A collection of free excerpts from Sister Souljah’s books.

    By fully embracing and practicing this principle of interconnectedness—called interbeing—we become more effective agents of change and have a stronger positive influence on the world.Throughout the book, Eisenstein relates real-life stories showing how small, individual acts of courage, kindness, and self-trust can change our culture’s guiding narrative of separation, which, he shows, has generated the present planetary crisis. He brings to conscious awareness a deep wisdom we all innately know: until we get our selves in order, any action we take—no matter how good our intentions—will ultimately be wrongheaded and wronghearted. Above all, Eisenstein invites us to embrace a radically different understanding of cause and effect, sounding a clarion call to surrender our old worldview of separation, so that we can finally create the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.With chapters covering separation, interbeing, despair, hope, pain, pleasure, consciousness, and many more, the book invites us to let the old Story of Separation fall away so that we can stand firmly in a Story of Interbeing.

    With Mindfulness, Joseph Goldstein shares the wisdom of his four decades of teaching and practice in a book that will serve as a lifelong companion for anyone committed to mindful living and the realization of inner freedom.Goldstein's source teaching is the Satipatthana Sutta, the Buddha's legendary discourse on the four foundations of mindfulness that became the basis for the many types of Vipassana (or insight meditation) found today. Exquisite in detail yet wholly accessible and relevant for the modern student, Mindfulness takes us through a profound study of: Ardency, clear knowing, mindfulness, and concentration--how to develop these four qualities of mind essential for walking the path wiselyThe Satipatthana refrain--how deeply contemplating the four foundations of mindfulness opens us to bare knowing and continuity of mindfulnessMindfulness of the body, including the breath, postures, activities, and physical characteristicsMindfulness of feelings--how the experience of our sense perceptions influences our inner and outer worldsMindfulness of mind--learning to recognize skillful and unskillful states of mind and thoughtMindfulness of dhammas (or categories of experience), including the Five Hindrances, the Six Sense Spheres, the Seven Factors of Awakening, and much more"There is a wealth of meaning and nuance in the experience of mindfulness that can enrich our lives in unimagined ways," writes Goldstein. In Mindfulness you have the tools to mine these riches for yourself.

    Today the general wealth of social life finds itself confronted by mutations in the mechanisms of control, from the proliferation of capitalist logistics through governance by credit and management of pedagogy. Working from and within the social poesis of life in the undercommons Moten and Harney develop and expand an array of concepts: study, debt, surround, planning, and the shipped. On the fugitive path of an historical and global blackness, the essays in this volume unsettle and invite the reader to the self-organised ensembles of social life that are launched every day and every night amid the general antagonism of the undercommons.

    This adult picture book takes its reader on a quest for well‐being and self‐acceptance, following the story of a wondering everyman. The projective tale summons the reader’s inner child as a complimentary vehicle to drive the plot through bold reflection and earnest doubt. Assisted by cosmic perspective, the faceless protagonist sets out to retrieve the deep self-comfort and inner wellness lost along life's way.

    I have an entire bookshelf of bibles and biblical commentaries, concordances, appendices, and the like, but the SAB is by far the best tool for biblical research I have ever come across." - Dr. Michael Shermer, Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine and Executive Director of the Skeptics Society"I've been waiting for this book for my entire life! Finally, the Bible with organized notes and critique--pointing out the profane, the craziness, the tribalism, the murder, the incestuous episodes, and the beautiful and the sublime. All in one book!" - Julia Sweeney Writer and performer of "Letting Go of God" and "God Said Ha!" and the book, "If It's Not One Thing, It's Your Mother""The Skeptic's Annotated Bible offers an invaluable presentation of the bible that doesn't hide the cruelties, contradictions, absurdities, misogyny, and everything else that makes the 'Good Book' bad. It is an indispensible resource and the only book I keep on my desk." - Dr. Peter Boghossian, Dept. of Philosophy, Portland State University. Author of: "A Manual for Creating Atheists"

    Are those engaged in these arguments even talking about the same thing? In a wide-ranging response to this confusion, esteemed scholar David Bentley Hart pursues a clarification of how the word “God” functions in the world’s great theistic faiths.Ranging broadly across Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Vedantic and Bhaktic Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism, Hart explores how these great intellectual traditions treat humanity’s knowledge of the divine mysteries. Constructing his argument around three principal metaphysical “moments”—being, consciousness, and bliss—the author demonstrates an essential continuity between our fundamental experience of reality and the ultimate reality to which that experience inevitably points.Thoroughly dismissing such blatant misconceptions as the deists' concept of God, as well as the fundamentalist view of the Bible as an objective historical record, Hart provides a welcome antidote to simplistic manifestoes. In doing so, he plumbs the depths of humanity’s experience of the world as powerful evidence for the reality of God and captures the beauty and poetry of traditional reflection upon the divine.

    For more than 2,000 years, its aphoristic insights and wisdom have been applied in a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from the business and legal professions to the martial arts and sports. The Art Other and Other Classics of Eastern Thought collects Sun Tzu's classic text and six other landmark books of Eastern philosophy and learning, including the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu, The Works of Mencius, and the Confucian Analects, Doctrine of the Mean, and Great Learning of Confucius. The Art Other and Other Classics of Eastern Thought is one of Barnes & Noble's leatherbound classics. Each volume features authoritative texts by the world's greatest authors in an exquisitely designed bonded-leather binding, with distinctive gilt edging and an attractive silk-ribbon bookmark. Decorative, durable, and collectible, these books offer hours of pleasure to readers young and old and are an indispensable cornerstone for every home library.

    

    Combining the thoughts and beliefs from a diverse range of essayists, this collection highlights the current ecological crisis and articulates a much-needed spiritual response to it. Perspectives from Buddhism, Sufism, Christianity, and Native American beliefs as well as physics, deep psychology, and other environmental disciplines, make this a well-rounded contribution. The complete list of contributors are Oren Lyons, Thomas Berry, Thich Nhat Hanh, Chief Tamale Bwoya, Joanna Macy, Sandra Ingerman, Richard Rohr, Wendell Berry, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Sister Miriam MacGillis, Satish Kumar, Vandana Shiva, Pir Zia Inayat-Kahn, Winona LaDuke, John Stanley, John Newall, Bill Plotkin, Geneen Marie Haugen, Jules Cashford, and Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee.

    

    With over one million downloads per episode, these discussions have clearly hit a nerve, frequently walking a tightrope where either host or guest - and sometimes both - lose their footing, but always in search off a greater understanding of the world in which we live. for Harris, honest conversation, no matter how difficult or controversial, represents the only path to moral and intellectual progress.This book includes a dozen of the best conversations from 'MAKING SENSE', including talks with Daniel Kahneman, Timothy Snyder, Nick Bostrom, and Glen Loury, on topics that range from the nature of consciousness and free will, to politics and extremism, to living ethically. Together they shine a light on what it means to "make sense" in the modern world.RUNNING TIME ⇒ 22hrs.©2020 Sam Harris (P)2020 HarperAudio

    Driven by anxiety—enslaved to the fear of death—we are revealed to be morally and spiritually vulnerable as "the sting of death is sin." Beck argues that in the face of this predicament, resurrection is experienced as liberation from the slavery of death in the martyrological, eccentric, cruciform, and communal capacity to overcome fear in living fully and sacrificially for others."Richard Beck's new book seamlessly integrates deep theological reflection with sound psychological insight while never compromising either discipline. Liberating ideas about fear, sin, and death from the mire of abstraction, The Slavery of Death invites believers to discover and embrace true freedom together at the far side of the cross, a freedom reflected in and essential to the very nature of God. This book is a gift to the church." —Jamie Arpin-Ricci, author, "The Cost of Community""With Eastern Orthodox tradition and the work of modern theologians like McGill, Stringfellow, and Kelsey in one hand, and social science texts in the other, Richard Beck analyzes our culture of death in this compelling book. What can liberate us from this demonic power that is feared and fetishized, institutionalized and internalized, and reconfigure our self-enclosed identities? The kenotic love of the risen Christ! With the colloquial skills of a gifted teacher, Beck has written a prophetic, practical—and urgent—manifesto."—Kim Fabricius, minister, the United Reformed Church (UK)"It's an age-old Faustian tale. We conspire with demonic principalities and powers to cheat death and save ourselves. Such idols, Richard Beck warns, inexorably enslave and damn us. He follows this indictment, however, with a prophetic analysis that is nothing short of an emancipation proclamation. Christ's resurrection not only burst the gates of hell and destroyed death's sting, but also freed us from the enslaving addiction of self-empowerment—resurrecting us for self-expenditure and sacrificial love."—Richard Goode, co-editor, "And the Criminals With Him""Beck is like the 'rabbi trained for the kingdom of heaven' that Jesus talked about: a master pulling out things old and new, weaving together ancient theology and contemporary psychology in a way altogether provocative and compelling, rightfully re-orienting us with regard to some of our most basic convictions. Good, good, good work." —Lee C. Camp, author, "Mere Discipleship"

    It takes a conscious commitment to figuring out what we stand for - finding our truth. It begins by looking inside ourselves, because when it rises from within, we have no choice but to express it, to live it. That is when magic happens: fulfillment, happiness, relationships and success. The question is: How? With meditations on love, healing, entrepreneurship, overcoming failure, vulnerability, fear, the nature of the mind and the rhythm of life, "LiveYour Truth" is a guide to this crucial journey of self-exploration and personal discovery. The follow up to his runaway bestseller "Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It," Kamal Ravikant takes you on his journey, in the hope that it will help you find your truth and inspire you to live it. Prepare to be your best self.

