Now he turns to the most important subject of all - understanding people's drives and motivations, even when they are unconscious of them themselves.We are social animals. Our very lives depend on our relationships with people. Knowing why people do what they do is the most important tool we can possess, without which our other talents can only take us so far. Drawing from the ideas and examples of Pericles, Queen Elizabeth I, Martin Luther King Jr, and many others, Greene teaches us how to detach ourselves from our own emotions and master self-control, how to develop the empathy that leads to insight, how to look behind people's masks, and how to resist conformity to develop your singular sense of purpose. Whether at work, in relationships, or in shaping the world around you, The Laws of Human Nature offers brilliant tactics for success, self-improvement, and self-defense.

    With No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners you’ll gain a fundamental understanding of Buddhism and how to apply the philosophies in your everyday life, through: A simple 4-part structure addressing the different aspects of Buddhism—the Buddha, key Buddhist concepts, the Buddha’s teachings, and current Buddhist practices Straightforward Q&A’s that simplify the vital concepts of Buddhism into easy-to-understand ideas “Everyday Buddhism” Sidebars that make Buddhism less abstract by offering down-to-earth examples from everyday life Presented in a simple, conversational style, the information and guidance in No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners provides the groundwork that is necessary for building or continuing your own Buddhist practice.

    Standing on those pillars, humans spent 100,000 years spreading out into the galaxy: warring, exploring, partying — the usual. Then there was the fifth science. And that killed the empire stone dead. The Fifth Science is a collection of 12 stories, beginning at the start of the Galactic Human Empire and following right through to its final days. We’ll see some untypical things along the way, meet some untypical folk: galactic lighthouses from the distant future, alien tombs from the distant past, murderers, emperors, archaeologists and drunks; mad mathematicians attempting to wake the universe itself up. And when humans have fallen back into savagery, when the secrets of space folding and perfect wisdom are forgotten, we’ll attend the empire’s deathbed, hold its hand as it goes. Unfortunately that may well only be the beginning.

    There really are no ultimate authority figures-no one has the secret and there is no place to look up the definitive answers to our questions (not even Google). But, by thinking skeptically and logically, we can combat sloppy reasoning, bad arguments and superstitious thinking. It's difficult, and takes a lot of vigilance, but it's worth the effort.In this tie-in to their incredibly popular "The Skeptics Guide to the Universe" podcast, Steven Novella, MD along with "Skeptical Rogues" Bob Novella, Cara Santa Maria, Jay Novella, and Evan Bernstein will explain the tenets of skeptical thinking and debunk some of the biggest scientific myths, fallacies and conspiracy theories (Anti-vaccines, homeopathy, UFO sightings, etc.) They'll help us try to make sense of what seems like an increasingly crazy world using powerful tools like science and philosophy. THE SKEPTICS' GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE is your guide through this maze of modern life. It covers essential critical thinking skills, as well as giving insight into how your brain works and how to avoid common pitfalls in thinking. They discuss the difference between science and pseudoscience, how to recognize common science news tropes, how to discuss conspiracy theories with that crazy coworker of yours, and how to apply all of this to everyday life.So, are you ready to join them on an epic scientific quest, one that has taken us from huddling in dark caves to stepping foot on the Moon? (Yes, we really did that.) Like all adventures, this one is foremost a journey of self discovery. The monsters you will slay and challenges you will face are mostly constructs of your own mind. With the SKEPTIC'S GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE, we can do this together.

    This book brings them all together for the first time. It systematically presents what the various Stoic philosophers said on every important topic, accompanied by an eloquent commentary that is clear and concise. The result is a set of philosophy lessons for everyone - the most valuable wisdom of ages past made available for our times, and for all time.

    The purpose of these stories is to implant a seed of knowledge in the mind of the listener, where it can ultimately sprout and blossom into a new and better way of life.In The Wisdom of the Shamans: What the Ancient Masters Can Teach Us About Love and Life, Toltec shaman and master storyteller don Jose Ruiz shares some of the most popular stories from his family's oral tradition and offers corresponding lessons that illustrate the larger ideas within each story.Ruiz begins by explaining that contrary to the stereotypical image of "witch doctor," the ancient shamans were men and women who fulfilled several roles within their communities: philosopher, spiritual guide, medical doctor, psychologist, and friend.According to Ruiz, their teachings are not primitive or reserved for a chosen few initiates but are instead a powerful series of lessons on love and life that are available to us all. To that aim, he has included exercises, meditations, and shamanic rituals to help you experience the personal transformation these stories offer.The shamans taught that the truth you seek is inside of you. Let these stories, lessons, and tools be your guide to finding the innate wisdom that lives within.

    Instead, follow the data: In seventy-five jaw-dropping graphs, Pinker shows that life, health, prosperity, safety, peace, knowledge, and happiness are on the rise, not just in the West, but worldwide. This progress is not the result of some cosmic force. It is a gift of the Enlightenment: the conviction that reason and science can enhance human flourishing.Far from being a naïve hope, the Enlightenment, we now know, has worked. But more than ever, it needs a vigorous defense. The Enlightenment project swims against currents of human nature–tribalism, authoritarianism, demonization, magical thinking–which demagogues are all too willing to exploit. Many commentators, committed to political, religious, or romantic ideologies, fight a rearguard action against it. The result is a corrosive fatalism and a willingness to wreck the precious institutions of liberal democracy and global cooperation.With intellectual depth and literary flair, Enlightenment Now makes the case for reason, science, and humanism: the ideals we need to confront our problems and continue our progress.

    But what do most people really know of Nietzsche—beyond the mustache, the scowl, and the lingering association with nihilism and fascism? Where do we place a thinker who was equally beloved by Albert Camus, Ayn Rand, Martin Buber, and Adolf Hitler?Nietzsche wrote that all philosophy is autobiographical, and in this vividly compelling, myth-shattering biography, Sue Prideaux brings readers into the world of this brilliant, eccentric, and deeply troubled man, illuminating the events and people that shaped his life and work. From his placid, devoutly Christian upbringing—overshadowed by the mysterious death of his father—through his teaching career, lonely philosophizing on high mountains, and heart-breaking descent into madness, Prideaux documents Nietzsche's intellectual and emotional life with a novelist's insight and sensitivity.She also produces unforgettable portraits of the people who were most important to him, including Richard and Cosima Wagner, Lou Salomé, the femme fatale who broke his heart; and his sister Elizabeth, a rabid German nationalist and anti-Semite who manipulated his texts and turned the Nietzsche archive into a destination for Nazi ideologues. I Am Dynamite! is the essential biography for anyone seeking to understand history's most misunderstood philosopher.

    But ask what it means, and the result will be a brawl. For a century, most physicists have followed Niels Bohr's Copenhagen interpretation and dismissed questions about the reality underlying quantum physics as meaningless. A mishmash of solipsism and poor reasoning, Copenhagen endured, as Bohr's students vigorously protected his legacy, and the physics community favored practical experiments over philosophical arguments. As a result, questioning the status quo long meant professional ruin. And yet, from the 1920s to today, physicists like John Bell, David Bohm, and Hugh Everett persisted in seeking the true meaning of quantum mechanics. What Is Real? is the gripping story of this battle of ideas and of the courageous scientists who dared to stand up for truth.

    Whether you are looking at strengthening your relationships, discovering your true potential, understanding how to do well at work or even how you can give back to the world, Gaur Gopal Das takes us on an unforgettable journey with his precious insights on these areas of life. Das is one of the most popular and sought-after monks and life coaches in the world, having shared his wisdom with millions. His debut book, Life's Amazing Secrets, distils his experiences and lessons about life into a light-hearted, thought-provoking book that will help you align yourself with the life you want to live.

    These timeless exchanges, collated and introduced by Quinn, span a number of years and explore themes such as imagination, landscape, the medieval mystic Meister Eckhart, aging, and death. Presented in O'Donohue's inimitable lyrical style, and filled with rich insights that will feed the unprecedented spiritual hunger he observed in modern society, Walking in Wonder is a welcome tribute to a much-loved author whose work still touches the lives of millions around the world.

    They are things that move humans away from Truth. For they approach all matters from the standpoint of a “fix.” The Truth is a path away from all fixes. And away from all chases. It is for the one who is Serious. It is for the one who is Sincere. This book is for but a handful of individuals in the world. Those with a rarest form of DNA. The DNA to arrive at the Direct Truth in all things. So that they may put an end to all chases. So that they may walk life’s Final Mile. And come to possess the things that they have called by various other names.

    In Homo Deus, he looked to our future. Now, one of the most innovative thinkers on the planet turns to the present to make sense of today's most pressing issues.How do computers and robots change the meaning of being human? How do we deal with the epidemic of fake news? Are nations and religions still relevant? What should we teach our children?Yuval Noah Harari's 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is a probing and visionary investigation into today's most urgent issues as we move into the uncharted territory of the future. As technology advances faster than our understanding of it, hacking becomes a tactic of war, and the world feels more polarized than ever, Harari addresses the challenge of navigating life in the face of constant and disorienting change and raises the important questions we need to ask ourselves in order to survive.In twenty-one accessible chapters that are both provocative and profound, Harari builds on the ideas explored in his previous books, untangling political, technological, social, and existential issues and offering advice on how to prepare for a very different future from the world we now live in: How can we retain freedom of choice when Big Data is watching us? What will the future workforce look like, and how should we ready ourselves for it? How should we deal with the threat of terrorism? Why is liberal democracy in crisis?Harari's unique ability to make sense of where we have come from and where we are going has captured the imaginations of millions of readers. Here he invites us to consider values, meaning, and personal engagement in a world full of noise and uncertainty. When we are deluged with irrelevant information, clarity is power. Presenting complex contemporary challenges clearly and accessibly, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century is essential reading.

