Giorgio Agamben traces the tense history of constitutions and their coexistence with various governments. Alain Badiou contrasts current democratic practice with democratic communism. Daniel Bensaid ponders the institutionalization of democracy, while Wendy Brown discusses the democratization of society under neoliberalism. Jean-Luc Nancy measures the difference between democracy as a form of rule and as a human end, and Jacques Ranci're highlights its egalitarian nature. Kristin Ross identifies hierarchical relationships within democratic practice, and Slavoj Zizek complicates the distinction between those who desire to own the state and those who wish to do without it.Concentrating on the classical roots of democracy and its changing meaning over time and within different contexts, these essays uniquely defend what is left of the left-wing tradition after the fall of Soviet communism. They confront disincentives to active democratic participation that have caused voter turnout to decline in western countries, and they address electoral indifference by invoking and reviving the tradition of citizen involvement. Passionately written and theoretically rich, this collection speaks to all facets of modern political and democratic debate.

    The ideas will astonish you; and you'll feel empowered as they comfort, encourage, and enlighten you on your journey to financial deliverance. Hidden Treasures is about finding riches after having obtained a hope in Christ, for the intent to do good. But even more, it's about discovering treasures of wisdom and knowledge which have been promised to those who diligently seek. Many have wondered, "If the 'Righteous Shall Prosper, ' Why am I so Broke?" Or, "Should I just give in to 'setting my heart upon riches, ' or simply resign myself to the smothering prison of debt and the stain of poor credit?" This book addresses these questions and many more to help you attain your personal and financial goals.

    Around every corner lies a potential faux pas waiting to happen. But if you've ever struggled for the right response to an unwelcome gift or floundered for conversation at the dinner party from hell, fear not: help is at hand.In Rules for Modern Life, Sir David Tang, resident agony uncle at the Financial Times, delivers a satirical masterclass in navigating the social niceties of modern life. Whether you're unsure of the etiquette of doggy bags or wondering whether a massage room in your second home would be de trop, Sir David has the answer to all your social anxieties - and much more besides.

    When we are firmly established in mindfulness, the Buddha explained, these seven “treasures” serve to steer the mind away from delusion and the causes of suffering, guiding us to the realization of freedom. In Seven Treasures of Awakening, Insight Meditation Society cofounder Joseph Goldstein reveals how each one of these qualities of enlightenment sequentially develop and support each other as our practice of mindfulness matures. Program highlights:• Mindfulness, discrimination of states, energy, rapture, calm, concentration, and equanimity: the seven “treasures” of awakening• The four qualities of mindful attention• Dhammavicaya, or “knowing what’s what”• Viriya (or energy), the root of all accomplishment• Well-balanced effort• Pīti, the antidote to anger and ill will• Reflecting on the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha• The role of calm on the path to awakening• Jhāna and the four developments of concentration• Sīla, ethical conduct• Equanimity versus indifference• The “great way” of non-preferential awareness• The deep delight born of peace• Excerpted from Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening, Joseph Goldstein’s masterwork on the Buddha’s instructions for a life lived consciously

    Self-discipline is a wonderful thing. It can mean the difference between achieving goals or not achieving goals. It can give a person a greater sense of self-worth. It can allow someone the ability to work harder for a shorter amount of time and accomplish much more than before. Self-discipline can make the process of dropping bad habits in favor of good ones much easier to accomplish.People who have self-discipline are happier in life.They have a greater sense of purpose overall and a greater sense of accomplishment in everyday life. Seeking self-discipline is the best way to a better life.Self-discipline is a goal that will only be accomplished by following a path that will cause a great deal of pain. Walking this path will require a good deal of hard work and dedication because this path is not an easy one to walk. Sometimes, people fall off. Sometimes, the direction of the path needs to be changed. Sometimes, the path needs to be broken up into smaller trips in order to be able to complete the whole journey.Self-control and self-discipline require hard work and serious commitment. If a person is not really serious about the need to develop self-discipline, then it just will not happen. No one can give anyone else self-discipline. It needs to be learned within. However, consider what happens if self-discipline is never developed. Can a person go on in life without ever developing any level of self-discipline? Of course, they can. What they will be missing out on is a lifetime of achievement. They will be giving up all sense of self-worth and self-fulfillment. They will lose out on the ability to replace bad habits with good ones. They will never know the joy of getting rid of addictions and temptations. They will be forever plagued by negative feelings of anger and regret and guilt. They will live their entire lives accomplishing nothing because they lack the necessary self-discipline to accomplish anything. They will not succeed.Of course, it is a purely personal choice. It is possible to live life without accomplishing anything. It is possible to just skate through life devoid of any sense of self-worth and self-love. It is possible to get to the end and never achieve any type of goal. However, what kind of life would that really be?The best way is to begin today to work on personal goals. Start now by deciding which habits are bad and need to be replaced. Make a list of good habits that need to be cultivated. Decide when this new lifestyle will begin--keeping in mind that sooner is better. Write down all the goals that need to be achieved and all the good habits that need to be cultivated. Post this list where everyone can see it.Tell family and friends.Get everyone involved! Most importantly, remember that a successful outcome will be its own best reward!