    In Happiness, Matthieu Ricard demonstrated that true happiness is not tied to fleeting moments or sensations, but is an enduring state of soul rooted in mindfulness and compassion for others. Now he turns his lens from the personal to the global, with a rousing argument that altruism -- genuine concern for the well-being of others -- could be the saving grace of the 21st century. It is, he believes, the vital thread that can answer the main challenges of our time: the economy in the short term, life satisfaction in the mid-term, and environment in the long term. Ricard's message has been taken up by major economists and thinkers, including Dennis Snower, Amartya Sen, Joseph Stiglitz, and George Soros. Matthieu Ricard makes a robust and passionate case for cultivating altruistic love and compassion as the best means for simultaneously benefitting ourselves and our society. It's a fresh outlook on an ardent struggle -- and one that just might make the world a better place.

    A sequence is a series of multiple posts on Less Wrong on the same topic, to coherently and fully explore a particular thesis.Reading the sequences is the most systematic way to approach the Less Wrong archives.

    Moral behavior does not begin and end with religion but is in fact a product of evolution.For many years, de Waal has observed chimpanzees soothe distressed neighbors and bonobos share their food. Now he delivers fascinating fresh evidence for the seeds of ethical behavior in primate societies that further cements the case for the biological origins of human fairness. Interweaving vivid tales from the animal kingdom with thoughtful philosophical analysis, de Waal seeks a bottom-up explanation of morality that emphasizes our connection with animals. In doing so, de Waal explores for the first time the implications of his work for our understanding of modern religion. Whatever the role of religious moral imperatives, he sees it as a “Johnny-come-lately” role that emerged only as an addition to our natural instincts for cooperation and empathy.But unlike the dogmatic neo-atheist of his book’s title, de Waal does not scorn religion per se. Instead, he draws on the long tradition of humanism exemplified by the painter Hieronymus Bosch and asks reflective readers to consider these issues from a positive perspective: What role, if any, does religion play for a well-functioning society today? And where can believers and nonbelievers alike find the inspiration to lead a good life?Rich with cultural references and anecdotes of primate behavior, The Bonobo and the Atheist engagingly builds a unique argument grounded in evolutionary biology and moral philosophy. Ever a pioneering thinker, de Waal delivers a heartening and inclusive new perspective on human nature and our struggle to find purpose in our lives.

    In the spring of 1940, the aspiring but unknown writer Albert Camus and budding scientist Jacques Monod were quietly pursuing ordinary, separate lives in Paris. After the German invasion and occupation of France, each joined the Resistance to help liberate the country from the Nazis, ascended to prominent, dangerous roles, and were very lucky to survive. After the war and through twists of circumstance, they became friends, and through their passionate determination and rare talent, they emerged as leading voices of modern literature and biology, each receiving the Nobel Prize in their respective fields. Drawing upon a wealth of previously unpublished and unknown material gathered over several years of research, Brave Genius tells the story of how each man endured the most terrible episode of the twentieth century and then blossomed into extraordinarily creative and engaged individuals. It is a story of the transformation of ordinary lives into exceptional lives by extraordinary events--of courage in the face of overwhelming adversity, the flowering of creative genius, deep friendship, and of profound concern for and insight into the human condition.

    The Cave and the Light is a magisterial account of how the two greatest thinkers of the ancient world, Plato and Aristotle, laid the foundations of Western culture—and how their rivalry shaped the essential features of our culture down to the present day.   Plato came from a wealthy, connected Athenian family and lived a comfortable upper-class lifestyle until he met an odd little man named Socrates, who showed him a new world of ideas and ideals. Socrates taught Plato that a man must use reason to attain wisdom, and that the life of a lover of wisdom, a philosopher, was the pinnacle of achievement. Plato dedicated himself to living that ideal and went on to create a school, his famed Academy, to teach others the path to enlightenment through contemplation.   However, the same Academy that spread Plato’s teachings also fostered his greatest rival. Born to a family of Greek physicians, Aristotle had learned early on the value of observation and hands-on experience. Rather than rely on pure contemplation, he insisted that the truest path to knowledge is through empirical discovery and exploration of the world around us. Aristotle, Plato’s most brilliant pupil, thus settled on a philosophy very different from his instructor’s and launched a rivalry with profound effects on Western culture.   The two men disagreed on the fundamental purpose of the philosophy. For Plato, the image of the cave summed up man’s destined path, emerging from the darkness of material existence to the light of a higher and more spiritual truth. Aristotle thought otherwise. Instead of rising above mundane reality, he insisted, the philosopher’s job is to explain how the real world works, and how we can find our place in it. Aristotle set up a school in Athens to rival Plato’s Academy: the Lyceum. The competition that ensued between the two schools, and between Plato and Aristotle, set the world on an intellectual adventure that lasted through the Middle Ages and Renaissance and that still continues today.   From Martin Luther (who named Aristotle the third great enemy of true religion, after the devil and the Pope) to Karl Marx (whose utopian views rival Plato’s), heroes and villains of history have been inspired and incensed by these two master philosophers—but never outside their influence.   Accessible, riveting, and eloquently written, The Cave and the Light provides a stunning new perspective on the Western world, certain to open eyes and stir debate.Praise for The Cave and the Light   “A sweeping intellectual history viewed through two ancient Greek lenses . . . breezy and enthusiastic but resting on a sturdy rock of research.”—Kirkus Reviews   “Examining mathematics, politics, theology, and architecture, the book demonstrates the continuing relevance of the ancient world.”—Publishers Weekly  “A fabulous way to understand over two millennia of history, all in one book.”—Library Journal  “Entertaining and often illuminating.”—The Wall Street JournalFrom the Hardcover edition.

    public. Not since debates over nuclear warfare has American military strategy been the subject of discussion in living rooms, classrooms, and houses of worship. Yet as this groundbreaking new work shows, the full implications of drones have barely been addressed in the recent media storm.In a unique take on a subject that has grabbed headlines and is consuming billions of taxpayer dollars each year, philosopher Grégoire Chamayou applies the lens of philosophy to our understanding of how drones are changing our world. For the first time in history, a state has claimed the right to wage war across a mobile battlefield that potentially spans the globe. Remote-control flying weapons, he argues, take us well beyond even George W. Bush’s justification for the war on terror.What we are seeing is a fundamental transformation of the laws of war that have defined military conflict as between combatants. As more and more drones are launched into battle, war now has the potential to transform into a realm of secretive, targeted assassinations of individuals—beyond the view and control not only of potential enemies but also of citizens of democracies themselves. Far more than a simple technology, Chamayou shows, drones are profoundly influencing what it means for a democracy to wage war. A Theory of the Drone will be essential reading for all who care about this important question.

    By learning what stoicism is, you can revolutionise your life, learning how to - properly - 'seize the day', how to cope in the face of adversity, and how to come to terms with whatever situation you're in.

    We all claim to care about animals and to regard them as having at least some moral value. We all claim to agree that it’s wrong to inflict “unnecessary” suffering and death on animals and—whatever disagreement we may have about when animal use is necessary—we all agree that the suffering and death of animals cannot be justified by human pleasure, amusement, or convenience. We condemn Michael Vick for dogfighting precisely because we feel strongly that any pleasure that Vick got from this activity could not possibly justify what he did. So how can we justify the fact that we kill many billions of land animals and fish every year for food? However “humanely” we treat and kill these animals, the amount of animal suffering we cause is staggering. Yet no one maintains that animal foods are necessary for optimal health. Indeed, mounting empirical evidence points to animal foods being detrimental for human health. But however you evaluate that evidence, there can be no serious doubt that we can have excellent health with a vegan diet. There is also broad consensus that animal agriculture is an ecological disaster. Animal agriculture is responsible for water pollution, air pollution, deforestation, soil erosion, inefficient use of plant protein and water, and all sorts of other environmental harms. The best justification we have for the unimaginable amount of suffering and death that we impose on animals is that they taste good. We enjoy the taste of animal foods. But how is this any different from Michal Vick claiming that his dogfighting operation was justifiable because he enjoyed watching dogs fight? Vick liked sitting around a pit watching animals fight. We enjoy sitting around a summer barbecue pit roasting the corpses of animals who had lives and deaths that were as bad as, if not worse than, Vick’s dogs. What is the difference between Michael Vick and those of us who eat animal foods? This book shows there is no difference, or at least not any difference that matters morally. Prof. Gary L. Francione and Prof. Anna Charlton argue that if you think animals matter morally—if you reject the idea that animals are just things—your own beliefs require that you stop eating animal products. There is nothing "extreme" about a vegan diet; what is extreme is the inconsistency between what we say we believe and how we act where animals are concerned. Many of us are uneasy thinking about the animals who end up on our plates. We may have thought about stopping our consumption of animal products, but there are many excuses that have kept us from doing so. The authors explore the 30+ excuses they have heard as long-time vegans and address each one, showing why these excuses don’t work. Packed with clear, commonsense thinking on animal ethics, without jargon or complicated theory, this book will change the way you think about what you eat.