    With Living an Examined Life, James Hollis offers an essential guidebook for anyone at a crossroads in life. Here this acclaimed author guides you through 21 areas for self-inquiry and growth, challenging you to: • Recover Personal Authority—how to stop living in response to the expectations placed on you • Choose Meaning Over Happiness—why seeking truth instead of entertaining distractions ultimately leads to greater fulfillment • Exorcise the Ghosts of the Past That Bind You—how the voices that haunt you can lead you to grow • Bestow Love on the Unlovable Parts of You—recovering the guiding force concealed in your Shadow • Construct a Mature Spirituality—the five essential elements of integrating meaning and mystery into your life • Seize Permission to Be Who You Really Are—the challenge of fully showing up for your life With his trademark eloquence and insight, Dr. Hollis offers Living an Examined Life to inspire you toward a life of personal authority, integrity, and fulfillment. "It is my hope that this book will be a tool to recover your respect for that which abides deeply within," writes Dr. Hollis. "You will not be spared disappointment or suffering. But you can know the depth and dignity of an authentic journey, of being a real player in your time on this turning planet, and your life will become more interesting, taking you deeper than ever before."

    Covering the period 2004 - 2016, the collection will include some of the best writings from his seminal blog k-punk; a selection of his brilliantly insightful film, television and music reviews; his key writings on politics, activism, precarity, hauntology, mental health and popular modernism for numerous websites and magazines; his final unfinished introduction to his planned work on "Acid Communism"; and a number of important interviews from the last decade. Edited by Darren Ambrose and with a foreword by Simon Reynolds.

    At a time when Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael were revolutionizing Western art and culture, Erasmus was helping to transform Europe’s intellectual and religious life, developing a new design for living for a continent rebelling against the hierarchical constraints of the Roman Church. When in 1516 he came out with a revised edition of the New Testament based on the original Greek, he was hailed as the prophet of a new enlightened age. Today, however, Erasmus is largely forgotten, and the reason can be summed up in two words: Martin Luther. As a young friar in remote Wittenberg, Luther was initially a great admirer of Erasmus and his critique of the Catholic Church, but while Erasmus sought to reform that institution from within, Luther wanted a more radical transformation. Eventually, the differences between them flared into a bitter rivalry, with each trying to win over Europe to his vision.In Fatal Discord, Michael Massing seeks to restore Erasmus to his proper place in the Western tradition. The conflict between him and Luther, he argues, forms a fault line in Western thinking—the moment when two enduring schools of thought, Christian humanism and evangelical Christianity, took shape. A seasoned journalist who has reported from many countries, Massing here travels back to the early sixteenth century to recover a long-neglected chapter of Western intellectual life, in which the introduction of new ways of reading the Bible set loose social and cultural forces that helped shatter the millennial unity of Christendom and whose echoes can still be heard today. Massing concludes that Europe has adopted a form of Erasmian humanism while America has been shaped by Luther-inspired individualism.

    It's for everyone who wants to take on the journey of fulfilling their potential and live a deeply meaningful life. In 2015, the author started sharing his writings about life on his Instagram page. This book holds a selection of his most popular quotes and writings that have already positively impacted thousands of people. Alexander is a Dutch inspirational speaker who's teachings are about living with purpose, overcoming fear, transformation, and making a difference.This concise handbook is full of remarkable reminders about meaning, purpose, and self-realization.The title refers to the idea that if you learn something profound, it's not as if you have learned something new. Rather, it's as if something is being unveiled to you that you have always known.

    These two trends define life in Western society today. We are increasingly addicted to habits―and devices―that distract and "buffer" us from substantive reflection and deep engagement with the world. And we live in what Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor calls "a secular age"―an age in which all beliefs are equally viable and real transcendence is less and less plausible. Drawing on Taylor's work, Alan Noble describes how these realities shape our thinking and affect our daily lives. Too often Christians have acquiesced to these trends, and the result has been a church that struggles to disrupt the ingrained patterns of people's lives. But the gospel of Jesus is inherently disruptive: like a plow, it breaks up the hardened surface to expose the fertile earth below. In this book Noble lays out individual, ecclesial, and cultural practices that disrupt our society's deep-rooted assumptions and point beyond them to the transcendent grace and beauty of Jesus. Disruptive Witness casts a new vision for the evangelical imagination, calling us away from abstraction and cliché to a more faithful embodiment of the gospel for our day.

    Kids typically no longer expect their lives to be better than their parents’ were. Dystopian scenarios loom ever larger in public consciousness as fisheries collapse, CO2 levels rise, and clouds of radioactive steam billow from “fail-safe” nuclear plants that failed. Despite the technological marvels of our age—or perhaps because of them—these are dark days.As comedian Louis C.K. put it, “Everything’s amazing, but nobody’s happy.”Even for the most fortunate among us, material abundance comes at a very high price. Facebook is a hollow replacement for face time. We produce more food than ever, but hunger and malnutrition are standard in most of the world while the rest of us stuff ourselves quite literally to death. Despair darkens ever more lives as rates of clinical depression and suicide continue their grim climb in the developed world. A third of all American children are obese or seriously overweight, and fifty four million of us are pre-diabetic. Pre-schoolers represent the fastest-growing market for anti-depressants, while the rate of increase of depression among children is over twenty percent, according to a recent Harvard study. Twenty four million American adults are thought to suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder—mostly attributable to the never-ending wars that have become part of modern life for the swelling underclass with few other employment opportunities.It’s common to wonder how an anthropologist from Mars would view our world or what sage advice an emissary from the future would bring back. But how would a time-traveler from our prehistoric past assess the lives we lead and the future prospects for the path we’re on? Such a visitor from 200 centuries ago would no doubt be impressed by much of what she found here. But once her amazement at iPhones, air travel, and liver transplants subsided, what would she make of our daily lives? Would she ultimately be more impressed by our advances or dismayed by what we’ve lost in our always accelerating rush toward the future?With faith in the future melting like an overheated glacier even as contentment with the present evaporates, it’s high time for a sober reassessment of the past. Ten thousand years since turning from the ancient path our ancestors trod forever, it’s time for a scientifically-informed, multidisciplinary look at the effects of this fateful divergence. It’s time to ask what may be the most subversive question of all: Are modern humans, even the most fortunate among us, living significantly better lives than our pre-civilized ancestors? Taken as a whole, is civilization a net gain for individual human beings?

    This is a book designed to harness their spontaneous philosophical interest and develop it.Without prompting children often ask some of the largest questions about time, mortality, happiness and the meaning of life. Yet all too often their inborn curiosity is not developed and, with age, the questions fall away. This book addresses some of their more complex questions by introducing accessible philosophical concepts from 25 famous thinkers, contextualized in relatable everyday scenarios. Presented in an interactive question and answer format this book takes us to meet leading figures of philosophy from around the world and from all eras—and shows us how their ideas continue to matter. With discussions about some of the most vibrant and essential philosophical ideas of history, this accessible book functions as an ideal introduction to the subject as well as a charming way to open up conversations between children and adults about the biggest questions we all face.

    And, although novels and short stories built the foundations of science fiction, film and television have emerged as equally powerful, experimental, and enjoyable ways to experience the genre. Even as far back as the silent era, films like Fritz Lang’s Metropolis have used science fiction to tell stories that explore many facets of human experience.In Sci-Phi: Science Fiction as Philosophy, Professor of Philosophy David Kyle Johnson of King’s College takes you on a 24-lecture exploration of the final frontiers of philosophy across several decades of science fiction in film and television. From big-budget blockbusters to television series featuring aliens in rubber masks, Professor Johnson finds food for philosophical thought in a wide range of stories. By looking at serious questions through astonishing tales and astounding technologies, you will see how science fiction allows us to consider immense, vital—and sometimes controversial—ideas with a rare combination of engagement and critical distance.The Future Is NowScience fiction is often concerned with the future, being used not only as a tool of prediction—humans are notoriously bad at accurately predicting the future—but also as one of extrapolation and interrogation. Rather than simply asking what the future will look like, the futuristic visions of sci-fi TV, like Star Trek, Firefly, and even the animated comedy Futurama, offer compelling statements about humanity’s hopes, dreams, and fears. We can, therefore, use fictionalized futures to better understand today’s world.Setting a story in the future—or in an alternate reality, or on a faraway planet—also allows sci-fi creators to open up the realm of possibility beyond what our current world offers, while also looking at very real scientific possibilities. As you look at sci-fi films like Arrival and Interstellar, Professor Johnson highlights the kinds of issues worth considering if contact with extraterrestrial life or time travel became part of our real-life experience. And even if these experiences remain in the realm of fiction, considering them still provides insight into important philosophical questions. Indeed, throughout the lectures of Sci-Phi, you will ponder many questions that have concerned philosophers for centuries, including:Do humans truly have free will?Could machines one day be conscious? Or be sentient?Could we actually be living in a simulated world?How will humanity confront a future of diminished resources and advancing technology?Are science and religion compatible?When, if ever, is war justified?How do we know what information to trust and what to dismiss?Exploring Reality through FictionStaples of science fiction like time travel, alternate universes, and extraterrestrial life are endlessly fascinating ideas to explore. Yet, despite the insights they can give us, they may not seem very relevant to everyday life. Even our conception of reality—what is real and what isn’t—can have little bearing on the more mundane aspects of living from day to day. But science fiction, for all its futurism and outlandish flourishes, is not limited to these theoretical concepts; it is also a window into crucial discussions about the here and now, questions concerning ethics, power, religion, tolerance, social justice, politics, and the many practical dimensions of living in a world that is constantly changing and forever presenting humans with fresh new dilemmas to solve. And by removing us from reality, sci-fi can also remove our biases and make us see such issues anew.Indeed, as Professor Johnson makes clear, stories of simulated worlds and artificial intelligence can seem far-fetched, but they actually offer valuable insights into social and ethical issues that may be more immediate and relevant than they first appear. By looking at them through fiction, we can take a step back and get a clearer picture of the larger implications. For instance, by looking at characters like Commander Data in Star Trek: The Next Generation or the Cylons in Battlestar Galactica, we are forced to wonder: If we create artificial intelligence that achieves true sentience, how will we treat these man-made beings? Will we repeat the sins of the past by enslaving them or will we embrace them as our equals? If we are ever able to re-create a convincing version of the world via computers, as films like The Matrix and The Thirteenth Floor suggest, do the lives lived in those simulations mean less than those in the “real” world? The answers to these questions—and many others—speak volumes about human values and, given our ever-evolving technology, may require answers sooner rather than later.You may be surprised to see how often a science fiction story can “trick” you into thinking about questions and concepts you may have never considered. Shows like The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror overtly present questions and issues for audiences to ponder. However, while other films and television shows may seem to focus more on the adventure and entertainment value of science fiction, they still often have deep philosophical dimensions. Consider the long-running British TV series Doctor Who. A beloved icon of science fiction, the show has always been framed as simply the exciting weekly adventures of a time-traveling alien; yet, throughout its decades on television, it has explored issues of autonomy, sentience, pacifism, colonialism, racism, grief, morality, and much more.A Unique View of PhilosophyWhile each lecture of Sci-Phi focuses on a few key films or television episodes, you will also explore dozens of other movies and TV episodes along the way. Likewise, each philosophical concept you explore opens the door to further discovery. Throughout the lectures, you will be introduced to the ideas of great thinkers like Descartes, Hobbes, Locke, Marx, Nietzsche, Sartre, Turing, Baudrillard, and many others; and through these ideas, you will better understand the different ways philosophy examines the big questions, from metaphysics and epistemology to existentialism and ethics.Fans of the genre will find their experience of sci-fi stories enriched by layers of philosophical inquiry that reveal each story to be much more than just entertainment. Similarly, those who are looking for a thrilling and accessible introduction to philosophy will be equally rewarded by Professor Johnson’s breadth of knowledge, as well as his deep and abiding love for both science fiction storytelling and philosophical exploration. As you engage with philosophy by way of sci-fi stories for screens both large and small, it is important to keep in mind that Professor Johnson will not shy away from revealing key plot points in many of the stories he explores throughout the lectures; so, although it is not required, watching the films and TV episodes at the heart of each lecture is recommended. Presented as a one-on-one conversation and enlivened by fun visual references to many of the stories you will encounter, Sci-Phi: Science Fiction as Philosophy is a philosophy course unlike any other.Whether telling stories of far-flung futures or investigating the here and now, science fiction is an invaluable source of intellectual and imaginative exploration. From the genre-defining classics like Star Wars, Doctor Who, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Twilight Zone to a new wave of speculative tales like Transcendence, Snowpiercer, Westworld, and The Hunger Games, sci-fi stories offer a uniquely engaging and incisive way to ask serious questions about the world we live in, even when those stories are set in a galaxy far, far away. Philosophy is the search for truth. Sometimes that truth is best revealed through fiction.

