Download or read book Ascetic Games written by Dhirendra K. Jha and published by Context. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Man Play and Games written by Roger Caillois and published by University of Illinois Press. This book was released on 2001 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to Roger Caillois, play is an occasion of pure waste. In spite of this - or because of it - play constitutes an essential element of human social and spiritual development. In this study, the author defines play as a free and voluntary activity that occurs in a pure space, isolated and protected from the rest of life.
Download or read book Indian Asceticism written by Carl Olson and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2015-03-03 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout the history of Indian religions, the ascetic figure is most closely identified with power. A by-product of the ascetic path, power is displayed in the ability to fly, walk on water or through dense objects, read minds, discern the former lives of others, see into the future, harm others, or simply levitate one's body. These tales give rise to questions about how power and violence are related to the phenomenon of play. Indian Asceticism focuses on the powers exhibited by ascetics of India from ancient to modern time. Carl Olson discusses the erotic, the demonic, the comic, and the miraculous forms of play and their connections to power and violence. He focuses on Hinduism, but evidence is also presented from Buddhism and Jainism, suggesting that the subject matter of this book pervades India's major indigenous religious traditions. The book includes a look at the extent to which findings in cognitive science can add to our understanding of these various powers; Olson argues that violence is built into the practice of the ascetic. Indian Asceticism culminates with an attempt to rethink the nature of power in a way that does justice to the literary evidence from Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain sources.
Download or read book The Ascetic Ideal written by Stephen Mulhall and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-12 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Ascetic Ideal, Stephen Mulhall shows how areas of cultural life that seem to be either essentially unconnected to evaluative commitments (science and philosophy) or to involve non-moral values (aesthetics) are in fact deeply informed by ethico-religious commitments, for better and for worse. The book develops a reading of Nietzsche's concept of 'the ascetic ideal', which he used to track the evolution, mutation, and expansion of the system of slave moral values, associated primarily with Judaeo-Christian religious belief through diverse fields of Western European culture—not just religion and morality, but aesthetics, science, and philosophy. Mulhall also offers an interpretation of Nietzsche's genealogical method that aims to rebut standard criticisms of its nature, and to emphasize its potential for enhancing philosophical understanding more generally. The focus throughout is on developments in those fields which occurred after the end of Nietzsche's intellectual career, and in particular on influential modes of thought and practice that have a contemporary significance. The goal is not simply to argue that Nietzsche's diagnosis and critique retains considerable merit, but also to show that Nietzsche is himself significantly indebted to the ideals he criticizes, and that this opens up a possibility of synthesizing elements of his approach with those drawn from its target. Hence, the book also tracks various ways in which the object of Nietzsche's criticism has undergone further mutations (just as his genealogical method would suggest), and in doing so has generated ways of pursuing the values central to asceticism that avoid Nietzsche's criticisms, and might even further his own goals.
Download or read book The Game Design Reader written by Katie Salen Tekinbas and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2005-11-23 with total page 955 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Classic and cutting-edge writings on games, spanning nearly 50 years of game analysis and criticism, by game designers, game journalists, game fans, folklorists, sociologists, and media theorists. The Game Design Reader is a one-of-a-kind collection on game design and criticism, from classic scholarly essays to cutting-edge case studies. A companion work to Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman's textbook Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals, The Game Design Reader is a classroom sourcebook, a reference for working game developers, and a great read for game fans and players. Thirty-two essays by game designers, game critics, game fans, philosophers, anthropologists, media theorists, and others consider fundamental questions: What are games and how are they designed? How do games interact with culture at large? What critical approaches can game designers take to create game stories, game spaces, game communities, and new forms of play? Salen and Zimmerman have collected seminal writings that span 50 years to offer a stunning array of perspectives. Game journalists express the rhythms of game play, sociologists tackle topics such as role-playing in vast virtual worlds, players rant and rave, and game designers describe the sweat and tears of bringing a game to market. Each text acts as a springboard for discussion, a potential class assignment, and a source of inspiration. The book is organized around fourteen topics, from The Player Experience to The Game Design Process, from Games and Narrative to Cultural Representation. Each topic, introduced with a short essay by Salen and Zimmerman, covers ideas and research fundamental to the study of games, and points to relevant texts within the Reader. Visual essays between book sections act as counterpoint to the writings. Like Rules of Play, The Game Design Reader is an intelligent and playful book. An invaluable resource for professionals and a unique introduction for those new to the field, The Game Design Reader is essential reading for anyone who takes games seriously.
