Infinite Circle: Teachings in Zen


Bernie Glassman - 2002
    Glassman illuminates three key teachings of Zen Buddhism, offering line-by-line commentary in clear, direct language:- The Heart Sutra the Buddha's essential discourse on emptiness, a central sutra of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. - The Identity of Relative and Absolute: an eighth-century poem by Shih-t'ou His-ch'ien, a key text of the Soto Zen school. - The Zen precepts: the rules of conduct for laypeople and monks.His commentaries are based on workshops he gave as Abbot of the Zen Community of New York, and they contain within them the principles that became the foundation for the Greyston Mandala of community development organizations and the Zen Peacemaker Order.

Factfulness: Ten Reasons We're Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think


Hans Rosling - 2018
    So wrong that a chimpanzee choosing answers at random will consistently outguess teachers, journalists, Nobel laureates, and investment bankers.In Factfulness, Professor of International Health and global TED phenomenon Hans Rosling, together with his two long-time collaborators, Anna and Ola, offers a radical new explanation of why this happens. They reveal the ten instincts that distort our perspective—from our tendency to divide the world into two camps (usually some version of us and them) to the way we consume media (where fear rules) to how we perceive progress (believing that most things are getting worse).Our problem is that we don’t know what we don’t know, and even our guesses are informed by unconscious and predictable biases.It turns out that the world, for all its imperfections, is in a much better state than we might think. That doesn’t mean there aren’t real concerns. But when we worry about everything all the time instead of embracing a worldview based on facts, we can lose our ability to focus on the things that threaten us most.Inspiring and revelatory, filled with lively anecdotes and moving stories, Factfulness is an urgent and essential book that will change the way you see the world and empower you to respond to the crises and opportunities of the future.

I Wanna Be Well: How a Punk Found Peace and You Can Too


Miguel Chen - 2018
    Just like everyone else. But—also like everyone else—he’s suffered. A lot. Running from difficult personal losses—like the deaths of loved ones—was something he did for years, and it got the best of him. Eventually, though, he stopped running and started walking a spiritual path. That might be surprising for a dude in a relentlessly touring punk band (Teenage Bottlerocket), but Miguel quickly found that meditation, mindfulness, and yoga really helped. They allowed him to turn inward, to connect to himself and the world around him. Suddenly, he had found actual happiness. Miguel’s realistic. He knows it'll never be all sunshine and peaches. And yet, he is (for the most part) at peace with the world and with himself. It shocks even him sometimes. But he’s come to see the interconnectedness of all things, the beauty of life…even the parts that suck. Each short chapter ends with a hands-on practice that the reader can put into action right away—and each practice offers a distilled “TL;DR” takeaway point. TL;DR: Miguel Chen shares stories, meditations, and practices that can help us reconnect to each other, ourselves, and the world. They’ve worked for him—they can work for anyone.

How Dawkins Got Pwned


Mencius Moldbug - 2016
    The worst part: you could be infected, too.

A Stoic's Diary


Dipanshu Rawal - 2018
    Here's the link- https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...------I have been both good and bad to people.Because,I have had ups and downs in my life.---I have been extremely happy whenever something good happened.And like everyone else, I have had my fair share of failures as well.I have been sad and depressed as well.There was a time when nothing went right.I know you might have witnessed such time in your life as well.So, at that moment,I started seeking life advices.While searching-“How to be happy in your life”,on Google,I stumbled upon a few philosophies.Out of those,stoicism was the one that attracted me the most.While researching on stoicism,I couldn’t help but notice that the simplicity and effectiveness of stoicism were lost in either the fancy words of contemporary writers or the outdated words by ancient stoic writers.So, here are my interpretations of stoicism in the simplest way possible.