    Reeves (a biographer of Mill) and Haidt (a social psychologist) summarize Mill's three timeless arguments for free speech and the value of viewpoint diversity. They then reduce the text to half its original length, allowing Mill's best arguments and metaphors to shine. Artist Dave Cicirelli illustrates those metaphors to amplify their intuitive power. Ideal for use in college courses, or in any organization in which people would benefit from productive disagreement.

    55-135 AD) taught that mental freedom is supreme, since it can liberate one anywhere, even in a prison. In How to Be Free, A. A. Long--one of the world's leading authorities on Stoicism and a pioneer in its remarkable contemporary revival--provides a superb new edition of Epictetus's celebrated guide to the Stoic philosophy of life (the Encheiridion) along with a selection of related reflections in his Discourses.Freedom, for Epictetus, is not a human right or a political prerogative but a psychological and ethical achievement, a gift that we alone can bestow on ourselves. We can all be free, but only if we learn to assign paramount value to what we can control (our motivations and reactions), treat what we cannot control with equanimity, and view our circumstances as opportunities to do well and be well, no matter what happens to us through misfortune or the actions of other people.How to Be Free features splendid new translations and the original Greek on facing pages, a compelling introduction that sets Epictetus in context and describes the importance of Stoic freedom today, and an invaluable glossary of key words and concepts. The result is an unmatched introduction to this powerful method of managing emotions and handling life's situations, from the most ordinary to the most demanding.

     Technology was never neutral; its social, political, and moral impacts have become painfully clear. But the stakes will only get higher as connected cameras will watch over the city, algorithms oversee society’s most critical decisions, and transport, jobs, and even war will become automated. The tech industry hasn’t yet earned the trust these technologies demand. Based on Cennydd’s years of research and consulting, Future Ethics transforms modern ethical theory into practical advice for designers, product managers, and software engineers alike. Cennydd uses the three lenses of modern ethics to focus on some of the tech industry’s biggest challenges: unintended consequences and algorithmic bias, the troubling power of persuasive technology, and the dystopias of surveillance, autonomous war, and a post-work future. Future Ethics is an intelligent, quietly provocative book that challenges technologists to stand up for change, and teaches essential ethical principles and methods for building a fairer future. Cennydd Bowles is a London-based designer and writer with fifteen years of experience and clients including Twitter, Ford, Cisco, and the BBC. His focus today is the ethics of emerging technology. He has lectured on the topic at Carnegie Mellon University, Google, and New York’s School of Visual Arts, and is a sought-after speaker at technology and design events worldwide.

    Ever since we stepped out of the dark ages and modern science started taking its first baby steps, people have been debating the connection between metaphysics and physics. And human evolution is one of the most controversial issues. Until now. This eye- opening book will offer you an in-depth understanding of evolution from a religio-scientific point of view. God The Evolver - Bridging The Gap Between Metaphysics & Science! If you are a serious free thinker without any religious or scientific prejudices, then this book is for you. If you are not afraid to step into spiritual no-man's land and test your knowledge, then this book will offer you a game-changing perspective. By combining religion, philosophy and science, author Faiz King has created a comprehensive guide to the struggle of religion and science. What Makes The Human Mind So Special? Back To Metaphysics. By the end of this book you will be able to understand the debate and realize that higher-order religious processes (e.g. Metaphysics) are necessary to realize the full extent of the rational and abstract properties of our human mind. And that's exactly what sets us apart from the rest of the creatures that live on this planet. God's Plan - How To Understand Centuries Of Evolution. After over 20 years of meticulous research, Faiz King has created the definitive successor to Charles Darwin's "The Origin Of Species" that is not afraid to take on this science giant and prove that Metaphysics (and subsequently God) is behind the development of modern science as we know it. Are You Ready To Embark On A Unique Spiritual Adventure Through Human Evolution?

    In this collection of writings, the logbook of an intelligence always on the move, Carlo Rovelli follows his curiosity and invites us on a voyage through science, history, philosophy and politics.Written with his usual clarity and wit, these pieces range widely across time and space: from Newton's alchemy to Einstein's mistakes, from Nabokov's butterflies to Dante's cosmology, from travels in Africa to the consciousness of an octopus, from mind-altering psychedelic substances to the meaning of atheism.Charming, pithy and elegant, this book is the perfect gateway to the universe of one of the most influential scientists of our age.

    He was more interested in pop culture than Great Books and performed only the bare minimum to pass. By age 27, however, he began work at a different classical institution, teaching the same literature he merely skimmed as a student. Ten years later, Gibbs has become a popular blogger and frequent speaker at education conferences. In this series of frank reflections on an unlikely career, Gibbs contemplates what it means to be a good teacher, how Great Books can change lives (and how one particular book, The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, changed his), and why effective education is primarily concerned with the acquisition of virtue. One part literary guidebook, one part personal memoir, and one part teacher’s manual, How to Be Unlucky presents a one-of-a-kind case for ancient ways of thinking about teaching in our contemporary world.

    In a short life of thirty-two years, Shankaracharya not only revived Hinduism, but also created the organisational structure for its perpetuation through the mathas he established in Sringeri, Dwaraka, Puri and Jyotir Mathas.Adi Shankaracharaya: Hinduism’s Greatest Thinker is a meticulously researched and comprehensive account of his life and philosophy. Highly readable, and including a select anthology of Shankaracharya’s seminal writing, the book also examines the startling endorsement that contemporary science is giving to his ideas today. A must read for people across the ideological spectrum, this book reminds readers about the remarkable philosophical underpinning of Hinduism, making it one of the most vibrant religions in the world.

    That wish has come true for us. Now what? In this radically illuminating book, Alan Cohen delves into one of the world’s most venerated wisdom texts for answers and brings the lofty and enigmatic concepts of the Tao Te Ching down to earth in fresh, easy-to-grasp language with practical, personal examples we can use to uplift our daily lives.Most other interpretations of the Tao march through the stanzas one by one. Here Alan Cohen calls forth the ancient verses around themes that are central to our modern lives —from love to work to the lessons we learn from pain. Then he brings each message to life in short vignettes where he imagines himself a student of Lao Tse and interacts with the master directly and intimately. He invites you to join the ancient sage and the contemporary seeker as they wend their way through the challenges and triumphs of the same journey you’re taking yourself.

    Thomas Aquinas's five arguments for the existence of God, this book is for you. Written as dialogue between Lucy and AJ in a coffee shop, these arguments are presented by Fradd and Delfino in every day language, with helpful examples and analogies, and by raising and answering objections along the way. Additional resources at the end of the book will deepen your understanding of the material, help you to grow in wisdom, and strengthen your faith.

    An absolute clarity of perception places him in a unique space in not only matters spiritual but in business, environmental and international affairs and opens a new door on all that he touches.

    But is being top dog synonymous with happiness? The evidence suggests, no. If so, the richest among us would be immune to humiliation, grief, depression, and anxiousness etc.. All of these emotions are significant parts of the human condition regardless of age, economic status, religion, and ethnic background. I have found that comfort, acceptance, and humor prevails like wind beneath gilded wings. Sometimes, the higher we climb on that corporate ladder, the more we fear the potential fall. When we are on the bottom rung, we can appreciate the ground below which houses our roots. When forced to see from the ground up (or the back alley), we are led to a transformational and fulfilling life. For myself, this evolution has led me to my ethnic roots and recoup all that it provides.

