Book Description
Stella shows what can happen when we move from certitude to doubt, from stability to searching. When life experiences seem to tell us that the "right" answers no longer seem so "right:" such a time is an enriching time, a time when life is no longer a matter of going from "question to answer, but from question to question." Stella concludes that "life in all its messiness is a sacred affair."
Customer Reviews:
A book that could change your life.......2001-12-17
Tom Stella is a gifted writer whose new book - THE GOD INSTINCT can best be described as powerful, inspirational and insightful. Tom is a Catholic priest, though after reading his book, you will conclude that he could just as easily be a holy man representing any one of a multitude of religions.
Tom opens our minds to a new way of experiencing and understanding God's presence in our life. Seeing God in this light helps us to understand how we are all one, seeking our individual destinies while always in touch, in some mysterious yet personal way. He helps us to understand that we are spiritual beings having a human experience, a concept I had not previously considered. He points out that who we are is more than what we are or what we do, and that who we thought we were was merely the tip of the iceberg. The part of us beneath the surface proves to be vast and devine. It is there where we find our soul, which is one with God, blurring the boundary that once clearly separated humanity and divinity. Understanding individuals in this new light explains why we must have reverence for all human beings.
Talking about religion, Tom notes that religion cannot and need not be a Sabbath only affair whose intent is to help us get through life unscathed by sin. It must be about passion more than piety, celebration, not just obligation, life as well as liturgy. It must be a positive force, both alive and enlivening. It must serve to rebind us not only to our true selves, but to the human community as well. And yes, there are positives to be found in institutional religion, which can have potential values for all of us.
Tom gives us insight into spirituality and the spiritual person, making these concepts more attainable and understandable to us. He significantly broadened ny definition of faith, pointing out that in true faith, we do not lose contact with people. He also helped me realize that there is a "listening" component to prayer - another revelation to me.
Tom makes us think further when he states that "an indication that one is growing spiritually is not evidenced by the frequency or intensity of religious experiences, but by the capacity for being smitten by the subtle holiness of life in its everyday simplicity". He relates how we can be spiritually enriched by recognizing and tending to the needs of our bodies, our minds and our emotions. He recognizes that we need not reject the material world to grow spiritually, but in our pursuit of God, we must look within and embrace our longings, rather than looking elsewhere to satisfy them. He makes a good point when he says that though we continue to fall prey to the lure of things; we eventually sense the futility of finding in them satisfaction for our hearts' longing.
In his discussionn of relationships, Tom made me aware of another way to look at selfishness - expecting or demanding that others orient their lives so as to please us.
Tom's chapter on work is truly inspirational - a chapter that deserves periodic re-reading. Yet, he promotes a balanced life that includes having fun, leisure and play. He concludes his book with a discussion of a variety of useful ways that one might employ to enhance their spiritual practice.
Tom's book would prove to be a worthwhile addition to any library. It should be read and re-read by anyone yearning to discover the presence of a sacred depth in nature, human nature, or the events of ordinary life.
The sacredness of the secular.......2001-11-16
"The God Instinct" is a breath of fresh air in affirming the sacredness of our lives, in spite of our struggles with long held beliefs, religious precepts and our human imperfections.
Stella draws heavily upon his own spiritual odyssey inspired by spiritual writers, such as, Thomas Merton and Anthony DeMello. He allows us to be comfortable with our constant searchings and uncertainties--perhaps, one of the basic ingredients of spirituality.
His style is concise and well-constructed rendering an easy, enjoyable read. Homespun, humorous axioms are engagingly used to explicate "nuggets" of spiritual wisdom.
This work is really a collection of essays on essential facets of our spiritual lives. Such a format lends itself to use as short spiritual readings/meditations for groups or individuals.
"The God Instinct" is a refreshingly inciteful treatise on spirituality.
Book Description
"Civilization is a term used by literary circles, historians, and publicists to describe a superior level of accomplishments of certain nations. After many later attempts to refine the definition, references are made to the difficulty posed by the physical environment and nature's physical challenges, which had to be overcome because they presented a danger to the human race.
"Astonishingly, ignored was the importance of morality and the influence it exercised on the way humans treat each other within the framework of a social setting.