Download or read book Interpreting Interpretation written by William Elford Rogers and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Interpreting Interpretation, William E. Rogers searches for a model for literary education. This model should avoid both of two undesirable alternatives. First, it should not destroy any notion of discipline in the traditional sense, terminating in the stance of Rorty's &"liberal ironist.&" Second, it should not regard literary education as an attempt to cause students to ingest a pre-determined mix of facts and cultural values, terminating in the stance of E. D. Hirsch's &"cultural literate.&" From the semiotics of C. S. Peirce, Rogers develops the notion of interpretive system. The interpretive system called textual hermeneutics is used to interpret interpretation. From that perspective, the world looks like a text. Applying the principle rigorously allows an articulation of the problematic relations among interpretation, philosophy, and language itself. Interpreting Interpretation clarifies the conception of textual hermeneutics as an ascetic discipline by showing the consequences of this conception for interpreting canonical texts and for humanities education in general. Discussions of poetry by Robert Frost and by John Ashbery illustrate how this conception applies to an analysis of literary texts. Ultimately, the book offers a Peircean alternative to the educational theories implied in the pragmatism of John Dewey and of Richard Rorty. Rogers provides a new vocabulary for talking about what people are doing when they read, write, speak, and hear interpretive statements about texts. The new vocabulary acknowledges the great difficulty of &"teaching texts&" in the face of postmodern anxieties about pluralism, relativism, or nihilism. What emerges is not curriculum but method&—an argument that the humanities teach not texts but interpretive systems.
Download or read book The Games A Global History of the Olympics written by David Goldblatt and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2016-07-26 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A people’s history of the Olympics.”—New York Times Book Review A Boston Globe Best Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of the Year The Games is best-selling sportswriter David Goldblatt’s sweeping, definitive history of the modern Olympics. Goldblatt brilliantly traces their history from the reinvention of the Games in Athens in 1896 to Rio in 2016, revealing how the Olympics developed into a global colossus and highlighting how they have been buffeted by (and affected by) domestic and international conflicts. Along the way, Goldblatt reveals the origins of beloved Olympic traditions (winners’ medals, the torch relay, the eternal flame) and popular events (gymnastics, alpine skiing, the marathon). And he delivers memorable portraits of Olympic icons from Jesse Owens to Nadia Comaneci, the Dream Team to Usain Bolt.
Download or read book Principles of Quakerism written by Society of Friends and published by . This book was released on 1909 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Way of the Ascetics written by Tito Colliander and published by St Vladimir's Seminary Press. This book was released on 1985 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Way of the Ascetics is a rich, compact introduction for modern readers to the Eastern Christian spiritual tradition that has been an inspiration to millions for centuries. These compassionate and insightful reflections on self-control and inner peace are meant to lead the readers to fuller union with God. The author makes a generous selection of succinct yet profound extracts from the spiritual Fathers and provides an illuminating commentary and practical applications for daily devotion. He tempers austerity with common sense, warmth, and even humor, as he urges us on our journey toward God. Written for lay persons living fully in the world as much as for clergy, Way of the Ascetics is an excellent resource for daily meditation, authentic spiritual guidance, and a revitalized religious life."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Download or read book Indian Asceticism written by Carl Olson and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using religio-philosophical discourses and narratives from epic, puranic, and hagiographical literature, Indian Asceticism focuses on the powers exhibited by ascetics of India from ancient to modern time.