    At the same time it skillfully tells the forgotten story of Jung's relationship with the great Sufi scholar, Henry Corbin, and with Persian Sufi tradition.The strange reality of the Red Book, or "New Book" as Carl Jung called it, lies close to the heart of Catafalque. In meticulous detail Peter Kingsley uncovers its great secret, hidden in plain sight and still--as if by magic--unrecognized by all those who have been unable to understand this mysterious, incantatory text.But the hard truth of who Jung was and what he did is only a small part of what this book uncovers. It also exposes the full extent of that great river of esoteric tradition that stretches all the way back to the beginnings of our civilization. It unveils the surprising realities behind western philosophy, literature, poetry, prophecy--both ancient and modern.In short, Peter Kingsley shows us not only who Carl Jung was but who we in the West are as well. Much more than a brilliant spiritual biography, Catafalque holds the key to understanding why our western culture is dying. And, an incantatory text in its own right, it shows the way to discovering what we in these times of great crisis must do.

    Then he presses on to ask, Might faith be necessary to human flourishing? If so, why? And how can a traditional Christian practice—namely, silence—help us advance on the path to human maturity?The book ends with a brief but profound meditation on Christ’s ascension, inviting readers to consider how, through Jesus, our humanity in all its variety and vulnerability has been transfigured and taken into the heart of the divine life.Being Human is a book that readers of all religious persuasions will find both challenging and highly rewarding. Questions at the end of each chapter encourage personal reflection or group discussion.

    Yet post-truth didn't begin with the 2016 election; the denial of scientific facts about smoking, evolution, vaccines, and climate change offers a road map for more widespread fact denial. Add to this the wired-in cognitive biases that make us feel that our conclusions are based on good reasoning even when they are not, the decline of traditional media and the rise of social media, and the emergence of fake news as a political tool, and we have the ideal conditions for post-truth. McIntyre also argues provocatively that the right wing borrowed from postmodernism—specifically, the idea that there is no such thing as objective truth—in its attacks on science and facts.McIntyre argues that we can fight post-truth, and that the first step in fighting post-truth is to understand it.

    Rather than leading to a deeper understanding of our universe, this worldview actually undermines real science and marginalizes morality and religion.In this book, celebrated philosopher J. P. Moreland exposes the selfdefeating nature of scientism and equips us to recognize scientism's harmful presence in different aspects of culture, emboldening our witness to biblical Christianity and arming us with strategies for the integration of faith and science--the only feasible path to genuine knowledge.

    It’s his rallying cry, full of solutions for our chaotic, aggressive, divided times: no less than A CALL FOR REVOLUTION.

     The definitions of boy and girl, masculinity and femininity, husband and wife, and mother and father have been obscured, and a shadow of confusion has been cast over gender, marriage, sex, and the family. Everything has been re-defined, and yet none of the new definitions are definite. Where did this come from—and more importantly—what needs to happen for the meaning of the body to become clear again? In this easy-to-read booklet, you’ll discover what lies at the root of today’s sexual chaos and gender confusion, and how it was foretold more than a century ago. You’ll also learn how Saint John Paul II’s Theology of the Body provides the antidote to the crisis of our times and paves the way for the “Triumph” foretold by the Virgin Mary in Fatima.

    Esoteric Hollywood is a game-changer in an arena of tabloid-populated titles. After years of scholarly research, Jay Dyer has compiled his most read essays, combining philosophy, comparative religion, symbolism, and geopolitics and their connections to film. Readers will watch movies with new eyes, able to decipher on their own, as the secret meanings of cinema are unveiled.

    A simple conceptual framework of Jiu Jitsu for beginners seeking to use Brazilian Jiu Jitsu as a vehicle for personal development.

    Are such powers really possible? Science says yes.According to noted scientist and bestselling author of The Conscious Universe, Dean Radin, magic is a natural aspect of reality, and each of us can tap into this power with diligent practice.But wait, aren't things like ESP and telepathy just wishful thinking and flights of the imagination? Not according to the author, who worked on the US government's top secret psychic espionage program known as Stargate. Radin has spent the last forty years conducting controlled experiments that demonstrate that thoughts are things, that we can sense others' emotions and intentions from a distance, that intuition is more powerful than we thought, and that we can tap into the power of intention (think The Secret, only on a more realistic and scientific level). These dormant powers can help us to lead more interesting and fulfilling lives.Beginning with a brief history of magic over the centuries (what was called magic two thousand years ago is turning out to be scientific fact today), a review of the scientific evidence for magic, a series of simple but effective magical techniques (the key is mental focus, something elite athletes know a lot about), Radin then offers a vision of a scientifically-informed magic and explains why magic will play a key role in frontiers of science.

    Few, if any, have sought to explain the origin of all of these problems at once. In Catholic Republic, Timothy Gordon argues that America’s premature withering could have been avoided if only the founders had fully incorporated into the new republic the Catholic natural law. The anti-Catholic bias of 18th Century America kept our Protestant and Enlightenment forefathers from admitting their dependence upon the ideas of Aristotle, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the early Jesuits. In Catholic Republic, Gordon unpacks our nation’s complicated history of repudiating, yet borrowing, the Catholic ideas about politics and nature, which turn out to be indispensable to our—and all—republics.Indeed, America still can be saved. It is not too late.

    For nearly forty years, David Harvey has written and lectured on Capital, becoming one of the world’s most foremost Marx scholars. Based on his recent lectures, this current volume - finally bringing together his guides to Volumes I, II and much of III of Das Kapital - aims to bring this depth of learning to a broader audience, guiding first-time readers through a fascinating and deeply rewarding text. A Companion to Marx’s Capital offers fresh, original and sometimes critical interpretations of a book that changed the course of history and, as Harvey intimates, may do so again.David Harvey’s video lecture course can be found here: davidharvey.org/reading-capital/

    It is an ache for the homecoming. The Greeks called it nostalgia.  Post-modern man, homeless almost by definition, cannot understand nostalgia. If he is a progressive, dreaming of a utopia to come, he dismisses it contemptuously, eager to bury a past he despises. If he is a reactionary, he sentimentalizes it, dreaming of a lost golden age. In this profound reflection, Anthony Esolen explores the true meaning of nostalgia and its place in the human heart. Drawing on the great works of Western literature from the Odyssey to Flannery O'Connor, he traces the development of this fundamental longing from the pagan's desire for his earthly home, which most famously inspired Odysseys' heroic return to Ithaca, to its transformation under Christianity. The doctrine of the fall of man forestalls sentimental traditionalism by insisting that there has been no Eden since Eden. And the revelation of heaven as our true and final home, directing man's longing to the next world, paradoxically strengthens and ennobles the pilgrim's devotion to his home in this world. In our own day, Christian nostalgia stands in frank opposition to the secular usurpation of this longing. Looking for a city that does not exist, the progressive treats original sin, which afflicts everyone, as mere political error, which afflicts only his opponents. To him, history is a long tale of misery with nothing to teach us. Despising his fathers, he lives in a world without piety. Only the future, which no one can know, is real to him. It is an idol that justifies all manner of evil and folly. Nostalgia rightly understood is not an invitation to repeat the sins of the past or to repudiate what experience and reflection have taught us, but to hear the call of sanity and sweetness again. Perhaps we will shake our heads as if awaking from a bad and feverish dream and, coming to ourselves, resolve, like the Prodigal, to "arise and go to my father's house."

    Korsgaard presents a compelling new view of humans' moral relationships to the other animals. She defends the claim that we are obligated to treat all sentient beings as what Kant called ends-in-themselves. Drawing on a theory of the good derived from Aristotle, she offers anexplanation of why animals are the sorts of beings for whom things can be good or bad. She then turns to Kant's argument for the value of humanity to show that rationality commits us to claiming the standing of ends-in-ourselves, in two senses. Kant argued that as autonomous beings, we claim to beends-in-ourselves when we claim the standing to make laws for ourselves and each other. Korsgaard argues that as beings who have a good, we also claim to be ends-in-ourselves when we take the things that are good for us to be good absolutely and so worthy of pursuit. The first claim commits us tojoining with other autonomous beings in relations of moral reciprocity. The second claim commits us to treating the good of every sentient creature as something of absolute importance.Korsgaard argues that human beings are not more important than the other animals, that our moral nature does not make us superior to the other animals, and that our unique capacities do not make us better off than the other animals. She criticizes the marginal cases argument and advances a newview of moral standing as attaching to the atemporal subjects of lives. She criticizes Kant's own view that our duties to animals are indirect, and offers a non-utilitarian account of the relation between pleasure and the good. She also addresses a number of directly practical questions: whether wehave the right to eat animals, experiment on them, make them work for us and fight in our wars, and keep them as pets; and how to understand the wrong that we do when we cause a species to go extinct.

    Let's All Make the Day Count imparts Charlie’s positive attitude, timeless insight, and powerful spirit, and it will encourage and inspire you to make your day count.  Learn how you can make your day count from the encouraging and inspiring Charlie Daniels. Charlie has written a song for Elvis, played on a Bob Dylan album, toured the country for decades, and delighted fans around the world with his fiddle playing and signature hit song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." More important, he’s dedicated his life to helping others, including children, troubled teens, and veterans.Join Charlie as he shares many of the things he has learned over the years and be encouraged and empowered by his new book, Let's All Make the Day Count. The book includes 100 readings with Bible verses and clever and pithy "Let's All Make the Day Count" statements. Charlie will inspire you with his positive attitude, timeless wisdom, and powerful spirit. Let's All Make the Day Count imparts Charlie’s positive attitude, timeless insight, and powerful spirit, and it will encourage and inspire you to make your day count.

    This magical encounter on Christmas Eve eventually leads the author, and us all, to the redemptive power of an authentically purposeful life. Uplifting, deeply moving, and set in the magnificent Trappist monastery of Mepkin Abbey, Brother John is dramatically brought to life by over twenty full color paintings by Glenn Harrington, a multiple award-winning artist. Brother John's inspirational message takes place at Christmastime, and its inspirational message and rich illustrations are sure to bring the reader back again and again throughout the year.

