The practice of listening to subtle, inner sounds during meditation to concentrate and elevate the mind has a long history in various religions around the world, including Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. Today there are a number of new religious movements that have made listening to the inner sound current a cornerstone of their teachings. These groups include the Radhasoamis, the Divine Light Mission, Eckankar, the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness (MSIA), MasterPath, the Sawan-Kirpal Mission, Quan Yin/Ching Hai, Manavta Mandir, ISHA, and a number of others. In this study we provide a historical and comprehensive overview of these movements and how they have incorporated listening to the inner sound as part of their spiritual discipline. We are particularly interested in the distinctive and nuanced ways that each group teaches how to listen to the inner sound current and how they interpret it in their own unique theologies.

Are divisive political forces the source of the historical persistence of racism and its alarming recurrence in contemporary society? Or are there also subtler, more intractable reasons for racism's irrational power and historical persistence? This collection of essays takes the study of racism into a radically new direction----that of unconscious fantasies and identities----offering perspectives from a variety of leading figures in many fields.

This thesis describes the development of a new technique to solve an important industrial inspection requirement for a high-value jet-engine component. The work – and the story told in the thesis – stretches all the way from the fundamentals of wave propagation in anisotropic material and ultrasonic array imaging through to device production and site trials. The book includes a description of a new method to determine crystallographic orientation from 2D ultrasonic array data. Another new method is described that enables volumetric images of an anisotropic material to be generated from 2D ultrasonic array data, based on measured crystallographic orientation. After extensive modeling, a suitable 2D array and deployment fixtures were manufactured and tested on in situ turbine blades in real engines. The final site trial indicated an order of magnitude improvement over the best existing technique in the detectability of a certain type of root cracking. The Development of a 2D Ultrasonic Array Inspection for Single Crystal Turbine Blades should be an inspiration for those starting out on doctoral degrees as it shows the complete development cycle from basic science to industrial usage.

This thesis describes the development of a new technique to solve an important industrial inspection requirement for a high-value jet-engine component. The work - and the story told in the thesis - stretches all the way from the fundamentals of wave propagation in anisotropic material and ultrasonic array imaging through to device production and site trials. The book includes a description of a new method to determine crystallographic orientation from 2D ultrasonic array data. Another new method is described that enables volumetric images of an anisotropic material to be generated from 2D ultrasonic array data, based on measured crystallographic orientation. After extensive modeling, a suitable 2D array and deployment fixtures were manufactured and tested on in situ turbine blades in real engines. The final site trial indicated an order of magnitude improvement over the best existing technique in the detectability of a certain type of root cracking. The Development of a 2D Ultrasonic Array Inspection for Single Crystal Turbine Blades should be an inspiration for those starting out on doctoral degrees as it shows the complete development cycle from basic science to industrial usage.

Jaime, a young professional surfer poised on the brink of fame, makes a single error of judgment that sends him spiraling to the dark side of his soul. Overcoming his mistake and climbing out of the quicksand of addiction will require the strength of a champion, and the heart of a warrior. In his struggle to return to greatness, Jaime must come to terms with the root of his problems, and the environment that has shaped him, as he learns new ways of living and being of service to others. Christopher Lane's third book and first work of fiction, The Ocean Mafia takes us on an intense, thrilling ride through the surfing subculture. In the process, it illuminates our capacity to create happiness or suffering through the choices we make. An enjoyable read for all ages, it combines suspense and spirituality, action and humor, and offers a map for navigating life's changing tides.

Real-life stories with adventurous, spiritual, humorous, inspirational, and positive themes.

Spiritually-based memoir

Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin (b. 1935) is best known for his critically and commercially successful films The French Connection and The Exorcist. Unlike other film school-educated filmmakers of the directors' era, Friedkin got his start as a mailroom clerk at a local TV station and worked his way up to becoming a full-blown Hollywood filmmaker by his thirties. His rapid rise behind the camera from television director to Oscar winner came with self-confidence and unorthodox methods. Known for his gritty and auteurist style, Friedkin's films tell the story of a changing America upended by crime, hypocrisy, the occult, and amorality. Although his subsequent films achieved varying levels of success, his cultural impact is undeniable. William Friedkin: Interviews collects fifteen articles, interviews, and seminars spanning Friedkin's career. He discusses early influences, early successes, awards, and current projects. The volume provides coverage of his directorial process, beliefs, and anecdotes from his time serving as the creative force of some of the biggest films of the 1970s and beyond-from his early days in Chicago, to his run-ins with Alfred Hitchcock, to firing guns on set and witnessing an actual exorcism in Italy. Through previously unpublished and obscure interviews and seminars, the story of William Friedkin's work and life is woven together into a candid and concise impression for cinephiles, horror junkies, and aspiring filmmakers alike. Readers will gain insight into Friedkin's genius from his own perspectives and discover the thoughts and processes of a true maverick of American cinema.