    In mind is your business, sadhguru explains that only if we make it "our business" to transform this uncoordinated mess into a well - coordinated symphony, will we able to use the mind, rather than be used by it. Book 2: body the greatest gadget body, the greatest gadget, is an introduction to the most sophisticated and incredible device on the planet. In the course of this book, sadhguru explores the yogic physiology and the many subtle dimensions of the body. It is a first step on an intriguing and exciting journey that culminates in total mastery of the system, allowing us to stay rooted in the physical and yet taste the beyond. Above all, the book is a glimpse of a possibility to live and function in a way that most human beings would consider superhuman.

    What is your happiest moment?How can you know it?Do we waste time or does time waste us?Are questions about meaning truly meaningful?What's really important?Drawing on literary and philosophical sources ranging from Alice in Wonderland and The Little Prince to Leo Tolstoy, King Solomon and Friedrich Nietzsche, Haim Shapira invites us to challenge our perspectives on happiness and provides us with alternative ways to appreciate what is important.As Haim concludes it is in the spaces between the possible paths that we might take that we are able to find a place of grace, and where the things that matter to us will light our way.The choice is ours.Join Haim Shapira as he navigates the terrain of happiness – exploring and contemplating an eclectic range of theories and insights into the conflicts we face as we interpret and consider our lives on our journey to creating our own happiness.

    

    Ranging from the ancient wisdom of Confucius and Plato to the cutting-edge theories taking shape in the twenty-first century, this book offers a wealth of stimulation and amusement for any reader with a lively and curious mind.This richly informative and entertaining book provides a wide variety of answers to those eternal questions: How was the universe created and what is the place of humans within it? How should a person live? And how can we build a just society?But 1001 Ideas That Changed the Way We Think also includes a host of speculations that are remarkable for their sheer weirdness-from the concept of the transmigration of souls to parallel universes and the paradoxes of time travel (what happens if you travel back in time and kill your own grandfather?).Readers will discover how the Greek philosopher Zeno 'proved' a flying arrow never moves and the mathematical proof of the existence of life in other galaxies. The inspiring ideas explored range from Gandhi's theory of civil disobedience to Mary Wollstonecraft's groundbreaking advocacy of women's rights. A wide variety of cultural movements are also covered, including Neoclassicism, Surrealism and Postmodernism.

    Full of insights, arguments and philosophical perspectives, the book covers an amazing array of topics. Beginning in antiquity with Democritus, it progresses through logic and set theory, computability and complexity theory, quantum computing, cryptography, the information content of quantum states and the interpretation of quantum mechanics. There are also extended discussions about time travel, Newcomb's Paradox, the anthropic principle and the views of Roger Penrose. Aaronson's informal style makes this fascinating book accessible to readers with scientific backgrounds, as well as students and researchers working in physics, computer science, mathematics and philosophy.

    It is the definitive, touchstone presentation of the doctrine of emptiness. Professors Siderits and Katsura prepared this translation using the four surviving Indian commentaries in an attempt to reconstruct an interpretation of its enigmatic verses that adheres as closely as possible to that of its earliest proponents. Each verse is accompanied by concise, lively exposition by the authors conveying the explanations of the Indian commentators. The result is a translation that balances the demands for fidelity and accessibility.

    Then the springs of happiness start flowing; they become more alive, they become a joy to see, a joy to be with; they are a song, they are a dance.” – OshoDecades after the rebellions of the 1960s a new generation is again challenging and rebelling against outdated structures and values, focusing on political and economic systems and their failings. But this generation has the opportunity and responsibility to move the development of human freedom to the next level. Living on Your Own Terms will support this new generation in expanding its understanding of freedom and pushing toward new systems for humanity. The Osho Life Essentials series focuses on the most important questions in the life of the individual. Each volume contains timeless and always-contemporary investigations and discussions into questions vital to our personal search for meaning and purpose, focusing on questions specific to our inner life and quality of existence.

    Using the theories of Alfred Adler, one of the three giants of 19th century psychology alongside Freud and Jung, the authors explain how we are all free to determine our own future free of the shackles of past experiences, doubts and the expectations of others. It’s a philosophy that’s profoundly liberating, allowing us to develop the courage to change, and to ignore the limitations that we and those around us can place on ourselves.The result is a book that is both highly accessible and profound in its importance. Millions have already read and benefited from its wisdom. Now that The Courage to be Disliked has been published for the first time in English, so can you.

    His uniqueness lies not only in the fact that at the young age of 19 and a half, he travelled to snow clad Himalayas from Kerala, and there he met and lived for several years with a ‘real-time’ yogi, Babaji, but also that he should undertake such an unusual and adventurous exploration, given his non-Hindu birth and antecedents.The metamorphosis of Mumtaz Ali Khan into Sri ‘M’, a yogi with profound knowledge of the Upanishads and deep personal insights, born of first hand experiences with higher levels of consciousness is indeed a fascinating story.The bonus for those interested in the secrets of yoga, meditation and sankhyan metaphysics is that Sri ‘M’ is still living and easily reachable. He leads a normal life, married with two children, wears no special robes and conducts himself without pomp or paraphernalia.Someone who met him recently said, “I expected a flashy godman and instead I saw a jean clad gentleman with a smile of his face, ready to discuss my problems. In five minutes flat, I said to myself, this is no ordinary man. The peace and tranquility that enters your system is tangible”.

    “In this book, the author provides a definition of the word “Dream”, discusses the various types of dreams, mentions some dreams that were interpreted by the Prophet (Peace and blessings Be Upon Him), etiquette to be observed by the person who has a dream and the person who interprets it, and provides the interpretation of a large number of dreams, among some other issue related to subject. The author is the well-known erudite scholar sheikh Muhammad ibe Abd-Allah ibn Raashid Al-Bakri (d. 736 AH/1336CE). The English reader will definitely find this book highly interesting and thought-provoking.

    According to Gurdjieff, the wars raging at this very moment are nothing more than millions of sleeping people trying to annihilate millions of other sleeping people. Contrary to popular belief, there is no such thing as progress and evolution as long as humanity remains asleep. Two hundred conscious people could change the whole of life on the earth, Gurdjieff says. If we want to become those conscious people, we must learn how to change ourselves. With the help of self-knowledge and an understanding of our relation to the universe, we can awaken to a higher level of being—if we wish to change ourselves.All of Gurdjieff's fundamental principles and methods of transforming the intellect, emotions, and body, in the system known as the Fourth Way, are presented in this book in his own clear, precise words preserved by his closest pupils.Arranged in an orderly sequence of passages drawn from two primary sourcebooks —P. D. Ouspensky's In Search of the Miraculous, and Views from the Real World, recorded and arranged by Mme. Jeanne de Salzmann—this material is an indispensable introduction for those determined to undertake the efforts and practices necessary for awakening consciousness.All the basic concepts and methods are covered, including: • man is "asleep" • we have no unified "I" • the need for self-knowledge • functions of the human "machine" • states of consciousness • levels of being • three centers: moving, emotional, and thinking • personality and essence • the possibility of self-development • self-observation • remembering oneself • conscious evolution • the law of three forces • the ray of creation • the law of octaves • the Enneagram, a universal symbol • the variety of spiritual ways • esoteric Christianity • working in groups • the necessity of schools

    Here, he builds on his earlier work, Discipline and Punish, to explore the relationship between tragedy, conflict, and truth-telling. He also explores the different forms of truth-telling, and their relation to power and the law. The publication of Lectures on the Will to Know marks a milestone in Foucault's reception, and it will no longer be possible to read him in the same way as before.

    Art as Therapy is packed with 150 examples of outstanding art, with chapters on Love, Nature, Money, and Politics outlining how these works can help with common difficulties. For example, Vermeer's Girl Reading a Letter helps us focus on what we want to be loved for; Serra's Fernando Passoa reminds us of the importance of dignity in suffering; and Manet's Bunch of Asparagus teaches us how to preserve and value our long-term partners.De Botton demonstrates how art can guide and console us, and along the way, help us to better understand both art and ourselves.

    The human brain has evolved a complex circuitry that allows it to be socially intelligent. This social machinery has only just begun to be studied in detail. One function of this circuitry is to attribute awareness to others: to compute that person Y is aware of thing X. In Graziano's theory, the machinery that attributes awareness to others also attributes it to oneself. Damage that machinery and you disrupt your own awareness. Graziano discusses the science, the evidence, the philosophy, and the surprising implications of this new theory.

