This is an analysis of various religious, philosophical and political movements within the context of an experiential narration. It deals with catholicism and the cold war in the 1950s, the new left of the 1960s, marxism from the 1970s to the early 1990s. Versions of this were published in the book Marxism and Spirituality: An International Anthology (Westport & London 1993) and in the journal Socialism in the World (Belgrade 1989). This text was originally written for a conference in Yugoslavia on Socialism and the Spirit of the Age in 1988. It was a first run at a work-in-progress called Navigating the Zeitgeist.