Sharon Salzberg has taught insight meditation worldwide for more than 30 years. She is a co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society and the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies in Barre, Mass. Her many books include The Force of Kindness: Change Your Life With Love & Compassion and Loving-Kindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness.

The Public Opinion Project at Harvard University is one of America’s longest and most robust studies of the attitudes of young Americans toward politics and public service. Founded in 2000, the Project is a collaboration between undergraduates and Harvard University Institute of Politics polling director John Della Volpe. Each semester the group develops, conducts and […]

Zen Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh has taught and written extensively on the Buddhist understanding of love. His books on the subject include True Love: A Practice for Awakening the Heart and Teachings on Love. Nhat Hanh lives in Plum Village in France , but teaches around the world. Read an excerpt from True Love at Beliefnet.com. Nhat Hanh’s organization in the U.S. is […]

Lorne Ladner is a clinical psychologist, practitioner of Tibetan Buddhism and author of The Lost Art of Compassion: Discovering the Practice of Happiness in the Meeting of Buddhism and Psychology. He teaches at the Guhyasamaja Center in the Washington, D.C., area. He can comment on the significance of gratitude from a psychological and Buddhist perspective.

John Makransky is associate professor of Buddhism and comparative theology at Boston College, president of the International Society of Buddhist-Christian Studies, senior adviser and lecturer in Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche’s Centre for Buddhist Studies in Nepal, co-founder of the Foundation for Active Compassion and of Courage of Care (two socially engaged contemplative organizations), developer of the […]

Wendy M. Wright is a theology professor who holds the John C. Kenefick Chair in the Humanities at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. She specializes in the Salesian tradition, a Christian spiritual tradition founded by St. Francis de Sales, and can speak about the place of love in Salesian spirituality.

The Rev. Edward C. Vacek holds the Stephen J. Duffy Chair in Catholic Studies at Loyola University New Orleans. He wrote Love, Human and Divine. He has written about gratitude and love.

Mark Lloyd Taylor is an associate professor in the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University. He teaches Christian theology and wrote God Is Love: A Study in the Theology of Karl Rahner.

Caroline J. Simon is the John H. and Jeanne M. Jacobson Professor of Philosophy at Hope College in Holland, Mich. She specializes in the topics of virtue, moral knowledge and sexuality and wrote The Disciplined Heart: Love, Destiny & Imagination.