Nausea


Jean-Paul Sartre - 1938
    In impressionistic, diary form he ruthlessly catalogues his every feeling and sensation about the world and people around him. His thoughts culminate in a pervasive, overpowering feeling of nausea which "spread at the bottom of the viscous puddle, at the bottom of our time, the time of purple suspenders and broken chair seats; it is made of wide, soft instants, spreading at the edge, like an oil stain." Roquentin's efforts to try and come to terms with his life, his philosophical and psychological struggles, give Sartre the opportunity to dramatize the tenets of his Existentialist creed.The introduction for this edition of Nausea by Hayden Carruth gives background on Sartre's life and major works, a summary of the principal themes of Existentialist philosophy, and a critical analysis of the novel itself.

The Ayn Rand Cult


Jeff Walker - 1998
    In this book, Jeff Walker debunks the cult-like following that developed around the author of the classics Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead--a cult that persists even today.

The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom


Michael Shermer - 2014
    The Age of Reason and the Enlightenment led theorists to apply scientific reasoning to the non-scientific disciplines of politics, economics, and moral philosophy. Instead of relying on the woodcuts of dissected bodies in old medical texts, physicians opened bodies themselves to see what was there; instead of divining truth through the authority of an ancient holy book or philosophical treatise, people began to explore the book of nature for themselves through travel and exploration; instead of the supernatural belief in the divine right of kings, people employed a natural belief in the right of democracy.In this provocative and compelling book, Shermer will explain how abstract reasoning, rationality, empiricism, skepticism—scientific ways of thinking—have profoundly changed the way we perceive morality and, indeed, move us ever closer to a more just world.

Super Brain: Unleashing the Explosive Power of Your Mind to Maximize Health, Happiness, and Spiritual Well-Being


Deepak Chopra - 2012
    The authors are two pioneers: bestselling author and physician Deepak Chopra and Harvard Medical School professor Rudolph E. Tanzi, one of the world's foremost experts on the causes of Alzheimer’s. They have merged their wisdom and expertise for a bold new understanding of the “three-pound universe” and its untapped potential.In contrast to the “baseline brain” that fulfills the tasks of everyday life, Chopra and Tanzi propose that, through a person’s increased self-awareness and conscious intention, the brain can be taught to reach far beyond its present limitations. “We are living in a golden age for brain research, but is this a golden age for your brain?” they ask. Super Brain explains how it can be, by combining cutting-edge research and spiritual insights, demolishing the five most widespread myths about the brain that limit your potential, and then showing you methods to:-Use your brain instead of letting it use you-Create the ideal lifestyle for a healthy brain-Reduce the risks of aging-Promote happiness and well-being through the mind-body connection-Access the enlightened brain, the gateway to freedom and bliss-Overcome the most common challenges, such as memory loss, depression, anxiety, and obesity Your brain is capable of incredible healing and constant reshaping. Through a new relationship with your brain you can transform your life. In Super Brain, Chopra and Tanzi guide you on a fascinating journey that envisions a leap in human evolution. The brain is not just the greatest gift that Nature has given us. It’s the gateway to an unlimited future that you can begin to live today.

The Memory Illusion: Remembering, Forgetting, and the Science of False Memory


Julia Shaw - 2016
    We rely on them every day of our lives. They make us who we are. And yet the truth is they are far from being the accurate record of the past we like to think they are. True, we can all admit to having suffered occasional memory lapses, such as entering a room and immediately forgetting why, or suddenly being unable to recall the name of someone we've met dozens of times. But what if our minds have the potential for more profound errors, that enable the manipulation or even outright fabrication of our memories?In The Memory Illusion, forensic psychologist and memory expert Dr Julia Shaw uses the latest research to show the astonishing variety of ways in which our brains can indeed be led astray. She shows why we can sometimes misappropriate other people's memories, subsequently believing them to be our own. She explains how police officers can imprison an innocent man for life on the basis of many denials and just one confession. She demonstrates the way radically false memories can be deliberately implanted, leading people to believe they had tea with Prince Charles, or committed crimes that never happened. And she reveals how, in spite of all this, we can improve our memory through simple awareness of its fallibility. Fascinating and unnerving in equal measure, The Memory Illusion offers a unique insight into the human brain, challenging you to question how much you can ever truly know about yourself.

