Edward W. Bastian is President and Founder of the Spiritual Paths Institute (www.spiritualpaths.net). The Institute provides a balance of academic and experiential programming along with a multimedia curriculum for spiritual inquiry, insight and integration based on its methodology of 12 Ways, 12 Questions and 12 sets of Spiritual Traditions.

The Spiritual Paths Foundation explores and celebrates the spiritual in the human quest to integrate mind, body and spirit. It helps to build communities of mutual respect and curiosity for the world’s diversity of spiritual traditions, expressions and experiences. It provides non-sectarian methods, resources and a process for spiritual inquiry, insight and integration. It helps people deepen and expand their spiritual knowledge and practice and to become healthy, wise and compassionate participants in our pluralistic society and interdependent world.

Bastian's Ph.D. is in Buddhist Studies and Western Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin. During the 1970s and 1980s he worked for extensive periods in India at Banares Hindu University and in Tibetan Monasteries conducting research using Tibetan and Sanskrit languages as a fellow with the Fulbright Foundation and American Institute of Indian Studies. His Ph.D. dissertation was on the Abhisamayalamkara, the major commentary on the Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom) sutras.

Bastian lived in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and studied Indian philosophy and religion at Banares Hindu University. He has taught courses and moderated discussions on Buddhism and world religion for the Smithsonian, has lectured at a variety of educational venues and has presented scholarly papers at academic conferences in the U.S., England, Japan and India.

After completing his Ph.D. in 1980, Bastian produced a series of award winning television documentaries on the religions of Asia for the BBC and PBS. He produced three films on Tibetan Buddhism with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. From 1984-89, he served the Smithsonian Institution as a program director on BioDiversity, 20th Century Intellectual History and Tropical Rain Forests. In that capacity, he was responsible for the development of seminars, public programs, exhibitions, books and television. He produced the Smithsonian's first award winning CD-ROM called "Life Story" with Apple Computer, Lucasfilm and Adrian Malone Productions.

He worked as a writer and photographer on the war in Viet Nam and was on the staff of NBC Television as a writer and documentary film maker in Africa, and for other film/ television companies in Africa, Asia and South America. As President of Aspen Interactive Media, he created one of the world's first community web sites in Aspen, Colorado, called "aspen.com." He also consults with spiritual institutions and media organizations and sits on various non-profit and public policy boards. He was a founding teacher of the Aspen Community School.

Ed Bastian has spoken at events across the US and abroad, and have participated in events of all varieties: executive retreats, sales meetings, industry conferences, corporate training seminars, client appreciation dinners, and trade shows.

Liminal will work with you or your corporate event planner to insure that our speakers will captivate, motivate, engage, provoke and inspire any audience in order to create a memorable learning experience.

If desired, our Faculty will work with your team to customize a presentation tailored to your corporate culture, meeting themes, or leadership challenges.