Held Captive: The Kidnapping and Rescue of Elizabeth Smart


Maggie Haberman - 2003
    Nine months later, she was discovered with her two abductors just miles from her home––and returned to her family as a dramatically different person. Her innocence was stolen and her identity stripped over months in the gnarled mountains overlooking her family home, by captors who wrapped themselves in a religion of their own invention and said they were serving a revelation from God. The angelic teenager's homecoming on March 12 captured headlines and magazine covers around the globe, the rare piece of good news in America's era of terror and uncertainty. Yet the joyous story turned shocking just days later, as the disturbing details of her emotional and physical torture at the hands of her captors, serial paedophile Brian David Mitchell and his wife, Wanda Barzee, began to emerge. This book–the first book on the dramatic kidnapping–is the story of two worlds colliding; the girl in the bubble, and the man from the wild.

Yoga Gems: A Treasury of Practical and Spiritual Wisdom from Ancient and Modern Masters


Georg Feuerstein - 2002
    George Feuerstein has drawn short, memorable quotations from the key texts of this five-thousand-year-old legacy, with an emphasis on the wisdom of modern yoga masters.The quotations have been selected and arranged to address the needs of yoga practitioners in the twenty-first century.Among the many themes touched on in this treasure of a book: the process of inner growth; the value of silence; how to meditate; how to infuse everyday life with joy; universal kinship; overcoming suffering; dealing with grief, loss, anger, and jealousy; remembering and cultivating one’s true inner self; developing self-discipline; and bringing out the good in all you say and do.For both new and experienced yoga students alike, Yoga Gems is the perfect travel companion on the road to inner peace.

Mastering Your Hidden Self: A Guide to the Huna Way


Serge Kahili King - 1985
    Hawaiian shaman King uses Kahuna healing methods to help us access the hidden energy of life, develop powers of concentration, and make friends with the deepest aspect of our being. Learn how your Higher Self, or aumakua, is contacted in the dream dimension. Get in touch with the Mana, the hidden energy of life. Develop higher powers of concentration by utilizing the tikis, created images of sight, sound, and feeling in meditation. Become aware of your subconscious, an integral part of your being, which impatiently awaits communion with the ego.

Why Religion Matters: The Fate of the Human Spirit in an Age of Disbelief


Huston Smith - 2000
    Smith champions a society in which religion is once again treasured and authentically practiced as the vital source of human wisdom.

Buddhism as Philosophy: An Introduction


Mark Siderits - 2007
    In this clear, concise account, Siderits makes the Buddhist tradition accessible to a Western audience, offering generous selections from the canonical Buddhist texts and providing an engaging, analytical introduction to the basic tenets of Buddhist thought.

An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion


Brian Davies - 1982
    He explains how a range of thinkers have approached the subject -- including Anselm, Aquinas, Descartes, Leibniz, Hume, and Kant -- and also discusses how contemporary author now engage with the issues involved. Completely revised to cover the latest developments in the field, the new edition of this established textbook will prove the ideal introduction for all students of the philosophy of religion.

A Contemporary Introduction to Free Will


Robert H. Kane - 2005
    Opening with a concise introduction to the history of the problem of free will--andits place in the history of philosophy--the book then turns to contemporary debates and theories about free will, determinism, and related subjects like moral responsibility, coercion, compulsion, autonomy, agency, rationality, freedom, and more. Classical compatibilist and new compatibilisttheories of free will are considered along with the latest incompatibilist or libertarian theories and the most recent skeptical challenges to free will. Separate chapters are devoted to the relation of free will to moral responsibility and ethics; to modern science; and to religious questions aboutpredestination, divine foreknowledge, and human freedom. Numerous down-to-earth examples and challenging thought experiments enliven the text. The book is an ideal addition to introduction to philosophy, metaphysics, and free will courses.

Angels Fear: Towards an Epistemology of the Sacred


Gregory Bateson - 1987
    Building on theories from his acclaimed Mind and Nature, Bateson goes beyond his earlier milestone work in this inquiry into the essence of science and the importance of the "sacred" in the natural world.

The Psychological Significance Of The Biblical Stories: Genesis


Jordan B. Peterson - 2017
    It contains the most influential stories of mankind. Knowledge of those stories is essential to a deep understanding of Western culture, which is in turn vital to proper psychological health (as human beings are cultural animals) and societal stability. These stories are neither history, as we commonly conceive it, nor empirical science. Instead, they are investigations into the structure of Being itself and calls to action within that Being. They have deep psychological significance. This lecture series, starting with the very first book, will constitute an analysis of that significance.15-Part Lecture series by Dr. Jordan B. Peterson1. Introduction to the Idea of God2. Genesis: Chaos and Order3. God and the Hierarchy of Authority4. Adam and Eve – Self-Consciousness, Evil and Death5. Cain and Abel – The Hostile Brothers6. The Psychology of the Flood7. Walking with God: Noah and the Flood8. The Phenomenology of the Divine9. The Call to Abraham10. Abraham: Father of Nations11. Sodom and Gomorrah12. The Great Sacrifice13. Jacob’s Ladder: Pt. 114. Jacob’s Ladder: Pt. 215. Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors

Barack Obama's Rules for Revolution: The Alinsky Model


David Horowitz - 2009
    The guru of Sixties radicals, Alinsky urged his followers to be flexible and opportunistic and say anything to get power, which they can then use to radically change existing social and economic institutions. In this insightful new booklet, Horowitz discusses Alinsky’s work in the 60s—and his advice to radicals to seize any weapon to advance their cause. This became the philosophy of Alinskyite organizations such as ACORN and influenced the future President who came up through the Chicago network created by Alinsky’s network. After analyzing Saul Alinsky’s work and pointing out that the godfather of “social organizing” created “ not salvation but chaos,” Horowitz then he asks the crucial question: “And presidential disciples of Alinsky, what will they create?”

