Download or read book Confessions of a Hapless Hedonist written by Ernest Kolowrat and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-09-03 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CONFESSIONS OF A HAPLESS HEDONISTAn Inconvenient Discovery about the Meaning of PleasureConfessions of a Hapless Hedonist is a lighthearted first-hand account about the seductive perils of our time. Ranging over a century of intimate foibles and world events, it is the true story of an outlandish family forced to abandon a life of wealth and privilege in Europe after World War II, and start anew in the United States. Within the framework of this transition played out on both sides of the Atlantic is the drama of the narrator's devotion to the unbridled pursuit of pleasure - and his wrenching discovery of a more subtle but no less compelling imperative. Endowed with a sensual predisposition from early childhood, the narrator is far too ready to subordinate personal and professional integrity to his hedonistic quest. As he is increasingly able to partake of the bounties offered by living in the United States - this Garden of Eden that has no forbidden trees - he also becomes increasingly aware of the less heralded consequences for him and millions of others of his ilk. "Are we doomed always to live in a world where we suffered and died because there wasn't enough," he reflects ruefully, "or in a world where we suffered and died because we failed to learn how to handle plenitude?" Confessions of a Hapless Hedonist sparkles with the colorful characters of the narrator's relatives: his father, transformed by his adopted country from Mr. Count to a salesman of Exercycles; his sister Manya, a proselytizing charismatic Christian married to a hotelier on Cape Cod; his aunt Issten, exiled years ago to a penurious existence in a dilapidated chateau in France after engaging in an extra-marital affair with a noted American black to create a more compassionate world; Albrecht, Issten's long-suffering son laboring quixotically in his privileged retreat in the Austrian Tyrol to save humanity from its excesses; and Princess Stephanie, Albrecht's enchanting daughter whose relentless quest for romantic love leaves even her unconventional grandmother, Issten, aghast. There is also God, whether in the guise of the stern but just Yahweh of Abraham or Manya's gentle, ever-forgiving Jesus Christ. Beyond its distinctive autobiographical story line, Confessions of a Hapless Hedonist is an uncontrived morality tale that offers a mirror for those who would subscribe to the popular mantra of our day, "You only go around once; so grab all the pleasures you can!" The unabashed abandon of the book's first part, In Quest of Pleasure, and the emotional immediacy of the second part, In Quest of Redemption, combine to reflect the mounting clash between the unconstrained desires of our materialistic civilization and the reactive dictates of fundamentalism. The global scope of Confessions of a Hapless Hedonist implicitly offers a palatable alternative and should serve as a spiritual "red alert" at this critical juncture in history."The author has succeeded in reaching a depth of feeling and expression that few writers even know about, much less arrive at."- Lewis H. Lapham Editor, Harper's Magazine"Tender, funny, touching and true - a unique page-turner."- Stephen Birmingham Author, Our Crowd

Download or read book The Impossibility of Self written by Nicholas Tapp and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2010 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a work of ethnographic reflection on Hmong society, history and culture, dealing with questions of the self and the notion that a romantic self inspired the ethos of hedonism associated with the consumer economy. A Hmong identity is shown to have been historically constructed through the works of colonial missionaries, linguists, and anthropologists. Yet Hmong voices have also been powerful in this process. Based on recent fieldwork in Asia and overseas, the Hmong diaspora is examined. The modern Hmong self is presented as a prospective one, constructed in diaspora and through the use of the internet and other modes of modern communication in a movement towards a virtual future which, despite the dissonance of voices appealing to an ideal unity, is one still rich with potentiality.

