Download or read book The Experience of God written by David Bentley Hart and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-09-24 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the recent ferocious public debate about belief, the concept most central to the discussion—God—frequently remains vaguely and obscurely described. Are those engaged in these arguments even talking about the same thing? In a wide-ranging response to this confusion, esteemed scholar David Bentley Hart pursues a clarification of how the word “God” functions in the world’s great theistic faiths. Ranging broadly across Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Vedantic and Bhaktic Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism, Hart explores how these great intellectual traditions treat humanity’s knowledge of the divine mysteries. Constructing his argument around three principal metaphysical “moments”—being, consciousness, and bliss—the author demonstrates an essential continuity between our fundamental experience of reality and the ultimate reality to which that experience inevitably points. Thoroughly dismissing such blatant misconceptions as the deists' concept of God, as well as the fundamentalist view of the Bible as an objective historical record, Hart provides a welcome antidote to simplistic manifestoes. In doing so, he plumbs the depths of humanity’s experience of the world as powerful evidence for the reality of God and captures the beauty and poetry of traditional reflection upon the divine.
Download or read book Being Consciousness Bliss written by Astrid Fitzgerald and published by SteinerBooks. This book was released on 2002-04 with total page 658 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many people are looking for a deeper and richer spiritual life. They sense that there is more to their existence than the surface of life seems to offer, but they are confused and uncertain about where to look and how to begin. Being Consciousness Bliss is a rich, profound, and eminently accessible compendium of wisdom that will help orient people toward a more fruitful spiritual search. Drawing on a dazzling array of sources, including the insights of G.I. Gurdjieff and P.D. Ouspensky as well as the spiritual traditions of the East, it gives a clear and compelling account of the true inner structure of the human being and how it may be developed to its full potential. Part One discusses the current human condition -- the "sleep" of ordinary life -- and how a person may begin to wake up from it. Part Two offers a feast of excerpts from the Perennial Philosophy -- the great wisdom tradition that underlies all cultures and religions -- to feed and nurture the growth of the soul. Part Three provides simple ways to put these insights into practice in daily life. Clear, sensible, and erudite, Being Consciousness Bliss is a resource, suitable for both beginners and advanced practitioners, to be used and treasured for many years. "This is a feast of a book, spread out like a banquet of the freshest foods, served wholesomely, and presented artfully. Starting from a premise that "the aim of human life is to know who we are - to realize our Self, our true nature, and our identity with the Universal Self...," Fitzgerald's poetic and passionate prose awakens consciousness on a deep level. She helps us feel the Self, so we can begin to work with the Self. To complement her own inspired writing, she includes a section with words of wisdom from other sources, grouped by such intent as to examine suffering or to explore aspiration. In addition, there is a cornucopia of suggestions for practice, such as how to focus attention on a task, or how to listen to the sound of your own voice. Dotted with illustrations and charts to further clarify the text, this work is an invitation to a nourishing meal of self-awareness." --S.J.A., Managing Editor, NAPRA Review "Following Aldous Huxley, Astrid Fitzgerald's tireless pursuit of an inner path is sure to awaken the heart to bliss and rouse spirit to behold." --David Appelbaum, editor of Parabola Magazine "This book is equal parts wisdom, beauty, and inspiration. Astrid Fitzgerald opens the insights of the ages for anyone to follow. Highly recommended." --Larry Dossey, M.D., author of Healing Beyond the Body, Reinventing Medicine, and Healing Words "Astrid Fitzgerald's Being Consciousness Bliss is a well-researched, clearly written account of the essential teachings given by all the major wisdom traditions, which all teach that we are one human family." -- Sri Swami Satchidananda, Founder & Spiritual Head, Integral Yoga International /Satchidananda Ashram, Yogaville
Download or read book The Experience of God written by David Bentley Hart and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-09-24 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite the recent ferocious public debate about belief, the concept most central to the discussion—God—frequently remains vaguely and obscurely described. Are those engaged in these arguments even talking about the same thing? In a wide-ranging response to this confusion, esteemed scholar David Bentley Hart pursues a clarification of how the word “God” functions in the world’s great theistic faiths. Ranging broadly across Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Vedantic and Bhaktic Hinduism, Sikhism, and Buddhism, Hart explores how these great intellectual traditions treat humanity’s knowledge of the divine mysteries. Constructing his argument around three principal metaphysical “moments”—being, consciousness, and bliss—the author demonstrates an essential continuity between our fundamental experience of reality and the ultimate reality to which that experience inevitably points. Thoroughly dismissing such blatant misconceptions as the deists' concept of God, as well as the fundamentalist view of the Bible as an objective historical record, Hart provides a welcome antidote to simplistic manifestoes. In doing so, he plumbs the depths of humanity’s experience of the world as powerful evidence for the reality of God and captures the beauty and poetry of traditional reflection upon the divine.
