, 2026
