Every reader of Parabola is on a quest: the “search for meaning” on our cover could equally read “quest for meaning.” For many, involvement with quest has been lifelong. As a teenager I daydreamed about searching for the Holy Grail. It wasn’t the sacred relic that fired my imagination, but the quest—the chance to devote body, heart, and mind to the pursuit of something of infinite value.
This Spring 2020 issue of Parabola teems with stories of women and men on similar paramount quests—for the Grail, and for more. There are Dag Hammarskjold, Vaclav Havel, and G.I. Gurdjieff, three wise men who guide us and author Roger Lipsey toward resolution of our global climate crisis. There is religion scholar Elaine Pagels, talking about her quest to understand the gnostic teachings of Jesus.
There are also Cynthia Bourgeault on the discovery of the ancient way of the heart; Brian Swimme on the search by science and spirit for understanding; and Tracy Cochran and Herman Hesse on the Buddha’s quest for enlightenment. Mark Nepo relates how a monkey helped a young man’s spiritual search, and Stephen Levine remembers how a salamander aided his. There are fairy tales, reveries, and an encounter with the enigmatic author of the spiritual classic I Am That.
As an adult I learned that the quest for the Grail is an outer representation of the inner search. It is this inner quest, the search for truth, wisdom, and being, that unites all of us who read Parabola. May these pages serve you well in that endeavor.
– Jeff Zaleski
