While there is truth in the idea that our past shapes our future, the gospel is all about the counter-intuitive promise that God is shaping us right now toward God's vision of who we will become. It is not our past that makes us into the image of God; God's redeeming love does that. In God, who we are not yet is shaping who we become. Appealing to anyone drawn to a deeper understanding of their own story and a richer sense of God’s transforming presence, this book will have special resonance for people at turning points in their lives. Career changes, loss of a loved one, graduation, illness, divorce, birth of a child, entering middle or later years: Life is filled with turning points at which we feel compelled to tell our story in a new and different way. Each chapter focuses on a gospel passage, leading to a reflection on a significant point in the author's life which uncovers deeper and more personal meaning in the biblical text. Questions conclude each chapter, engaging readers to look at their own lives—good and bad—and find God, experiencing the joy, surprise, and healing of God's future rewriting the past.

"Wrestling with Our Inner Angels" is Nancy Kehoe's compelling, intimate, and moving story of how she brought her background as a psychologist and a nun in the Religious of the Sacred Heart to bear in the groups she formed to explore the role of faith and spirituality in their treatment - and in their lives. Through fascinating stories of her own spiritual journey, she gives readers of all backgrounds and interests new insights into the inner lives of the mentally ill and new ways of thinking about the role of spirituality and faith in all our lives.

Religion is often cast in opposition to science. Yet both are deeply rooted in the inner workings of the human brain. With the advent of the modern cognitive neurosciences, the scientific study of religious and spiritual phenomena has become far more sophisticated and wide-ranging. What might brain scans of people in prayer, in meditation, or under the influence of psychoactive substances teach us about religious and spiritual beliefs? Are religion and spirituality reducible to neurological processes, or might there be aspects that, at least for now, transcend scientific claims? In this book, Andrew Newberg explores the latest findings of neurotheology, the multidisciplinary field linking neuroscience with religious and spiritual phenomena. He investigates some of the most controversial-and potentially transformative-implications of a neurotheological approach for the truth claims of religion and our understanding of minds and brains. Newberg leads readers on a tour through key intersections of neuroscience and theology, including the potential evolutionary basis of religion; the psychology of religion, including mental health and brain pathology; the neuroscience of myths, rituals, and mystical experiences; how studies of altered states of consciousness shed new light on the mind-brain relationship; and what neurotheology can tell us about free will. When brain science and religious experience are considered together in an integrated approach, Newberg shows, we might come closer to a fuller understanding of the deepest questions.

Why don't people heal? Why do they stay wounded--some even driven to suicide by their pain-despite the best that organic and psychological medicine can offer? To find the answers, Russian--born psychiatrist Olga Kharitidi traveled to exotic Samarkand, a major cultural and spiritual crossroads, and ancient capital of Uzbekistan, in the heart of Central Asia.

No stranger to mystical and shamanic experiences, Dr. Kharitidi had already immersed herself in Siberian native traditions of seeing and healing. Now, at the invitation of an emissary from an ancient secret brotherhood, Dr. Kharitidi set out to learn firsthand the secrets of healing deep emotional wounds. As she quickly discovered, to master these methods she would first have to heal herself.

Under the tutelage of the mysterious and charismatic Michael, the master of lucid dreams and protector of esoteric teachings first given millennia ago, Dr. Kharitidi entered another world altogether. There, she saw how our deepest emotional traumas are held in place by baleful spirits and can only be overcome by the technique of dreaming while awake.

A major contribution to experiential psychology and a vivid revelation of little-known ancient teachings, The Master of Lucid Dreams describes a startlingly different and effective approach to inner healing.

THE MEMOIR OF WILD WILD COUNTRY'S MA ANAND SHEELA Everyone in the world has an opinion of me! I do not expect them to change. I accept life as it comes!’ Irrepressible, honest, bold and charming, very few can claim to have lived life on their own terms as Ma Anand Sheela has. Yet controversy continues to follow her. Whether it is her portrayal in Wild Wild Country or the Osho International Foundation's take on the Netflix series, a wide spectrum of opinions has cloaked for too long the real Sheela Birnstiel. In the 1980s, she was the personal secretary of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and managed the Rajneesh commune in Wasco County, Oregon, USA. She was eventually sentenced to prison, served her time and walked out in three years. Today, she runs homes for the disabled and the elderly in Switzerland. Almost three decades later, she is still in love with Bhagwan and his teachings. From rebuilding her life from scratch in Switzerland to an interview with Karan Johar on her grand return to India, she is adored and vilified by the world at the same time. In her memoirs, By My Own Rules, Ma Anand Sheela bares all-her life, her lessons, her beliefs, her inspiration and what makes her live life on her own terms.

