Book picks similar to
The Spiritual Brain: Science and Religious Experience (Great Courses) by Andrew B. Newberg
science
psychology
non-fiction
religion
The Spontaneous Fulfillment of Desire: Harnessing the Infinite Power of Coincidence
Deepak Chopra - 1992
By gaining access to this wellspring of creation, we can literally rewrite our destinies in any way we wish.From this realm of pure potential we are connected to everything that exists and everything that is yet to come. “Coincidences” can then be recognized as containing precious clues about particular facets of our lives that require our attention. As you become more aware of coincidences and their meanings, you begin to connect more and more with the underlying field of infinite possibilities. This is when the magic begins. This is when you achieve the spontaneous fulfillment of desire.At a time when world events may leave us feeling especially insignificant and vulnerable, Deepak Chopra restores our awareness of the awesome powers within us. And through specific principles and exercises he provides the tools with which to create the magnificent, miraculous life that is our birthright.
Understanding the Old Testament
Robert D. Miller
In 24 enthralling lectures, Professor Miller guides you through a core selection of the major books of the Old Testament, inviting you to probe their meaning and relevance in incisive and thought-provoking commentary. Among the books of the Old Testament, you’ll explore:• Genesis: Uncover fascinating features of the Old Testament’s opening, such as how the events of the first week of creation form an elaborate pattern, expressing the complex order of the universe; and how the text does not lay primary blame for “the fall” on the woman, Eve;• Deuteronomistic History: Study the epic history of the people of Israel in the Promised Land; follow the story of the Israelites’ disobedience to God, and its tragic consequences; • The Prophets: Through the dramatic stories of the prophets, take account of the challenges faced by those who sought to actualize God’s plan for humanity; • The Books of Ruth and Esther: Among notable women in the Old Testament, explore two stories of women who are doubly at risk, and who prevail through loyalty, resourcefulness, and integrity; and• Daniel and the Apocalyptic: In the Book of Daniel, encounter the genre of apocalyptic literature - revelation initiated by God - and contemplate the figure of “the Son of Man,” a promised redeemer.Throughout the lectures, Professor Miller offers a wealth of perspectives on how to approach the texts. You’ll assess the role of translation in the understanding of the texts, studying the meanings of key Hebrew words; you’ll also look in depth at the history, dating, and writing of the texts, and you’ll study their literary and linguistic features, noting how they achieve their impact on the reader.In Understanding the Old Testament, you’ll take a revelatory look at this epically impactful document, finding its deeper historical and religious meanings, as well as its sublime literary treasures.
Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition
Elizabeth Vandiver - 2000
Foundations 2. The Epic of Gilgamesh 3. Genesis and the Documentary Hypothesis 4. The Deuteronomistic History 5. Isaiah 6. Job 7. HomerThe Iliad 8. HomerThe Odyssey 9. Sappho and Pindar 10. Aeschylus 11. Sophocles 12. Euripides 13. Herodotus 14. Thucydides 15. Aristophanes 16. Plato 17. Menander and Hellenistic Literature 18. Catullus and Horace 19. Virgil 20. Ovid 21. Livy, Tacitus, Plutarch 22. Petronius and Apuleius 23. The Gospels 24. Augustine 25. Beowulf 26. The Song of Roland 27. El Cid 28. Tristan and Isolt 29. The Romance of the Rose 30. Dante AlighieriLife and Works 31. Dante AlighieriThe Divine Comedy 32. Petrarch 33. Giovanni Boccaccio 34. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 35. Geoffrey ChaucerLife and Works 36. Geoffrey ChaucerThe Canterbury Tales 37. Christine de Pizan 38. Erasmus 39. Thomas More 40. Michel de Montaigne 41. François Rabelais 42. Christopher Marlowe 43. William ShakespeareThe Merchant of Venice 44. William ShakespeareHamlet 45. Lope de Vega 46. Miguel de Cervantes 47. John Milton 48. Blaise Pascal 49. Molière 50. Jean Racine 51. Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz 52. Daniel Defoe 53. Alexander Pope 54. Jonathan Swift 55. Voltaire 56. Jean-Jacques Rousseau 57. Samuel Johnson 58. Denis Diderot 59. William Blake 60. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 61. William Wordsworth 62. Jane Austen 63. Stendhal 64. Herman Melville 65. Walt Whitman 66. Gustave Flaubert 67. Charles Dickens 68. Fyodor Dostoevsky 69. Leo Tolstoy 70. Mark Twain 71. Thomas Hardy 72. Oscar Wilde 73. Henry James 74. Joseph Conrad 75. William Butler Yeats 76. Marcel Proust 77. James Joyce 78. Franz Kafka 79. Virginia Woolf 80. William Faulkner 81. Bertolt Brecht 82. Albert Camus 83. Samuel Beckett 84. ConclusionListening Length: 42 hours and 55 minutes
War, Peace, And Power: Diplomatic History Of Europe, 1500 - 2000
Vejas Gabriel Liulevicius - 2007
8820
The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul
Mario Beauregard - 2007
He offers compelling evidence that religious experiences have a nonmaterial origin, making a convincing case for what many in scientific fields are loath to consider—that it is God who creates our spiritual experiences, not the brain.Beauregard and O'Leary explore recent attempts to locate a "God gene" in some of us and claims that our brains are "hardwired" for religion—even the strange case of one neuroscientist who allegedly invented an electromagnetic "God helmet" that could produce a mystical experience in anyone who wore it. The authors argue that these attempts are misguided and narrow-minded, because they reduce spiritual experiences to material phenomena.Many scientists ignore hard evidence that challenges their materialistic prejudice, clinging to the limited view that our experiences are explainable only by material causes, in the obstinate conviction that the physical world is the only reality. But scientific materialism is at a loss to explain irrefutable accounts of mind over matter, of intuition, willpower, and leaps of faith, of the "placebo effect" in medicine, of near-death experiences on the operating table, and of psychic premonitions of a loved one in crisis, to say nothing of the occasional sense of oneness with nature and mystical experiences in meditation or prayer. Traditional science explains away these and other occurrences as delusions or misunderstandings, but by exploring the latest neurological research on phenomena such as these, The Spiritual Brain gets to their real source.