    In The Last Bus, he presents a positive, meditative and profound exploration of the many important lessons we can learn from death: facing up to the limitations of our bodies as they falter, reflecting on our failings, and forgiving ourselves and others.But in a modern world increasingly wary of acknowledging mortality, The Last Bus is also a stirring plea to reacquaint ourselves with death. Facing and welcoming death gives us the chance to think about not only the meaning of our own life, but of life itself; and can mean the difference between ordinary sorrow and unbearable regret at the end. Radical, joyful and moving, The Last Bus is an invitation to reconsider life's greatest mystery by one of the most important and beloved religious leaders of our time.

    Caputo in this wide-reaching exploration of what the traditional term 'hermeneutics' can mean in a postmodern, twenty-first century world. As a contemporary of Derrida's and longstanding champion of rethinking the disciplines of theology and philosophy, for decades Caputo has been forming alliances across disciplines and drawing in readers with his compelling approach to what he calls "radical hermeneutics." In this new introduction, drawing upon a range of thinkers from Heidegger to the Parisian "1968ers" and beyond, he raises a series of probing questions about the challenges of life in the postmodern and maybe soon to be 'post-human' world.'

    The second book in the Jed Talks series by Jed McKenna, author of the Enlightenment Trilogy and the Dreamstate Trilogy.

    His oeuvre, offering a “mimetic theory” of cultural origins and human behavior, inspired such writers as Milan Kundera and J. M. Coetzee, and earned him a place among the forty “immortals” of the Académie Française. Too often, however, his work is considered only within various academic specializations. This first-ever biographical study takes a wider view. Cynthia L. Haven traces the evolution of Girard’s thought in parallel with his life and times. She recounts his formative years in France and his arrival in a country torn by racial division, and reveals his insights into the collective delusions of our technological world and the changing nature of warfare. Drawing on interviews with Girard and his colleagues, Evolution of Desire: A Life of René Girard provides an essential introduction to one of the twentieth century’s most controversial and original minds.

    S. Eliot, Charles De Gaulle, Pope Paul VI, and Adrienne Rich.The body of work she left--most of it published posthumously--is the fruit of an anguished but ultimately luminous spiritual journey.After her untimely death at age thirty-four, Simone Weil quickly achieved legendary status among a whole generation of thinkers. Her radical idealism offered a corrective to consumer culture. But more importantly, she pointed the way, especially for those outside institutional religion, to encounter the love of God - in love to neighbor, love of beauty, and even in suffering.

    This is what we understand as ‘reality’. But in fact, ‘reality’ varies with each era of the world, in turn shaping the field of what is possible to do, think and imagine. Our contemporary age has embraced a troubling and painful form of reality: Technic. Under Technic, the very foundations of reality begin to crumble, thus shrinking the field of the possible and freezing our lives in an anguished state of paralysis. Technic and Magic shows that the way out of the present deadlock lies much deeper than debates on politics or economics. By drawing from an array of Northern and Southern sources – spanning from Heidegger, Junger and Stirner’s philosophies, through Pessoa’s poetry, to Advaita Vedanta, Bhartrhari, Ibn Arabi, Suhrawardi and Mulla Sadra’s theosophies – Magic’s system of reality is presented as a specular alternative to Technic. While Technic attempts to capture the world at the lace of an ‘absolute language’, Magic centres its reconstruction of the world around the notion of the ‘ineffable’ that lies at the heart of existence. Technic and Magic is an original philosophical work, and a timely cultural intervention. It disturbs our understanding of the structure of reality, while restoring it in a new form. This is possibly the most radical act: if we wish to change our world, first we have to change the idea of ‘reality’ that defines it.

    Through the path of discrimination between the Seer and the seen the student is guided towards the highest Truth.

    The themes specifically relate to the complexities that come with being a woman, a Panjabi, and a Sikh.

    It provoked controversy when written, provoked further debate when translated into Latin by Rufinus in the fourth century, and was the subject, together with its author, of condemnation in the sixth century. As a result, the work no longer survives intact in the original Greek. We only have the complete work in the Latin translation of Rufinus, and a few extensive passages preserved in Greek by being excerpted into the Philokalia of Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nazianzus.John Behr provides a new edition and translation of one of the most important texts from early Christianity. He includes an invaluable introduction, which provides a clear structure of the work with significant implications for how the text is to be read and for understanding the character of theology in the early Christian tradition.

    Fluffy, funny-llooking creatures who spit when something bothers them--what's not to llove? Discover 100 encouraging quotes and positive aphorisms alongside llaugh-out-lloud illustrations of these fluffy friends. This is a book of llife llessons, llama-style.

    Using illustrations and age-appropriate text, this children's edition features passages of scripture along with original text to tell the Easter story and provides ideas for family traditions that young children can understand to make the holiday more Christ-centered. Each spread uses at least one person from the Easter story—including Simon, Joseph and Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene, the disciples on the road to Emmaus, and Thomas—to illustrate a theme. For example, the story begins with Jesus' entry into Jerusalem before Passover and describes the scene as Jesus' followers filled His path with palm branches and leaves. Then the book presents a question for the child to ponder: "On the first Easter, people found ways to celebrate Jesus. Could you?" Combining biblical text with a beautiful story line and wonderfully charming, full-color illustrations, this book will help make Christ the focus of your celebrations this year.

     The author explains the characteristics of each archetype in its balanced form, as well as the inflated and deflated forms which can result from the emotional wounding we experience during childhood. If you've ever had difficulty understanding why you behave in the way you do, this book will provide you with clear answers. The book will also be a revelation for you if you feel like you have less control over your thoughts, feelings and emotions than you would like. The author starts by explaining the nature of the archetypes, what they are, and how they would develop in an ideal upbringing. Of course, none of us have a totally ideal upbringing; we're all emotionally wounded to some degree. These wounds continue to play out in our adult relationships, often in a way which seems like a complete mystery. The author explains how our personalities develop as we grow up and pass through childhood. He shows how we are affected, for better or worse, by the behavior of the people around us during childhood. He also explains the consequences of more profound childhood problems such as lack of love, praise or affection, and more severe neglect. All of this adds up to a route map which will help you understand exactly why you sometimes find life challenging and difficult as an adult. Of course, this is only part of the story - but it is an essential one, because before any emotional healing or personal development work can take place, we have to understand what went wrong in the first place. The author shows us how, as adults, we have many options open to us which we can use to restore our natural personality to its full magnificence. This kind of emotional healing work requires some courage, but the author shows us where we can find the people and places who can safely guide us as we take "the road less traveled": the path we need to follow to become who we were always meant to be, before the world got in the way. A modern book, a book for the 21st century, this is a work that will inspire, excite and inform, as well as provide you with many of the answers you seek. Even if you don't want to embark on a journey of self-development with the help of professional facilitators, you'll find the book invaluable as you discover how each archetype can express itself in its finest form, fully balanced and emotionally whole once more. And although this is billed as a book for men, most of what is written here is really relevant for women as well - because women too have the same basic archetypes as men. This book comes highly recommended. It's a lot more accessible than the much older book on male archetypes by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette, simply because it contains none of the abstract mythology on which they focused in so much detail. This is a practical, down to earth, and instantly usable manual for good emotional health. It is a book designed both for our times and for our current challenges.

    Over the last 100,000+ years humankind has gone through three different phases in trying to understand and explain how things came to be: The Magical, The Religious and now The Scientific. Is it now time to dispense with mythology and superstitions as a way to live our lives and fully embrace the scientific method?

    Here, Michael Tomasello proposes a complementary theory of human uniqueness, focused on development. Building on the seminal ideas of Vygotsky, his data-driven model explains how those things that make us most human are constructed during the first years of a child's life.Tomasello assembles nearly three decades of experimental work with chimpanzees, bonobos, and human children to propose a new framework for psychological growth between birth and seven years of age. He identifies eight pathways that starkly differentiate humans from their closest primate relatives: social cognition, communication, cultural learning, cooperative thinking, collaboration, prosociality, social norms, and moral identity. In each of these, great apes possess rudimentary abilities. But then, Tomasello argues, the maturation of humans' evolved capacities for shared intentionality transform these abilities--through the new forms of sociocultural interaction they enable--into uniquely human cognition and sociality. The first step occurs around nine months, with the emergence of joint intentionality, exercised mostly with caregiving adults. The second step occurs around three years, with the emergence of collective intentionality involving both authoritative adults, who convey cultural knowledge, and coequal peers, who elicit collaboration and communication. Finally, by age six or seven, children become responsible for self-regulating their beliefs and actions so that they comport with cultural norms.Becoming Human places human sociocultural activity within the framework of modern evolutionary theory, and shows how biology creates the conditions under which culture does its work.

    The American republic is suffering its gravest crisis since the Civil War. Conflicts, hostility, and incivility now threaten to tear the country apart. Competing visions have led to a dangerous moment of cultural self-destruction. This is no longer politics as usual, but an era of political warfare where our enemies are not foreign adversaries, but our fellow citizens. Yet the roots of the crisis are deeper than many realize. Os Guinness argues that we face a fundamental crisis of freedom, as America's genius for freedom has become her Achilles' heel. Our society's conflicts are rooted in two rival views of freedom, one embodied in "1776" and the ideals of the American Revolution, and the other in "1789" and the ideals of the French Revolution. Once again America has become a house divided, and Americans must make up their minds as to which freedom to follow. Will the constitutional republic be restored or replaced? This grand treatment of history, civics, and ethics in the Jewish and Christian traditions represents Guinness's definitive exploration of the prospects for human freedom today. He calls for a national conversation on the nature of freedom, and poses key questions for concerned citizens to consider as we face a critical chapter in the American story. He offers readers a checklist by which they can assess the character and consequences of the freedoms they are choosing. In the tradition of Alexis de Tocqueville, Guinness provides a visitor's careful observation of the American experiment. Discover here a stirring vision for faithful citizenship and renewed responsibility for not only the nation but also the watching world.

    In everyday situations (such as opening an umbrella in the rain, or wearing a jacket in the cold) we generally don’t resist these required adjustments. However, when dealing with difficult people, facing unhealthy relationships, in family relationships, or in the midst of marriage problems, adjustments become increasingly difficult. Some of our relationships could even be said to be the very definition of conflict! We ask ourselves, how can we possibly adjust in these emotionally-challenging situations? In the book “Adjust Everywhere”, Gnani Purush (embodiment of Self knowledge) Dada Bhagwan offers the ultimate conflict resolution skills in the form of spiritual conflict resolution strategies. His key phrase “Adjust Everywhere” is explained in the context of many common and everyday relationship challenges.

