Download or read book Is God an Illusion written by Deepak Chopra and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this title, the author argues that there is design in our universe and a deep intelligence behind life. Without defending organised religion, he debunks randomness as an explanation for how Nature evolves and shows how consciousness comes first and matter second.
Download or read book The Illusion of God s Presence written by John C. Wathey and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2016 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An essential feature of religious experience across many cultures is the intuitive feeling of God's presence. More than any rituals or doctrines, it is this experience that anchors religious faith, yet it has been largely ignored in the scientific literature on religion.Starting with a vivid narrative account of the life-threatening hike that triggered his own mystical experience, biologist John Wathey takes the reader on a scientific journey to find the sources of religious feeling and the illusion of God's presence. His book delves into the biological origins of this compelling feeling, attributing it to innate neural circuitry that evolved to promote the mother-child bond. Dr. Wathey argues that evolution has programmed the infant brain to expect the presence of a loving being who responds to the child's needs. As the infant grows into adulthood, this innate feeling is eventually transferred to the realm of religion, where it is reactivated through the symbols, imagery, and rituals of worship. The author interprets our various conceptions of God in biological terms as illusory supernormal stimuli that fill an emotional and cognitive vacuum left over from infancy. These insights shed new light on some of the most vexing puzzles of religion, like the popular belief in a god who is judgmental and punishing, yet also unconditionally loving; the extraordinary tenacity of faith; the greater religiosity of women relative to men; religious obsessions with sex; the mysterious compulsion to pray; the seemingly irrepressible feminine attributes of God, even in traditionally patriarchal religions; and the strange allure of cults. Finally, Dr. Wathey considers the hypothesis that religion evolved to foster reproductive success, arguing that, in an age of potentially ruinous overpopulation, magical thinking has become a luxury we can no longer afford, one that distracts us from urgent threats to our planet.Deeply researched yet elegantly written in a jargon-free and accessible style, this book presents a compelling interpretation of the evolutionary origins of spirituality and religion.
Download or read book The Future of an Illusion written by Sigmund Freud and published by . This book was released on 1928 with total page 110 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Kidz Gospel Illusions written by Randy Burtis and published by Tyndale House Publishers. This book was released on 2019-08 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With step-by-step instructions (that include photos and scripts!), Gospel Illusions makes it easy for ANYONE to add object lessons and illusions to children''s ministries, Sunday School classes, homeschool curriculum, and more. It features over 35 illusions that are sure to make your kids go--WOW! But more importantly, they will help share the Word of God in a creative and memorable way. Have you ever tried an object lesson and found yourself wondering, Am I doing this right? Most object lesson books are hard to follow since they don''t include photos! Imagine having one that does! Gospel Illusions: Object Lessons You Can Do Includes: Step-by-step instructions for over 35 illusions Photos showing how to do each major step Scripts on what to say Discussion questions to help kids apply key lessons to their lives Whether you are new to illusions or a pro, you''ll find new object lessons to use! You don''t need to practice for hours, crossing your fingers that it will hopefully work. These illusions are quick, easy, and typically require less than 10-15 minutes of practice. Plus, each illusion has a one- to five-star rating for difficulty, so you can conveniently find the right one for your skill (and comfort) level. Unlike other object lesson books, Gospel Illusions: Object Lessons You Can Do uses everyday items that are around your house, saving you time and money. Please note: Illusions are not your average object lesson. They include a Sha-Bam! moment that the kids didn''t see coming, capturing their attention and helping them remember key truths! Softcover, fully reproducible, ages 5-12, 288 pages, 8 3/8 x 11 inches, ISBN 9781628628166. 7 Key Features of This Easy-to-Do Object Lesson Book for Sunday School Step-by-Step Instructions & Process Photos. There are lots of great object lesson books out there, but not all of them SHOW you how the lesson should look. Enjoy having process photos AND detailed instructions for every step to guide you through each illusion easily! Scripts. Comes with scripted dialogue cues on how to explain the significance and lesson behind each illusion. Discussion Questions. Includes relevant reflection questions for each illusion to help kids apply key truths to their lives. Unique Categorization. Wonder which object lessons are safest to try first? No need to wonder. Gospel Illusions'' star rating icons help you find one for your skill level. Anyone Can Do These! From volunteers to teen teaching assistants, these object lessons are simple and easy to follow, using step-by-step instructions and household materials. Age-Appropriate. Save time and money when you have ONE object lesson book for grades K-8! Simple enough for kindergarteners to understand and engaging to pre-teens, these object lessons will wow and astound just about any kid! Expert Advice. Written by experienced children''s pastor and professional illusionist Randy Burtis, Gospel Illusions is packed with fully scripted, easy-to-do object lessons and optic illusions. About the Series Instant Bible Lessons series offers a variety of Bible lessons to help kids grow closer to God in a hands-on way, using interactive activities. Age-appropriate, fully reproducible, and flexible, these books are packed with everything you need to teach the truths of God to children. The series offers lessons for children ages 2-12. The Instant Bible Lessons Series is a must for church or home use. About the Author Randy Burtis, born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, became a follower of Jesus at age fifteen. Since that time, his heart''s desire has been for children''s ministry. His goal is that each child would know they are loved, valued, and accepted; that teachers would be trained to fulfill their mandate to disciple kids; and that parents would be equipped to love their kids into God''s kingdom. To that end, he has traveled to hundreds of churches, spoken at hundreds of camps, and served as a children''s pastor for twenty-five years. He currently serves in Canada''s largest evangelical church, Centre Street Church, where he oversees kindergarten through fourth-grade children and their families. He is also a professional illusionist, having performed thousands of shows for over twenty-five years. Randy is married and has two daughters who joined his family through adoption.