"For the actions of men and women, if unhindered in the struggle for self-preservation and seeking material prosperity to attain the desired level of creature comforts, give rise to self-made obstacles in their quest to defy the natural order. We humans are the cause of hazards to our existence created by overpopulation, environmental degradation, and injecting various toxic substances into the food supply; we are the designers of an unbalanced economy whose stratification favors the well-to-do to the detriment of the disadvantaged, keeping most in a state of turmoil; we are the contrivers of religious systems, some of which are responsible for the most unnatural crimes committed by humans against humans; last but not least, we are the instigators of mass slaughters resulting from wars fought in anger, causing ever increasing casualties and destruction reaching totally destabilizing magnitudes. These acts bode ill for civilization.
"Humanity, that flawed creation of a flawed nature, in bondage to survival instincts and a virtual slave to circumstances beyond its control, nevertheless possesses the capacity to free itself from some of the burdens imposed by the natural order to rise above the gravitational pull confining all living species. We must discover that our welfare and that of society depend on the rejection of the natural order, so as to be freed, however moderately, from nature's evolutionary competition and the struggle for the survival of the fittest, an order totally in conflict with morality. For the aims of morality are antithetical to nature's imposed scheme of things, reflecting the conflict between our aims and nature's designs." —Arthur Blech
Customer Reviews:
Must Read.......2005-11-26
Want to know how humankind got to be the way it is today? Want to know how to fix it? Then read this book. Arthur Blech clearly points hout how our civilization got to be the way it is today, and how to fix it step by step. This is a very interesting book and a must read.
If you care then you must read.......2005-11-26
This is a book that everyone that cares at all about our world and humankind as it is now and wants to change and make a difference. Arthur Blech talks about the things that made our world the way it is today as well as tells us exactly how we can change it. All I can say is that this book is a must read for EVERYONE.
Read This Book, Save the World.......2005-10-15
Arthur Blech's latest book, Toward a New Civilization, is a welcome light in a world darkened by humankind's incessant march to self-destruction. Blech ably describes the sins of our past that affect our present...and then offers a clear roadmap for our future.
This is a very important book, one that every politician and policymaker ought to read post haste before it's too late. Anyone with an interest in bettering humankind will find this a great read full of viable solutions.
Book Description
After spending ten years in Burma studying as a Buddhist monk, author Alan Clements began travelling the world as a human rights activist. Instinct for Freedom is part memoir and part spiritual inquiry. He details his early years of living in silence in a Burmese monastery, offering a rare, beautiful, and nuanced account of the experience of intensive meditation and what it can offer. He goes on to illuminate a doctrine he calls World Dharma, the belief that no amount of spiritual practice or meditative training can adequately prepare one for life. One must find liberty through living firmly in the present no matter the circumstance. He gives voice to a politically engaged mysticism, based on the irreducible value of freedom. He teaches liberation from fear, ignorance, and dogma, and the elevation of dignity, conscience, and beauty.
Customer Reviews:
Compelling reading..........2006-01-14
...though I think Mr. Clements should not hold his breath while waiting for humanitarian impulses to saturate the planet. If all is one (whether in the quantum, holographic sense, or in the more traditional sense), then it is only "it" rearranging "itself" when living things appear to consume and/or exploit one another. It may only be an infinitely-manifesting (fractal) consciousness at play. In short, I have become skeptical of any and all conclusions drawn by us. Perhaps we are just a dream, as suggested by Chuang Tzu. I doubt whether we are nearly so important as we would have ourselves believe. How much would the earth miss us?
The ring of truth (live).......2003-06-25
In reading most spiritual books, I've noticed that there's a subtle gap between the well-meaning view portrayed, and what I actually feel and experience in reading. You know when you get a used book, and the prior reader has underlined and written, "How true!" Well, it's like other spiritual books have an undertone of "I wish it were true."
In contrast, Clements' words are alive with authentic conviction, and the unmistakeable clarion ring of truth. There's not a trace of pontification. This man has lived an incredible life. He's able to capture the essence of real spirituality and deliver it live and wriggling to the reader. I don't know how he does it. But, as a writer myself, I know that there's only one way he could do it. By really living it. And clearly he does.
He came back down from the mountaintop, so listen up, folks, cause he's really got something worth hearing.
Book for all Spiritual Seekers.......2003-06-04
As a Pastor,I've heard many a good sermon and read many spiritual books. But nothing compares to Alan Clement's ability to spellbind the reader with his magnificently written true life stories. He weaves together into a beautiful tapestry his own brand of Buddhist philosophy, political knowledge, science, wisdom and chutzpah that also seems mysteriously to encapsulate the reader as well. What I found even more intriguing in "Instinct For Freedom" are Alan's honestly-written and courageous choices and sacrifices he has made in life in pursuit of spirituality, freedom, truth and enlightenment. Any and all spiritual seekers from any belief system (or none) should definitely read this book.