    

    That is, it is a piece of bad logic. Just as it is a good idea to avoid eating bad food, it is also a rather good idea to avoid bad reasoning. Unfortunately, bad reasoning is all too common—it pours out of the television and infests the web like an army of venomous spiders. Perhaps even worse than the fallacies inflicted from the outside are self-inflicted fallacies. These can lead people to make poor decisions about matters great and small.Fortunately, there is a defense against bad reasoning, namely knowledge. This concise book provides the reader with definitions and examples of seventy-six common fallacies—the knowledge a person needs to defend herself in a world awash in fallacies.In addition to combining the content of my 42 Fallacies and 30 More Fallacies, this book features some revisions as well as a new section on common formal fallacies. The focus is on providing the reader with definitions and examples of these common fallacies rather than being a handbook on winning arguments or a text on general logic.The book presents the following 73 informal fallacies:Accent, Fallacy ofAccident, Fallacy ofAd HominemAd Hominem Tu QuoqueAmphiboly, Fallacy ofAnecdotal Evidence, Fallacy OfAppeal to the Consequences of a BeliefAppeal to Authority, FallaciousAppeal to BeliefAppeal to Common PracticeAppeal to EmotionAppeal to EnvyAppeal to FearAppeal to FlatteryAppeal to Group IdentityAppeal to GuiltAppeal to NoveltyAppeal to PityAppeal to PopularityAppeal to RidiculeAppeal to SpiteAppeal to TraditionAppeal to SilenceAppeal to VanityArgumentum ad HitlerumBegging the QuestionBiased GeneralizationBurden of ProofComplex QuestionComposition, Fallacy ofConfusing Cause and EffectConfusing Explanations and ExcusesCircumstantial Ad HominemCum Hoc, Ergo Propter HocDivision, Fallacy ofEquivocation, Fallacy ofFallacious ExampleFallacy FallacyFalse DilemmaGambler’s FallacyGenetic FallacyGuilt by AssociationHasty GeneralizationHistorian’s FallacyIllicit ConversionIgnoring a Common CauseIncomplete EvidenceMiddle GroundMisleading VividnessMoving the Goal PostsOversimplified CauseOverconfident Inference from Unknown StatisticsPathetic FallacyPeer PressurePersonal AttackPoisoning the WellPositive Ad HominemPost HocProving X, Concluding YPsychologist's fallacyQuestionable CauseRationalizationRed HerringReification, Fallacy ofRelativist FallacySlippery SlopeSpecial PleadingSpotlightStraw ManTexas Sharpshooter FallacyTwo Wrongs Make a RightVictim FallacyWeak AnalogyThe book contains the following three formal (deductive) fallacies:Affirming the ConsequentDenying the AntecedentUndistributed Middle

    Morgan's exquisite watercolors that summon the very sounds and scents of the ocean. Words of wisdom and peaceful images bring encouragement to those buffeted by life's storms.