What would God say about those who blatantly misrepresent His Holy Spirit; who exchange true worship for chaotic fits of mindless ecstasy; who replace the biblical gospel with vain illusions of health and wealth; who claim to prophesy in His name yet speak errors; and who sell false hope to desperate people for millions of dollars?

The charismatic movement has always been a breeding-ground for scandal, greed, bad doctrine, and all kinds of spiritual chicanery. As a movement, it is clearly headed the wrong direction. And it is growing at an unprecedented rate.

From the Word of Faith to the New Apostolic Reformation, the Charismatic movement is being consumed by the empty promises of the prosperity gospel. Too many charismatic celebrities promote a "Christianity" without Christ, a Holy Spirit without holiness. And their teaching is having a disastrous influence on a grand scale, as large television networks broadcast their heresies to every part of the world.

In "Strange Fire," bestselling author and pastor John MacArthur chronicles the unsavory history behind the modern Charismatic movement. He lays out a chilling case for rejecting its false prophets, speaking out against their errors, showing true reverence to the Holy Spirit, and above all clinging to the Bible as the inerrant, authoritative Word of God and the one true standard by which all truth claims must be tested.

Learn to initiate the integration of your clients' spirituality as an effective practical intervention. A client's spiritual and religious beliefs can be an effective springboard for productive therapy. How can a therapist sensitively prepare for the task? The Therapist's Notebook for Integrating Spirituality in Counseling is the first volume of a comprehensive two-volume resource that provides practical interventions from a wide range of backgrounds and theoretical perspectives. This volume helps prepare clinicians to undertake and initiate the integration of spirituality in therapy with clients and provides easy-to-follow examples. The book provides a helpful starting point to address a broad range of topics and problems. The chapters of The Therapist's Notebook for Integrating Spirituality in Counseling are grouped into five sections: Therapist Preparation and Professional Development; Assessment of Spirituality; Integrating Spirituality in Couples Therapy; Specific Techniques and/or Topics Used in Integrating Spirituality; and Use of Scripture, Prayer, and Other Spiritual Practices. Designed to be clinician-friendly, each chapter also includes sections on resources where counselors can learn more about the topic or technique used in the chapter-as well as suggested books, articles, chapters, videos, and Web sites to recommend to clients. Each chapter utilizes similar formatting to remain clear and easy-to-follow that includes objectives, rationale for use, instructions, brief vignette, suggestions for follow-up, contraindications, references, professional readings and resources, and bibliotherapy sources for the client. The first volume of The Therapist's Notebook for Integrating Spirituality in Counseling helps set a solid foundation and provides comprehensive instruction on: ethically incorporating spirituality into the therapeutic setting professional disclosure building a spiritual referral source through local clergy assessment of spirituality the spirituality-focused genogram using spirituality in couples therapy helping couples face career transitions dealing with shame addiction recovery the use of scripture and prayer overcoming trauma in Christian clients and much more! The Therapist's Notebook for Integrating Spirituality in Counseling is a stimulating, creative resource appropriate for any clinician or counselor, from novices to experienced mental health professionals. This first volume is perfect for pastoral counselors, clergy, social workers, marriage and family therapists, counselors, psychologists, Christian counselors, educators who teach professional issues, ethics, counseling, and multicultural issues, and students.

After the publication of his wildly successful memoir, Blue Like Jazz, Donald Miller's life began to stall. During what should have been the height of his success, he found himself avoiding responsibility and even questioning the meaning of life. But when two producers proposed turning his memoir into a movie, Miller found himself launched into a new story filled with risk, possibility, beauty, and meaning. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years chronicles Miller's rare opportunity to edit his life into a great story and to reinvent himself so nobody shrugs their shoulders when the credits roll. When his producers begin fictionalizing Don's life for the film--changing a meandering memoir into a structured narrative--the real-life Don starts a journey to make his actual life into a better story. In this book, we have a front-row seat to Miller's journey--from sleeping all day to riding his bike across America, from living in romantic daydreams to facing love head-on, from wasting his money to founding a life-changing nonprofit. Guided by a host of outlandish but very real characters, Miller teaches us: Why God hasn't fixed us yet The power of speaking something into nothing The redemptive beauty that can come from tragic circumstances How to get a second chance at life the first time around Through heart-wrenching honesty and hilarious self-inspection, Miller takes readers through the life that emerges when it turns from boring reality into a meaningful narrative.