The Attention Revolution: Unlocking the Power of the Focused Mind
B. Alan Wallace - 2006
Author B. Alan Wallace has nearly thirty years' practice in attention-enhancing meditation, including a retreat he performed under the guidance of the Dalai Lama. An active participant in the much-publicized dialogues between Buddhists and scientists, Alan is uniquely qualified to speak intelligently to both camps, and The Attention Revolution is the definitive presentation of his knowledge.Beginning by pointing out the ill effects that follow from our inability to focus, Wallace moves on to explore a systematic path of meditation to deepen our capacity for deep concentration. The result is an exciting, rewarding "expedition of the mind," tracing everything from the confusion at the bottom of the trail to the extraordinary clarity and power that come with making it to the top. Along the way, the author also provides interludes and complementary practices for cultivating love, compassion, and clarity in our waking and dreaming lives.Attention is the key that makes personal change possible, and the good news is that it can be trained. This book shows how.
Switch On Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health
Caroline Leaf - 2007
Caroline's revelation will change the way you think.
This book is the owner's manual for how our brains work."--Matthew and Laurie Crouch, Trinity Broadcasting Network"Caroline Leaf has given us a real jewel, translating modern brain science into language accessible to everyone."--David I. Levy, MD, neurosurgeon, author of Gray Matter"[Caroline] explains how our choices work scientifically, but in a practical way that makes something that is really hard to do much easier and more tangible."--Christine Caine, founder of the A21 Campaign; director of Equip and Empower Ministries; author of Undaunted"We encourage you to act on the wisdom found in Switch On Your Brain and begin the incredible journey of thinking God's way."--Robert and Debbie Morris, pastors of Gateway Church; authors of The Blessed Life, The Blessed Marriage, and The Blessed Woman"Dr. Leaf's teaching is not only life changing but life saving as it makes the renewing of the mind so real. I am so very grateful for the wisdom contained within these pages."--Darlene Zschech, singer-songwriter; author of The Art of Mentoring"Each of us is full of untapped potential when it comes to our ability to think and process our way through life. I pray that Caroline's years of research and passion in this realm of unfolding science will be a blessing to you."--Bobbie Houston, senior pastor, Hillsong Church
Going on Being: Buddhism and the Way of Change
Mark Epstein - 2001
Before Mark Epstein became a medical student at Harvard and began training as a psychiatrist, he immersed himself in Buddhism through experiences with such influential Buddhist teachers as Ram Dass, Joseph Goldstein, and Jack Kornfield. The positive outlook of Buddhism and the meditative principle of living in the moment came to influence his study and practice of psychotherapy profoundly. "Going on Being "is Epstein's memoir of his early years as a student of Buddhism and of how Buddhism shaped his approach to therapy, as well as a practical guide to how a Buddhist understanding of psychological problems makes change for the better possible. "Going on Being "is an intimate chronicle of the evolution of spirit and psyche, and a highly inviting guide for anyone seeking a new path and a new outlook on life.
Thinking About Capitalism
Jerry Z. Muller - 2008
This is a set of eighteen audio CDs and an accompanying softcover course guidebook.Contains parts 1 - 3 of the Thinking About Capitalism course.
Big History: The Big Bang, Life On Earth, And The Rise Of Humanity
David Christian - 2008
David Christian, professor of history at San Diego State University, surveys the past at all possible scales, from conventional history, to the much larger scales of biology and geology, to the universal scales of cosmology.