    BE BRAVE AND START SOMETHING YOU LOVE.Does this sound familiar... You tick all the right boxes; school, university, corporate career. You have a sensible profession, a fancy job title, proud parents, decent salary, pricey holidays…but there’s a nagging feeling that something isn’t quite right? A realisation that you’re not completely fulfilled? Surely you should be as happy as Larry – are you being ungrateful? HELL NO. You want a different life – no spreadsheets, no commute, no late nights at the office. But if not that…then what? That is exactly what Escape The City are here to do – show you what other options are open to you.Escape The City is a community based website built around a simple concept: there is more to life than doing unfulfilling work in big corporate companies. The online platform is designed to help corporate professionals find exciting jobs, start their own businesses, and go on big adventures. The Escape Manifesto is here to support, inspire and encourage us all to make big and brave transitions in our lives.• Examines the reasons why so many people are unsatisfied with the corporate world• Explores the alternatives and the common barriers to achieving your dreams• Advice and support for making the transition to something new and developing a strategy for work and life• Contains tons of real-life examples of people who have made the leap

    However, emotional trouble--unhappiness--is essentially our own creation. This book explores two things you need to know about unhappiness and how to replace it with joy. The first is the failure to understand reality, and the second is egotism. Together they result in distress, dis-ease, and a failure to take personal responsibility.His Holiness the Dalai Lama counsels readers to take responsibility for their thoughts and actions; to understand that our problems are of our own making and not the result circumstances or the actions of others. He presents a path for taking charge of our lives.Accessible, direct, and down-to-earth, this slender volume is for fans of the Dalai Lama, as well as anyone looking for an easy-to-understand guide to an authentic and joyful life.

    A. Pierce, author of Spirituality at Work The concluding prayer of the Mass is a command: Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. We are charged to go forth and quite literally transform our families, our communities, and our world through the redeeming sacrifice of Christ as celebrated in the Mass. Fr. Dominic Grassi and Joe Paprocki use this challenge as the starting point for their inspiring and illuminating look at the central act of Catholic worship. They ask, What would our faith look like if we truly understood the gift of the Eucharist?Living the Mass will stir a new passion for and a greater understanding of this sacred two-thousand-year-old celebration offered freely to all who come, to all who believe.  Also available in Spanish! Vivir la misa

    "Do nothing. Nothing is a surprisingly active place. It is there that we discover who and what we are." Doing Nothing is for spiritually oriented readers who have found themselves avidly following practices that have not fundamentally changed their lives: new therapies, ancient meditations, exotic religions. Harrison discovered that the path to happiness and truths of life lies in the simple act of stopping the search.

    He argues that individual autonomy and state authority are mutually exclusive and that, as individual autonomy is inalienable, the moral legitimacy of the state collapses.

     Free BONUS Inside! Voltaire, born François-Marie Arouet in Paris, France, was a writer and leading figure of the Enlightenment. His insistence that all authority could and must be questioned was so radical, he ended up in prison several times and was ultimately exiled. Voltaire’s writings were instrumental in influencing the American and French revolutions. Man as a being with natural rights was a radical concept at the time, but one which the American founding fathers embraced. Voltaire’s anger was specifically directed at the arbitrary powers of the state and the church. The French legal system treated aristocrats differently than ordinary citizens. The Catholic church, too, wielded its dictatorial power. Voltaire incurred the wrath of both kings and bishops with his unrelenting attacks on such abuses of freedom. Unwilling to be silenced, Voltaire continued his demand for individual freedom throughout the span of his entire life. Only after his death was he officially welcomed back to Paris, and Voltaire’s remains now rest in the Parisian Panthéon, the burial place for the country’s national heroes. Discover a plethora of topics such as Literary Success and Financial Failure Émilie: The Love of His Life Years in Exile Candide and Morality Voltaire’s Final Year and Death And much more! So if you want a quick and easy to read book on Voltaire, simply scroll up and click the "Buy now" button for instant access!

    It is never cheap; it is made difficult because freedom is the accomplishment and perfectness of man.” — Ralph Waldo EmersonThis book is for people who also believe personal freedom is the most important thing in life. In our free world, we can do what want, spend time with people we like, and have a career that gives us joy. And yet, we don’t use our freedom. Why is that?The problem is that we’re held captive by ourselves. On a deeper level, we all strive for the same thing: To be free. It’s in our nature.Every human has the desire and the need to be free. What It Takes To Be Free will lead you on the path to personal freedom. It’s a highly practical guide that’s based on timeless wisdom and personal experience.You’re the ruler of your own kingdom. You can do anything you want, spend time with people you like, and have a career that you love. If you’re willing to do what it takes, you will be free to do those things.