Why does passion bewilder and torment so many Victorian protagonists? And why do so many literary characters experience moments of ecstasy before their deaths? In this original study, Christopher Lane shows why Victorian fiction conveys both the pleasure and anguish of intimacy. Examining works by Bulwer-Lytton, Swinburne, Schreiner, Hardy, James, Santayana, and Forster, he argues that these writers struggled with aspects of psychology that were undermining the utilitarian ethos of the Victorian age.
Lane discredits the conservative notion that Victorian literature expresses only a demand for repression and moral restraint. But he also refutes historicist and Foucauldian approaches, arguing that they dismiss the very idea of repression and end up denouncing psychoanalysis as complicit in various kinds of oppression. These approaches, Lane argues, reduce Victorian literature to a drama about politics, power, and the ego. Striving instead to reinvigorate discussions of fantasy and the unconscious, Lane offers a clear, often startling account of writers who grapple with the genuine complexities of love, desire, and friendship.

Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin (b. 1935) is best known for his critically and commercially successful films The French Connection and The Exorcist. Unlike other film school-educated filmmakers of the directors' era, Friedkin got his start as a mailroom clerk at a local TV station and worked his way up to becoming a full-blown Hollywood filmmaker by his thirties. His rapid rise behind the camera from television director to Oscar winner came with self-confidence and unorthodox methods. Known for his gritty and auteurist style, Friedkin's films tell the story of a changing America upended by crime, hypocrisy, the occult, and amorality. Although his subsequent films achieved varying levels of success, his cultural impact is undeniable. William Friedkin: Interviews collects fifteen articles, interviews, and seminars spanning Friedkin's career. He discusses early influences, early successes, awards, and current projects. The volume provides coverage of his directorial process, beliefs, and anecdotes from his time serving as the creative force of some of the biggest films of the 1970s and beyond-from his early days in Chicago, to his run-ins with Alfred Hitchcock, to firing guns on set and witnessing an actual exorcism in Italy. Through previously unpublished and obscure interviews and seminars, the story of William Friedkin's work and life is woven together into a candid and concise impression for cinephiles, horror junkies, and aspiring filmmakers alike. Readers will gain insight into Friedkin's genius from his own perspectives and discover the thoughts and processes of a true maverick of American cinema.

The dramatic untold story of how Norman Vincent Peale and a handful of conservative allies fueled the massive rise of religiosity in the United States during the 1950s Near the height of Cold War hysteria, when the threat of all-out nuclear war felt real and perilous, American minister Norman Vincent Peale published The Power of Positive Thinking. Selling millions of copies worldwide, the book offered a gospel of self-assurance in an age of mass anxiety. Despite Peale's success and his ties to powerful conservatives such as Dwight D. Eisenhower, J. Edgar Hoover, and Joseph McCarthy, the full story of his movement has never been told. Christopher Lane shows how the famed minister's brand of Christian psychology inflamed the nation's religious revival by promoting the concept that belief in God was essential to the health and harmony of all Americans. We learn in vivid detail how Peale and his powerful supporters orchestrated major changes in a nation newly defined as living "under God." This blurring of the lines between religion and medicine would reshape religion as we know it in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Why does passion bewilder and torment so many Victorian protagonists? And why do so many literary characters experience moments of ecstasy before their deaths? In this original study, Christopher Lane shows why Victorian fiction conveys both the pleasure and anguish of intimacy. Examining works by Bulwer-Lytton, Swinburne, Schreiner, Hardy, James, Santayana, and Forster, he argues that these writers struggled with aspects of psychology that were undermining the utilitarian ethos of the Victorian age.
Lane discredits the conservative notion that Victorian literature expresses only a demand for repression and moral restraint. But he also refutes historicist and Foucauldian approaches, arguing that they dismiss the very idea of repression and end up denouncing psychoanalysis as complicit in various kinds of oppression. These approaches, Lane argues, reduce Victorian literature to a drama about politics, power, and the ego. Striving instead to reinvigorate discussions of fantasy and the unconscious, Lane offers a clear, often startling account of writers who grapple with the genuine complexities of love, desire, and friendship.