Download or read book A Hedonist Manifesto written by Michel Onfray and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2015-11-10 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michael Onfray passionately defends the potential of hedonism to resolve the dislocations and disconnections of our melancholy age. In a sweeping survey of history's engagement with and rejection of the body, he exposes the sterile conventions that prevent us from realizing a more immediate, ethical, and embodied life. He then lays the groundwork for both a radical and constructive politics of the body that adds to debates over morality, equality, sexual relations, and social engagement, demonstrating how philosophy, and not just modern scientism, can contribute to a humanistic ethics. Onfray attacks Platonic idealism and its manifestation in Judaic, Christian, and Islamic belief. He warns of the lure of attachment to the purportedly eternal, immutable truths of idealism, which detracts from the immediacy of the world and our bodily existence. Insisting that philosophy is a practice that operates in a real, material space, Onfray enlists Epicurus and Democritus to undermine idealist and theological metaphysics; Nietzsche, Bentham, and Mill to dismantle idealist ethics; and Palante and Bourdieu to collapse crypto-fascist neoliberalism. In their place, he constructs a positive, hedonistic ethics that enlarges on the work of the New Atheists to promote a joyful approach to our lives in this, our only, world.

Download or read book Carpe Diem written by Roman Krznaric and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-05-23 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Brilliant. One of those rare books that forces you to ask what the hell you're doing with your life." --George Monbiot, The Guardian **One of Forbes' 13 Best Books for Summer 2017** We've all heard the saying "seize the day." But what does it really mean--and how can we use it to jumpstart our lives? In the age of distraction, carpe diem is more essential than ever, and yet many of us simply don't employ it in our lives. In this thought-provoking and empowering book, cultural writer Roman Krznaric unpacks the history, philosophy, and modern-day applications of "seizing the day" and delivers a rousing call to action for anyone who wants to improve their lives--or our world. Carpe Diem is a far-ranging read, drawing on everything from the neuropsychology of regret to the anthropology of play, from medieval carnival rites to religious conceptions of the afterlife and early Japanese cinema. Offering food for thought as well as inspiring takeaways, the book examines not just the contributions of great thinkers throughout history, but also reveals insights from the lives of great seize-the-day practitioners including nightclub dancers, war photographers, bored housewives, and committed revolutionaries--offering a wide range of solutions to the daunting challenge of leading a meaningful life.

Download or read book Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics Burial Confessions written by James Hastings and published by . This book was released on 1913 with total page 928 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Twentieth century Literary Criticism written by Gale Research Company and published by Twentieth-Century Literary Cri. This book was released on 1985 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpts from criticism of the works of novelists, poets, playwrights, and other creative writers, 1900-1960.

Download or read book Queer Objects written by Guy Davidson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2020-06-29 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pursuing the discursive or material effects of relational queerness, this book reflects on how objects can illuminate, affect, and animate queer modes of being. In the early 1990s the queer theorist Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick defined queer as “multiply transitive . . . relational and strange,” rather than a fixed identity. In spite of this, much of the queer theoretical scholarship of the last three decades has used queer as a synonym for anti-normative sexual identities. The contributions to this volume return to the idea of transitivity, exploring what happens when queer is thought of as a turning toward or turning away from a diverse range of objects, including bodily waste; frozen cats; archival ephemera; the writing of Virginia Woolf; the Pop art of Ray Johnson; the podcast S-Town; and Maggie Nelson’s memoir The Argonauts. Relevant to those studying queer theory, this book will also be of wider interest to those researching identity and the way in which it is represented in a variety of artistic disciplines. This book was originally published as a special issue of Angelaki.

