He also outlines the Western religious and intellectual tradition. The work goes on to challenge the youth of other religious traditions to become responsible and committed by recognizing the importance of their cultural identity.The author's publications include "Ideals and Realities of Islam", "Science and Civilisation in Islam", "Muhammad - Man of Allah" and "Traditional Islam in the Modern World".

    It is a subject that he explores in the widest context but underpinning this examination is his belief that religion has given us many of the best stories and metaphors for the act. He proceeds to relate forgiveness to such events as September 11th, the Truth Commission in South Africa, and the ongoing conflicts in Palestine/Israel, Northern Ireland and Serbia. On Forgiveness is a discourse on how forgiveness works, where it came from and how the need to embrace it is greater than ever if we are to free ourselves from the binds of the past. Drawing on philosophers and writers of the caliber of George Steiner, Frederick Nietzsche, Jacques Derrida, Hannah Arendt, and Nelson Mandela, Holloway has written another fascinating and timely book.

    Awe prompts indignation at the exploitation and destruction of the earth's people and resources. Awe leads to action.Showing how we can learn from each other, Fox's spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in both North and South America. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just creator.

    When the mind has understood all things and found them to be in harmony with what has been expounded by the teachings, it is faithful and comes to rest in that beautiful faith.”Hermes to AsclepiusThe Corpus Hermeticum, a powerful fusion of Greek and Egyptian thought, is one of the cornerstones of the Western esoteric tradition. A collection of short philosophical treatises, it was written in Greek between the first and third centuries A.D. and translated into Latin during the Renaissance by the great scholar and philosopher Marsilio Ficino. These writings, believed to be the writings of Hermes Trismegistus, were central to the spiritual work of Hermetic societies in Late Antique Alexandria (200-700 A.D.), and aimed to awaken gnosis, the direct realization of the unity of the individual and the Supreme.In addition to this new translation of The Corpus Hermeticum, which seeks to reflect the inspirational intent of the original, The Way of Hermes includes the first English translation of the recently rediscovered manuscript of The Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus to Asclepius, a collection of aphorisms used by the hermetic student to strengthen the mind during meditation. With the proper mental orientation,a state of pure perception can be achieved in which the true face of God appears. This document is of enormous value to the contemporary student of gnostic studies for its insights into the actual workings of this spiritual path.Clement Salaman is the editor of the English translation of The Letters of Marsilio Ficino. Dorine Van Oyen is a lecturer on Hermetic studies in Amsterdam. William D. Wharton teaches Classical history, languages, and philosophy in Boston. Jean-Pierre Mahe is Correspondent of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, Paris.

    He showed that, far from being an exotic novelty, Hinduism was an important, legitimate spiritual tradition with valuable lessons for the West. Pathways to Joy is a selection of 108 of his sacred teachings on Vedanta philosophy. In accessible and powerful prose, Vivekananda illuminates the four classical yoga paths — karma, bhakti, raja, and jnana — for the different natures of humankind. The messages focus on the oneness of existence; the divinity of the soul; the truth in all religions; and unifying with the Divine within. Invaluable and inspiring, the selections also explore karma, maya, rebirth, and other great revelations of Hinduism.

    This guide demonstrates how readers can become actively calm, centred in the stillness and joy of our own essential nature while living a dynamic, fulfilling and balanced life.

    How do we begin to discover and live our destined life? How can we use the ancient, Eastern philosophy to experience more success in our lives?From Derek Lin, Taoist master and author of The Tao of Daily Life, comes this practical, systematic approach to the ancient and time-honored spiritual learning process. The Tao of Success navigates the five rings of life, which are common patterns of traditional Tao cultivation, conceptualized by the ancient sages: your spirit, your mind, your relationships, your world, and your destiny. Success is achieved by discovering and experiencing these five concentric rings, from the inside out, and not in the future but in the here and now.Using the same format that made The Tao of Daily Life a breakout Eastern wisdom bestseller, Lin draws on the power of Taoist stories to illustrate important keys, or lessons. He then offers commentary on understanding and applying that story in modern life-all aimed to help readers live out the destiny that lies within themselves.By integrating the life-altering lessons of this book into their busy lives, readers can begin to cultivate the Tao. In The Tao of Success , Lin returns with his enlightening approach to understanding, centered on story and illumination of ancient Taoist secrets for the modern beginner and the familiar student alike.

    

    In this introductory selection of Islamic readings, the essence of the Koran is presented and explained in an accessible and illuminating manner.