    But there is a method for avoiding such pitfalls of human nature, and it's called skepticism. By using rational inquiry and seeing subjects from a scientific perspective, we can approach even the most sensitive claims with clear eyes to ultimately arrive at the truth. During 18 lectures that will surprise, challenge, and entertain you, you will learn how to think, not just what to think-and you'll come to understand why extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.You'll discover how skepticism can help differentiate between real science and pseudoscience, as well as between "scientific" history and pseudohistory-distinctions that have serious educational and political implications.Fascinating case studies illustrate how you can apply the methods of skepticism to detect specious claims and faulty logic in any scenario you encounter such as:•The methodology employed by Holocaust deniers•Arguments made by proponents of creationism•The biology of near-death experiences and the sensed-presence effect•Psychic abilities and other "paranormal" phenomena.As you learn how our brains work to form beliefs, you'll examine the classic fallacies of thought that lead us to experience mistakes in thinking and to form bad arguments in favor of our beliefs.Is there a God? Is there life after death? Is there a basis for morality without God? Skepticism 101 doesn't shy away from controversial questions, nor does it give final answers. What it offers are methods and hard evidence for rationally evaluating various claims and positions, and an opportunity to understand why you believe what you believe.Listening Length: 9 hours and 10 minutes

    This book provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to his life and work, revealing how his philosophical sensibility and outlook informed his interpretation of Jewish tradition.Moshe Halbertal vividly describes Maimonides's childhood in Muslim Spain, his family's flight to North Africa to escape persecution, and their eventual resettling in Egypt. He draws on Maimonides's letters and the testimonies of his contemporaries, both Muslims and Jews, to offer new insights into his personality and the circumstances that shaped his thinking. Halbertal then turns to Maimonides's legal and philosophical work, analyzing his three great books--Commentary on the Mishnah, the Mishneh Torah, and the Guide of the Perplexed. He discusses Maimonides's battle against all attempts to personify God, his conviction that God's presence in the world is mediated through the natural order rather than through miracles, and his locating of philosophy and science at the summit of the religious life of Torah. Halbertal examines Maimonides's philosophical positions on fundamental questions such as the nature and limits of religious language, creation and nature, prophecy, providence, the problem of evil, and the meaning of the commandments.A stunning achievement, Maimonides offers an unparalleled look at the life and thought of this important Jewish philosopher, scholar, and theologian.

    This Will Never Happen Again is a collection of David Cain's essays and reflections on what each of us can do in our own private, first-person experience to create personal stability and meaning in a world for which we are now poorly adapted. About the Author David Cain is a Winnipeg-based blogger, and the author of Raptitude, a street-level look at the human experience. Primarily, he writes about the one thing we all value but which schools never teach -- how to create quality of life in real-time. Raptitude attracts nearly a quarter million views monthly.

    It takes Genis Carreras 32 words and a single image. If you ask me, he doesn't even need the text."—Co.Design"Remarkable visual eloquence in his Philographics project."—Brain PickingsPhilographics is all about explaining big ideas in simple shapes, merging the world of philosophy and graphic design. Here are ninety-five designs, each depicting a different "–ism" using a unique combination of geometric shapes, colors, and a short definition of the theory.

    In this extended interview, Getlen spoke to Carlin about all the subjects above and more, finding the veteran comic, who changed the way comedians approach the art of stand-up comedy several times over the course of his remarkable fifty-year career, to be even more intelligent and contemplative than one might expect. Carlin never shied away from difficult subjects, answering every question as if he had been mulling over the topic at hand for years before reaching his well-stated conclusion. Conversations with Carlin highlights the comedian’s anti-authoritarian views - what he would refer to as his “outsidership” - on almost every page, and features his extensive thoughts on the topics most closely associated with him, comedy and words. But the book also presents sides of the man that his fans have rarely, if ever, seen before, as he discusses topics like the importance to him of romantic love - George was with the same woman for almost four decades, until her death in 1997 - and the conditions under which he would put his life on the line and go off to war. Conversations with Carlin will be a revelation for longtime fans, providing one of the most in-depth looks yet at this brilliant comedy icon, while also serving as the perfect introduction for those just now discovering George Carlin and his vast influence on the comedy world. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Larry Getlen is a veteran journalist who has written for TIME, Esquire, New York Magazine, Radar, and the New York Post. He’s also a comedy writer and former stand-up comedian who has appeared on “Chappelle’s Show,” and was once booed off-stage at the legendary Apollo Theater in Harlem. He lives in New York City. Follow him on Twitter @larrygetlen.

    With bold graphics and eye-popping photography from around the world, this book is designed to be experienced, not just read! Filled with articles and hundreds of their most popular Tweets, bestselling authors Chris Brady and Orrin Woodward bring you training in the language of excellence as only they can. Those especially on the younger side of life will love the EDGE book that promotes self-confidence, drive, and motivation. Gain advice and get true stories of success and timely information from fascinating people. Learn the principles of self-improvement at an early age. It’s a gift that will keep on giving from parent to child for years to come.

    Modern science largely argues that human beings are chance products of a purposeless universe, but other traditions believe humanity has an essential role and responsibility in creation.Lachman brings together many strands of esoteric, spiritual, and philosophical thought to form a counter-argument to the nihilism that permeates the twenty-first century. Offering a radical alternative to postmodern apathy, he argues that we humans are indeed the "caretakers" of the universe, entrusted with a daunting task-- healing and repairing creation itself.This is an important book from a key thinker of our time, addressing some of the most urgent questions facing humanity.

    From Aristotle, Plato, Epicurus, Confucius, Cicero and Heraclitus in ancient times to 17th century rationalists Descartes, Leibniz and Spinoza, from 20th-century greats Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Baudrillard and Simone de Beauvoir to contemporary thinkers Michael Sandel, Peter Singer and Slavoj Zizek, 50 Philosophy Classics explores key writings that have shaped the discipline and had an impact on the real world. Philosophy can no longer be confined to academia, and 50 Philosophy Classics shows how powerful it can be as a tool for opening our minds and helping us think. Whether you are fascinated or daunted by the big questions of how to think, how to be, how to act and how to see, this is the perfect introduction to some of humanity's greatest minds and their landmark books.

    Exhausted through overwork, incapable of productive activity, I found myself drifting through social networks, feeling my depression and exhaustion increasing.‘Left-wing’ Twitter can often be a miserable, dispiriting zone. Earlier this year, there were some high-profile twitterstorms, in which particular left-identifying figures were ‘called out’ and condemned. What these figures had said was sometimes objectionable; but nevertheless, the way in which they were personally vilified and hounded left a horrible residue: the stench of bad conscience and witch-hunting moralism. The reason I didn’t speak out on any of these incidents, I’m ashamed to say, was fear. The bullies were in another part of the playground. I didn’t want to attract their attention to me.

    Advocating a "bottom-up," inductive approach to cognition, the book covers the gamut of topics starting with the axioms of existence, identity, and consciousness, then taking up concept-formation, propositions, logic, and principles. A chapter on free will, treated as the choice to exercise reason, presents the author's interpretation of Rand's view on volition, supplemented by his own analysis.

    The precise answers given by Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi in these pages represent the quintessence of Divine Wisdom. Bhagavan Sri Ramana speaks from the peak of spiritual experience. Every word that falls from his lips is the essence of Upanishadic wisdom.The devout reader who studies these pages, to whatever religion he may belong, is sure to gain the conviction that his essential nature is divine. He will be guided to the core of his Being, the Heart.

    He points out that the exalted state of heaven's kingdom is not merely something to be realized after physical death, but may be realized here and now as one allows God's presence to unfold in one's life. And this is the essence of Christian mysticism. He also gives us beautiful instructions on the proper handling of our own desires and their significance in our growth in the life of Christ. The following unique translations of Meister Eckhart's teachings are included in this volume: The Kingdom of Heaven is Nigh The Birth of Christ in the Soul The Poor in God

    Meet Mr. Everit, the owner of a wheelbarrow factory, and his management trainee. Together they teach us that life doesn’t have to be a struggle.Contrary to popular belief, getting everything we want does not involve gritting your teeth and fighting each step of the way. Instead it means adjusting our changing attitudes – from a fear mentality to a wealth mentality. It means overcoming small and self-defeating modes of thinking and taking care of people while life takes care of you.“Alan Cohen is a major player in the spiritual revolution taking place today.”—Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, author of Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life

    Machiavelli was born in a tumultuous era—popes waged acquisitive wars against Italian city-states, and people and cities might fall from power at any time. Machiavelli has become infamous for such political advice, ensuring that he would be remembered in history through the adjective, "Machiavellian", but he was a founder of modern political science, and more specifically political ethics. This collection, contains his best works, in their original editions: The Prince, The Art of War, Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius & History of Florence. Review, design and indexing by Century eBooks

    This compilation brings together different voices from around the world with the purpose of unleashing, discovering, healing and celebrating life in all its wholeness — whoever you are, whatever happened to you, and wherever you want to get next.

    This isn’t a book of answers - it’s a book of self-reflective questions that have fascinated me all of my life. Reflecting on them has given new meaning and purpose to my life and changed not only the way I see the world, but the way I see you too. When we change our mind … we also change our world.

