Joseph Chilton Pearce, The Crack in the Cosmic Egg from Chuck Robison on Vimeo.

We interviewed Joseph Chilton Pearce at The Monroe Institute in Favor, Virginia as part of the 40 Days and 40 Nights Video Tour in October 2011. For nearly half a century, Joe has been probing the mysteries of the human mind. Author of The Crack in the Cosmic Egg, Exploring the Crack in the Cosmic Egg, Magical Child, Magical Child Matures, Bond of Power, and Evolution’s End, one of his overriding passions remains the study of what he calls the “unfolding” of intelligence in children.

He is a self-avowed iconoclast, unafraid to speak out against the myriad ways in which contemporary American culture fails to nurture the intellectual, emotional, and spiritual needs and yearnings of our young people. Part scholar, part scientist, part mystic, part itinerant teacher, Pearce keeps in close touch with the most brilliant men and women in each field. He creates a unique synthesis of their work and translates the results into a common language.

His most recent book, Death of Religion and the Rebirth of Spirit: A Return to the Intelligence of the Heart (2007), is critically important for where we are now. Our organized religions are stuck in centuries of a particular way of thinking that makes it very difficult to address the changes going on the world of thought today.

Over and over on this tour we met brilliant thinkers and scientists who are making the journey from the intellect to the heart along an unchartered and unmapped path. In our interview, Joe shows us the importance of living from the heart, regardless of what the mind says.