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Books > Humanities > Religion & beliefs > Alternative belief systems > Contemporary non-Christian & para-Christian cults & sects
Allan Kardec's supreme handbook about the world of the spirits and
the movement of Spiritism is a valuable and insightful guide to
existences beyond our corporeal realm. Kardec begins this work by
delving into the historical significance of spirits, their
connection with God and the physical universe. How spirits are
situated in the world, and how they move unseen between the planes
of existence, is discussed. The second part concentrates on The
Spirit World in greater detail. The types of spirits and how they
are incarnated are detailed, with Kardec proposing that several
distinct planes of existence are extant, and that most individuals
proceed through life without knowing or seeing their influence. A
chapter is devoted to how spirits might intervene in our everyday,
corporeal world. Often these excursions have a purpose; the spirits
are on a mission to inform someone, or change something, that
harmony may be restored.
In this novel academic study, Aled Thomas analyses modern issues
surrounding boundaries and fluidity in contemporary Scientology. By
using the Scientologist practice of 'auditing' as a case study,
this book explores the ways in which new types of 'Scientologies'
can emerge. The notion of Free Zone Scientology is characterised by
its horizontal structure, in contrast to the vertical-hierarchy of
the institutional Church of Scientology. With this in mind, Thomas
explores the Free Zone as an example of a developing and fluid
religion, directly addressing questions concerning authority,
leadership and material objects. This book, by maintaining a
double-focus on the top-down hierarchy of the Church of Scientology
and the horizontal-fluid nature of the Free Zone, breaks away from
previous research on new religions, with have tended to focus
either on new religions as indices of broad social processes, such
as secularization or globalization, or as exemplars of exotic
processes, such as charismatic authority and brainwashing. Instead,
Thomas adopts auditing as a method of providing an in-depth case
study of a new religion in transition and transformation in the
21st century. This opens the study of contemporary and new
religions to a series of new questions around hybrid religions
(sacred and secular), and acts as a framework for the study of
similar movements formed in recent decades.
The Book that has been awaited for 54 years is now finally
published. The spiritual communiques, issued from the Plan of
Sublime Duty and named 'Onder Pioneer]' in 1959, were compiled by
Bedri Ruhselman. Since then they have been preserved in the safes
of notaries and banks. Now that their time has arrived after 54
years, they have now been published. The book in your hands is the
faithfully translated version of the original Turkish text. In The
Divine Order and The Universe you will find: * The unending rain of
knowledge starting from spirit and matter... * The true
comprehension of love; the advance from love towards the essence...
* Discovering existential freedom and planetary awakening... * The
implications of global warming, floods and earthquakes... * The
lessons we learn from natural events... * Spiritual preparation
through predicted facts about inevitable natural events...
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