Download or read book The Theology of Jonathan Edwards written by Michael J. McClymond and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2012-01-05 with total page 774 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholars and laypersons alike regard Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) as North America's greatest theologian. The Theology of Jonathan Edwards is the most comprehensive survey of his theology yet produced and the first study to make full use of the recently-completed seventy-three-volume online edition of the Works of Jonathan Edwards. The book's forty-five chapters examine all major aspects of Edwards's thought and include in-depth discussions of the extensive secondary literature on Edwards as well as Edwards's own writings. Its opening chapters set out Edwards's historical and personal theological contexts. The next thirty chapters connect Edwards's theological loci in the temporally-ordered way in which he conceptualized the theological enterprise-beginning with the triune God in eternity with his angels to the history of redemption as an expression of God's inner reality ad extra, and then back to God in eschatological glory.The authors analyze such themes as aesthetics, metaphysics, typology, history of redemption, revival, and true virtue. They also take up such rarely-explored topics as Edwards's missiology, treatment of heaven and angels, sacramental thought, public theology, and views of non-Christian religions. Running throughout the volume are what the authors identify as five basic theological constituents: trinitarian communication, creaturely participation, necessitarian dispositionalism, divine priority, and harmonious constitutionalism. Later chapters trace his influence on and connections with later theologies and philosophies in America and Europe. The result is a multi-layered analysis that treats Edwards as a theologian for the twenty-first-century global Christian community, and a bridge between the Christian West and East, Protestantism and Catholicism, conservatism and liberalism, and charismatic and non-charismatic churches.

Download or read book Long Road to Grace The written by Nichols, Merlin and published by TEACH Services, Inc.. This book was released on 2015-04-26 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Merlin Nichols tried to make it on his own. He worried about his salvation and whether he was good enough. Perhaps like you or someone you know, he preached, held church offices, and was outwardly faithful to the church, but he was spiritually dead. That is, until Paul’s message of grace to the Ephesians hit him between the eyes and changed him forever. The Long Road to Grace: Confessions of a Slow Learner is an in-depth examination of Ephesians and its timeless message of grace that was needed in the early Christian church and is needed today. With a passion for helping the spiritually dead come back to life, Merlin examines the letter Paul wrote to Ephesus in light of the Bible as a whole. Taking the letter verse by verse, in the author’s own words, and sharing stories from his life experiences, you will discover new insights into Paul’s powerful message of the saving grace of Jesus Christ and the life-changing transformation that takes place when one fully submits to God.

Download or read book The Legacy of Sovereign Joy written by John Piper and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2006-08-11 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We admire these men for their greatness, but the truth is Augustine grappled with sexual passions. Martin Luther struggled to control his tongue. John Calvin fought the battle of faith with worldly weapons. Yet each man will always be remembered for the messages he declared-messages that still resound today. John Piper explores each of these men's lives, integrating Augustine's delight in God with Luther's emphasis on the Word and Calvin's exposition of Scripture. Through their strengths and struggles we can learn how to live better today. When we consider their lives, we behold the glory and majesty of God and find power to overcome our weaknesses. If ever you are complacent about sin, if ever you lose the joy of Jesus Christ, if ever you are dulled by the world's influence, let the lives of these men help you recapture the wonder of God. Part of the The Swans Are Not Silent series.

Download or read book You Are a Tree written by Joy Marie Clarkson and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2024-02-20 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither--whatever they do prospers."--Psalm 1:3 Sometimes we describe ourselves as trees. When we're thriving, we speak of being rooted and fruitful, in a good season. When we struggle, we might describe ourselves as withering, cut off from friendship and the world. These ways of describing ourselves matter because they shape the ways we live. But in a world dominated by efficiency, we have begun to use more unforgiving metaphors. We speak of ourselves as computers: we process things, we recharge. In doing so, we come to expect of ourselves an exhausting, relentless productivity. You Are a Tree examines how the metaphorical descriptions we use in everyday life shape the way we think, pray, and live. Weaving together meditations on our common human experiences, poetry, Scripture, and the Christian tradition, Joy Marie Clarkson explores how metaphors help us understand things like wisdom, security, love, change, and sadness. This book invites you to pay attention--to your experiences, and to the words you use to describe them. That attention reveals a richly layered and meaningful world, a refreshing perspective that nurtures wonder, gratitude, and hope. "Extraordinarily creative and beautifully written, You Are a Tree is a soul-stirring companion to life in God's world that will enrich the spirit of all who read it."--DAVID ZAHL, author of Low Anthropology

