Book picks similar to
The Roots of the Self: Unraveling the Mystery of Who We Are by Robert Ornstein
psychology
life
non-fiction
healing
The Second Book of the Tao
Stephen Mitchell - 2009
Following the phenomenal success of his own version of the Tao Te Ching, renowned scholar and translator Stephen Mitchell has composed the innovative The Second Book of the Tao. Drawn from the work of Lao-tzu’s disciple Chuang-tzu and Confucius’s grandson Tzussu, The Second Book of the Tao offers Western readers a path into reality that has nothing to do with Taoism or Buddhism or old or new alone, but everything to do with truth. Mitchell has selected the freshest, clearest teachings from these two great students of the Tao and adapted them into versions that reveal the poetry, depth, and humor of the original texts with a thrilling new power. Alongside each adaptation, Mitchell includes his own commentary, at once explicating and complementing the text. This book is a twenty-first-century form of ancient wisdom, bringing a new, homemade sequel to the Tao Te Ching into the modern world. Mitchell’s renditions are radiantly lucid; they dig out the vision that’s hiding beneath the words; they grab the text by the scruff of the neck—by its heart, really—and let its essential meanings fall out. The book introduces us to a cast of vivid characters, most of them humble artisans or servants, who show us what it means to be in harmony with the way things are. Its wisdom provides a psychological and moral acuity as deep as the Tao Te Ching itself.The Second Book of the Tao is a gift to contemporary readers, granting us access to our own fundamental wisdom. Mitchell’s meditations and risky reimagining of the original texts are brilliant and liberating, not least because they keep catching us off-guard, opening up the heavens where before we saw a roof. He makes the ancient teachings at once modern, relevant, and timeless.Listen to a special podcast with Stephen Mitchell:
Huna: Ancient Hawaiian Secrets for Modern Living
Serge Kahili King - 2008
Dating back to the time before the first missionary presence arrived in the islands, the tradition of Huna is more than just a philosophy of living—it is intertwined and deeply connected with every aspect of Hawaiian life. Blending ancient Hawaiian wisdom with modern practicality, Serge Kahili King imparts the philosophy behind the beliefs, history, and foundation of Huna. More important, King shows readers how to use Huna philosophy to attain both material and spiritual goals. To those who practice Huna, there is a deep understanding about the true nature of life—and the real meaning of personal power, intention, and belief. Through exploring the seven core principles around which the practice revolves, King passes onto readers a timeless and powerful wisdom.
Soulmates
Jess Stearn - 1984
Is it fantasy or reality? In this extraordinary and fascinating book, bestselling author Jess Stearn reveals that perfect love does exist--that you can find it, experience it . . . and with it, change your life forever. Here are the inspiring stories of many real-life soulmates Stearn has met, the innermost secrets of celebrities like Shirley MacLaine, Susan Strasberg, Howard Hughes, and Joan Hackett, who have sought and found the ultimate love.Now you can share in the drama and ecstasy of fulfilling your deepest and most powerful yearnings and desires. You too can find your own true soulmate.
Prayer Is Good Medicine: How to Reap the Healing Benefits of Prayer
Larry Dossey - 1996
'With the elegance of simplicity and the precision of science, Dossey shows us how we can create a lasting partnership between faith and medicine.'DEEPACK CHOPRA, M.D.Experience the Healing Power of PrayerFrom the author of 'The New Y
Stay: A History of Suicide and the Philosophies Against It
Jennifer Michael Hecht - 2013
Despite distressing statistics that show suicide rates rising, the subject, long a taboo, is infrequently talked about. In this sweeping intellectual and cultural history, poet and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht channels her grief for two friends lost to suicide into a search for history’s most persuasive arguments against the irretrievable act, arguments she hopes to bring back into public consciousness. From the Stoics and the Bible to Dante, Shakespeare, Wittgenstein, and such twentieth-century writers as John Berryman, Hecht recasts the narrative of our “secular age” in new terms. She shows how religious prohibitions against self-killing were replaced by the Enlightenment’s insistence on the rights of the individual, even when those rights had troubling applications. This transition, she movingly argues, resulted in a profound cultural and moral loss: the loss of shared, secular, logical arguments against suicide. By examining how people in other times have found powerful reasons to stay alive when suicide seems a tempting choice, she makes a persuasive intellectual and moral case against suicide.
The Scientist: A Novel Autobiography
John C. Lilly - 1978
The films "Day of the Dolphin" and "Altered States" were based on his research.
The Ego Tunnel: The Science of the Mind and the Myth of the Self
Thomas Metzinger - 2009
In The Ego Tunnel, philosopher Thomas Metzinger claims otherwise: No such thing as a self exists. The conscious self is the content of a model created by our brain—an internal image, but one we cannot experience as an image. Everything we experience is “a virtual self in a virtual reality.”But if the self is not “real,” why and how did it evolve? How does the brain construct it? Do we still have souls, free will, personal autonomy, or moral accountability? In a time when the science of cognition is becoming as controversial as evolution, The Ego Tunnel provides a stunningly original take on the mystery of the mind.
Zen and the Art of Happiness
Chris Prentiss - 2006
In "Zen and the Art of Happiness", you will learn how to think and feel so that what you think and feel creates happiness and vibrancy in your life rather than gloominess or depression.