Mother Earth Spirituality: Native American Paths to Healing Ourselves and Our World


Ed McGaa - 1990
    Ed McGaa has walked this path so that all people may live in harmony."Samie Sams, Hancoka Olowanpi, author of Midnight Song: Quest for the Vanished Ones"Ed McGaa is one of the first persons who can write about 0glala religion in the first person because he has lived it. For years anthropologists have hoped a Native American would portray that society from the inside out. Ed McGaa has. It's about time."William K. Powers, author of 0glala Religion"Fascinating as well as inspiring reading. Ed McGaa makes an excellent spiritual guide and intellectual teacher . . . The information stimulates the mind, the drawings delight the eye, and the ideas soothe the spirit."Jack Weatherford, author of Indian Givers"Profound and insightful . . . Mother Earth Spirituality will be of great importance to those of us, both 'rainbow' and non-Indian people, who walk over land in search of a deeper spiritual life . . . For us, this book is an invaluable guide showing us how to do it."Fred Alm Wolf, Ph.D., author of Taking the Quantum Leap

The Bible Made Impossible: Why Biblicism Is Not a Truly Evangelical Reading of Scripture


Christian Smith - 2011
    Acclaimed sociologist Christian Smith argues that this approach is misguided and unable to live up to its own claims. If evangelical biblicism worked as its proponents say it should, there would not be the vast variety of interpretive differences that biblicists themselves reach when they actually read and interpret the Bible. Smith describes the assumptions, beliefs, and practices of evangelical biblicism and sets it in historical, sociological, and philosophical context. He explains why it is an impossible approach to the Bible as an authority and provides constructive alternative approaches to help evangelicals be more honest and faithful in reading the Bible. Far from challenging the inspiration and authority of Scripture, Smith critiques a particular rendering of it, encouraging evangelicals to seek a more responsible, coherent, and defensible approach to biblical authority.

The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine


Matthew Fox - 2008
    From war to ecological collapse, most of the world’s critical problems stem from a distorted masculinity out of control. Yet our culture rewards the very dysfunctions responsible for those problems.To Matthew Fox, our crucial task is to open our minds to a deeper understanding of the healthy masculine than we receive from our media, culture, and religions. Popular religion forces the punitive imagery of fundamentalism on us, pushing most men away from their natural yearning for spirituality and toward intolerance and domination. Meanwhile, many men, particularly young men, are looking for images of healthy masculinity to emulate and finding nothing.To awaken what Fox calls “the sacred masculine,” he unearths ten metaphors, or archetypes, ranging from the Green Man, an ancient pagan symbol of our fundamental relationship with nature, to the Grandfatherly Heart to the Spiritual Warrior. He explores archetypes of sacred marriage, showing how partnership becomes the ultimate expression of healthy masculinity. By stirring our natural yearning for healthy spirituality, Fox argues, these timeless archetypes can inspire men to pursue their higher calling to reinvent the world.

The Spirit Whisperer: Chronicles of a Medium


John Holland - 2010
    A language that can only be heard when one truly listens. It’s the language of The Spirit Whisperer.         In John Holland’s past books, he explained how he came to terms with, and learned to accept and embrace, his spiritual gifts as a psychic medium; and how “readers” could develop their own intuitive psychic abilities.     In this book, John picks up the fascinating story of his personal journey of growth and development as one of the most respected practicing mediums today. This work chronicles his career to date and includes some enlightening and heartfelt real-life case studies. He candidly discusses readings with clients, including those who’ve had their own After Death Communications (ADCs)—from the outrageous to the profound. John also explains the signs and symbols that our loved ones continually try to send us. One of his most popular sayings is: “Those on the Other Side want to talk to you—as much as you want to talk to them!”John divulges for the first time some of the extraordinary paranormal occurrences he’s witnessed throughout his career, and provides a rare glimpse behind the scenes of what it’s like to be a “Psychic Time Machine” for several television shows. He’ll also help parents who have a psychic child themselves. The Spirit Whisperer is a book you’ll want to read over and over, as many of the stories will touch your heart as well as your soul!

Inner Life


Hazrat Inayat Khan - 1997
    His teaching was noted for its stirring beauty and power, as well as for its applicability to all people, regardless of religious or philosophical background. This book gathers together three of Inayat Khan's most beloved essays on the spiritual life from among the fourteen volumes of his collected works:    • "The Inner Life": Inayat Kahn's sublime portrait of the person whose life is a radiant reflection of the Divine    • "Sufi Mysticism": in which the author identifies and shatters the common misconceptions about mysticism to reveal its true meaning    • "The Path of Initiation and Discipleship": What it means to set out on the spiritual path and how to find and maintain the right relationship with a teacher