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Books > Religion & Spirituality > Aspects of religions (non-Christian) > Religious experience > General
Does Jesus care? How can you know--even in situations where He
hears your cry and does nothing? Perhaps it concerns the death of
someone you prayed for. Or the betrayal by a friend whom you
trusted. Or a financial matter you prayed over, only to have things
to go from bad to worse. And you have to wonder, does Jesus really
care? R.T. Kendall carefully follows the account of Jesus's
response to Mary and Martha as it is found in John 11 to show that
He does care. In fact, He cares more deeply and painstankingly
thatn you or I can begin to imagine. Whatever is happening at the
moment, you can be sure of this: it is for the glory of God. And
Jesus loves you-more than you know.
Traditions of Christian Spirituality Series. Traces the spiritual
legacy of Saint Augustine and of his wide-ranging legacy in the
Augustinian order.
Christianity Today Book Award of Merit-Popular Theology The Gospel
Coaltion Award of Distinction-Popular Theology Every generation
faces the temptation to wander from orthodoxy-to seek out the jolt
that comes with false teaching, and to drift with cultural
currents. And so every generation must be awakened again to the
thrill of orthodoxy, and experience the astonishment that comes
from stumbling afresh upon the electrifying paradoxes at the heart
of the Christian faith. In The Thrill of Orthodoxy, Trevin Wax
turns the tables on those who believe Christian teaching is narrow
and outdated. Returning to the church's creeds, he explains what
orthodoxy is and why we can have proper confidence in it, and lays
out common ways we can stray from it. By showing how heresies are
always actually narrower than orthodoxy-taking one aspect of the
truth and wielding it as a weapon against others-Wax beckons us
away from the broad road that ultimately proves bland and boring,
and toward the straight and narrow path, where true adventure can
be found.
A journey of exploration into worlds beyond the reach of our five senses, Seat of the Soul opens our eyes to the existence of intangible realities and takes us beyond the 'external' world, into the realm of the soul. It is a remarkable look at the alignment of the personality with the soul and provides a vocabulary for the emerging perceptions of the soul, and the values that accompany them - harmony, cooperation, sharing, and reverence for life.
God created us to be curious. We innately wonder about the world,
one another, ourselves, and our Creator. But fear of the unknown,
cultural taboos, technology, or even church leaders can smother our
curiosity. Popular writer Lore Ferguson Wilbert has belonged to
Christian communities that discouraged curiosity. The point of the
Christian life was to have the right answers, and asking questions
reflected a wavering faith. But Wilbert came to discover that the
Bible is a permission slip to anyone who wants to ask questions.
Reflecting her own theological trajectory toward a more
contemplative, expansive faith, Wilbert invites readers to foster
curiosity as a spiritual habit. This book explores questions God
asks us, questions we ask God, and questions we ask each other.
Christianity is not about knowing good answers, says Wilbert, but
about asking good questions--ones that foster deeper intimacy with
God and others. A Curious Faith invites readers to go beyond pat
answers and embrace curiosity, rather than certainty, as a hallmark
of authentic faith. Foreword by Seth Haines.
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How To Love
(Paperback)
Thich Nhat Hanh
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R145
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How to Love is part of a charming series of books from Zen Master,
Thich Nhat Hanh, exploring the essential foundations of mindful
meditation and practise. How to Love shows that when we feel closer
to our loved ones, we are also more connected to the world as a
whole. Nhat Hanh brings his signature clarity, compassion and
humour to the thorny question of how to love and distils one of our
strongest emotions down to four essentials: you can only love
another when you feel true love for yourself; love is
understanding; understanding brings compassion; and deep listening
and loving speech are key ways of showing our love.
From Yehuda Amichai and W. H. Auden to Phyllis Wheatley and Walt
Whitman, Hearing God in Poetry invites you to take a closer look at
fifty great poems by some of the finest poets in the English
language. Some are well known, some deserve to be better known, but
all say something distinctive that will lift your spirit. This
beautiful Lent book for 2022 offers six poems for every week from
Ash Wednesday, leading up to Holy Week, with ten poems specially
chosen for Easter. A short reflection from Richard Harries
accompanies each poet and the poem, drawing out their spiritual
insights and how they communicate God's presence. Hearing God in
Poetry is an ideal Lent book for 2022 for poetry lovers and anyone
interested in how some of the world's finest poets have expressed
faith in their work. This book of daily readings will introduce you
to some wonderful poetry for Lent and Easter, and give you a deeper
understanding and appreciation of these brilliant works of
literature. It will also help expand your spirituality to see God's
presence in the world around you as you prepare for Easter. Full of
riches, Hearing God in Poetry is a book that you will want to turn
to time and time again - whether during Lent or in any other season
of the year.