Download or read book Siva written by Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1981-05-28 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Originally published under the title Asceticism and Eroticism in the Mythology of Siva, this book traces the development of an Indian approach to an enduring human dilemma: the conflict between spiritual aspirations and human desires. The work examines hundreds of related myths and a wide range of Indian texts--Vedic, Puranic, classical, modern, and tribal--centering on the stories of the great ascetic, Siva, and his erotic alter ego, Kama.
Download or read book Ascetic Lives of Mothers written by Annalisa Boyd and published by . This book was released on 2014-04-15 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annalisa Boyd knows motherhood--its challenges, its joys, and its potential for spiritual growth. In this prayer book she offers a wide selection of prayers mothers can use to intercede for their families as well as to grow in virtue themselves.
Download or read book Varieties of the Gaming Experience written by Robert Perinbanayagam and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The games that human societies devised over the centuries can be considered one of the most comprehensive and fertile symbolic systems ever created by human ingenuity. In all societies, members feel compelled to interact and communicate with each other as much as possible. As linguistic creatures, humans use language to establish social and interpersonal contacts. Games are a device to enable such connections. Robert Perinbanayagam examines how players value games. He assesses games as systems that embody metaphysics and pragmatic action. He then examines various religious ideas and how participants reference respective approaches to game playing. Perinbanayagam argues that games are forms of activity in which the human agent as an actor engages with others in various interactional situations. Such engagement creates dramas in which agents assume identities, give play to emotions and enrich their selves. He also examines the issue of game writing, particularly how selected writers have used game structures as narrative devices in their work.
Download or read book The Ascetic of Desire written by Sudhir Kakar and published by Penguin Books India. This book was released on 2001-06 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The time is the fourth century AD, the golden age of Indian history. The locale: an ashram in the woods a little outside Varanasi. Every morning, Vatsyayana, author of the Kamasutra, recounts stories from his childhood and youth to a young pupil who plans to write the great sage's biography. Little is known of Vatsyayana's life, and the young scholar puts the pieces together in his mind along with relevant slokas of erotic wisdom from the Kamasutra, which he has learnt by heart. The story that unfolds is fascinating. Vatsyayana's mother Avantika and her sister Chandrika are famous courtesans in a brothel at Kausambi. From them and their various lovers Vatsyayana gains his first indelible impressions of sexual artifice. With characteristic insight, Kakar plumbs the psychological depths of a plethora of characters who are at various stages of discovering their sexual identities. What emerges is a powerful narrative of lust and sensuality imbued with an old-world charm and a surprising sense of irony.
Download or read book Sport written by Eric Dunning and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 1972-12-15 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sport is something rather taken for granted and little studied as part of man's and society's behaviour. This collection of essays, many of which appear in print for the first time, provides an international comparative and developmental orientation to the sociology of sport, thereby clarifying the nature of modern sports and their central structural and functional characteristics. The sports treated include football, soccer, rugby, wrestling, baseball, and bull-fighting, and some historical background is given on the development of sport. In the introduction to each section, the editor explains the questions that the selections are intended to illustrate, and treats briefly such matters as theories of sport and play, the social factors in their development, sport and socialization, class and race in sport, sport as an occupation and an industry, and conflict and social control in sport. This reader will be of interest to those professionally concerned, either as teacher or student, with sociology and physical education, but it should also appeal to athletes, sports-lovers, and sports commentators who like to keep their thinking in good shape too.