Download or read book God The Failed Hypothesis written by Victor J. Stenger and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2010-08-05 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout history, arguments for and against the existence of God have been largely confined to philosophy and theology, while science has sat on the sidelines. Despite the fact that science has revolutionized every aspect of human life and greatly clarified our understanding of the world, somehow the notion has arisen that it has nothing to say about the possibility of a supreme being, which much of humanity worships as the source of all reality. This book contends that, if God exists, some evidence for this existence should be detectable by scientific means, especially considering the central role that God is alleged to play in the operation of the universe and the lives of humans. Treating the traditional God concept, as conventionally presented in the Judeo-Christian and Islamic traditions, like any other scientific hypothesis, physicist Stenger examines all of the claims made for God's existence. He considers the latest Intelligent Design arguments as evidence of God's influence in biology. He looks at human behavior for evidence of immaterial souls and the possible effects of prayer. He discusses the findings of physics and astronomy in weighing the suggestions that the universe is the work of a creator and that humans are God's special creation. After evaluating all the scientific evidence, Stenger concludes that beyond a reasonable doubt the universe and life appear exactly as we might expect if there were no God. This paperback edition of the New York Times bestselling hardcover edition contains a new foreword by Christopher Hitchens and a postscript by the author in which he responds to reviewers' criticisms of the original edition.
Download or read book God Is an Illusion written by Forest Grace and published by . This book was released on 2011-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a guide for individuals who seek spiritual meanings in their daily activities. Indeed, the most important spiritual quest for a human adult is to find the best way to live a meaningful life. No wonder this subject is the focus of most wisdom traditions of the world. These traditions were originated at various times in our history and from different parts of the world; most importantly they share the same core message. Here, the best way for one to live is to experience his or her being, but this must be done with complete genuineness. Elegantly expressed by the symbol of the forever coexisting Yin and Yang, this being is a state of duality simply termed as body (self) coexisting with the spirit (Self). When one is genuinely experiencing this duality, he or she is enlightened according to Buddha, or in transcendence according to Hinduism, or in the Kingdom of God according to Jesus. Though named differently, these states of mind are all the same.
Download or read book Communion with God written by Neale Donald Walsch and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2002-10-01 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Neale Donald Walsch has changed the way the world thinks about God. His books have beentranslated into twenty-five languages, and his Conversations With God series, book1, book 2, and book 3, have all been New York Times bestsellers-book 1 for over two years. In the Conversations books, Walsch shared with his readers the beginning of a sacred relationship, as he began an exchange with God on everything from love and faith, to life and death, and good and evil. And then, as Walsch recounted in Friendship with God, something else extraordinary began to happen. His relationship with God began to strengthen and deepen, just as our own relationships do, into a friendship. Now in Communion with God, his most richly intimate book yet, Walsch discovers how to elevate that friendship to a state of communion. In this blueprint for seekers, he reveals The Ten Illusions of Man-the misconceptions we hold about ourselves and our world and our God. He describes with striking clarity how we might heal the great divide that has arisen from these illusions. And as he explores the true meaning of bringing God into our everyday lives, of having the courage of our convictions. Walsch shows us that we can only break free from our illusions when we act always from a place of deep fellowship with all that is holy-a place of communion with God.
Download or read book Time and Eternity written by William Lane Craig and published by Crossway. This book was released on 2001-03-01 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This remarkable work offers an analytical exploration of the nature of divine eternity and God's relationship to time.
