A discussion with a different sort of spiritual leader.

Keeping up with a soul traveler is difficult. Doug Marman claims to be such a traveler, and is also a pioneer in security technology (with 20 patents), a student of the religious movement Eckankar, biographer of its founder, and the keynote speaker at Saturday’s Spiritual Dialogues Project. When the Weekly bounced a few questions off him, the answers leapt beyond spiritual planes:

The Spiritual Dialogues Project seeks answers to big questions like “Why am I here?” through listening. What are you listening for?

We are listening to life. You have to ask yourself, “Are you involved in an interaction with your life or are you imposing your will upon it?” Answers take us away from the awe of the question. Media and religions sell answers, and then people stop exploring. I don’t offer answers. I encourage exploration.

What is soul travel and what was your first such experience?

The premise: Our soul isn’t limited by our body. The human soul has a need to touch the universe. Your soul explores planes of spirituality where it encounters its hopes and fears.

[During my first experience,] I was dually present in the physical world and a spiritual plane. I was in my parents’ home, but also in the back seat of my friend Doug’s car, listening to [my friends] trying to remember the name of the author of the book Kim. The next day my friends confirmed they were in the car and having a conversation about the book Kim at the time.

How do you respond to critics who say Eckankar has taken truths like reincarnation and karma from Hinduism and Buddhism and warped them into a New Age cult?

[ECK Master] Paul Twitchell never claimed to be the creator of a doctrine. He used examples from different teachings. People dissect spirituality and religion like an autopsy. There’s a big difference between looking at a dead thing and looking at a living thing. Spirituality is a living thing.

The Spiritual Dialogues Conference is Saturday, Oct. 4, at Beach Resort Monterey, 2600 Sand Dunes Drive, Seaside. $35. 394-3321, http://www.spiritualdialogues.com