    V.R. PrabhuThe Two Incarnations of Lord DattatreyaThe Dattatreya Sampradaya has kept alive the eternal principles of Truth, Righteousness, Peace, Divine Love and Non-Violence in Bharat for thousands of years. It extends back in time to the very beginning of the human race and over thousands of years this Sampradaya produced other Sampradayas like the Shaiva and Vishnu Sampradayas, to name only two. As the other Sampradyas kept increasing in number, the Dattatreya Sampradya was largely forgottren by the laity in virtually the whole of Northern Bharat.The revival of the Datta Sampradaya, in the last millenium was largely due to Sri Sripad Sri Vallabha and Sri Narasimha Saraswati. The GURU Charitra is the biography of these two incarnations of Lord Dattatreya. This text has been used for the last 300 years to revive our lost Vedic heritage. Besides many lost rituals were revived by Sri Narasimha Saraswati and are recounted in this text.

    . . a writer who spent his life decrying the onward march of the Machine.”  — The New YorkerBrave New World author Aldous Huxley on enlightenment and the "ultimate reality"In this anthology of twenty-six essays and other writings, Aldous Huxley discusses the nature of God, enlightenment, being, good and evil, religion, eternity, and the divine. Huxley consistently examined the spiritual basis of both the individual and human society, always seeking to reach an authentic and clearly defined experience of the divine. Featuring an introduction by renowned religious scholar Huston Smith, this celebration of "ultimate reality" proves relevant and prophetic in addressing the spiritual hunger so many feel today.

    It is unlike other books on the subject in that it is founded on what is called Top-Down-Living, which is to live life from the higher vantage point of your Real Self. Only by raising your degree of consciousness above the Physical Plane of your physical experience and the Mental Plane of your thoughts, desires and emotions, can you have directive power over them. Trying to change your physical experience at the degree of consciousness of the physical you is akin to manipulating an already printed photograph and expecting the changes to be reflected when you print it out again from the original negative. The Adventure of I teaches you how to change the 'original' so as to create lasting change in your life.You will gain an unparalleled understanding of the underlying mental nature of the Universe and how your mind creates your reality through It. You will discover the masculine and feminine principles of your mind and how they work together for the same purpose that is creation. You will learn precisely why your mind must, by definition, be one and the same with the One Universal Mind of The Absolute in Its entirety, for which nothing is impossible. You will learn about the seven Universal Laws and other Principles that govern everything and everyone in the Universe, and how to use the Higher Laws to master the Lower Laws and transcend the influence of polarity and rhythm in your life. You will learn practical techniques for consciously creating your experience of reality, one desire at a time, under the direction of your will and the knowing of your intuition. You will discover long-lost secrets about the nature of the Universe and your mind's central place within Its Omnipotence, and much more.Ultimately, The Adventure of I will empower you to utter the most profound statement, 'I AM I', with full authority, and in so doing, you will become the master of your destiny.

    As Losurdo argues, class struggle is often misunderstood as exclusively the struggle of the poor against the rich, of the humble against the powerful. It is an interpretation that is dear to populism, one that supposes a binary logic that closes its eyes to complexity and inclines towards the celebration of poverty as a place of moral excellence. This book, however, shows the theory of class struggle is a general theory of social conflict. Each time, the most adverse social conflicts are intertwined in different ways. A historical situation always emerges with specific and unique characteristics that necessitate serious examination, free of schematic and biased analysis. Only if it breaks away from populism can Marxism develop the ability to interpret and change the world.

    Find enlightenment with these one-hundred twenty-two traditional Buddhist Zen koans -- stories, dialogues, questions, or statements, used in Zen-practice to provoke the "great doubt," and test a student's progress in Zen practice.

    Today it more frequently reveals itself in the everyday insensitivity to the suffering of others, in the inability or refusal to understand them and in the casual turning away of one's ethical gaze. Evil and moral blindness lurk in what we take as normality and in the triviality and banality of everyday life, and not just in the abnormal and exceptional cases.The distinctive kind of moral blindness that characterizes our societies is brilliantly analysed by Zygmunt Bauman and Leonidas Donskis through the concept of adiaphora: the placing of certain acts or categories of human beings outside of the universe of moral obligations and evaluations. Adiaphora implies an attitude of indifference to what is happening in the world - a moral numbness. In a life where rhythms are dictated by ratings wars and box-office returns, where people are preoccupied with the latest gadgets and forms of gossip, in our 'hurried life' where attention rarely has time to settle on any issue of importance, we are at serious risk of losing our sensitivity to the plight of the other. Only celebrities or media stars can expect to be noticed in a society stuffed with sensational, valueless information.This probing inquiry into the fate of our moral sensibilities will be of great interest to anyone concerned with the most profound changes that are silently shaping the lives of everyone in our contemporary liquid-modern world.

    . . and a potential way out of the division, greed, and destruction that threaten to engulf our world. In the 20th century, we were introduced to several subdivisions of the mind: the conscious, unconscious, subconscious, preconscious, and so on. But what we didn’t know was that there was another level of consciousness, an all-encompassing, infinite dimension of shared intelligence: the One Mind. This universal consciousness connects all of us through space and time. Even now, as you read these words, you are participating in the One Mind.Emerging studies have shown that the One Mind isn’t just an idea; it’s a reality. In this book, Larry Dossey shares compelling research that supports the One Mind concept. These cases include experiences of:Shared thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations with a distant individualCommunication between humans and sentient nonhumans, such as petsLarge groups of animals—flocks, schools, herds—behaving in highly coordinated waysAcquisition of previously unknown knowledge from a person who has diedHidden or lost objects found through mental means aloneDirect contact with a transcendent domain through near-death experiencesThrough engaging stories, fascinating case studies, and brilliant insights from great thinkers throughout history, One Mind explores the outer reaches of human consciousness. In it, you will discover a new way to interpret the great mysteries of our experience and learn how to develop the empathy necessary to engender more love, peace, and collective awareness. The result is a rich new understanding of what it means to be human and a renewed hope that we can successfully confront the challenges we face at this crossroads in human history.With One Mind, Dossey shows that we are not alone, that we are all one.

    Yogic meditation derives its power from the fact that it systematically suspends the entire processing capacity of the subconscious mind and diverts it towards meditation. The processing power of the subconscious mind is a multiple of that of the conscious mind. Simply watching breath or watching awareness involves only your conscious mind. For quick and effective concentration the entire power of the subconscious mind has to be harnessed. This is the secret of yogic meditation. You will also find information on the importance of Kundalini as support for meditation and the factors that make it rise, such as chakra and Sushumna visualization, mantra and breath. The text then explains how the chakras represent evolutionary stages of brain and mind development. Chakra meditation, if done in a sophisticated, high-powered way, will propel the evolution of the brain and mind of the practitioner and the awakening of higher intelligence.

    His philosophy directly inspired Napoleon Hill, James Allen, Wallace D. Wattles, and Elbert Hubbard. Today's inspirational leaders, like Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, Rhonda Byrne, and Oprah Winfrey, are equally indebted to Emerson. "We are the Builders of Our Fortunes" is the first-ever collection of Emerson's essential writings on success. In these ten essays, Emerson will teach you: How to develop your inner genius; How the power of thought shapes our world; How the universe responds to our every action; Why wealth is a spiritual phenomena; Why economies rise or fall; What defines human greatness; and much more. Includes an introduction by Charles Conrad, who also selected "Emerson's Keys to Success" after each chapter.

    Danger looms ahead for her friends. Pressured out of their homes in the Lost Winds, every step threatens them with persecution and death. Taking a daring route on a treacherous sea, they seek asylum in a new land. Will they make it to their destination? Will Nalia's dream of finding peace in Draviland become the utopia that she desperately desires, or are the dangers of this new land even worse than her home? Set in a real-time, stream-of-consciousness narrative, this story takes you on a sweeping literary journey.

    Do not buy this summary & analysis if you are looking for a full copy of this enlightening book, which can be found back on the Amazon search page. In David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, author Malcolm Gladwell once again challenges conventional ways of thinking by providing paradigm-shifting examples of how things are not always what they seem. In Outliers, he challenged the notion of innate talent; in The Tipping Point, he showed that trends do not start by accident; and in Blink, he demonstrated why first impressions are often the most correct ones. Malcolm Gladwell’s books all have an air of rebelliousness to them, a sense of sticking a thumb in the eye of widely accepted mainstream thought. David and Goliath is no exception. Again and again, Gladwell provides evidence that our assumptions about power, authority, strength, advantages, and disadvantages might be completely backwards. FROM START-TO-FINISH IN JUST 30 MINUTES! We have already read David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell and pulled out some of the key take-away points and insights to give you a comprehensive chapter-by-chapter summary & review. In doing so, unfortunately we do not have the space to include all of the many important ideas and anecdotes found in the book. To get it all, you should first order the full book. Packaged together in an engaging and easily digestible format, this concise summary & analysis works best as an unofficial guide or companion to read alongside the book. Here's your chapter-by-chapter guide to David and Goliath that you can download right now!