     By unveiling truly bizarre alliances, revisiting centuries-old ghostly events still haunting the birthplaces of religion, unraveling complex threads of history to discern the difference between myth and prophecy, and providing a thorough explication of the religious texts underlying all of this madness in the context of the times in which they were written, Baigent presents a very different view of the past, present, and future than that perpetuated by many loose interpretations of scripture. What are faith force multipliers? Which members of the U.S. military top brass have fought to employ them? Which world leader belongs to a secret messianic society called the Hojjatieh? What is the Chalcedon Foundation? And what is the correlation between its tenets, those of sharia law, and the fulfillment of end-time prophecies? The answers to these questions and others will intrigue, mystify, and enrage you, whether you're a person of faith or a staunch secularist. But the author's goal is not simply to shock the reader—it is to help diffuse the time bomb that has been set by the hard-liners of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In the end, Baigent asks these questions to deliver an urgent message: that spiritual yearning is actually a deep and personal issue of awareness, one that can bring hope and tolerance to the world, rather than the self-superiority and control that are born of fear and conflict.

    Renard and his Ascended Master teachers, Arten and Pursah, guide you through a way of dissolving the illusions of time and space and returning to Reality, which is Perfect Love. This is not love in the way the world commonly thinks of it. It’s an all-encompassing kind of love that is perfect spirit: innocent, unflawed, immortal, invulnerable, and forever fearless.      Real love, which is Divine in nature, must be experienced, for it is beyond words. Yet words and practice are needed to help lead you to that experience. The knowledge of what it’s like to be one with your Source is the awesome mystical experience that’s been described by Masters throughout the ages. It’s the greatest sense of awareness anyone can have while still appearing to be in this world. This book will teach you exactly how to get to that experience, which upon the end of your physical existence will become your permanent reality. You will find that, indeed, love has forgotten no one.

    This introduction to the Western esoteric traditionsoffers a concise overview of their historical development.Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke explores these traditions, from their roots in Hermeticism, Neo-Platonism, and Gnosticism in the early Christian era up to their reverberations in today's scientific paradigms. While the study of Western esotericism is usually confined to the history of ideas, Goodrick-Clarke examines the phenomenon much more broadly. He demonstrates that, far from being a strictly intellectual movement, the spread of esotericism owes a great deal to geopolitics and globalization. In Hellenistic culture, for example, the empire of Alexander the Great, which stretchedacross Egypt and Western Asia to provinces in India, facilitated a mixing of Eastern and Western cultures. As the Greeks absorbed ideas from Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, and Persia, they gave rise to the first esoteric movements.From the late sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, post-Reformation spirituality found expression in theosophy, Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry. Similarly, in the modern era, dissatisfaction with the hegemony of science in Western culture and a lack of faith in traditional Christianity ledthinkers like Madame Blavatsky to look East for spiritual inspiration. Goodrick-Clarke further examines Modern esoteric thought in the light of new scientific and medical paradigms along with the analytical psychology of Carl Gustav Jung. This book traces the complete history of these movements andis the definitive account of Western esotericism.

    The perspectives of integral theory and practice, articulated by Ken Wilber, help uncover the integral approach that Jesus advocated and demonstrated in the metaphors of his time and that traditional Christianity has largely been unable to see. Smith incorporates elements of traditional, modern, and postmodern theological viewpoints, including progressive, New Thought, and emerging/emergent ones. However, he goes beyond all of them and moves to a Christianity that is devoted to following both the historical Jesus and the Risen Christ whose Spirit beckons to us from the future. Smith says, "The oldest thing you can say about God is that God is always doing something new. Jesus pushed his own religion to newness by including the best of its past, and transcending the worst of its present. He calls us to do the same, whatever our religion is today."

    In Becoming Kuan Yin, Levine's first new book in many years, he turns to the legend of Kuan Yin, the Bbodhistitva venerated by East Asian Buddhists for her compassion. In Becoming Kuan Yin, Levine shares the tale of Miao Shan, born centuries ago to a cruel king who wanted her to marry a wealthy but uncaring man. This is the story of how Miao Shan refused to follow the path her father had in mind and, instead, became Kuan Yin, the first acknowledged female Buddha who watches over the dying and those who work with them. Levine weaves together story and practice and helps readers discover their own infinite capacity for mercy and compassion under difficult circumstances. This book will have resonance for Kuan Yin's millions of followers.

    His book is a fresh look at the questions that occur to anyone who thinks deeply about these matters, questions about free will, self-determination, destiny, choice, and who are we anyway. I believe this is a “breakthrough book.” Robert’s style of writing about such ephemeral and difficult subjects as awareness and consciousness is honest, concise, and accurate. His ability to describe his experiences of living in a reality quite different from conventional ways of thinking is brilliantly unusual. On first encountering Robert Saltzman’s work, I am reminded of the same feelings of discovery, delight and excitement that I remember from meeting Alan Watts’ “The Wisdom of Insecurity”, Krishnamurti’s “Freedom from the Known,” and Chögyam Trungpa’s “Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism.” His clarity of mind shines brightly through every sentence in this book. His skill at making clear the most difficult ramifications and subtleties of awakened consciousness is so free of conventional cluttered thinking, so free of habitual phrases, so free of the taint of religious dogma and the conventional ways of speaking of such difficult matters, that this book stands out for me as an entirely fresh and illuminated exposition of awakened consciousness: an awakened understanding of what it is to be human. —Dr. Robert K. Hall