Simply Awesome.......2003-04-14
An absolutely amazing read! Open your heart & mind and experience what it could be like to be a divine human being living life wide-open and in complete freedom - beyond all dogma, nationalism, tribalism & religion.
I had the good fortune of seeing Alan in action during a recent retreat - now here's a guy who lives & loves life with reckless abandon. This planet needs guys like him big time if there's going to be any evolution of human consciousness beyond our current self-centred pettiness.
Timely and important read!.......2003-02-16
Instinct for Freedom is deeply inspiring and liberating. With his insightful and passionate voice, Clements compellingly urges each and every one of us to uniquely become ALL that we are, and in doing so expand the experience of freedom for ourselves, and for each other.
Book Description
1872. With supplementary demonstrations of divine communication of the narratives of creation and the flood. Although the present purports to be the third edition of the author's physiological work on the soul and instinct, originally published in 1848, it is, nevertheless, rewritten and enlarged from the last edition with a view to an extension of the facts, and to the relationship of the subject to momentous doctrines in revelation. Partial Contents: demonstration of the soul; doctrines in materialism; materiality or immateriality of the soul; correlation of equivalence; facts and arguments in behalf of the materialist doctrines; materialism, pantheism, and atheism; narratives of creation and the flood; antiquity of man; theoretical geology; analysis of the narrative of creation; physiology of instinct; demonstration of instinct; creation and organization of the earth; the flood; the coal formations.
Customer Reviews:
Save your money.......2007-06-30
She may CLAIM that this fourth instinct is vital, but her book seems more apt to undermine than strengthen it.
Average customer rating:
- What type of book is this?
- Readable, pleasurable, and thought-provoking.
- Satires about the Instincts behind Knowledge's Progress
- A Dustcover a Bit Ambitious in Its Promises
- Witty and Satiric
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Academic Instincts
Marjorie Garber
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
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Symptoms of Culture
ASIN: 0691115710 |
Book Description
In this lively and provocative book, cultural critic Marjorie Garber, who has written on topics as different as Shakespeare, dogs, cross-dressing, and real estate, explores the pleasures and pitfalls of the academic life. Academic Instincts discusses three of the perennial issues that have surfaced in recent debates about the humanities: the relation between "amateurs" and "professionals," the relation between one academic discipline and another, and the relation between "jargon" and "plain language." Rather than merely taking sides, the book explores the ways in which such debates are essential to intellectual life. Garber argues that the very things deplored or defended in discussions of the humanities cannot be either eliminated or endorsed because the discussion itself is what gives humanistic thought its vitality.
Written in spirited and vivid prose, and full of telling detail drawn both from the history of scholarship and from the daily press, Academic Instincts is a book by a well-known Shakespeare scholar and prize-winning teacher who offers analysis rather than polemic to explain why today's teachers and scholars are at once breaking new ground and treading familiar paths. It opens the door to an important nationwide and worldwide conversation about the reorganization of knowledge and the categories in and through which we teach the humanities. And it does so in a spirit both generous and optimistic about the present and the future of these disciplines.
Customer Reviews:
What type of book is this?.......2001-05-23
I read this book in the hopes of including it in a review essay on teaching at the college level but found that it does not fit into this category at all. Instead it is a philosophical or literary critique of the preceived condition of scholars at the college level by laypeople and by other academics. Divided into three sections, only the last two really address the issues that are often said to plague university scholars today -- the first is more of a comment on the conflict between experts and non-experts in all other aspects of society, especially politics and mass media. Garber makes a strong case that all of these "so-called problems" within the academic world are not new and indeed may be necessary for growth and the pursuit of knowledge. However, she ignores some of the very real and serious issues that rip departments apart, isolate graduate and undergraduate students, and threaten funding for education both on the professional and on the consumer level.
Readable, pleasurable, and thought-provoking........2001-03-07
With 'Academic Instincts', Marjorie Garber, a professor of English at Harvard, discusses the vagaries of her vocation and reappraises the importance of the Humanities at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Are the concerns of an English professor purely aesthetic, political, or both? Why do academics resort to jargon words, and do these terms really mean anything? What is literary theory? Why do academics such as Harold Bloom demur at the use of theory when he himself has been called a theorist? What is at stake here?
