Peter Samsel is an independent scholar with wide-ranging interests in traditional metaphysics, symbolism, science, and art. He holds a doctorate in theoretical physics and is the author of articles and review essays in Parabola, Sophia: The Journal of Traditional Studies, and Sacred Web: A Journal of Tradition and Modernity. His article, "A Unity with Distinctions: Parallels in the Thought of Gregory Palamas and Ibn al-Arabi," appears in the volume Paths to the Heart: Sufism and the Christian East, edited by James S. Cutsinger, which ispart of World Wisdom’s Perennial Philosophy series. An article on the Sufi metaphysics of Divine unity, "The First Pillar of Islam," was selected by Parabola for their Parabola in the Classroom collection of scholarly articles for educators. He lives in New York state.