Download or read book That All Shall Be Saved written by David Bentley Hart and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning reexamination of one of the essential tenets of Christian belief from one of the most provocative and admired writers on religion today “A scathing, vigorous, eloquent attack on those who hold that that there is such a thing as eternal damnation.”—Karen Kilby, Commonweal The great fourth-century church father Basil of Caesarea once observed that, in his time, most Christians believed that hell was not everlasting, and that all would eventually attain salvation. But today, this view is no longer prevalent within Christian communities. In this momentous book, David Bentley Hart makes the case that nearly two millennia of dogmatic tradition have misled readers on the crucial matter of universal salvation. On the basis of the earliest Christian writings, theological tradition, scripture, and logic, Hart argues that if God is the good creator of all, he is the savior of all, without fail. And if he is not the savior of all, the Kingdom is only a dream, and creation something considerably worse than a nightmare. But it is not so. There is no such thing as eternal damnation; all will be saved. With great rhetorical power, wit, and emotional range, Hart offers a new perspective on one of Christianity’s most important themes.
Download or read book The Natural Bliss of Being written by Jackson Peterson and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2013-05-13 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author designed his book to be a transformative journey that conclusively reveals one's own "enlightened self-nature" directly, leaving no room for doubt or uncertainty. For those who are serious about self-realization, this book offers explanations, insights and practical methods that can easily be applied without prior knowledge or experience with meditation or Eastern practices. The key teachings originate in the Tibetan wisdom tradition known as the "The Great Perfection", but are inclusive of other traditions such as Zen, that offer insights and methods into discovering our True Nature immediately and directly, not after months or years of study, meditation and practice. The author also studied deeply the teachings of the Sufis in Kashmir, India which revealed the wisdom of the Heart and Love, both necessary qualities in realizing one's true nature. The approach shared is very direct and capable of revealing immediate benefits. The overall goal is the acquisition of a completely new perspective on life that is grounded in spontaneity, freedom, joy and unconditional love for the benefit of oneself and others.The journey includes delving into the nature of thought, mind and ego-self to learn how we create our own suffering. From there we are introduced to our own inner jewel of enlightened awareness and knowingness that has always been present but never or rarely noticed. We then learn methods of how to broaden the "recognition" and how to stabilize and integrate this wisdom awareness into all aspects of our lives. Finally we are introduced to the nature of our spiritual Heart the seat of unconditional love and True Being. We learn how we are all just "one life", and with this recognition we find joy for ourselves and love for all beings. The author has spent over forty-seven years in pursuit of the wisdom teachings that can bring about enlightenment and liberation from personal suffering. As a result his travels to meet actual masters who were themselves accomplished in this path, took him to India, China, Nepal, Japan, Korea, Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. This book represents the essence of those teachings yet are presented in a completely generic and unique approach that anyone can benefit from. The author shares: "It is my hope that seekers of all types may find the realization of their goals fulfilled through the reading and application of the teachings as offered in this book and are able to realize the immediate presence of the Natural Bliss of Being for themselves as I have, and realize: 'Relishing and celebrating life's journey is the realization of Enlightenment itself!'"
Download or read book Bliss Brain written by Dawson Church and published by Hay House, Inc. This book was released on 2022-03-22 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Award Winner in the Science category of the 2020 Best Book Awards sponsored by American Book Fest Award-winning author and thought leader Dawson Church, Ph.D., blends cutting-edge neuroscience with intense firsthand experience to show you how you can rewire your brain for happiness-starting right now. Neural plasticity-the discovery that the brain is capable of rewiring itself-is now widely understood. But what few people have grasped yet is how quickly this is happening, how extensive brain changes can be, and how much control each of us has over the process. In Bliss Brain, famed researcher Dawson Church digs deep into leading-edge science, and finds stunning evidence of rapid and radical brain change. In just eight weeks of practice, 12 minutes a day, using the right techniques, we can produce measurable changes in our brains. These make us calmer, happier, and more resilient. When we cultivate these pleasurable states over time, they become traits. We don't just feel more blissful as a temporary state; the changes are literally hard-wired into our brains, becoming stable and enduring personality traits. The startling conclusions of Church's research show that neural remodeling goes much farther than scientists have previously understood, with stress circuits shriveling over time. Simultaneously, "The Enlightenment Circuit"-associated with happiness, compassion, productivity, creativity, and resilience-expands. During deep meditation, Church shows how "the 7 neurochemicals of ecstasy" are released in our brains. These include anandamide, a neurotransmitter that's been named "the bliss molecule" because it mimics the effects of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis. It boosts serotonin and dopamine; the first is an analog of psilocybin, the second of cocaine. He shows how cultivating these elevated emotional states literally produces a self-induced high. While writing Bliss Brain, Church went through a series of disasters, including escaping seconds ahead of a California wildfire that consumed his home and office and claimed 22 lives. The fire triggered a painful medical condition and a financial disaster. Through it all, Church steadily practiced the techniques of Bliss Brain while teaching them to thousands of other people. This book weaves his story of resilience into the fabric of neuroscience, producing a fascinating picture of just how happy we can make our brains, no matter what the odds.