Download or read book Dying to Live written by Ian Murphy and published by Ignatius Press. This book was released on 2020-04-30 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When high school valedictorian Ian Murphy was writing his graduation address, a teacher told him that he could not mention Jesus in his speech. She even threatened to pull the plug on the microphone if he tried to do so. Murphy’s defiance, in the name of his constitutional rights, made national news, and his zeal to spread the Gospel, no matter the cost, became the defining passion of his life. Murphy's public battle for his freedom of speech is where this conversion story begins, but then it retraces the other important experiences of his youth. He describes his free-spirited Christian parents, his early doubts, the influence of faith-filled relatives and friends, and the spiritual encounter that made him a believer. At a young age, Murphy went from strength to strength as he sought after truth, grew in prayer, and shared his faith with others. But his doubts resurfaced when his friend and mentor, the leader of a Protestant college group, was murdered. After his trust in God was restored, Murphy became a Baptist minister in the Bible Belt, and from there his spiritual journey led him into the Catholic Church. The unexpected twists and turns in Murphy's extraordinary story show that when a man gives his life to Christ, the Lord never lets him go.

Download or read book At Large and at Small written by Anne Fadiman and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2008-11-06 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Butterflies, ice-cream, writing at night, playing word games...in this witty, intimate and delicious book Anne Fadiman ruminates on her passions, both literary and everyday. From mourning the demise of letter-writing to revealing a monumental crush on Charles Lamb, from Balzac's coffee addiction to making ice-cream from Liquid Nitrogen, she draws us into a world of hedonistic pleasures and literary delights. This is the perfect book for life's ardent obsessives.

Download or read book The Virtue of Selfishness written by Ayn Rand and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1964-11-01 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of essays that sets forth the moral principles of Objectivism, Ayn Rand's controversial, groundbreaking philosophy. Since their initial publication, Rand's fictional works—Anthem, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged—have had a major impact on the intellectual scene. The underlying theme of her famous novels is her philosophy, a new morality—the ethics of rational self-interest—that offers a robust challenge to altruist-collectivist thought. Known as Objectivism, her divisive philosophy holds human life—the life proper to a rational being—as the standard of moral values and regards altruism as incompatible with man's nature. In this series of essays, Rand asks why man needs morality in the first place, and arrives at an answer that redefines a new code of ethics based on the virtue of selfishness. More Than 1 Million Copies Sold!

Download or read book Hotchkiss written by Ernest Kolowrat and published by New Amsterdam Books. This book was released on 1998-05-01 with total page 600 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How has the Hotchkiss School managed to accommodate a hundred years of unprecedented change—a century during which horse-and-buggy trails have become less familiar than the fiery trails of space-bound vehicles, and Victorian propriety has yielded to unabashed self-expression? The short answer—carefully; certainly not without considerable tension and the constant need to mediate between the forces of tradition and innovation. Oh yes, also by following the golden rule: do not disturb the cherished memories of alumni—and, more recently, of alumnae as well.

Download or read book The Turning Key written by Jerome Hamilton Buckley and published by Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1984 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Closing of the American Mind written by Allan Bloom and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2008-06-30 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The brilliant, controversial, bestselling critique of American culture that “hits with the approximate force and effect of electroshock therapy” (The New York Times)—now featuring a new afterword by Andrew Ferguson in a twenty-fifth anniversary edition. In 1987, eminent political philosopher Allan Bloom published The Closing of the American Mind, an appraisal of contemporary America that “hits with the approximate force and effect of electroshock therapy” (The New York Times) and has not only been vindicated, but has also become more urgent today. In clear, spirited prose, Bloom argues that the social and political crises of contemporary America are part of a larger intellectual crisis: the result of a dangerous narrowing of curiosity and exploration by the university elites. Now, in this twenty-fifth anniversary edition, acclaimed author and journalist Andrew Ferguson contributes a new essay that describes why Bloom’s argument caused such a furor at publication and why our culture so deeply resists its truths today.