The world’s great religious and philosophical traditions often include poignant testimonies of spiritual turmoil and healing. Following episodes of harrowing personal crisis, including addictions, periods of anxiety and panic, and reminders of mortality, these accounts then also describe pathways to consolation and resolution. In Making Peace with the Universe, Michael Scott Alexander reads diverse classic religious accounts as masterpieces of therapeutic insight. In the company of William James, Socrates, Muslim legal scholar turned mystic Hamid al-Ghazali, Chinggis Khan as described by the Daoist monk Qui Chuji, and jazz musician and Catholic convert Mary Lou Williams, Alexander traces the steps from existential crisis to psychological health. He recasts spiritual confessions as case histories of therapy, showing how they remain radical and deeply meaningful even in an age of scientific psychology. They record the therapeutic affect of spiritual experience, testifying to the achievement of psychological well-being through the cultivation of an edifying spiritual mood. Mixing scholarly learning with episodes from his own skeptical quest, Alexander demonstrates how these accounts of private terror and personal triumph offer a model of therapy through spiritual adventure. An interdisciplinary consideration of the shared terrain of religion and psychology, Making Peace with the Universe offers an innovative view of what spiritual traditions can teach us about finding meaning in the modern world.

Celebrating a century of eurythmy, a modern art of etheric movement In the beginning was the Word . . . and the Word was with God . . . and nothing that was made was made without the Word The human being is an expression of the ever-unfolding wisdom of the creative Logos, the Word. The whole of creation bears the imprint of the cosmic sounding. This book describes a way, through movement and gesture, to work with the creative, sounding principle that manifests in the Earth's enveloping life sphere. Today, the increasingly binding and hardening conditions of modern life now threatens the divine seed of life here on Earth, which has been fructified and developed over the millennia. Creation-coming to expression through the flowering of the cosmic breath-is losing its natural connection with humanity and with Mother Earth, which are increasingly given over to anti-life forces, comprising destruction, inversions, and lifeless replicas of creation's gifts. The sacred movements described in this book arise from the modern art of movement known as eurythmy (Greek: "good movement"), which came into the world in 1912. These sacred gestures, when practiced with the words gifted to humanity by the incarnated Logos two thousand years ago, lead us back to our connection with the fullness of creation and toward the goal of developing the body of immortality, the resurrection body. In 2012, we celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of eurythmy. This book invites us to partake of the richness of the sacred through life-enhancing movement and gesture as a path to reconnect with the cosmic formative forces that sound the call of resurrection. The wealth of material included in this book educates the soul toward awaking to a conscious understanding of humanity's divine heritage and true calling. The exercises in this work provide a training that ennobles and refines the qualities of the human soul. By awaking, the soul gradually learns to respond to the call of the World Soul that invites us to partake of divine wisdom and to participate, through right action, in creation's unfolding toward the ultimate goal: resurrection.

Bestselling author Deepak Chopra offers a beautiful book of poems that are deeply spiritual, heartfelt and touch on topics such as love, surrender and consciousness. A collection of poems by bestselling author Deepak Chopra that elegantly reveal the truth of paradox and ambiguity. Chopra shows us that poetry, like meditation, can allow us to slip into the gap between thoughts and get in touch with the karmic software of our souls. It can be a source of awakening and revelation, and the poems in this book do just that; they explore consciousness, spirituality, love, freedom, surrender, the timelessness of the mind and the journey to the self.