Download or read book You Are Gods written by David Bentley Hart and published by University of Notre Dame Pess. This book was released on 2022-04-01 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David Bentley Hart offers an intense and thorough reflection upon the issue of the supernatural in Christian theology and doctrine. In recent years, the theological—and, more specifically, Roman Catholic—question of the supernatural has made an astonishing return from seeming oblivion. David Bentley Hart’s You Are Gods presents a series of meditations on the vexed theological question of the relation of nature and supernature. In its merely controversial aspect, the book is intended most directly as a rejection of a certain Thomistic construal of that relation, as well as an argument in favor of a model of nature and supernature at once more Eastern and patristic, and also more in keeping with the healthier currents of mediaeval and modern Catholic thought. In its more constructive and confessedly radical aspects, the book makes a vigorous case for the all-but-complete eradication of every qualitative, ontological, or logical distinction between the natural and the supernatural in the life of spiritual creatures. It advances a radically monistic vision of Christian metaphysics but does so wholly on the basis of credal orthodoxy. Hart, one of the most widely read theologians in America today, presents a bold gesture of resistance to the recent revival of what used to be called “two-tier Thomism,” especially in the Anglophone theological world. In this astute exercise in classical Christian orthodoxy, Hart takes the metaphysics of participation, high Trinitarianism, Christology, and the soteriological language of theosis to their inevitable logical conclusions. You Are Gods will provoke many readers interested in theological metaphysics. The book also offers a vision of Christian thought that draws on traditions (such as Vedanta) from which Christian philosophers and theologians, biblical scholars, and religious studies scholars still have a great deal to learn.
Download or read book The Physics of Consciousness written by Ivan Antic and published by . This book was released on 2021-05-08 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true nature of consciousness is an issue of primary importance today. A great many deceptions exist today that create conflicts among humans and with nature itself. In the modern world, a real possibility exists that such a conflict could threaten the existence of humankind. It is logical to assume that every conflict is based on fundamental misunderstanding or lack of awareness of the true nature of existence. This is predicated on the notion that the consciousness and existence are the same thing. All misinterpretations and conflicts are rooted in differentiating consciousness from existence, i.e. separating what goes on in our head from what goes on in the outer world and dividing our thoughts from our words and deeds. This aim of this book is to confirm the nature of external existence as an indivisible part of our consciousness and essence. A logical framework of such a depiction of reality rests on the assumption that the consciousness which is in our mind is an integrated part of the same consciousness that creates the overall existence. Unlike what is thought traditionally, there is no multitude of consciousnesses; the consciousness is only one and the same in everything, it merely divides and utilizes itself in all of the aspects of existence. Consciousness and existence are one and the same, and together they comprise our essence, or the soul. The true nature of consciousness and existence cannot be separated from the true nature of our essence or the soul. In other words, we cannot live in the world in one way, be aware in another, and relate to our essence in some completely different way. The consciousness of our soul is inseparable from the world we live in. Our existence remains inauthentic, painful, and heartless, insofar as we keep ourselves apart from the consciousness of our soul; from consciousness itself; and from existence, as such. However, a simple statement that the consciousness and existence are the same is not enough. To make their unity crystal clear, the functioning of the consciousness is presented here in detail in different dimensions of nature and through various forms, from the quantum field, minerals, plants, and animals to human beings and the development of culture, the issue of artificial intelligence, ethics, and, ultimately, the discipline of self-knowledge. The unity of the divine consciousness that creates everything with our thoughts and actions is demonstrated and proved quite practically here. This is the only way in which a book that aspires to explain the world may have practial value.