Garber doesn't answer these questions so much as survey how they have been variously answered over the centuries and, more specifically, the past few decades. In a book whose cover features Raphael's 'School Of Athens' (albeit with a photo of the author superimposed on the forefront), whose first chapter begins with "The Election of Jesse ("The Body") Ventura", and whose topics of interest range between American basketballer-turned-politician Bill Bradley, scientist Richard Dawkins, media celebrity Oprah Winfrey and philosopher-cum-literary critic Jacques Derrida, you would suspect, understandably enough, that the author has either developed an extraordinarily complicated argument to encompass all of these types of evidence, or avoided attempting an argument at all. Well, there's a bit of both here. As I say, Garber's work is a survey rather than a critically engaged attempt at disputation. She wants to revise the so-called 'culture wars' (which she never formally defines for her reader), not partake in it.
Pay no attention to the blurb, whose bevy of positive reviews from American-based literary critics, who resort to descriptions like 'bravura', 'brilliant', 'bracing', and 'fireworks' makes the book sound like a ferociously written manifesto seeking unitary Truth. Garber writes lucidly, good-naturedly, and with her customary tactile sense of language play. Her style of writing is egalitarian - she'll accept anything that might add value to her analysis - and, in three relatively short essays, suggests that academics often attract the ire of those outside their profession precisely because their interests, as well as their rhetoric (or 'jargon'), seem exlusive.
I don't want to go into the details of each chapter too much - that's already been done by other reviewers here. I do want to ask, though, about what kind of audience might be intended for a work such as 'Academic Instincts'? Conversely, what kind of author writes about culture wars, yet doesn't elaborate on this admittedly jargon-ridden term? Who orders a book like this, which contains over thirty pages of footnotes and indexes? These research tools form the professional apparatus of a scholar. And this work, for all its avoidance of a formal argument, ultimately constitutes a serenely eloquent defense of the author's profession.
Satires about the Instincts behind Knowledge's Progress.......2001-02-28
Professor Garber has written a set of three popular, satirical essays to look at how knowledge advances involving literary study. Nicely spanning the gap between the amateurs and professionals who are interested in the subject, she takes a time-independent view to show how the pendulum is always swinging within predictable constraints.
For example, it is always becoming either more or less desirable to be a professional or an amateur pursuing knowledge. "Nowadays amateurism seems to be the goal of the profession." "But it turns out that the professional makes the best amateur." She cites Harold Bloom and his evolution toward the book, Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human, as an example. Along the way, she also considers Sister Wendy, Oprah Winfrey, Richard Dawkins, and many others who operate near or across these amateur and professional lines.
Her second essay talks about Discipline Envy, and uses Freud's most famous form of envy as the starting point for many witticisms. Basically, the grass is always greener in the adjacent discipline, but those people are to be despised. "Similarity and contiguity, says Freud, breed distrust, rivalry, comparison, even, perhaps, self-hatred and self-doubt projected upon the nearby other."
The final essay considers Terms of Art. " . . . [T]he history of jargon is the history of ideas in the making . . . ." She reminds us that one word in twelve within Shakespeare (and she is a noted Shakespearean authority) was considered novel in its day. She also reminds us that the word, shibboleth, originally served a role as a password in the Book of Judges. Jargon is often similarly used now to help show to which group you belong.
While providing good entertainment value and perspective about the never-ending academic battles over roles, boundaries, and words, the book lacks a helpful center. The book talks a lot about the inevitability of what people will do, and suggests some things to avoid. But the book lacks weight by not proposing much more than taking a broader perspective. How should new attempts to combine "disciplines" be pursued to make the most progress? How can creating new jargon be more helpful? What roles should be expanded between amateurs and professionals that do not exist very often now? The answer always seems to be broad minded.
On the other hand, it's better to read a book that leaves you hungering for more than one that overstuffs you with unpalatable content. The food for thought here can probably add perspective to your own quests for knowledge, whether taken in the role of Don Quixote or as Cervantes.
Be aware of your instincts, so you can direct them in the most useful ways!
A Dustcover a Bit Ambitious in Its Promises.......2001-02-11
After the grandiose promises made in the dust cover it is hard not to be disappointed by this light volume, weighing in for a few hours read at a mere 150 pages. I bought it, captured by the claim that it would "...open the door to an important nationwide and worldwide conversation about the reorganization of knowledge..."That author of that bit of false advertisement ought to take the study of words as seriously and enteraingly as Garber does.