Download or read book DN1 Collection of Long Speeches written by Tomás Morales y Durán and published by Libros de Verdad. This book was released on 2024-03-31 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The word of the Buddha has remained pristine over the centuries because it has been encoded in pāli, a language created exclusively for this purpose, under a very complex system of redundancy. Like any artificial language that was not subjected to evolution, each concept has a word and each word has a single concept, like Morse. The complete code has 1,453,000 words that are distributed in 167,800 lines and these in 64,800 paragraphs. Redundancy is constant, so that each word will have a large number of occurrences in very different contexts. Decoding the texts requires having for each word all the available meanings, not only those derived from the compilation of its previous partial translations, but also those derived from its corresponding equivalent Sanskrit word, with its usages, and supported by the ancient Chinese in the parallel agamas, when it exists. One proceeds by substituting each word for each and every one of these meanings until one is found that fits all occurrences. And it is always found. Moreover, once it is done, it is verified that there is no meaning that uses more than one word. The secret of the pāli is that it is biunivocal, as is to be expected of any artificial language. Therefore, it is only possible to translate if all computer-aided texts are decoded synoptically. This is the first time this has been done, pouring its content into Spanish, which is one of the most richly nuanced languages in the world. And the other secret it has kept during these millennia is that its more than 7.2 million characters encode a unique message, which never contradicts itself, and which points to a single direction: enlightenment. The first book of the Dīgha Nikāya, the Collection of the Long Discourses of the Buddha, collects 17 suttas that do not fit into the typical format of discourses, but are groupings created centuries later managing to be classified as another canonical collection. This book seems to be composed to be given to Buddhist missionaries to be used as a manual for debate against other religions in order to gain followers. This is the tone of most of the first thirteen discourses. For this purpose, neither mythomania nor milacrery, which the Indian public has always liked so much, is disdained. If we study their structure, we immediately see that they are completely foreign to the canonical ones and their content, in general, is composed of a libel against a religious group, followed by a series of short-paste of canonical suttas selected without much criterion. DN 9. With Poṭṭhapāda, its unknown author goes into a series of dialectical traps until he reaches a point where he finds himself unable to get out and resolves it by complicating everything even more so that nothing is clear. In DN 13. The Three Knowledges, the Brahmins are blamed for the same vices and defects as the Buddhist monks. The rest of the false discourses do not try to imitate the regular structure of the suttas and neither the wording nor the content, which shows a short knowledge on the part of their authors of the rest of the Nikayas. They are marked with a double asterisk (**). Three of the four great discourses are also collected: the Mahapadana, the Mahanidana, and the Mahaparinibbana. But the stain of falsehood also extends through two of the great discourses: the Mahapadana, or The Great Chronicle of the Buddhas, which is a pamphlet of an exaggerated baroque excessive even for oriental taste, and the extensive Mahaparinibbana, which is not free from falsehoods spread throughout its extensive writing. On the contrary, the Mahanidana, or Great Discourse of the Causes, is an exhaustive compilation of the theory of Dependent Origination in a single text, and the Mahasatipatthana, or Great Discourse of the Instructions of Practice, does the same with different practices. Not all of them, but the ones he deals with are dealt with in depth. These two discourses alone make this book worthwhile.
Download or read book Seven Games A Human History written by Oliver Roeder and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2022-01-25 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A group biography of seven enduring and beloved games, and the story of why—and how—we play them. Checkers, backgammon, chess, and Go. Poker, Scrabble, and bridge. These seven games, ancient and modern, fascinate millions of people worldwide. In Seven Games, Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules, and the ways their design makes them pleasurable. Roeder introduces thrilling competitors, such as evangelical minister Marion Tinsley, who across forty years lost only three games of checkers; Shusai, the Master, the last Go champion of imperial Japan, defending tradition against “modern rationalism”; and an IBM engineer who created a backgammon program so capable at self-learning that NASA used it on the space shuttle. He delves into the history and lore of each game: backgammon boards in ancient Egypt, the Indian origins of chess, how certain shells from a particular beach in Japan make the finest white Go stones. Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. He introduces an early philosopher of games, the aptly named Bernard Suits, and visits an Oxford cosmologist who has perfected a computer that can effectively play bridge, a game as complicated as human language itself. Throughout, Roeder tells the compelling story of how humans, pursuing scientific glory and competitive advantage, have invented AI programs better than any human player, and what that means for the games—and for us. Funny, fascinating, and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history, and how play makes us human.