Download or read book Path to Eternal Bliss with consciousness written by Indar Krishan Raina and published by Walnut Publication. This book was released on 2021-02-04 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book discusses in detail the importance of maintaining the God consciousness to achieve God realization. Without maintaining the God consciousness one may never touch the higher planes of self consciousness and at the end may land up disastrously nowhere. The book is divided in 5 topics of Consciousness, Spiritual Experiences and Miracles, Holy Path, Spiritual Quest and Renunciation. Saint Khemraja chief disciple of Sage Vasaguta has said that the aspirants who do upasana and meditation day and night do not achieve anything even after years of practice. These aspirants are ignorant in a way bound by worldly affairs and maya. The realization of self has not taken place. When full realization has not been achieved, that when consciousness has not been filled with independent state of supreme God consciousness. Till then everything is useless. There will be no results. There will be no progress on the path to God realization. So, it is very important to maintain Consciousness of Supreme God at all time for the real benefit of one’s efforts. The independent state of God consciousness is also found in each and every being. In accordance with Vijnan Bhirav one must find this God consciousness. To discover it one should concentrate on totality of individuality which is the state of universal consciousness. By doing this practice one will get differentiated state of universal consciousness above the individuality of consciousness. One has to be aware of God consciousness at all the times in true spirit with utmost love dedication and seriousness. This God consciousness is most intoxicating if cultivated in right and true manner. Without maintaining the consciousness the progress is hindered. This consciousness should be endeavored to hold it in all the three states.
Download or read book The Soul of the American University Revisited written by George M. Marsden and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 489 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This volume ... is a revision and updating of The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief (1994)"--Acknowledgments
Download or read book The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss written by Michael Langford and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book there are practice instructions for seven different methods of meditation including: 1. The Awareness Watching Awareness Method. 2. The Abandon Release Method. 3. The Eternal Method. 4. The Infinite Space Method. 5. The Loving All Method. For thousands of years humans have been stuck in the same pool of inward unsolved problems. Thousands of years ago humans had the problems of suffering, sorrow, anger, fear, violence, conning, cheating, lying, death, etc. Today humans have the problems of suffering, sorrow, anger, fear, violence, conning, cheating, lying, death, etc. All of those problems have a single cause. In this book the cause of the lack of progress and the solution that actually works is revealed. There is a secret, a missing link, a vicious circle, that is keeping humans stuck in the same pool of unsolved problems. That secret, that missing link, that vicious circle is revealed in this book. How to break free of that ancient human trap is also revealed in this book. The solutions taught in the past have failed. Not even one in a million humans has been freed from all suffering and been established in absolutely perfect infinite-eternal-awareness-love-bliss by the solutions that have been taught in the past. It is possible to be free of all sorrow and suffering and to experience absolutely perfect infinite eternal joy in this lifetime. It is possible for all humans, not just a few humans. There is a rapid means to infinite bliss. That rapid means is taught in this book. Whatever spiritual path you are on, this book will be a great help. The problem of the ego distorting, distracting and keeping the attention directed outward is a problem shared by all humans, whatever path they are on. The ego's tricks have seldom been looked at in spiritual literature. The ego's tricks are revealed in this book. How to put an end to the ego's tricks is also taught in this book, making this book a unique and immensely valuable contribution. This book is a great help to all humans, including those who are not on a spiritual path, because the most direct and rapid means to end suffering and sorrow and to live in awareness-love-bliss, is of benefit to all. For human consciousness to be transformed something new must be introduced. This book introduces something new into human consciousness. It is rare that a spiritual book goes into detail revealing the tricks the ego uses to avoid liberation. The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss is such a rare book. Step-by-step instructions in how to put an end to the ego's tricks are given in this book. This book shows how to directly experience infinite-eternal-awareness-love-bliss in this lifetime. This book contains a detailed description of the difference between the True Self and the imposter self. Detailed instructions in how to directly experience the True Self are given in this book. Of the thousands of spiritual books you could purchase, The Most Direct Means to Eternal Bliss is the best first choice. This is the book that created a spiritual revolution that is continuing to transform all human life. The direct experience of infinite-eternal-life is available to all humans. There is a fork in the road. One road leads to ideas, beliefs, concepts and opinions. The other road leads to Direct Experience. This book shows the difference between these two roads and how to choose the road that leads to eternal-perfect-love-bliss in this lifetime. This book is a new doorway for humanity. On a combination lock that you have been unable to open it is not the numbers on the dial that are new. It is the combination that opens the lock that is new. The more than fifteen hundred sentences in this book reveal the combination that opens the lock. On the other side of the door is eternal Life-Love-Bliss.
Download or read book The Doors of the Sea written by David Bentley Hart and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As news reports of the horrific December 2004 tsunami in Asia reached the rest of the world, commentators were quick to seize upon the disaster as proof of either God s power or God s nonexistence, asking over and over, How could a good and loving God if such exists allow such suffering? In The Doors of the Sea David Bentley Hart speaks at once to those skeptical of Christian faith and to those who use their Christian faith to rationalize senseless human suffering. He calls both to recognize in the worst catastrophes not the providential will of God but rather the ongoing struggle between the rebellious powers that enslave the world and the God who loves it wholly.
