Lethal Spots, Vital Secrets provides an ethnographic study of varmakkalai, or "the art of the vital spots," a South Indian esoteric tradition that combines medical practice and martial arts. Although siddha medicine is officially part of the Indian Government's medically pluralistic health-care system, very little of a reliable nature has been written about it. Drawing on a diverse array of materials, including Tamil manuscripts, interviews with practitioners, and his own personal experience as an apprentice, Sieler traces the practices of varmakkalai both in different religious traditions-such as Yoga and Ayurveda-and within various combat practices. His argument is based on in-depth ethnographic research in the southernmost region of India, where hereditary medico-martial practitioners learn their occupation from relatives or skilled gurus through an esoteric, spiritual education system. Rituals of secrecy and apprenticeship in varmakkalai are among the important focal points of Sieler's study. Practitioners protect their esoteric knowledge, but they also engage in a kind of "lure and withdrawal"--a performance of secrecy--because secrecy functions as what might be called "symbolic capital." Sieler argues that varmakkalai is, above all, a matter of texts in practice; knowledge transmission between teacher and student conveys tacit, non-verbal knowledge, and constitutes a "moral economy." It is not merely plain facts that are communicated, but also moral obligations, ethical conduct and tacit, bodily knowledge. Lethal Spots, Vital Secrets will be of interest to students of religion, medical anthropologists, historians of medicine, indologists, and martial arts and performance studies.

A unique essay about Science and Metaphysics in which the author Alex Red Kenaton shifts the readers awareness by disclosing precious information. It is a stream of consciousness depicting many reflections and dialogues revealing a loose interior monologue connection characterised by some associative leaps in thought. This uncommon book is held together by the author's passion for science, spirituality and an unrelenting search for truth. Alex Red Kenaton is a multifaceted scholar working in different fields of study: Humanistic Social Sciences, Physical Natural Sciences, and Metaphysical Philosophical Sciences. These areas have allowed him to acquire a broad interdisciplinary understanding of human life. As a new author, he compares the latest scientific discoveries in physics to spiritual and religious texts, often finding commonalities. One of his deeps beliefs is that people have been searching for a way to understand if they have power in their lives for centuries. He thinks that this mastery exists, is real, and is located, not just metaphorically, in our hearts. Alex Red Kenaton inspires people to step into joy, to live fully and with life's presence, without fleeing or getting caught in protective bubbles. He trusts that by assuming responsibilities, it is possible to live all the aspects of life without separation, always knowing that the external reality reflects our consciousness and nothing more.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

This is not a book of facts; it's a book of 'facts'. Should you finish it believing we became the planet's dominant species because predators found us too smelly to eat; or that the living bloodline of Christ is a family of Japanese garlic farmers - well, that's on you. Why are we here? Do ghosts exist? Did life on Earth begin after a badly tidied-up picnic? Was it just an iceberg that sank the Titanic? Are authors stealing their plotlines from the future? Will we ever talk to animals? And why, when you're in the shower, does the shower curtain always billow in towards you? We don't know the answers to any of these questions. But don't worry, no matter what questions you have, you can bet on the fact that there is someone (or something) out there, investigating it on your behalf. From the sports stars who use cosmic energy to office plants investigating murders, The Theory of Everything Else will act as a handbook for those who want to think differently.