Download or read book Free Will written by Sam Harris and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-03-06 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author of The End of Faith, a thought-provoking, "brilliant and witty" (Oliver Sacks) look at the notion of free will—and the implications that it is an illusion. A belief in free will touches nearly everything that human beings value. It is difficult to think about law, politics, religion, public policy, intimate relationships, morality—as well as feelings of remorse or personal achievement—without first imagining that every person is the true source of his or her thoughts and actions. And yet the facts tell us that free will is an illusion. In this enlightening book, Sam Harris argues that this truth about the human mind does not undermine morality or diminish the importance of social and political freedom, but it can and should change the way we think about some of the most important questions in life.
Download or read book God and the Folly of Faith written by Victor J. Stenger and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2012 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking at both historical and contemporary contexts, the author argues that religion has played a major role in suppressing scientific pursuit.
Download or read book A Course of Love written by Mari Perron and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2011-03-01 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No matter how much is learned, if that learning remains in our heads, it is not enough. Unless learning touches our hearts, it's never going to bring us the wisdom we seek, the peace we desire, or the intimacy and connection for which we yearn. A new and more receptive way of knowing is needed, and is found in this course for the heart. "A Course of Love" was received by Mari Perron and given to be a "new" course in miracles. It is for the heart what "A Course in Miracles" is for the mind. For many, it is the next step in a journey already begun.
Download or read book Everything Is God written by Jay Michaelson and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This exploration of the radical, yet ancient, idea that everything and everyone is God will transform how you understand your life and the nature of religion itself. While God is conventionally viewed as an entity separate from us, there are some Jews—Kabbalists, Hasidim, and their modern-day heirs—who assert that God is not separate from us at all. In this nondual view, everyone and everything manifests God. For centuries a closely guarded secret of Kabbalah, nondual Judaism is a radical reorientation of religious life that is increasingly influencing mainstream Judaism today. Writer and scholar Jay Michaelson presents a wide-ranging and compelling explanation of nondual Judaism: what it is, its traditional and contemporary sources, its historical roots and philosophical significance, how it compares to nondual Buddhism and Hinduism, and how it is lived in practice. He explains what this mystical nondual view means in our daily ego-centered lives, for our communities, and for the future of Judaism.
Download or read book Why God Won t Go Away written by Andrew Newberg, M.D. and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2008-12-10 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why have we humans always longed to connect with something larger than ourselves? Why does consciousness inevitably involve us in a spiritual quest? Why, in short, won't God go away? Theologians, philosophers, and psychologists have debated this question through the ages, arriving at a range of contradictory and ultimately unprovable answers. But in this brilliant, groundbreaking new book, researchers Andrew Newberg and Eugene d'Aquili offer an explanation that is at once profoundly simple and scientifically precise: the religious impulse is rooted in the biology of the brain. Newberg and d'Aquili base this revolutionary conclusion on a long-term investigation of brain function and behavior as well as studies they conducted using high-tech imaging techniques to examine the brains of meditating Buddhists and Franciscan nuns at prayer. What they discovered was that intensely focused spiritual contemplation triggers an alteration in the activity of the brain that leads us to perceive transcendent religious experiences as solid and tangibly real. In other words, the sensation that Buddhists call "oneness with the universe" and the Franciscans attribute to the palpable presence of God is not a delusion or a manifestation of wishful thinking but rather a chain of neurological events that can be objectively observed, recorded, and actually photographed. The inescapable conclusion is that God is hard-wired into the human brain. In Why God Won't Go Away, Newberg and d'Aquili document their pioneering explorations in the field of neurotheology, an emerging discipline dedicated to understanding the complex relationship between spirituality and the brain. Along the way, they delve into such essential questions as whether humans are biologically compelled to make myths; what is the evolutionary connection between religious ecstasy and sexual orgasm; what do Near Death Experiences reveal about the nature of spiritual phenomena; and how does ritual create its own neurological environment. As their journey unfolds, Newberg and d'Aquili realize that a single, overarching question lies at the heart of their pursuit: Is religion merely a product of biology or has the human brain been mysteriously endowed with the unique capacity to reach and know God? Blending cutting-edge science with illuminating insights into the nature of consciousness and spirituality, Why God Won't Go Away bridges faith and reason, mysticism and empirical data. The neurological basis of how the brain identifies the "real" is nothing short of miraculous. This fascinating, eye-opening book dares to explore both the miracle and the biology of our enduring relationship with God.