Download or read book The Experience of God written by Raimundo Panikkar and published by Fortress Press. This book was released on with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Today's search for spirituality and authenticity leads ultimately to the question, and the experience, of God. In this profound meditation from one of today's most renowned religious voices, theologian Raimon Panikkar offers a way to reflect on the perennial quest for God, its significance in many religious traditions, and its connection to our own deepest purpose and meaning. .... " [from back cover]
Download or read book Everything Is Perfect written by Ivan Antic and published by . This book was released on 2019-08-30 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If the fundamental cosmic constants were any different, there would not be any conscious life, at all. The entire cosmos exists exactly the way it is so that conscious living beings, us, could exist. If we became fully aware of the fundamental constants the whole universe rests on, we would realize that cosmos could not exist if it were not exactly the way it is right now, in everything, in every, even the tiniest detail. If you were not reading these lines, and if you were not where you are now, in such an environment and life situation that you are, if every thing you see were not there where it is - this entire cosmos could not exist. Such is the nature of the perfection of existence. Existence cannot be any different than it already is at any given moment. The reason we do not see the perfection of reality is due to the fact that we do not see the entire reality, we do not see that existence extends across multiple dimensions. We do not see all the dimensions of nature, but only its roughest, physical appearance, we are able to perceive with our senses. All the dimensions are in us, we are made up of all the dimensions of nature. Only to the point we become conscious of the reality of our own being, can the reality of the overall existence become clear to us, with all its dimensions. Only then can we have the right perspective for the true awareness of the answers to all the big questions of existence: of the life and death, good and evil, justice and injustice, happiness and unhappiness, success and failure... When we are whole we are harmonized with the wholeness and we see that everything is positive which always inspires us to do the right thing. When we do and view something as negative, it means we are not whole and we fail to see the wholeness. We can always be whole and perfect. The outside world is not an obstacle toward this aim. It is already perfect and it is waiting for you to recognize it as such. The problem is only in our mind and the existing mindset. That is the only thing that is being perfected as we speak. Our mind is best perfected by perceiving the perfection of existence here and now, all round us. In this book, you will discover and learn about: Why Do We Not See Reality as Perfect Consciousness, Existence and the Man in Between Scientific Evidence of the Existence of Perfection Sin: the Perfect Reason for the Birth and Death Causality and Free Will are Connected Perfectly Karmic Maturity and the Circling of Divine Consciousness The Perfection of Spiritual Practice and much, much more! The perfection of the divine consciousness that enables everything is always there. We only need a little stirring up to remind ourselves of it, some detachment from illusions in order to be able to observe it in everything, at any given moment. Get it now. --- "This book was written to be read with pleasure as we get very logical answers to questions about events from our lives that go beyond logic." - 5-star Amazon Review "If you are troubled by the paradoxes of life, the mystery of death, reincarnation, good and evil, justice and injustice ... here the background of these issues is clearly revealed. Far more than you would have expected." - 5-star Amazon Review "A perfect synthesis of science and mysticism with personal experience." - 5-star Amazon Review
Download or read book Proofs of God written by Matthew Levering and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2016-04-12 with total page 379 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading theologian Matthew Levering presents a thoroughgoing critical survey of the proofs of God's existence for readers interested in traditional Christian responses to the problem of atheism. Beginning with Tertullian and ending with Karl Barth, Levering covers twenty-one theologians and philosophers from the early church to the modern period, examining how they answered the critics of their day. He also shows the relevance of the classical arguments to contemporary debates and challenges to Christianity. In addition to students, this book will appeal to readers of apologetics.
Download or read book Bliss Conscious Communication written by Happy o and published by . This book was released on 2014-11-14 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This provocative interactive playbook is guaranteed to raise your conversational kundalini. Bliss Conscious Communication will likely be the most important book you will ever WRITE! The guide to conversational alchemy, Bliss is a treasure trove of dynamic techniques for making magic of everyday conversations. Discover how to transform blase cliches into uplifting aphorisms that leave everyone feeling blissfully alive. Never before has a communications book addressed how to raise conversational kundalini. This is the first book to ecstatically yet pragmatically deliver a comprehensive methodology for transmuting ordinary chats into extraordinary conversations. The author demonstrates that it is possible to live contentedly and exuberantly all day long. The 1st edition sold 30,000 copies. The revised 2nd edition is now available at Amazon.com
Download or read book Follow Your Bliss written by Joseph Campbell and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