    Hirschman, one of the twentieth century's most original and provocative thinkers. In this gripping biography, Jeremy Adelman tells the story of a man shaped by modern horrors and hopes, a worldly intellectual who fought for and wrote in defense of the values of tolerance and change.Born in Berlin in 1915, Hirschman grew up amid the promise and turmoil of the Weimar era, but fled Germany when the Nazis seized power in 1933. Amid hardship and personal tragedy, he volunteered to fight against the fascists in Spain and helped many of Europe's leading artists and intellectuals escape to America after France fell to Hitler. His intellectual career led him to Paris, London, and Trieste, and to academic appointments at Columbia, Harvard, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He was an influential adviser to governments in the United States, Latin America, and Europe, as well as major foundations and the World Bank. Along the way, he wrote some of the most innovative and important books in economics, the social sciences, and the history of ideas.Throughout, he remained committed to his belief that reform is possible, even in the darkest of times.This is the first major account of Hirschman's remarkable life, and a tale of the twentieth century as seen through the story of an astute and passionate observer. Adelman's riveting narrative traces how Hirschman's personal experiences shaped his unique intellectual perspective, and how his enduring legacy is one of hope, open-mindedness, and practical idealism.

    Yet, as Stallwood reveals in this memoir of an eventful life dedicated to social justice for the voiceless, finding the truest path for progress has meant learning a lot along the way.Equal parts personal narrative, social history, and impassioned call for rethinking animal advocacy, Growl describes Stallwood’s journey from a meat-eating slaughterhouse worker to a vegan activist for all species. He explains the importance of four key values in animal rights philosophy and practice—compassion, truth, nonviolence, and justice—and how a deeper understanding of their role not only leads us to discover our humanity for animals, but also for ourselves.

    By taking examples from common everyday life. Sri Sri makes his discourse very simple and yet explores great depth in the verses of the song that Lord Krishna sang to Arjuna in the middle of a battlefield.

    

    Augustine’s most influential work. In the context of what begins as a lengthy critique of classic Roman religion and a defense of Christianity, Augustine touches upon numerous topics, including the role of grace, the original state of humanity, the possibility of waging a just war, the ideal form of government, and the nature of heaven and hell. But his major concern is the difference between the City of God and the City of Man – one built on love of God, the other on love of self. One cannot but be moved and impressed by the author’s breadth of interest and penetrating intelligence. For all those who are interested in the greatest classics of Christian antiquity, The City of God is indispensible. This long-awaited translation by William Babcock is published in two volumes, with an introduction and annotation that make Augustine’s monumental work approachable. Books 1-10 are Augustine’s critique of Rome, of paganism, and of ancient philosophy.

    We leave philosophical matters to the philosophers in the same way that we leave science to scientists. Scott Samuelson thinks this is tragic, for our lives as well as for philosophy. In The Deepest Human Life he takes philosophy back from the specialists and restores it to its proper place at the center of our humanity, rediscovering it as our most profound effort toward understanding, as a way of life that anyone can live. Exploring the works of some of history’s most important thinkers in the context of the everyday struggles of his students, he guides us through the most vexing quandaries of our existence—and shows just how enriching the examined life can be.            Samuelson begins at the beginning: with Socrates, working his most famous assertion—that wisdom is knowing that one knows nothing—into a method, a way of approaching our greatest mysteries. From there he springboards into a rich history of philosophy and the ways its journey is encoded in our own quests for meaning. He ruminates on Epicurus against the sonic backdrop of crickets and restaurant goers in Iowa City. He follows the Stoics into the cell where James Stockdale spent seven years as a prisoner of war. He spins with al-Ghazali first in doubt, then in the ecstasy of the divine. And he gets the philosophy education of his life when one of his students, who authorized a risky surgery for her son that inadvertently led to his death, asks with tears in her eyes if Kant was right, if it really is the motive that matters and not the consequences. Through heartbreaking stories, humanizing biographies, accessible theory, and evocative interludes like “On Wine and Bicycles” or “On Zombies and Superheroes ,” he invests philosophy with the personal and vice versa. The result is a book that is at once a primer and a reassurance—that the most important questions endure, coming to life in each of us.

    Osho responds her to questions on 'Relaxing and Waking Up' and 'The Difference between Instinct and Intuition'.It is the simplicity and personal impact which makes Osho's works so accessible for every reader."In meditation you are not going anywhere. You are simply being here, relaxed, utterly centered in yourself. Everything stops. For this, no "how" is needed."

    prisons—even though it consistently drives healthy prisoners insane, makes the mentally ill sicker, and, according to the testimony of prisoners, threatens to reduce life to a living death. In this profoundly important and original book, Lisa Guenther examines the death-in-life experience of solitary confinement in America from the early nineteenth century to today’s supermax prisons. Documenting how solitary confinement undermines prisoners’ sense of identity and their ability to understand the world, Guenther demonstrates the real effects of forcibly isolating a person for weeks, months, or years.Drawing on the testimony of prisoners and the work of philosophers and social activists from Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau-Ponty to Frantz Fanon and Angela Davis, the author defines solitary confinement as a kind of social death. It argues that isolation exposes the relational structure of being by showing what happens when that structure is abused—when prisoners are deprived of the concrete relations with others on which our existence as sense-making creatures depends. Solitary confinement is beyond a form of racial or political violence; it is an assault on being.A searing and unforgettable indictment, Solitary Confinement reveals what the devastation wrought by the torture of solitary confinement tells us about what it means to be human—and why humanity is so often destroyed when we separate prisoners from all other people.

    Ghalib is the greatest Urdu poet and one of the greatest in any Indian language He would rank perhaps among the great poets of the world With Meer Ghalib Iqbal and Faiz to name only four the firmament of Urdu poetry is truly star studded with numerous starlets strewn around Ghalib has not only a pride of place among them his stature is growing with every passing decade In fact it is well nigh impossible to do full justice to his poetry particularly the ghazal in translation The best that could be done was to translate the verses into independent rhymed couplets This is a selection of the best and most popular Ghazals from Diwan e Ghalib For the convenience of readers original Ghazals have been given in Hindi as well as in Roman script Meanings of difficult Urdu words have also been give in footnotes

    Yet this fact is almost always ignored by those who write the history of ideas. This book tells the history of the pagan philosophers, and the various places where their ideas appeared, from ancient times to the 21st century. The Pagan philosophers are a surprisingly diverse group: from kings of great empires to exiled lonely wanderers, from devout religious teachers to con artists, drug addicts, and social radicals. Three traditions of thought emerge from their work: Pantheism, NeoPlatonism, and Humanism, corresponding to the immensities of the Earth, the Gods, and the Soul. From ancient schools like the Stoics and the Druids, to modern feminists and deep ecologists, the pagan philosophers examined these three immensities with systematic critical reason, and sometimes with poetry and mystical vision. This book tells their story for the first time in one volume, and invites you to examine the immensities with them. And as a special feature, the book includes summaries of the ideas of leading modern pagan intellectuals, in their own words: Emma Restall Orr, Michael York, John Michael Greer, Vivianne Crowley, and more

    The essence of the teaching has been expressed in a very clear and lucid style. The Nisargadatta Gita Gita has only one chapter 'I AM', which consists of 231 condensed quotes of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj along with a short commentary on each quote. These quotes have been prepared from a collection of 572 'I AM' quotes compiled from 10 main books (Beginning with 'I Am That') which cover almost all the recorded dialogues of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. This third edition is the first official printed version and has an appendix titled I Am That - A Realization, which is a tribute to the Guru by his disciple.

    Is it possible that Life comes with an operating manual, as well? That’s the simple, but powerful premise of Tom Shadyac’s inspiring and provocative first book. Written as a series of essays and dialogues, we are invited into a conversation that is both challenging and empowering. The question now is, can we discern what is written inside of this operating manual and garner the courage to live in accordance with its precepts.

    But one day, while piloting cargo through the far reaches of space, they suddenly find themselves on a journey they didn't expect: a journey to the truth. A totally new kind of resource for Catholic apologetics and evangelization, The Truth Is Out There combines the visual excitement and quirky humor of graphic novels with solid popular philosophy and theology. The result is a book in which everyone from teens to adults can find accessible answers to questions about God, the soul, true happiness, and much more and have fun doing it!And because Brendan and Erc start their journey at the very beginning, readers don't have to be Catholic, or possess any kind of faith, to appreciate the thoughtful ideas and arguments they'll encounter. If you just have an open mind (and a sense of adventure) you will come away from these pages with a clearer sense of life's purpose, and a better understanding of the reasons for believing in God, Jesus, and the Church. And if you're already a believer, The Truth Is Out There will deepen your knowledge of the Faith and sharpen your skills at defending it.