The book fits the crossover genre that is Garber refers to in the text--designed both the reach a general audience and an audience of academics who might chose to read about themselves. Its entertainment lays in its play with words, many words: dilettante, autodidact, professional amateur and amateur professional, and genius, to name just a few.
As to helping us understand the shift in knowledge and disciplines, this book is not very substantial. Words like interdisciplinary and crossdisciplinary are thrown about casually. The understanding it adds to the idea of interdisciplinarity is slight, but not critical. It allows the academic, generally one who likes to learn, an opportunity to keep learning, Garber notes glibly. An interdisciplinarian, is like an amateur sleuth, an amateur professional, "someone who is learning, or poaching, or practicing without a license" (p. 19), but also someone who might obeserve clues a scholar more entrenched in disciplinary practice might overlook.
A playful read, but hardly one that will launch nationwide and worldwide conversation about the nature of knowledge.
Witty and Satiric.......2000-12-12
Prof. Garber's book is an insider's look at the foibles of the academic profession. She has three main themes: the dichotomy between professionals and amateurs, discpiline envy (she uses Freud to great effect here!) and academic jargon vs. plain English.
Each theme is buffeted with ample quotes from literature and contemporary cultural critics. Prof. Garber's strength is her ability to weave together disparate realms of academic life to poke fun at (in an admiring way) the academic profession with all of its growing pains and characteristic paradoxes (the dilettante as professional; the professional amateur etc...).
On the whole, an interesting, fast-paced look into the strange world known as academia.
Book Description
A call to compassionate, awakened action alike Marianne Williamson's speech for Nelson Mandela in "A Return to Love". A ' brain bath ', this collection of three astute, inter-woven writings opens the human mind far beyond the reaches of analytical thinking. Inspired by processes of deep intuition, these treasures awaken us to the spirit within and the great mystery without, rekindling our memory of the 'puzzle' of which we are all a part. "Awakening Instinct" is a treatise on the vital need for humans to de-fossilize their latent powers - their 'Barometers of Time', lamps with which to light their path. "Running the Gauntlet" opens our hearts wide to experiencing our full potential and recognizing the 'gauntlet' we must run to fully embody it. "Windows Through Time" leaps into the unknown like a Vision Quest, bringing back great riches of conscious understanding. In its gentle yet remarkable journey it makes the nameless, uncharted universe tangible and accessible. A graceful, powerful, life-changing read.
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Belief and Make Believe: Critical Reflections on the Sources of Credulity
G. A. Wells
Manufacturer: Open Court Pub Co
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ASIN: 0812691873 |
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Groundbreaking research on how humans are evolving to choose forgiveness instead of revenge
All religions teach the value of forgiveness over revenge, and yet we know how difficult it is to follow this sage advice, even though revenge leads to an abundance of social, interpersonal, and even physical problems. Eminent psychology of religion researcher Michael McCullough explains why forgiveness is so difficult and revenge so tempting. He makes the case that the human bias toward choosing revenge is ultimately costly to individuals and societies, and offers hope for why it might be possible to help individuals and society become more forgiving.
Michael E. McCullough (Miami, FL), an internationally recognized expert on the topic of forgiveness, is an affiliated scientist with the Duke Center for Religion/Spirituality and Health, and is a professor at the University of Miami.
Book Description
It is not professionals, shrinks or parenting writers who know best how to bring up our children. It is we, the parents. Our instincts are better than any expertise, our love far more powerful than any mercenary motivation. Parenting is simple, satisfying, and above all fun.
Customer Reviews:
A real lift!.......2007-04-12
This is one of my favorite books. I don't agree with all her parenting advice, but she is supportive of ALL parents and not dogmatic. There is a religious/Christian section, but it is a kind of addendum and really the whole book is not just for Christian parents. She is very open about her family's struggles, and acknowledges that you will make mistakes, and bad things may happen in your family, but that doesn't mean you're an awful parent. This is great for people who need a mental books about being a mom or a dad. The cover of the book is pink, so it looks like it is for moms, but it is really aimed at both. My husband loved this book!!
I loved this book!.......2007-01-06
I had so much fun reading this book! Atkins has such a positive attitude toward parenting. Parts of this book have a religious slant, which may not appeal to everyone, but the much of the advice is universal. This book is a joy to read!
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