Real Magic: Ancient Wisdom, Modern Science, and a Guide to the Secret Power of the Universe
Dean Radin - 2018
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.
That Which You Are Seeking Is Causing You to Seek
Cheri Huber - 1990
The concepts of "subpersonalities" (the many aspects of the personality) and "projection" (the notion that the entire world is a mirror of who we are) are introduced. Readers are encouraged to consider that they see the world the way they do not because the world is inherently that way, but because of who's looking. Seeing ourselves as having many different parts helps us make sense the the whirling mass of contradictions we sometimes experience within ourselves.
Enlightenment:What It Is
Sadhguru - 2008
He is the founder of Isha Foundation which administers yoga centres around the world, including India and the United States. Jagadish Vasudev was born in Mysore, Karnataka. At the age of twenty-five on September 23rd 1982, he had a deep spiritual experience, and subsequently established Isha Foundation, a non-religious, not-for-profit, public service organization, which addresses all aspects of human wellbeing. The Isha Yoga Centre and Ashram near Coimbatore was founded in 1992, and hosts a series of programs intended to heighten self-awareness through the ancient practice of yoga. These programs are offered to people ranging from the highly educated to the illiterate, from corporate leaders to prisoners. Sadhguru spoke in four panels at the 2007 World Economic Forum, addressing issues ranging from diplomacy to economic development, education and the environment. In 2006, he addressed the World Economic Forum, the Tällberg Forum in Sweden, and the Australian Leadership Retreat. He has also served as a delegate to the United Nations Millennium Peace Summit and the World Peace Congress. He is the only speaker to have been invited to the World Economic Forum three years in a row. Sadhguru has had interviews with the BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, CNNfn, and Newsweek International. He was a delegate to the United Nations Millennium World Peace Summit - [1], [2] and a participant at the World Economic Forum in 2006, 2007 and 2008. [3] Sadhguru is a practitioner of yogic temple building and consecration, creating the Dhyanalinga yogic temple in 1999. The consecration process employed Prana prathista which is different from the Mantra prathista process prevalent in Kumbabishekam rituals in practiced through the modern times.[4][5] Ancient Indian alchemical processes were allegedly used extensively in the temple building and consecration. Contrary to science, it is claimed that the presence of solid mercury at room temperature can be observed in the building[6]. Project Green Hands and initiative to increase the green cover of Tamil Nadu State by 33% in the next 15-25 years is spearheaded by Jaggi Vasudev[7]. The project entered the Guinness Book of world records for planting maximum number of tree saplings on a single day[8]. Vasudev was a key participant in the 2006 documentary film ONE: The Movie.
The Immortal Mind: Science and the Continuity of Consciousness beyond the Brain
Ervin Laszlo - 2014
Conventional science prefers to dismiss these findings because they cannot be accommodated by a materialist view of reality. Spirituality and religion embrace the continuity of consciousness and ascribe it to a nonmaterial spirit or soul that is immortal. As such, spirituality/religion and science continually find conflict in their views. But what if there truly is no conflict? Based on a new scientific paradigm in sync with experience-based spirituality, Ervin Laszlo and Anthony Peake explore how consciousness is continually present in the cosmos and can exist without connection to a living organism. They examine the rapidly growing body of scientific evidence supporting the continuity of consciousness, including near-death experiences, after-death communication, reincarnation, and neurosensory information received in altered states. They explain how the persistence of consciousness beyond the demise of the body means that, in essence, we are not mortal--we continue to exist even when our physical existence has come to an end. This correlates precisely with cutting-edge physics, which posits that things in our plane of time and space are not intrinsically real but are manifestations of a hidden dimension where they exist in the form of superstrings, information fields, and energy matrices. With proof that consciousness is basic to the cosmos and immortal in its deeper, nonmanifest realm, Laszlo and Peake reveal the purpose of consciousness is to manifest in living beings in order to continuously evolve.
Dropping Ashes on the Buddha: The Teachings of Zen Master Seung Sahn
Seung Sahn - 1976
You are standing there. What can you do?” This is a problem that Zen Master Seung Sahn is fond of posing to his American students who attend his Zen centers. Dropping Ashes on the Buddha is a delightful, irreverent, and often hilariously funny living record of the dialogue between Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn and his American students. Consisting of dialogues, stories, formal Zen interviews, Dharma speeches, and letters using the Zen Master’s actual words in spontaneous, living interaction with his students, this book is a fresh presentation of the Zen teaching method of “instant dialogue” between Master and student which, through the use of astonishment and paradox, leads to an understanding of ultimate reality.
The Last Best Cure: My Quest to Awaken the Healing Parts of My Brain and Get Back My Body, My Joy, and My Life
Donna Jackson Nakazawa - 2013
That’s when it hit her. She was managing the symptoms of the autoimmune disorders that had plagued her for a decade, but she had lost her joy. As a science journalist, she was curious to know what mind-body strategies might help her. As a wife and mother she was determined to get her life back. Over the course of one year, Nakazawa researches and tests a variety of therapies including meditation, yoga, and acupuncture to find out what works. But the discovery of a little-known branch of research into Adverse Childhood Experiences causes her to have an epiphany about her illness that not only stuns her—it turns her life around. Perfect for readers of Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project, Nakazawa shares her unexpected discoveries, amazing improvements, and shows readers how they too can find their own last best cure.
Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge
Terence McKenna - 1992
Illustrated.