    In lieu of payment, he gets to travel to and dive on Roatan, arguably one of the most beautiful, pristine islands in the Caribbean. Through a series of meetings, the reporter gets to know Paul's innermost philosophies. He learns an alternate way of living from a man who strives to perfect handstands on a dock and practices the art of happiness. The author developed the book as a guide to help his children live their lives in a way that would allow them to enjoy the journey. Drawing on wildly diverse disciplines including stoicism, neuroscience, skepticism, behavioral economics, and spirituality; the reader is taken on a journey that exposes the author's philosophy of life. He demonstrates that happiness is indeed a choice. All places detailed on Roatan exist and are more beautiful than described. Photos are by kind permission of Shawn Jackson."So much more than just an original, engaging, and consistently entertaining story, 'To Hold The Sun' can be viewed by the reader as a kind of guide or blueprint to live life in a way that would enable an appreciation of the journey and not just the destination. An expertly crafted work from beginning to end, 'To Hold The Sun' is enthusiastically recommended reading and will prove an enduringly popular addition to community library collections!"-- Midwest Book ReviewChas describes the spiritual warrior's journey in way that makes you want to come along, roll up your sleeves, and do the work required to become the best version of you there is!-- Timber Hawkeye, Buddhist Boot Camp

    Contributors include Richard Rohr, David Benner, Cynthia Bourgeault, Diana Butler Bass, John Esposito, James Finley, Robert Sardello, and others. "Oneing," the title of the journal, is a word that was used by the Christian mystic, Lady Julian of Norwich (1342-1416), to describe the encounter between God and the soul. The Rohr Institute publishes "Oneing" with Jesus’ words at heart: “that all may be one” (John 17:21).

    They developed the spiritual science of Hinduism, Sanatana Dharma, as their way of ensuring the constant renewal and progress of India’s spiritual tradition and culture. Sanatana Dharma permeates every aspect of Hindu culture, from religion to the arts to the sciences. Woven within its Vedic texts lie all of the essential concepts of quantum physics and other modern scientific discoveries. Providing a complete introduction to the science of Sanatana Dharma, Vanamali reveals how the core concepts of Hinduism, including Brahman, Atman, bhakti, karma, and reincarnation, relate to modern science and how the scientific discoveries of the ancient rishis have been recently rediscovered by the West. She examines the scientific principles within the classic stories and texts of India, including the Vedas, the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, and the Puranas. Within the teachings of the ancient Puranic sages and saints such as Valmiki and Vyasa and legendary physicians and mathematician-philosophers such as Aryabhatta and Varahamihir, the author reveals great scientific truths--not those believed by the ancient world, but truths still upheld by modern science, particularly quantum physics. She explores Desha and Kaala (Space and Time), Shankara and his philosophy of Advaita Vedanta, and the Hindu sciences of mathematics, astronomy, and Vedic astrology. In illustrating the scientific basis of Hinduism and the discoveries of its sages, Vanamali provides a window into the depths of this most ancient spiritual way of life.

    This very place the Lotus paradise... And once you have known your source, wherever you are, you are in the Lotus paradise.This very place the Lotus paradise,And this very body the Buddha. And whatsoever you do -- whatsoever, without any conditions -- is the expression of truth.

    His projects have been widely praised for their beauty, clarity and attention to detail. One of the key issues in the architecture of Kengo Kuma is the way it responds to its setting. Unlike many important figures of Western modernism, who have promoted the idea of the isolated architectural object, his work attempts to have a tight fight with its immediate context. In Anti-Object Kuma traces in philosophical terms his approach to architecture, revealing influences from Kant and Bruno Taut to the Japanese tradition of ‘weaker’ buildings characterised by their use of natural light and natural materials.Architecture Words is a series of texts and important essays on architecture written by architects, critics and scholars. Like many aspects of everyday life, contemporary architectural culture is dominated by an endless production and consumption of images, graphics and information. Rather than mirror this larger force, this series of small books seeks to deflect it by means of direct language, concise editing and beautiful, legible graphic design. Each volume in the series offers the reader texts that distil important larger issues and problems, and communicate architectural ideas; not only the ideas contained within each volume, but also the enduring power of written ideas more generally to challenge and change the way all architects think.

    This collection of homilies, letters, and talks from his years as cardinal in Argentina reveals his consistent love for the poor and joy in Christ as he covers a wide range of topics of interest to all Catholics - marriage, prayer, faith, education, evangelization, the elderly, children, the homeless, vocations, and more.The frank and open style that has endeared him to the world as pope is fully evident in these approachable pieces that give insight into the mind of the man who would become Pope Francis.

    They suffer from higher than 100% attendance, men wait periods of longer than a year to get initiated, they have never lost a single Entered Apprentice, they have nobody on the roles who is NPD or has been dropped for NPD. Men arrive on lodge days at 8:00 a.m. and are often reluctently leaving for home near midnight or 2:00 a.m. Their dues are high by American standards, the background check is rigorous, and the initiations are solemn and serious. Every lodge meeting is treated as an event and celebrated as such. Dinner is treated as a feast with all its positive connotations. Freemasonry is celebrated in every aspect of the lodge. From the artwork, the furnishings, the set up and the atomosopher; all aspects of the lodge meeting are intentional and meant to create an experience. The Lodge is a Traditional Observance Lodge or T.O. Lodge as it is called by some. Like all labels, the Traditional Observance label has caused fear and fright, anger and frustration, confusion, and edicts. It has also helped to define the practices that make the author's lodge one of the most successful lodges in the United States by any standard one might choose to measure it. This book does not claim to provide a Masonic magic pill for the ailing lodges of the world. Nor does it claim in any fashion or form that the way this author's lodge operates is the only way or the best way to operate. What this book does is explain the the Traditional Observance model and encourages ideas in the area of increasing the lodge experience and allowing quality to become the watchword over every aspect of Freemasonry. The writings contains a mixture of personal experiences, practicle advice, and real life examples for creating a Traditional Observance lodge or increasing your lodges fulfillment.

    Why is there something rather than nothing and why is the universe ordered rather than chaotic? To answer these questions, they invented cosmologies, which were also the basis of their religious beliefs. A person’s cosmological and religious beliefs are always interdependent. If you have an atheistic (scientific materialist) cosmology, you will be an atheist. If you have a Creator God cosmology, you will be an Abrahamist. If you have a pantheistic cosmology equating God and Nature, you are likely to follow an Eastern religion. If you have an ontological mathematical cosmology, you will be an advocate of the rational soul (dimensionless mathematical monad – Fourier frequency domain singularity).The ordered universe of the ancients was divided into four: 1) the World (that we inhabit), 2) the Overworld (the sky and heavens that the gods inhabit), 3) the Underworld (that the dead inhabit), and 4) Dreamworld (the mysterious zone between sleep and death that connects the living, dead and the gods). This is the incredible story of these four worlds and how they have influenced the development of all human thought, right up to the present day.

    Utilizing the insights of Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Buber, and others, Ostler offers further ruminations on what it means to fall from our relationship with God and once again have at-one-ment with Him.

    Karatani seeks to understand both Capital-Nation-State, the interlocking system that is the dominant form of modern global society, and the possibilities for superseding it. In The Structure of World History, he traces different modes of exchange, including the pooling of resources that characterizes nomadic tribes, the gift exchange systems developed after the adoption of fixed-settlement agriculture, the exchange of obedience for protection that arises with the emergence of the state, the commodity exchanges that characterize capitalism, and, finally, a future mode of exchange based on the return of gift exchange, albeit modified for the contemporary moment. He argues that this final stage—marking the overcoming of capital, nation, and state—is best understood in light of Kant's writings on eternal peace. The Structure of World History is in many ways the capstone of Karatani's brilliant career, yet it also signals new directions in his thought.

    When he arrives and is ushered through the gate, he finds something far different from the typical vacation retreat. In fact, it seems he may have found the back door to heaven. The proprietor and people from his past welcome him with food, rest, and conversation until what started out as a little escape from everyday life turns into an experience he will never forget.This imaginative novel explores the big questions we all have about what lies beyond this earthly life. Readers hungry for a taste of heaven will find in The Gate hope, encouragement, and pure joy.

    While each of us holds to some version of one of these worldviews, we are often unconscious of their differences as well as their underlying assumptions. Mary Poplin argues that the ultimate test of a worldview, philosophy or ideology is whether it corresponds with reality. Since different perspectives conflict with each other, how do we make sense of the differences? And if a worldview system accurately reflects reality, what implications does that have for our thinking and living? In this wide-ranging and perceptive study, Poplin examines four major worldviews: naturalism, humanism, pantheism and Judeo-Christian theism. She explores the fundamental assumptions of each, pressing for limitations. Ultimately she puts each perspective to the test, asking, what if this worldview is true? If reality is secular, that means something for how we orient our lives. But if reality is not best explained by secular perspectives, that would mean something quite different. Consider for yourself what is the fundamental substance of reality.