The Walls Came Tumbling Down


Robert Anton Wilson - 1997
    The Walls Came Tumbling Down deals with the scary things that happen to those who stumble into a borderless or other-worldly consciousness without any intent to go there and without any preparation or Operating Manual to tell them how to navigate when the walls tumble, the doors of perception fly open and the bottom falls out of their mental filing cabinet, leaving the brain suddenly free of the limits of "mind."

Neville Goddard: Master Your Inner Game to Achieve Your Every Desire: Book 1 Inner Talking (Neville Goddard & Rita Faith - Master Your Inner Game)


Neville Goddard - 2016
    This small book will help you to do just that, it begins with a few quotes on Neville’s core teaching and then beyond that to extracts from Neville’s lecture - Order your Conversations Alright, describing the creative power of Inner Talking and concludes with techniques for practical application of Neville’s teaching. I have also added at the end of the book as a bonus, Neville Goddard’s 1955 Lecture, Mental Diets in its entirety. If you learn these techniques of Neville’s then your life will change as you will be changing your inner state. In order for them to work you must apply them, knowing them will do nothing; the power is in the persistent application and practice of these principles. If you apply them you will master your inner game and achieve your every desire. Throughout the book you will find my insights and further explanations on Neville’s teachings and suggestions on actively putting it to use, in the hope that it gives you a deeper understanding of the methods and principles. “A man’s mental conversations attracts his life. As long as there is no change in his inner talking, the personal history of the man remains the same” To attempt to change the World before we change our inner talking, is to struggle against the very nature of things. Man can go round and round in the same circle of disappointments and misfortunes, not seeing them as caused by his own negative inner talking but as caused by others. This may seem far-fetched but it is a matter which lends itself to research and development.” – Neville Goddard

Time and the Soul


Jacob Needleman - 1997
    What used to be considered signs of success--being busy, having many responsibilities, being involved in many projects or activities--are today being felt as afflictions. The bestselling author of Money and the Meaning of Life, philosopher Jacob Needleman, shows how to take a bold and unconventional approach to time. The aim: to get more out of it by breaking free of our illusions about it. Needleman dispenses with tricks and techniques that only serve to make our obsessiveness more "efficient." Instead he shows how we can understand what our days are for. It's this understanding that allows time to finally begin to "breathe" in our lives.People can learn to experience time more purposefully and meaningfully. We need not be at time's mercy. Needleman rejects time-management techniques in order to reveal ancient and little-known modern practices for exploring one's internal clock. He reveals how time is experienced by the soul. Drawing on the wisdom literature that chronicles the ways of Buddhists, poets, and philosophers, one learns:What it could mean to chart one's real past, unclouded by emotionsHow memory can lie to us Why we need not be obsessed with the futureHow to experience time so that it is not an enemy robbing us of the joy of lifeHow to have more "nonpsychological time," or "time of the heart [that] does not move," such as moments of ecstasy or joy in which time is cut off from the physical worldHow to experience the gifts of time

Dialogue on Good, Evil, and the Existence of God


John R. Perry - 1999
    In the early part of the work, Gretchen and her friends consider whether evil provides a problem for those who believe in the perfection of God. As the discussion continues they consider the nature of human evil—whether, for example, fully rational actions can be intentionally evil. Recurring themes are the distinction between natural evil and evil done by free agents, and the problems the Holocaust and other cases of genocide pose for conceptions of the universe as a basically good place, or humans as basically good beings. Once again, Perry’s ability to get at the heart of matters combines with his exemplary skill at writing the dialogue form. An ideal volume for introducing students to the subtleties and intricacies of philosophical discussion.

The Tao of Poo: Legend of Li Chang


Dirk McFergus - 2011
    This outrageous and inventive short story is not just focused solely on crap itself, but the spirituality of crap. This parody of the Tao Te Ching begs the question: Is everything crap? McFergus translates Li Chang's master work from an ancient roll of toilet paper, a minor Chinese national treasure purchased on eBay, to uncover the lost legend of Li Chang.DISCLAIMER: There is no Winnie the Pooh bear in this story. There is no piglet. The only honey pot in this story has crap in it. THIS IS NOT THE TAO OF POOH.