Showing us how a single official text was created from the proliferation of different scripts, Beal traces its path as it became embraced as the word of God and Book of books. Among his surprising insights:• Christianity thrived for centuries without any Bible—there was no official canon of scriptures, much less a book big enough to hold them all. Congregations used various collections of scrolls and codices.  • There is no “original” Bible, no single source text behind the thousands of different Bibles on the market today. The farther we go back in the Bible’s history, the more versions we find.  • The idea of the Bible as the literal Word of God is relatively new—only about a century old. Beal’s is an inspiring new take on the Bible. In calling for a fresh understanding of the ways scriptures were used in the past, he offers the chance to rediscover a Bible, and a faith, that is truer to its own history—not a book of answers but a library of questions.

    This fully illustrated manual covers everything from nifty electric cable management to ingenious cooking methods and much, much, more. Remember: if life throws you a curveball – HACK IT!

    Myss’s experience of working with people led her to develop an insightful and ingenious process for deciphering your own Sacred Contract—or higher purpose—using a new theory of archetypes that builds on the works of Jung, Plato, and many other contemporary thinkers. Myss examines the lives of the spiritual masters and prophets—Abraham, Jesus, Buddha, and Muhammad—whose archetypal journeys illustrate the four stages of a Sacred Contract and provide clues for discovering your own. Myss explains how you can identify your particular spiritual energies, or archetypes—the gatekeepers of your higher purpose—and use them to help you find out what you are here on earth to learn and whom you are meant to meet. Exploring your Sacred Contract will shine a light on the purpose and meaning of your life. You are meant to do certain tasks, you are meant to have certain relationships. In coming to know your archetypal companions, you also begin to see how to live your life in ways that make the best use of your personal power and lead you to fulfill your greatest—in fact, your divine—potential.Both visionary and practical, Sacred Contracts is a bold, powerful work of spiritual wisdom. Without a doubt, your most intriguing challenge in life is to recognize your spiritual commitments and live them to the fullest.

    He attracted legends as easily as disciples. But behind the Gurdjieff myth lies a solid corpus of thought, the importance of which is only now being generally recognized. At its heart was the idea of "the war against sleep", the fact that man, in Colin Wilson's words, is like "a grandfather clock driven by a watch-spring." This brilliant & much praised examination of a psychologist & teacher of genius has established itself as the most important & accessible account for the general reader of Gurdjieff's life & work. This edition has been revised & expanded, providing the definitive introduction to the philosophy of Gurdjieff.

    Richard Elliott Friedman, the bestselling author of Who Wrote the Bible?, integrates the most recent discoveries in biblical archaeology and research with the fruits of years of experience studying and teaching the Bible to illuminate the straightforward meaning of the text -- "to shed new light on the Torah and, more important, to open windows through which it sheds its light on us."While other commentaries are generally collections of comments by a number of scholars, this is a unified commentary on the Torah by a single scholar, the most unified by a Jewish scholar in centuries. It includes the original Hebrew text, a new translation, and an authoritative, accessibly written interpretation and analysis of each passage that remains focused on the meaning of the Torah as a whole, showing how its separate books are united into one cohesive, all-encompassing sacred literary masterpiece. This landmark work is destined to take its place as a classic in the libraries of lay readers and scholars alike, as we seek to understand the significance of the scriptural texts for our lives today, and for years to come.

    There is not one Jesus, Chopra writes, but three.First, there is the historical Jesus, the man who lived more than two thousand years ago and whose teachings are the foundation of Christian theology and thought. Next there is Jesus the Son of God, who has come to embody an institutional religion with specific dogma, a priesthood, and devout believers. And finally, there is the third Jesus, the cosmic Christ, the spiritual guide whose teaching embraces all humanity, not just the church built in his name. He speaks to the individual who wants to find God as a personal experience, to attain what some might call grace, or God-consciousness, or enlightenment. When we take Jesus literally, we are faced with the impossible. How can we truly “love thy neighbor as thyself”? But when we see the exhortations of Jesus as invitations to join him on a higher spiritual plane, his words suddenly make sense.Ultimately, Chopra argues, Christianity needs to overcome its tendency to be exclusionary and refocus on being a religion of personal insight and spiritual growth. In this way Jesus can be seen for the universal teacher he truly is–someone whose teachings of compassion, tolerance, and understanding can embrace and be embraced by all of us.

    No more frantic searches at the last minute for that perfect magazine article. No agonizing choices between light reading and the serious stuff. Volume three has it all-Entertainment, humor, politics, pop culture, science, history, gossip...And more! Of course, it's still divided by length-you can spend a minute with the Quickies, relax with Regular-Length articles, or get really comfortable with Long Items.With Uncle John's Third Bathroom Reader strategically placed in your home, you'll settle in happily and read about:-The origin of Rocky and Bullwinkle-The Rolling Stones' Big Ripoff-The Real Story of Cinderella-Dick Nixon, Football Coach-Censorship in America-What's in a Twinkie-Elvis Sightings-And a Host of Great Bathroom Topics!