    At various points in his life, Russell considered himself a liberal, a socialist and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had "never been any of these things, in any profound sense".The Bertrand Russell Collection features some of the finest philosophical and political writing from what amounted to an incredibly gifted brain.Featuring:The Problems of PhilosophyOur Knowledge of the External WorldWhy Men FightPolitical IdealsMysticism and Logic and Other EssaysThe Practice and Theory of BolshevismThe Analysis of MindandFree Thought and Official Propaganda

    Its teachings are based on the works of Hermes, an ancient Egyptian philosopher. Like Jesus, Buddha, Muhammad, Socrates and a few other philosophical and religious founders, Hermes is said to have received his knowledge in a vision during a period of deep concentration. During his “awakening", Hermes claimed to have been exposed to the truth of the world, how it works, and what lies beyond. He believed that he had experienced "the Soul of the Universe”. The Kybalion is a categorization and explanation of the seven main laws of life, as expressed to Hermes during his vision. Legend has it that these laws have been passed down in secret for centuries from teacher to students considered ready for the information, much like Jesus’s passing on of inner knowledge only to his closest disciples. The initial publishing of The Kybalion by “The Three Initiates" is reported to be the first time the general public has had access to these inner teachings. The seven laws of The Kybalion will sound familiar to many, for they are the underlying themes of this existence. But learning the exact significance and meaning of these laws has been a closely guarded secret for millennia. A secret that, once understood, has the potential to transform your life, and your understanding of life. The immediate effect of the teachings is believed to be an enhanced ability to live a better life, in all areas of concern. The long term effect is an evolution of consciousness and awareness toward higher and higher levels. In the Bible, it is said that Adam fell into a deep sleep. Nowhere does it ever say that he woke up. An “awakening” that carries us beyond our current level of cognition and perception is the ultimate goal of the teachings of The Kybalion. “We know what we are, but know not what we may be.” -Shakespeare

    And even for believers, the intellectual and spiritual temptations to deny the existence of God seem greater than ever. Too often we respond to this pressure by seeking more and more rational proofs of God's existence, but what if a lack of reason to believe is not our main problem? In this volume, Joseph Minich argues that our real challenge is existential and imaginative—a felt absence of God that is more visceral in our modern world than for most generations past, and the sense that if God cannot be sensed, He cannot be there. Why are we so haunted and disoriented today by this sense of God's absence? And how can we learn to sustain and strengthen our faith in the face of it? In these pages, Minich charts a way back to a renewal of our hearts and imaginations that can enable us to embrace the challenge of finding and being found by the hidden God.

    You are born with an incredibly powerful tool at your disposal, yet most of us never learn how to use that asset to its fullest potential. This book will teach you how to systematically program your subconscious mind into becoming the person that you were intended to be.By combining traditional goal-setting techniques with modern self-hypnosis and NLP methods, you will be able to predict, and then create, the future of your dreams.Step settling for a life of mediocracy and start achieving greatness."More than a book, Chad Chesmark’s work is a user’s manual for those looking to take life to another level. By providing actionable information on how to leverage the power of the subconscious mind, Chad is poised to impact countless lives."- Bob Proctor - Chairman/Co-Founder Proctor Gallagher Institute

    As information becomes ever more plentiful, the resource that is becoming more scarce is our attention. In this 'attention economy', we need to recognise the fundamental impacts of our new information environment on our lives in order to take back control. Drawing on insights ranging from Diogenes to contemporary tech leaders, Williams's thoughtful and impassioned analysis is sure to provoke discussion and debate. Williams is the inaugural winner of the Nine Dots Prize, a new Prize for creative thinking that tackles contemporary social issues. This title is also available as Open Access.

    This service includes internal and external security, a legal and regulatory framework and independent dispute resolution. You pay a contractually fixed fee for these services per year. The government service provider, as the operator of the community, cannot unilaterally change this "citizens' contract" with you later on. As a "contract citizen", you have a legal claim to compliance and a claim for damages in the event the provider does not perform. You take care of everything else by yourself, but you can also do whatever you want, limited only by the rights of others and some limited rules of living together. And you only take part if and as long as the offer appeals to you. Disputes between you and the government service provider are heard in independent arbitration courts, as is customary in international commercial law. If the operator ignores the arbitral awards or abuses his power in another way, his customers leave and he goes bankrupt. He therefore has an economic risk and therefore an incentive to treat his customers well and in accordance with the contract. This concept is called a Free Private City. The first part of this book deals with fundamental questions that every social order has to face. The concept of Free Private Cities described in the second part is derived from this; historical and current models are examined. The third part deals with concrete questions of implementation of Free Private Cities. Finally, the fourth part provides an outlook on future developments.

    To really understand and fully embrace this point is to live in a radically different world—a world of awakening, inclusion, and love. Zen Master Dogen frames the teaching on impermanence explicitly as a teaching about time—and all of Dogen’s profoundly poetic teachings flow from his seminal understanding of time, as expressed in Uji (Being-Time), the famous—and famously difficult—essay in his masterwork, Shobogenzo. In Uji, Dogen teaches that time itself, being itself, is luminous awakening. It is all-inclusive, all-elusive, ultimately healing, and eternal.             In this book, Shinshu Roberts does full justice, as does no other book I know of, to Dogen’s words. She offers interpretation of Uji only after careful consideration and marshaling of many sources—and offers simple everyday examples to illustrate points that seem at first abstruse. If this text causes you to doubt your most cherished concepts about your life, it will have done its work.” —from the Foreword by Norman Fischer Being-Time thoroughly explores Dogen’s teaching on how we practice as Buddhas by understanding the relationship between being and time as it is—and as we perceive it to be. Using Dogen’s Shobogenzo Uji (The True Dharma Eye, Being-Time), Shinshu Roberts offers a twofold analysis of this teaching: the meaning of the text and practice with the text, giving examples how we apply Dogen’s complex teaching to our daily lives.

    Srimad Bhagavad Gita is unique among the body of scriptural literature for the simple, practical and relevant style with which it presents the essence of the Hindu way of life.

    Stumbling into India on an accidental layover 1980, she gets drawn into a seeker’s journey, searching for truth and encountering the many remarkable men and women, gurus and teachers, who would act as guides for her decades in India. From Sai Baba to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, from Anandamayi Ma to Amma, she records her close personal encounters and experiences.The journey will take us to secluded and unknown yogis in the Himalayas to the famous celebrity gurus, to colourful festivals and ascetic caves. But her real journey is the inner voyage to Yoga or union, a union with the Self. As we travel with and through her we get to reflect on love and death, rebirth and liberation and the necessity and the limitations of the guru. Finding both inspiration and disillusionment, she returns again to her own Self and to the wisdom of India, a treasure for all of humanity in its journey.

    The history of philosophy conceived as the elaboration of a program for artificial general intelligence; intelligence understood as the impersonal and collective evolution of a thought that constructs itself according to a view from nowhere and nowhen.In Intelligence and Spirit Reza Negarestani formulates the ultimate form of intelligence as a theoretical and practical thought unfettered by the temporal order of things, a real movement capable of overcoming any state of affairs that, from the perspective of the present, may appear to be the complete totality of its history.Building on Hegel’s account of geist as a multi-agent conception of mind and Kant’s transcendental psychology as a functional analysis of the conditions of possibility of having mind, Negarestani provides a critique of both classical humanism and dominant trends in posthumanism.This remarkable fusion of continental philosophy in the form of a renewal of the speculative ambitions of German Idealism, and analytic philosophy in the form of extended thought-experiments and a philosophy of artificial languages, opens up new perspectives on the meaning of human intelligence, and explores the real potential of posthuman intelligence and what it means for us to live in its prehistory.

    

    The second book, Becoming a Barbarian, showed disconnected modern men - men born into the anti-identity "Empire of Nothing" - how to think tribally. In A More Complete Beast, Donovan picks up Friedrich Nietzsche's thoughts on nobility and master morality and uses them to guide men through an "upside-down" modern world, avoid the trap of hateful ressentiment, and overcome adversity through creativity. In Donovan's hands, Nietzsche's words are rasps and chisels to help men refine a strength-based ethos, reveal their highest and noblest selves and become more complete men. And, as Nietzsche reminded us, man is a beast - so to become a more complete man is always to become a more complete beast.

    Meanwhile, many modern Stoics also practise Buddhist-inspired meditation and find inspiration in Buddhist ideas and practices. In this extended reflection, Patrick Ussher considers in what ways Buddhism and Stoicism are similar, highly engaged and practical philosophies as a way of life which can mutually inform and enlighten each other. The book explores themes of Buddhist and Stoic mindfulness, shared psychological insights as well as Stoic and Buddhist practices for cultivating compassion and concern for others. Patrick Ussher also explores why it is that, of all forms of Buddhism, it is 'Western Buddhism' that is most similar to Stoicism. In the West, Buddhism has been 'redeveloped' into a practical, highly engaged, present moment focussed philosophy as a way of life. And, as it happens, this Western 'reinvention' of Buddhism turns out to be much closer to Stoic philosophy than it is to the traditional Buddhism from which it draws. Similarly, Stoicism has also been undergoing a 'reinvention' in recent times which has particularly emphasised its practical nature as a philosophy as a way of life for anyone regardless of belief in God, which was an essential feature of traditional Stoicism. The resulting 'Modern Stoicism' is likewise even closer to Western Buddhism than traditional Stoicism is. This book is for anyone who is interested in how either Stoicism or Buddhism can be a helpful and heartfelt addition to their lives and who is also interested in reflecting on how both Stoicism and Buddhism are undergoing dynamic 'reinterpretations' in the modern world. Book cover design by Rocio De Torres Artillo (http://www.rociodetorres.com).