Following Alan Watts' acclaimed book on Zen Buddhism The Way of
Zen, he tackles the Chinese philosophy of Tao. The Tao is the way
of man's cooperation with the natural course of the natural world.
Alan Watts takes the reader through the history of Tao and its
interpretations by key thinkers such as Lao-Tzu, author of the Tao
Te Ching. Watts goes on to demonstrate how the ancient and timeless
Chinese wisdom of Tao promotes the idea of following a life lived
according to the natural world and goes against our goal-oriented
ideas by allowing time to quiet our minds and observe the world
rather than imposing ourselves on it. By taking in some of the
lessons of Tao, we can change our attitude to the way we live.
Drawing on ancient and modern sources, Watts treats the Chinese
philosophy of Tao in much the same way as he did Zen Buddhism in
his classic The Way of Zen. Including an introduction to the
Chinese culture that is the foundation of the Tao, this is one of
Alan Watts' best-loved works.
Part of the bestselling Capstone Classics Series edited by Tom
Butler-Bowdon, this collectible, hard-back edition of The Prophet
provides an accessible and insightful introduction to this timeless
spiritual work The Prophet is an inspirational book of 26 poetry
fables written in English by Lebanese-American poet and writer
Kahlil Gibran. One of the most translated books in history,
Gibran's famous work has been translated into over 100 different
languages since its first publication in 1923. The book provides
timeless spiritual wisdom on universally-shared aspects of life,
such as giving, buying and selling, beauty and friendship, eating
and drinking, crime and punishment and spirituality and religion.
The book follows Almustafa, a man who has waited for twelve years
for a ship to take him from the island of Orphalese back to his
home. He has come to know the people on the island, who consider
him a wise and insightful man. On the day Almustafa's ship finally
arrives, he feels a deep sadness. The local elders ask him not to
leave. Almustafa speaks of his philosophy of life and the truths he
has discovered to the gathered crowd. His words have an almost
magical quality to them. As he prepares to board his ship, it
becomes clear that Almustafa's words do not refer to his journey
home, but rather to the world he came from before he was born. The
Prophet is a metaphor for the mystery of life and an exploration of
the human condition. Inspirational and extremely readable for
modern audiences, this classic text teaches us: We should be glad
of the experience of coming into the world The separation you feel
from other people is not real True marriage gives both people space
to develop their individuality Enjoying your work is expressing
your love for whoever benefits from it Sorrow makes space for more
joy in another season of life Featuring an insightful introduction
from the editor, The Prophet: The Spirituality Classic is a
must-read book for anyone interested in exploring the undeniable
truths of life we all share.
This little volume (the result of meditation and experience) is not
intended as an exhaustive treatise on the much written upon subject
of the power of thought. It is suggestiive rather athan
explanatory, its object being to stimulate men and women to the
discovery and perception of the truth that...'they themselves are
makers of themselves' by virtue of the thoughts which they choose
and encourage; that mind is the master weaver, both of the inner
garment of character and the outer garment of circumstance, and
that, as they may have hitherto woven in ignorance and pain they
may now weave in enlightenment and happiness.
In March 2020, Are Thoresen contracted Covid-19. Whilst
convalescing from the disease and suffering great exhaustion, he
experienced a breakthrough in his daily meditation. Although he has
always been able to 'see' into the spiritual world, now deeper,
unknown realms appeared to his inner vision. In the soapstone
surround of the fireplace in his Norwegian home, he perceived the
elemental beings and forces that make up the mineral at an atomic
level. A few days later, an even deeper dimension revealed itself,
in the form of a void or vacuum. Here, astonishingly, was an open
portal to the entire cosmos... In Travels on the Northern Path of
Initiation, Thoresen shares the results of his latest spiritual
investigations, including a moving, life-changing encounter with
'the Light of the World'. He details the teachings he receives from
the beings Vidar and Balder - who stand as guardians to the
threshold of the outer etheric world - and characterizes the
Northern way of initiation, which is based on merging, or 'fading',
into nature. Thoresen documents Rudolf Steiner's descriptions of
this path and shows how it is reflected in the Old Norse Poetic
Edda, the Kalevala and von Eschenbach's Parzival. Based on
painstaking research, he describes the individual qualities of the
three elemental realms, and how the adversarial forces - seeking to
corrupt human senses - hinder spiritual observation of them.