Between the Rivers: The History of Ancient Mesopotamia
Alexis Q. Castor - 2013
In this fascinating series of 36 lectures, an award-winning teacher leads you on a vivid journey through Mesopotamian history-from Neolithic times to the age of Alexander the Great-and into the lives of mighty emperors, struggling farmers, ambitious merchants, and palace servants to reveal why this ancient culture occupies such a foundational position in our history.The lectures look back to the time when the first cities arose in Mesopotamia and kings created complex bureaucracies to rule their expanding territories, thus fostering the invention of writing and other technologies. You peer into the lives and fortunes of Mesopotamia's people and learn about the birth of the urban lifestyle.Professor Castor creates a detailed image not only of larger Mesopotamian society but of life on the level of the individual Mesopotamian as well. Among the many fascinating insights into daily Mesopotamian life you examine are how they ate, worked, learned, worshiped, married, and reared children; used scientific ideas to help them order and understand the natural world; engaged with their powerful neighbors in Egypt, Syria, and Anatolia (modern-day Turkey); waged war and experienced peace; and endured the collapse of their cities.
Life on Earth: Understanding Who We Are, How We Got Here, and What May Lie Ahead
Mike Dooley - 2016
Mike Dooley asks them too, except . . . his questions get answered. Wisely. Compassionately. Fully. One such answer explained its source, stating that we all have a higher self within that predates this life and will live beyond it, and thus it knows a whole lot more than we do at “street level” about where we’ve been, why we’re here, and what will likely happen next on planet Earth.Life on Earth takes the form of a journal in which Mike asks what’s on his mind during pivotal times in his life. As one of today’s most respected New Thought leaders and reality theorists, he offers a lofty platform for this wide-ranging dialogue that powerfully expands our perspectives on essential truths, taking on topics such as:* Why and how to see through the “illusions” of life on earth* How to make sense of natural disasters and manmade tragedies* Living deliberately, creating consciously, and finding your power* Wealth, relationships, “past lives,” and the evolution of consciousness* The ultimate reason for life on earth and elsewhere (it’s shockingly simple)These are questions asked from the heart with a cautious, even suspicious, mind. Mike explores the subtleties of the replies in depth and detail using his trademark wit and realism in this intrepid explorer’s guide to the jungles of time and space.
Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires
Esther Hicks - 2004
Wayne W. Dyer.
The Immortality Key: Uncovering the Secret History of the Religion with No Name
Brian C. Muraresku - 2020
In the tradition of unsolved historical mysteries like David Grann's Killers of the Flower Moon and Douglas Preston's The Lost City of the Monkey God, Brian Muraresku’s 10-year investigation takes the reader through Greece, Germany, Spain, France and Italy, offering unprecedented access to the hidden archives of the Louvre and the Vatican along the way.In The Immortality Key, Muraresku explores a little-known connection between the best-kept secret in Ancient Greece and Christianity. This is the real story of the most famous human being who ever lived (Jesus) and the biggest religion the world has ever known. Today, 2.4 billion people are Christian. That's one third of the planet. But do any of them really know how it all started?Before Jerusalem, before Rome, before Mecca—there was Eleusis: the spiritual capital of the ancient world. It promised immortality to Plato and the rest of Athens's greatest minds with a very simple formula: drink this potion, see God. Shrouded in secrecy for millennia, the Ancient Greek sacrament was buried when the newly Christianized Roman Empire obliterated Eleusis in the fourth century AD.Renegade scholars in the 1970s claimed the Greek potion was psychedelic, just like the original Christian Eucharist that replaced it. In recent years, vindication for the disgraced theory has been quietly mounting in the laboratory. The rapidly growing field of archaeological chemistry has proven the ancient use of visionary drugs. And with a single dose of psilocybin, the psycho-pharmacologists at Johns Hopkins and NYU are now turning self-proclaimed atheists into instant believers. No one has ever found hard, scientific evidence of drugs connected to Eleusis, let alone early Christianity. Until now.Armed with key documents never before translated into English, convincing analysis, and a captivating spirit of quest, Muraresku mines science, classical literature, biblical scholarship and art to deliver the hidden key to eternal life, bringing us to what clinical psychologist William Richards calls "the edge of an awesomely vast frontier."Featuring a Foreword by Graham Hancock, the New York Times bestselling author of America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilization.
Practicing the Power of Now: Essential Teachings, Meditations, and Exercises from the Power of Now
Eckhart Tolle - 1999
His views go beyond any particular religion, doctrine, or guru. This book extracts the essence from his teachings in The Power of Now, showing us how to free ourselves from “enslavement to the mind.” The aim is to be able to enter into and sustain an awakened state of consciousness throughout everyday life. Through meditations and simple techniques, Eckhart shows us how to quiet our thoughts, see the world in the present moment, and find a path to “a life of grace, ease, and lightness.”