    Is the rapture really taught in the Bible? Can we really expect Jesus to gather up His followers before the Antichrist is revealed? In this well-reasoned and thorough defense, prophecy authors Mark Hitchcock and Ed Hindson examine the concept, context, and consequences of the important and long-expected event known as the rapture. Discover the answers to such questions as... What is the rapture—and is there any historical precedent for it? Why do some believers object to the idea of a rapture? Does the timing of the rapture really make a difference? As you explore what Scripture says about the end times, you'll get a grander glimpse of your glorious future and the deepest hope of every follower of Jesus.

    Styled as a historical fiction, Krishna and Kamsa are portrayed as men pursuing their narratives according to their understanding of the world around them. What entails is a clash of two narratives-the dharmic one symbolized by Krishna and the other a totalitarian and despotic narrative epitomized by Kamsa. The only assumption that has been made is that Krishna was a highly gifted young man.In the story of the battle between an uncle he must kill to survive lies embedded the truth of a nation gone rogue and a critique of the social, cultural and religious circumstances of Mathura, Magadha, Kashi, and other leading power centres of Aryavarta-which holds relevance even in our times-thus setting the stage for the great epic of Mahabharata. The careful portrayal of the other kings and princes of the Mahabharata era shows how often flaws in character can lead to devastating consequences, affecting, sometimes, the nation as a whole. Thus, human psychology is laid bare, including the inherent limitations of man.Weaving a riveting account of the life of the Lord, the political intrigues, discussions on dharma and debates on the position of women in the society, Krishna Gopeshvara is a perfect portrayal of the Vedic era with a deep resonance to the times we live in.

    Rather, with lyrical prose and incisive insight, Stephen Jenkinson explores the great paradox of elderhood in North America: how we are awash in the aged and yet somehow lacking in wisdom; how we relegate senior citizens to the corner of the house while simultaneously heralding them as sage elders simply by virtue of their age. Our own unreconciled relationship with what it means to be an elder has yielded a culture nearly bereft of them. Meanwhile, the planet boils, and the younger generation boils with anger over being left an environment and sociopolitical landscape deeply scarred and broken.   Taking on the sacred cow of the family, Jenkinson argues that elderhood is a function rather than an identity—it is not a position earned simply by the number of years on the planet or the title “parent” or “grandparent.” As with his seminal book Die Wise, Jenkinson interweaves rich personal stories with iconoclastic observations that will leave readers radically rethinking their concept of what it takes to be an elder and the risks of doing otherwise. Part critique, part call to action, Come of Age is a love song inviting us—imploring us—to elderhood in this time of trouble. That time is now. We’re an hour before dawn, and first light will show the carnage, or the courage, we bequeath to the generations to come.

    Philosopher Peter Kreeft explains in this book that the More includes "The Absolute Good, Platonic Forms, God, gods, angels, spirits, ghosts, souls, Brahman, Rta (the Hindu ontological basis for cosmological karma), Nirvana, Tao, 'the will of Heaven', The Meaning of It All, Something that deserves a capital letter."With razor-sharp reasoning and irrepressible joy, Kreeft helps us to find the doors in the walls of the world. Drawing on history, physical science, psychology, religion, philosophy, literature, and art, he invites us to welcome what lies on the other side of these doors, and to begin living the life of Heaven in the here and now.

    Shree Samarth Ramdas was a noted 17th-century Brahmin saint and spiritual poet of Maharashtra. He is most remembered for his Advaita Vedantist text, the Dasbodh. Ramdas was a devotee of Hanuman and Rama.

    There are answers to all of these questions and Anderson Silver has compiled teachings from Stoicism and other schools of thought in Your User’s Manual. This refreshing collection not only gives the reader much sought after answers, but also provides the tools for finding purpose, and living an anxiety-free life in the modern world. Meant as a light read that the reader can come back to and meditate on periodically, Anderson has done a wonderful job of condensing fundamental teachings, making Your User’s Manual a straightforward read in answering life’s most pressing questions and recognizing what is truly important.

    This little anthology brings together his own ideas and images of beauty and those of writers and thinkers he has read and liked. This pocketbook is a thing of quiet beauty.

    The alcoholic rarely understands why they are unable to enjoy an alcoholic beverage like everyone else. The only option for most is a trip to an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting. For some, it works. For others, it's the start of a vicious cycle. By calling it a disease or blaming an "addictive personality", society takes the easy way out. I refused to take the easy way out. I looked back on my compulsive drinking with a sober eye and a heavy heart. I analyzed my behaviors and considered my motivations for making a binge and blackout drinking the standard for consumption. It's only in sobriety that you can understand how destructive you have been to yourself and those closest to you. These are the letters that I wish I had in my darkest hour, when I knew that I needed to quit but couldn't. These letters will lift you up from the ocean of despair and guilt that you're drowning in. These letters will make you understand why you drink until you can't remember what you were trying to forget. These letters might save your life or the life of someone you love...

    Along the way, it has also become one of the major lenses we use to explore important philosophical questions.The origins of science fiction are most often thought to trace to Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, a story born from a night of spooky tale-telling by the fireside that explores scientific, moral, and ethical questions that were of great concern in the 19th century - and that continue to resonate today. And, although novels and short stories built the foundations of science fiction, film and television have emerged as equally powerful, experimental, and enjoyable ways to experience the genre. Even as far back as the silent era, films like Fritz Lang's Metropolis have used science fiction to tell stories that explore many facets of human experience.In Sci-Phi: Science Fiction as Philosophy, Professor of Philosophy David Kyle Johnson, of King's College, takes you on a 24-lecture exploration of the final frontiers of philosophy across several decades of science fiction in film and television. From big-budget blockbusters to television series featuring aliens in rubber masks, Professor Johnson finds food for philosophical thought in a wide range of stories. By looking at serious questions through astonishing tales and astounding technologies, you will see how science fiction allows us to consider immense, vital - and sometimes controversial - ideas with a rare combination of engagement and critical distance.

    This little book is actually a big book, containing Osho's entire teaching from an early period of his public life and teachings. He takes us through three steps on the path to awakening, steps to help us to get out of our conditioning, our limitations and frustrations. "There are only three steps: freedom of consciousness, simplicity of mind, and emptiness of mind."For freedom of thought, for liberation of thought, and for the awakening of intelligence, the first thing, the first awareness that is needed is: “No thought is mine. No thought is mine.” While we read this book, Osho takes us through this experience of letting go of identification, allows us to get a glimpse what a life of awakening can be.

    Spiritual Science offers a third alternative: a spiritual view of reality that transcends both conventional science and religion, and answers many of the riddles that neither can explain. The standard model of science has had little success in explaining such areas as human consciousness, the connection between the mind and the body, altruism and ‘anomalous’ phenomena such as near-death experiences, psi phenomena (such as telepathy) and spiritual experiences. But from a ‘panspiritist’ point of view – which sees spirit or consciousness as a fundamental essence of reality – it is possible to make sense of all these things. Steve Taylor puts forward the evidence for a spiritual view of reality, drawing on the insights of philosophers, physicists, mystics, as well as spiritual traditions and indigenous cultures. He systematically shows how a ‘panspiritist’ view can explain many puzzling aspects of science and the world, including evolution and the origins of life, and a wide range of other phenomena such as quantum physics, the placebo effect, precognition and neuroplasticity. Spiritual Science offers a new vision of the world that is compatible with both modern science and ancient spiritual teachings. It provides a more accurate and holistic account of reality than conventional science or religion, integrating a wide range of phenomena that are excluded from both. After showing how the materialist worldview demeans the world and human life, Spiritual Science offers a brighter alternative – a vision of the world as sacred and interconnected, and of human life as meaningful and purposeful.Spiritual Science explains how the standard materialist model of reality developed, and turned into a belief system. This belief system can only function by denying (or explaining away) a whole range of phenomena that are part of human experience. It is possible to be scientific without adopting this belief system – in fact, it is much more rational to do so.

    After publishing a manifesto prophecy about the catastrophic immediate-future entitled The New Revelations of Being, Artaud abruptly left Paris and travelled to Ireland, remaining there for six weeks and existing without money, travelling first to the isolated island of Inishmore off Ireland's western coast, then to Galway, and finally to Dublin, where he was arrested as an undesirable alien, beaten by the police, and summarily deported back to France. On his return, he spent nine years in lunatic asylums, including the entire span of the Second World War. During that journey to Ireland - on which he accumulated signs of his forthcoming apocalypse, and planned his own role in it as 'THE REVEALED ONE' - Artaud wrote letters to friends in Paris and also created several magic spells, intended to curse his enemies and to protect his friends from Paris's forthcoming incineration and the Antichrist's appearance at the Deux Magots cafe. To André Breton, he wrote: 'It's the Unbelievable - yes, the Unbelievable - it's the Unbelievable which is the truth.' Many of his writings from Ireland were lost, and this book collects all of his surviving letters, drawn together from archives and private collections, together with photographs of the locations he travelled through. This edition, with an afterword and notes by the book's translator/editor, Stephen Barber, marks the seventieth anniversary of Artaud's death.

    Aristotle. Augustine. Hume. Kant. Hegel. These names and the philosophies associated with them ring through the minds of every student and scholar of philosophy. And in their search for knowledge, every student of philosophy needs to know the history of the philosophical discourse such giants have bequeathed us. Noted philosopher C. Stephen Evans brings his expertise to this daunting task as he surveys the history of Western philosophy, from the Pre-Socratics to Nietzsche and postmodernism—and every major figure and movement in between.

    As a result, we are losing a sense of the concrete and imposing presence of the real, and the fundamental claim it makes on us, a claim that Iris Murdoch once described as the essence of love. In response to this postmodern predicament, the present book aims to draw on the classical philosophical tradition in order to articulate a robust philosophical anthropology, and a new appreciation of the importance of the "transcendental properties" of being: beauty, goodness, and truth. The book begins with a reflection on the importance of metaphysics in our contemporary setting, and then presents the human person's relation to the world under the signs of the transcendentals: beauty is the gracious invitation into reality, goodness is the self-gift of freedom in response to this invitation, and truth is the consummation of our relation to the real in knowledge. The book culminates in an argument for why love is ultimately a matter of being, and why metaphysical reason in indispensable in faith.

