I wanted to let readers know of a new venture that's been launched called the Center for Spiritual Inquiry and Integral Education. At the center of the project is R. Michael Fisher, a friend of Beams and commenter here from time to time. Last April I wrote a Bricolage called Marx Reloaded where I talked about a new documentary of the same name, and a reading group of Marx's Kapital that four of the core at Beams were about to begin (our next meeting is coming up soon!). Michael is a 'fearologist', he studies fear in all its guises (personal, political etc.) and he had a few things to say on the comment thread in regards to Marx and fear. I asked if he would like to write a piece for Beams about his work on fear, but he said he'd prefer an interview. So he and I have been involved in a really rich, wide ranging and enjoyably unorthodox email interview exchange for over three months now; when that colossal exchange is finished we'll publish some version of it here on Beams.

A couple weeks ago Michael informed me of his new project at the CSIIE, and I wanted to alert folks in case what they're doing there is of interest (I'm intrigued by the course on Magic in the 21st Century, but I got my hands full at the moment). You can view their website at http://csiie.org/. I wish them the best of luck in their creative new venture.