Simon Kidd

“A common fate of Eastern traditional disciplines is currently their execrable employment by Western gurus and pop-psychologists. Whether it is antique Chinese wisdom, Buddhist lore, Yoga, Sufism, or whatever, the alert critic should take most of it with the proverbial pinch of salt, while not denying a basis in more authentic practice for the more viable ingredients of such traditional psychology.”
― Kevin R.D. Shepherd, The Resurection of Philosophy

“The question of Meher Baba’s background context has to date been neglected. The devotional movement associated with his name has never shown any interest in antecedents. Former biographers have exhibited an ignorance of philosophical links pertaining to the subject’s ethnic and ideational heritage. These omissions require correction, not least because of the instructive nature of the links discernible.”
― Kevin R.D. Shepherd, Meher Baba, an Iranian Liberal

“For those who are pedantic about classifications, it is perhaps best to describe Meher Baba as a neo-Kaivani, just as the Kaivanis can be termed neo-ishraqi in their departure from Islamic idioms. The gnostic dynamic does not stand still in its intercultural avenues of expression, and indeed, if it does so in a mono-cultural guise, it is likely to be no longer a dynamic but merely petrified conditioning. The easiest thing for anybody to do is to repeat secondhand material; the consequence is generally unenlightened dogmatism, not to mention distortion.”
― Kevin R.D. Shepherd, Meher Baba, an Iranian Liberal

“In Meher Baba, the investigator has the opportunity to view at close range the Iranian spirit divested of Zoroastrian and Islamic dogma and ritualism. He is as much 'Mazdakite' and Zurvanite as he is sufi; he is both ishraqi and irfani (gnostic) in affiliated perspective, and yet at the same time elusive of ready-made labels which require a deeper understanding than customarily awarded them.”
― Kevin R.D. Shepherd, Meher Baba, an Iranian Liberal