    It is so much THE central one that the very existence and survival of Western civilization depends on it. It is like the Confucian tradition in Chinese culture, or the monotheistic tradition in religion, or the human rights tradition in politics.In the first of his eight lectures, Peter Kreeft defines Platonism and its “Big Idea,” the idea of a transcendent reality that the history of philosophy has labeled “Platonic Ideas” or Platonic Forms. In the second lecture, he briefly explores Plato’s two basic predecessors or sources, myth and Socrates; and then looks at 12 applications of the Forms in Plato’s own dialogues. The third lecture covers the three most important modifications or additions to Plato himself in the Platonic tradition: Aristotle, Plotinus, and Augustine, each of whom gave the Forms a new metaphysical address. The fourth lecture explores six Christian Platonists, three in the New Testament and three philosophers, Justin Martyr, Bonaventure, and Aquinas.  The next three lectures explore the consequences of the modern abandoning of Platonism, beginning with William of Ockham’s Nominalism, as the source of nearly all modern philosophical errors, and its results in the Empiricism of Locke and Hume, the so-called Copernican Revolution in philosophy in Kant, the so-called “analytic philosophy,” which still dominates English and American philosophy departments. In the sixth essays, Kreeft looks at 13 influential kinds of positivism or reductionism in modern thought: in method, history, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, sociology, politics, logics, linguistics, sex, psychology, and theology, exemplified by Descartes, Machiavelli, Hobbes, Marx, Kant, Comte, Rousseau, Rawls, Ayer, Derrida, Freud, Skimmer, Nietzsche, and Sartre. Lecture 7 looks at the results of abandoning the Platonic tradition in ethics, the values vacuum, or nihilism, in Ecclesiastes, Pascal, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoi, Marcel, and Buber. In the last lecture, Kreeft looks at some experiential evidence for Platonism, doors out of the cave that are still open, signals of transcendence.

    For example, advances in DIY biohacking tools might make iteasy for anybody with basic training in biology to kill millions; novel military technologies couldtrigger arms races in which whoever strikes first has a decisive advantage; or some economicallyadvantageous process may be invented that produces disastrous negative global externalitiesthat are hard to regulate. This paper introduces the concept of a vulnerable world: roughly, onein which there is some level of technological development at which civilization almost certainlygets devastated by default, i.e. unless it has exited the “semi-anarchic default condition”. Severalcounterfactual historical and speculative future vulnerabilities are analyzed and arranged into atypology. A general ability to stabilize a vulnerable world would require greatly amplifiedcapacities for preventive policing and global governance. The vulnerable world hypothesis thusoffers a new perspective from which to evaluate the risk-benefit balance of developmentstowards ubiquitous surveillance or a unipolar world order.

    They want to live authentic lives but feel paralyzed by outside forces dictating their choices. Good news! Help is on the way. Dr. Davina Kotulski will show you how to take back your life from the paralysis of fear by following your inner compass. In this book, you’ll learn how to create a life that honors your authentic self-expression, which is the only path to EVER feeling fulfilled. You’ll be guided step by step to: > Reconnect with your true essence and what really matters > Listen to your inner wisdom > Move forward in the face of fear and other obstacles > Commit to your dreams and take back your life!

    Neoliberalism's Demons argues that it is much more than that: a complete worldview, neoliberalism presents the competitive marketplace as the model for true human flourishing. And it has enjoyed great success: from the struggle for "global competitiveness" on the world stage down to our individual practices of self-branding and social networking, neoliberalism has transformed every aspect of our shared social life.The book explores the sources of neoliberalism's remarkable success and the roots of its current decline. Neoliberalism's appeal is its promise of freedom in the form of unfettered free choice. But that freedom is a trap: we have just enough freedom to be accountable for our failings, but not enough to create genuine change. If we choose rightly, we ratify our own exploitation. And if we choose wrongly, we are consigned to the outer darkness--and then demonized as the cause of social ills. By tracing the political and theological roots of the neoliberal concept of freedom, Adam Kotsko offers a fresh perspective, one that emphasizes the dynamics of race, gender, and sexuality. More than that, he accounts for the rise of right-wing populism, arguing that, far from breaking with the neoliberal model, it actually doubles down on neoliberalism's most destructive features.

    It is a journey into the cracks and crevices of big history; an expedition into the expanding realm of transformational movements and ideas – forces of change that are shifting how we think, behave, and relate. A sense of uncertainty and foreboding anticipation is palpable, and it’s more than just a feeling in the air. We are witnessing a titanic impact at the crossroads of religion, politics, technology, and culture. Fundamentally, it is a collision of worldviews – and we are all experiencing the shockwaves. Game of Gods allows you to step back and see the unfolding drama, to understand its points of contact, and to consider challenges and opportunities. In doing so, you will be traveling through the history of ideas, while probing dreams of tomorrow: Step into closed-door meetings at the United Nations, rub shoulders with faith leaders playing politics, scrutinize the religious impulse of technology, and watch how culture becomes a platform for spiritual engineering. A new and dominant mythos emerges, the vision of Oneness. But is this the only claim? Considered is a different and contrasting paradigm, a reality claim that emanates from beyond time, space, and matter. This, too, has a bearing on ethics, liberty, and freedom. It makes a case for human dignity, hope, and salvation.

    Sin's poetry, and the Whiskey Words & a Shovel 2019 Day-to-Day Calendar presents his powerful message of perseverance that cuts to the heart of modern-day life.Each page of this daily calendar features a poem specially selected by the author from his best-selling Whiskey Words & a Shovel series of books. And its cloth-covered wraparound binding and easel gives it a literary sophistication.

    The first skirmishes are already being fought. The crisis America faces is between two incompatible visions of the future, and a nation sharply divided between them. Will we become this diverse beacon of tolerance where we forget our past and embrace socialism and political correctness? Or, will we stand for our traditional beliefs, values, liberty, and sovereign government as free citizens our Founders did? Between these two paths, it becomes clearer each day no happy compromise exists to be reached, and as the arguments become more heated and the fights spill into the street, this battle to define America for generations to come is just beginning. To understand the reasons for the fight, the players shaping this conflict, the groups who will be on each side, and what this potentially means for your family and our nation, this brutally candid account offers a vital glimpse toward dark days ahead.

    His magnum opus, the Go-Rin-Sho or Book of Five Rings is a classic that is still read by tens of thousands of people each year—Japanese and foreigners alike.Alex Bennett's groundbreaking new translation of The Book of Five Rings reveals the true meaning of this text for the first time. Like Sun Tzu's The Art of War, Musashi's book offers unique insights, not just for warriors, but for anyone wanting to apply the Zen Buddhist principle of awareness to achieve success in their endeavors. This book sheds new light on Japanese history and on the philosophical meaning of Bushido—the ancient "code of the Japanese warrior."Unlike other translations that are based on incomplete and inaccurate versions of Musashi's work, Bennett's is the first to be based on a careful reconstruction of the long-lost original manuscript. Capturing the subtle nuances of the original Japanese classic, the result is a far more accurate and meaningful English version of The Book of Five Rings text. Richly annotated and with an extensive introduction to Musashi's life, this version includes a collection of his other writings—translated into English for the first time. A respected scholar, as well as a skilled martial artist, Bennett's understanding of Musashi's life and work is unparalleled. This book will be widely read by students of Japanese culture, history. military strategy, and martial arts. It sets a new standard against which all other translations will be measured.

     Coming in at only 5,000 Chinese characters, its timeless wisdom has inspired millions of people around the world and serves as one of the cornerstones of the Taoist religion.  It has been translated into English many, many times, but this new work by the best-selling writing team of Jeff Pepper and Xiao Hui Wang is much than a translation. The authors have taken the unusual step of not just giving you the English translation, but also showing, word by word, how one gets from the original Chinese characters to the English version.  Each of the 81 short chapters contains a beautiful English translation, followed by a word-by-word and line-by-line breakdown of the chapter, showing the original Chinese, the pinyin (phonetic spelling in English characters), a word-for-word literal translation into English, and occasional helpful notes to help the reader better understand the translation. The result is a book that can be read casually, or studied carefully, or anything in between.This new translation expresses the DDJ in simple language that anyone can access.  In their Authors' Notes they say: "This is a book for ordinary people, not scholars.  Many DDJ translations have been created by scholars for other scholars, and while we have studied many of them and owe a debt of gratitude to those scholars, we feel that the DDJ’s message is simple, practical and universal, and we want everyone to have the chance to benefit from it.  We try to follow the guidance of Laozi in Chapter 70, who tells us, in his usual elliptical way: My words are very easy to understand, very easy to practice. In this world, they can’t be understood, and can’t be practiced."It’s impossible to do a 100% literal translation of the DDJ.  Ordinary modern Chinese is quite different from Western languages, and the language used in this book is even more different.  To start with, the original DDJ is extremely compact.  Its verses have very few connecting words, forcing the reader to think deeply about the verse in order to tease out its underlying meaning or meanings.  Some words can, depending on context, serve as nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs.  Verbs in Chinese generally have no past, present or future tense, nouns have no gender (male/female), and no number (singular/plural).  And to make things even more difficult, helpful little words like prepositions and pronouns are often missing entirely.  As a result, translating literally from Chinese to English usually results in gibberish.  Pepper and Wang have added just enough connecting words so that the sentence makes sense, while still expressing Laozi’s thoughts as concisely as possible. They've also tried really hard to avoid the temptation to add things that weren’t already there in order to make the sentence more readable.A Pocket Edition of this book is also available. The Pocket Edition contains only the English translation, not the original Chinese or the detailed translation notes.  It's only 114 pages vs. 380 pages, and it's a smaller size (5"x8" instead of 6"x9"), making it a better fit for the pants pocket.

    This will make you feel things. This is a poet illustrating her own book. This is in alien language. This is an angry bedtime story. This contains occasional confessional explosions. This is a bit of sexy feminism. This is hipster monologue. This is angst that will not fester. This is a spiritual quest. This is sometimes grammatically incorrect. This is don't let anyone say you can't draw. Not even your own mind.