Thoresen's book is a powerful personal testimony to the human
potential for spiritual knowledge and experience in our time.
When he was only nine years old, Satish Kumar renounced the world
and joined the wandering brotherhood of Jain monks. Dissuaded from
this path by an inner voice at the age of eighteen, he became a
campaigner for land reform, working to turn Gandhi's vision of a
renewed India into reality. Fired by the example of Bertrand
Russell, he undertook a peace pilgrimage, walking from India to
America without any money, through mountains, deserts, storms and
snow. It was an adventure during which he was thrown into jail in
France, faced a loaded gun in America, and delivered packets of
'peace tea' to the leaders of the four nuclear powers. He settled
in England, taking on the editorship of Resurgence magazine, and
becoming the guiding light behind a number of ecological, spiritual
and educational ventures, including Schumacher College.This edition
of Satish Kumar's inspirational autobiography commemorates the
foundation of Schumacher College, with new chapters about the
college and bringing Satish's story up-to-date. Following Indian
tradition, in his fiftieth year he undertook another pilgrimage:
again without any money, he walked to the holy places of Britain -
Glastonbury, Lindisfarne, and Iona. Written with a penetrating
simplicity, No Destination is an exhilarating account of an
extraordinary life.
Is God a delusion? Barrister Charles Taylor examines the evidence
in this very readable book. His findings will be controversial to
some but offer hope and insight to others. We are the only species
unable to live in harmony with our environment and each other. The
asteroid that killed the dinosaurs is nothing compared with our
impact on the Earth. We are currently responsible for "The Sixth
Great Extinction" of wildlife. Religious terrorism is widespread,
though current atrocities are dwarfed by the bloody record of
Christianity. The Middle East is destabilised and to East and West
we have Presidents Putin and Trump. So called 'rational' thinking
and the dominance of our left brains have brought us to the brink
of disaster. We need a spiritual revolution allowing individuals to
reconnect with their right brain, intuition and spirit. Religions
have had their day. They contain key truths, but these truths are
usually obscured by manmade rules constructed to gain wealth and
power. At the other extreme, materialism denies God, the spirit,
free will, consciousness and love. Happily, the facts contradict
this dispiriting left brained faith that we are deluded robots
stumbling through life.
Exploring the diverse factors that persuaded Christopher Columbus
that he could reach the fabled "East" by sailing west, Dante,
Columbus and the Prophetic Tradition considers, first, the impact
of Dante's Divine Comedy and the apocalyptic prophetic tradition
that it reflects, on Columbus's perception both of the cosmos and
the eschatological meaning of his journey to what he called an
'other world.' In so doing, the book considers how affinities
between himself and the exiled poet might have led Columbus to see
himself as a divinely appointed agent of the apocalypse and his
enterprise as the realization of the spiritual journey chronicled
in the Comedy. As part of this study, the book necessarily examines
the cultural space that Dante's poem, its geography, cosmography
and eschatology, enjoyed in late fifteenth century Spain as well as
Columbus's own exposure to it. As it considers how Italian writers
and artists of the late Renaissance and Counter Reformation
received the news of Columbus' 'discovery' and appropriated the
figure of Dante and the pseudo-prophecy of the Comedy to interpret
its significance, the book examines how Tasso, Ariosto, Stradano
and Stigliani, in particular, forge a link between Dante and
Columbus to present the latter as an inheritor of an apostolic
tradition that traces back to the Aeneid. It further highlights the
extent to which Italian writers working in the context of the
Counter Reformation, use a Dantean filter to propagate the notion
of Columbus as a new Paul, that is, a divinely appointed apostle to
the New World, and the Roman Church as the rightful emperor of the
souls encountered there.
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive substance that has long been associated
with indigenous Amazonian shamanic practices. The recent rise of
the drink's visibility in the media and popular culture, and its
rapidly advancing inroads into international awareness, mean that
the field of ayahuasca is quickly expanding. This expansion brings
with it legal problems, economic inequalities, new forms of ritual
and belief, cultural misunderstandings, and other controversies and
reinventions. In The World Ayahuasca Diaspora, leading scholars,
including established academics and new voices in anthropology,
religious studies, and law fuse case-study ethnographies with
evaluations of relevant legal and anthropological knowledge. They
explore how the substance has impacted indigenous communities, new
urban religiosities, ritual healing, international drug policy,
religious persecution, and recreational drug milieus. This unique
book presents classic and contemporary issues in social science and
the humanities, providing rich material on the bourgeoning
expansion of ayahuasca use around the globe.
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