    These highly-trained, easily-deployable, and widely-skilled infantrymen specialize in airborne assault, raids, recovery of personnel and equipment, and airfield seizure, among other difficult and dangerous missions. Drawing from over two centuries of bloody lessons learned in special operations combat, this guide gives modern soldiers the best advice possible. In straightforward language and a no-frills style, it covers deception, stealth, communications, escape and evasion, ambush operations, perimeter defense, counterintelligence, and much more. Handy and concise, this manual was designed so Rangers could easily carry it into the field. Now it is the ultimate resource for anyone who wants to know how Rangers think and work.

     Jammed with sage advice, genuine encouragement, and surprising examples of how to write and how not to write, this book gives beginning writers and confident students alike an easy-to-follow roadmap for improving one of the most important skills for success. En route to Sin Boldly!-induced, A+ paper bliss, readers encounter such topics as:Choosing a Topic and Telling Your Story ("K.I.S.S.-Keep It Simple, Stupid")Literary Games (featuring "Francobabble for Freshman")Choosing a Voice ("Dissing the Prof")Grammatical Horrors ("A does not equal they")Common Mistakes ("Hopefully and Other Controversies") Fully revised and updated with new examples, quizzes, and tips, Sin Boldly! is not only a comprehensive guide, but also a fantastic, fun read for anyone who wants to write clearly and effectively.

    A Vietnamese monk and Buddhist teacher explores the common ground of Christianity and Buddhism on such subjects as compassion and holiness, and offers inspiration to believers in both religions.

    Selection includes the following: RALPH WALDO EMERSON: Art, Character, Circles, Compensation, Divinity School Address, Experience, Friendship, Gifts, Heroism, History, Intellect, Literary Ethics, Love, Man the Reformer, Nature, New England Reformers, Nominalist and Realist, Politics, Prudence, Representative Men, Self-Reliance, The American Scholar, The Conservative, The Method of Nature, The Over-Soul, The Poet, The Transcendentalist, The Young American, HENRY DAVID THOREAU: An Excursion to Canada, A Plea for Captain John Brown, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers, Autumnal Tints, Civil Disobedience, Life Without Principle, Night and Moonlight, Slavery in Massachusetts, The Landlord, Walden, Walking

    It relates to the truth of numbers and magnitudes equally to all sciences and arts. The book brings to light how great and true knowledge is born of intuition, quite different from modern Western method. The ancient Indian method and its secret techniques are examined and shown to be capable of solving various problems of mathematics.

    This revised and expanded edition of The Essential Rumi includes a new introduction by Coleman Barks and more than 80 never-before-published poems.Through his lyrical translations, Coleman Barks has been instrumental in bringing this exquisite literature to a remarkably wide range of readers, making the ecstatic, spiritual poetry of thirteenth-century Sufi Mystic Rumi more popular than ever.The Essential Rumi continues to be the bestselling of all Rumi books, and the definitive selection of his beautiful, mystical poetry.

     Lessons From Critical Thinkers provides intellectual power to engage with and participate in effective critical thoughts, arguments, debates, reading, and reflection drawn from methods in the history of philosophical cognitive development. •Learn to think slowly and deliberately before making a decision •Get ready to question opinions and even facts •Learn to gather information before jumping to conclusions •Accept and expect the biased and flawed nature of human cognition Lessons From Critical Thinkers gives you a thorough presentation of the ideas and principles of critical thinking practiced by the greatest minds in history. Learn about the most important critical thinking methods to make better decisions in your personal life, career, and friendships. Equip yourself with the essential methods for clear, analytical, logical thinking and critique in a range of ideas and everyday situations. • Discover critical thinking by familiarizing with concepts from other disciplines, like philosophy, cognitive biases and errors, race and gender from sociology and political science, and symbols from rhetoric. • Apply critical thinking and reasoning skills to your day to day problems • Find the most rewarding options in any opportunity. Lessons From Critical Thinkers is a helpful book for readers of any age and background who want to improve their critical thinking skills by learning from the greatest thinkers of all time. Learn to filter out irrelevant information efficiently and prioritize your resources to get the best results. Enhance your communication skills, reasoning, and logic. Improve your critical, logical, observational, and rational thinking skills with the timeless principles presented in this book.

    With expanded information on the practice of Buddhism in the United States and the West, a greater focus on the relationship between Buddhism and Islam, and the effects of Buddhism on Christianity and Judaism, this book explores the easy ways readers can make Buddhism a part of their daily lives. • Includes expanded appendixes featuring a timeline showing the evolution of Buddhism through history • Covers all four schools of Buddhism—Zen, Tibetan, Pure Land, and Insight Meditation • Expanded section on “rites of passage” shows how a new generation has taken to Buddhism