"Drawing on resources as diverse as Sufism, Benedictine Monasticism, the Gurdjieff Work, and the string theory of modern physics, Cynthia Bourgeault has crafted her own unique vision of the Wisdom way in this very accessible book, nicely balanced between concept and practice."
--Gerald May, senior fellow, Shalem Institute, and author, "Addiction and Grace" and "Will and Spirit"

"The spiritual wisdom and practical suggestions in this lively and beautiful book will be helpful to many who find themselves setting out on the interior journey."
--Bruno Barnhart, a Camaldolese monk and author, "Second Simplicity: The Inner Shape of Christianity"

"Cynthia Bourgeault's book is a valuable contribution to the much-needed reawakening of spiritual practice within a Christian context. Her sincerity, good sense, metaphysical depth, and broad experience make her a source to be trusted."
--Kabir Helminski, Sufi Shaikh, the Threshold Society

What if a simple day away could transform your life? Does spending time with God sound like just one more thing to check off an ever-increasing to-do list? How are you supposed to fit in anything that threatens to be more time-consuming? Too often there's simply no room to experience the intimacy, grace, and peace that God offers us. Getaway with God does more than invite you to step away from life's pressures to take a personal retreat. It shows you exactly why you must--for your sake and for your family's. With grace and warmth, Letitia Suk provides step-by-step guidance and the necessary tools to enable any woman on any budget to plan time away, whether it's a quick, half-day break or a weeklong time of restoration. You'll find detailed steps for preparation, including descriptions of different kinds of retreats and how to choose the best one for you, and you'll learn ways to bring the renewal you experience home with you. Practical appendixes identify retreat centers nationwide and provide exercises and prayers to kick-start your getaway with God. No matter what your season in life, the time for retreat is now! "Getaway with God is a gem!" --Karen Burton Mains, author of Open Heart, Open Home, director of Hungry Souls

"The apocalyptic dimension of Hitler and his exterminatory project has often been noted but never developed with the completeness and sophistication of David Redles. This brilliant book will enlighten, surprise, and awaken. It is a story, unfortunately, of continuing relevance for the contemporary world as it grapples with the new terrorism."
--Charles B. Strozier, author of "Apocalypse: On the Psychology of Fundamentalism in America"

"David Redles has tackled one of the most sensitive subjects in millennial studies--the Nazis. He has done an extraordinarily careful and brilliant analysis of the archival material to reveal Hitler's messianic charisma, his appeal both on the ideological and psychological level, illustrating that if you can convince people that they live in apocalyptic times and you have the key to their collective salvation, you can get them to do anything. Given that we live in times that lend themselves to such interpretations, we had best understand the apocalyptic dynamics of reactionary modernism."
--Richard Landes, Director, Center for Millennial Studies, Department of History, Boston University

After World War I, German citizens sought not merely relief from the political, economic, social, and cultural upheaval which wracked Weimar Germany, but also mental salvation. With promises of order, prosperity, and community, Adolph Hitler fulfilled a profoundly spiritual need on behalf of those who converted to Nazism, and thus became not only Fuhrer, but Messiah contends David Redles, who believes that millenarian sentiment was central to the rise of Nazism.

As opposed to many works which depersonalize Nazism by focusing on institutional factors, Redles offers a fresh view of the impact and potential for millenarian movements. The writings of both major and minor Nazi party figures, in which there echoes a striking religiosity and salvational faith, reveal how receptive Germans were to the notion of a millennial Reich such as that offered by Hitler. Redles illustrates how Hitler's apocalyptic prophecies of a coming "final battle" with the so-called "Jewish-Bolsheviks," one that was conceived to be a "war of annihilation," was transformed into an equally eschatological "Final Solution."

What did I do to deserve cancer? I don't understand it, but I can't seem to pray anymore. Why does God seem so far away? The idea of dying scares me. How can I cope? What do you say to a person in crisis? When illness or tragedy strikes, you may find yourself caring for a family member, friend or neighbor who asks you for answers to some of life's ultimate questions. How can you meet these deep spiritual needs? This personal and practical book deals with the difficult issues and sensitive situations that caregivers often confront. Judy Shelly explains how to offer spiritual support to those facing suffering, illness or other crises. Shelly considers a variety of suggestions caregivers can put into action, including Christian community, compassionate presence, prayer, Scripture, books, touch and music. In addition, she explains and evaluates alternative therapies that have become popular in the health care and counseling fields. And finally, she reminds caregivers of the need to care for themselves, offering suggestions for finding rest, advice and encouragement. Spiritual Care: A Guide for Caregivers is a classic resource book that is now completely rewritten for all caregivers (not just medical professionals and pastors). Here is the guide that will help you meet the spiritual needs of those you love with grace, skill and genuine hope.