    And that's going to be the condition of your mind when you get through this information!" This transcription has been meticulously prepared from speeches that Napoleon Hill gave to groups of students almost 100 years ago and yet the powerful and inspirational messages are as relevant today as they ever have been. This rare reproduction will allow you to absorb the life transforming training at your own pace through the written words of Napoleon Hill as he taught them in a live personal setting with attentive students many of whom were inspired to go on and achieve great financial success. You now have the opportunity to accomplish anything with the help of this superb instruction. This training is timeless and powerful and is a must read for anyone that wants to move forward towards success using principles that have inspired more millionaires than any other training in recorded history! Enjoy and prosper! Topics covered in Volume 1 include: Chapter 1 - Purpose & Plan Chapter 2 - Programming the Subconscious Chapter 3 - How Nature Works Chapter 4 - Broadcasting Chapter 5 - Benefits of Definiteness of Purpose Chapter 6 - Prayer Chapter 7 - Attack! Chapter 8 - Detailed Instructions for Your Definite Major Purpose Chapter 9 - Programming the Conscious and Subconscious Chapter 10 - The Greatest Purpose and The Greatest Crime Chapter 11 - Relationships Chapter 12 - Examples From Nature ***BONUS: Volume 2 Now Included!!*** Topics covered in Volume 2 include: Chapter 1 - The First Premise Chapter 2 - The Second Premise Chapter 3 - The Third Premise Chapter 4 - The Fourth Premise Chapter 5 - The Fifth Premise Chapter 6 - Thinking Positive During a Great Depression Chapter 7 - Types of Alliances Chapter 8 - General Instructions - Qualities for Master Mind Members Chapter 9 - Supporting Principles Chapter 10 - Infinite Intelligence Chapter 11 - Overcoming Adversity Chapter 12 - Self-Respect Chapter 13 - Burning Desire Chapter 14 - Faith & How to Pray Effectively Chapter 15 - How to Be Success Conscious A Must Have Addition To Your Success Library!

    In the process, it also provides a systematic and original account of Latour's overall project. The account of grace offered here redistributes the tasks assigned to science and religion. Where now the work of science is to bring into focus objects that are too distant, too resistant, and too transcendent to be visible, the business of religion is to bring into focus objects that are too near, too available, and too immanent to be visible. Where science reveals transcendent objects by correcting for our nearsightedness, religion reveals immanent objects by correcting for our farsightedness. Speculative Grace remaps the meaning of grace and examines the kinds of religious instruments and practices that, as a result, take center stage.

    This is no mere miscellany, but a lighthearted work of serious literature, concentrating a wealth of ideas and history into aphorisms and anecdotes.

    You'll move at a good pace, knocking back topic after topic with gusto. You won't be bogged down with the kind of tedious excess that is the death of most PBS-endorsed political guidebooks, but neither will you lose essential and enlightening detail. And Ty's good-humored, common-sense but well-reasoned approach will keep you involved (and smiling) throughout, wanting to see what big lie gets skewered next. The events are covered, major and minor, from JFK to GMO, Boston to Waco, aspartame to Oklahoma City, fluoride to Monsanto-land, MLK, chemtrails and beyond. The book functions as a kind of 'greatest hits, ' or sportsman's guide to a 'World Series of Conspiracy.' Ty brings that feeling to his work: the love of a good sports writer for a game. The game here is our history of national and international deception, played by the jackals who've manipulated their way into power. Most authors take on one issue to excess, burying us in useless and irrelevant data, without drawing our eye to the hundred similar (or identical) events on the horizon. But what we really want - and what Ty delivers - is a compendium, a means to compare and contrast the lies of history: how much better it is to have it all laid out in one, colorful, entertaining volume. And what's wrong with being entertaining? The bad guys don't know what to do when the truth-tellers crack wise and get funny - it throws them off their pitch. So much the better for the truth-seekers that we keep our sense of humor - and Ty certainly does. Even when the material goes into dark country, even when we're faced with acts of willful destruction so callous, brutal and monstrous you'd think we'd just lay down and give up, Ty marshals us on by shining a light on the things that make us human: our curiosity, wit and humor, compassion, integrity, critical thinking; and, thank goodness, the thing that governments and media ignore - our irreplaceable common sense." Liam Scheff, author of Official Stories. "Why did Monumental Myths need to be written? To fill the monumental gaps in the real history not taught to most Americans! And Ty Bollinger is just the man for the job, covering a comprehensive array of events from perspectives unapproved by any government agency, but guaranteed to cure your historical deficiency diseases. The time is right and the people are finally hungry enough to see through the empty calories fed to us by the mainstream media. What Ty has done with this book is to satisfy the most voracious of appetites for those who are the hungriest to know what has gone wrong over the last 100+ years right up until today. With great breadth, depth and humor, prepare to have your historical and contemporary chakras aligned to see through some of the most monumental myths that, up until this point, have misled generations of freedom-loving people into 'misinformational' bondage. I can't thank Ty enough for putting all of this information into one book!" Robert Scott Bell, Syndicated host of the "Robert Scott Bell Show."

    This is the first collection of Williams's popular essays and reviews. Williams writes about a broad range of subjects, from philosophy to science, the humanities, economics, feminism, and pornography.Included are reviews of major books such as John Rawls's Theory of Justice, Richard Rorty's Consequences of Pragmatism, and Martha Nussbaum's Therapy of Desire. But many of these essays extend beyond philosophy, providing an intellectual tour through the past half century, from C. S. Lewis to Noam Chomsky. No matter the subject, readers see a first-class mind grappling with landmark books in real time, before critical consensus had formed and ossified.

    This condition is known as the Absolute or the Omega Point.The universe travels, mathematically, from Alpha to Omega, from perfect potential to perfect actualization. Even now, on this Earth, people are transforming into Gods.The ancient and controversial secret society known as the Illuminati has, for thousands of years, waged a war against Abrahamic monotheism and promoted the doctrine of "becoming God". No matter who you are, you can attain divinity if you get off your knees and stop mindlessly and slavishly worshiping a non-existent "Creator".Mathematics is the Philosopher's Stone that can transmute base metal (ordinary humans) into gold (Gods). You too can attain your own divine Omega Point, and complete your cosmic journey - across countless reincarnations - from alpha to omega.Are you ready to become an Omega Human?

    This is an indubitable fact. The remaining Christians search for an explanation. They want to know how it happened.This is the story of the decline and fall of Western civilization. It is the story of uncommonly powerful men, unfathomably evil men. . . apostates.Reader beware!This book faces head-on the spiritual forces that leveled a full-out attack on the Christian faith in the Western world. On the one hand, it is a story of demonic possession, insanity, suicide, mass-murder, adultery, homosexuality, cultural and social revolutions, and unbridled, maniacal apostasy. It is the story of apostasy on a massive scale. But it is also a story of hope and victory for the last men standing in the ashes of Western civilization. It will be a testimony to the inevitable triumph of Jesus Christ over the great men of renown who picked the wrong fight in the history of the West.

    Exposing the tragic banality of a happy life commonly lived, she instead emphasizes the advantages of a lopsided life rich in passion and fortitude. Ruti shows what counts is not our ability to evade existential uncertainty but to meet adversity in such a way that we do not become irrevocably broken. We are in danger of losing the capacity to cope with complexity, ambiguity, melancholia, disorientation, and disappointment, leaving us feeling less "real," less connected, and unable to metabolize a full range of emotions. Heeding the call of our character may mean acknowledging the marginalized, chaotic aspects of our being, for they carry a great deal of creative energy. Ruti shows it is precisely this energy that makes us inimitable and irreplaceable.

    Pribram.In THE FORM WITHIN, Dr. Pribram takes us on a compelling journey from the dawn of our collective “recorded perceptions” in cave paintings to our greatest achievements as a species. He explains the important task of mapping the brain; the discovery of our holographic processing of memory and perception; and the detailed research that has created our understanding of self-organizing biological systems.Along the way, Pribram shares the intimate interactions he has had with luminaries of twentieth-century science, including David Bohm, Francis Crick, John Eccles, Dennis Gabor, Hubel and Wiesel, Wolfgang Kohler, Karl Lashley, Aleksandr Romanovitch Luria, Ilya Prigogine, B. F. Skinner, Eugene Sokolov, and many others.But this riveting glimpse into our past is only a part of the story. Pribram also provides us with insightful breakthroughs into a science of the future, and points the way to where our understanding of the brain is headed.

    

    It confronts important issues left open in that work -- among them, the semantics of proper names and natural kind terms as they occur in fiction and in myth;negative existential statements; the ontology of fiction and myth (whether it is true that fictional characters like Hamlet, or mythical kinds like bandersnatches, might have existed). In treating these questions, he makes a number of methodological observations that go beyond the framework of hisearlier book -- including the striking claim that fiction cannot provide a test for theories of reference and naming. In addition, these lectures provide a glimpse into the transition to the pragmatics of singular reference that dominated his influential paper, Speaker's Reference and SemanticReference -- a paper that helped reorient linguistic and philosophical semantics. Some of the themes have been worked out in later writings by other philosophers -- many influenced by typescripts of the lectures in circulation -- but none have approached the careful, systematic treatment providedhere. The virtuosity of Naming and Necessity -- the colloquial ease of the tone, the dazzling, on-the-spot formulations, the logical structure of the overall view gradually emerging over the course of the lectures -- is on display here as well.

    There is no better explanation of Marxism than in the words of its foremost thinkers. This volume includes: The Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels. Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Frederick Engels. The State and Revolution by V. I. Lenin. The Transitional Programme by Leon Trotsky.