Download or read book Man Seeks God written by Eric Weiner and published by Hachette+ORM. This book was released on 2011-12-05 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bestselling author of Geography of Bliss returns with this funny, illuminating chronicle of a globe-spanning spiritual quest to find a faith that fits. When a health scare puts him in the hospital, Eric Weiner-an agnostic by default-finds himself tangling with an unexpected question, posed to him by a well-meaning nurse. "Have you found your God yet?" The thought of it nags him, and prods him-and ultimately launches him on a far-flung journey to do just that. Weiner, a longtime "spiritual voyeur" and inveterate traveler, realizes that while he has been privy to a wide range of religious practices, he's never seriously considered these concepts in his own life. Face to face with his own mortality, and spurred on by the question of what spiritual principles to impart to his young daughter, he decides to correct this omission, undertaking a worldwide exploration of religions and hoping to come, if he can, to a personal understanding of the divine. The journey that results is rich in insight, humor, and heart. Willing to do anything to better understand faith, and to find the god or gods that speak to him, he travels to Nepal, where he meditates with Tibetan lamas and a guy named Wayne. He sojourns to Turkey, where he whirls (not so well, as it turns out) with Sufi dervishes. He heads to China, where he attempts to unblock his chi; to Israel, where he studies Kabbalah, sans Madonna; and to Las Vegas, where he has a close encounter with Raelians (followers of the world's largest UFO-based religion). At each stop along the way, Weiner tackles our most pressing spiritual questions: Where do we come from? What happens when we die? How should we live our lives? Where do all the missing socks go? With his trademark wit and warmth, he leaves no stone unturned. At a time when more Americans than ever are choosing a new faith, and when spiritual questions loom large in the modern age, Man Seeks God presents a perspective on religion that is sure to delight, inspire, and entertain.
Download or read book Seven Types of Atheism written by John Gray and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2018-10-02 with total page 149 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the provocative author of Straw Dogs comes an incisive, surprising intervention in the political and scientific debate over religion and atheism When you explore older atheisms, you will find that some of your firmest convictions—secular or religious—are highly questionable. If this prospect disturbs you, what you are looking for may be freedom from thought. For a generation now, public debate has been corroded by a shrill, narrow derision of religion in the name of an often vaguely understood “science.” John Gray’s stimulating and enjoyable new book, Seven Types of Atheism, describes the complex, dynamic world of older atheisms, a tradition that is, he writes, in many ways intertwined with and as rich as religion itself. Along a spectrum that ranges from the convictions of “God-haters” like the Marquis de Sade to the mysticism of Arthur Schopenhauer, from Bertrand Russell’s search for truth in mathematics to secular political religions like Jacobinism and Nazism, Gray explores the various ways great minds have attempted to understand the questions of salvation, purpose, progress, and evil. The result is a book that sheds an extraordinary light on what it is to be human.
Download or read book What Is God written by Jacob Needleman and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-12-24 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his most deeply personal work, religious scholar Needleman cuts a clear path through today?s clamorous debates over the existence of God, illuminating an entirely new way of approaching the question of how to understand a higher power. I n this new book, philosopher Jacob Needleman? whose voice and ideas have done so much to open the West to esoteric and Eastern religious ideas in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries?intimately considers humanity?s most vital question: What is God? Needleman begins by taking us more than a half century into the past, to his own experience as a brilliant, promising, Ivyeducated student of philosophy?atheistic, existential, and unwilling to blindly accept childish religiosity. But an unsettling meeting with the venerated Zen teacher D. T. Suzuki, combined with the sudden need to accept a dreary position teaching the philosophy of religion, forced the young academician to look more closely at the religious ideas he had once thought dead. Within traditional religious texts the scholar discovered a core of esoteric and philosophical ideas, more mature and challenging than anything he had ever associated with Judaism, Christianity, and the religions of the East. At the same time, Needleman came to realize?as he shares with the reader?that ideas and words are not enough. Ideas and words, no matter how profound, cannot prevent hatred, arrogance, and ultimate despair, and cannot prevent our individual lives from descending into violence and illusion. And with this insight, Needleman begins to open the reader to a new kind of understanding: The inner realization that in order to lead the lives we were intended for, the very nature of human experience must change, including the very structure of our perception and indeed the very structure of our minds. In What Is God?, Needleman draws us closer to the meaning and nature of this needed change?and shows how our present confusion about the purpose of religion and the concept of God reflects a widespread psychological starvation for this specific quality of thought and experience. In rich and varied detail, the book describes this inner experience?and how almost all of us, atheists and ?believers? alike, actually have been visited by it, but without understanding what it means and why the intentional cultivation of this quality of experience is necessary for the fullness of our existence.
Download or read book On God written by J. Krishnamurti and published by Jaico Publishing House. This book was released on 2024-05-20 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In On God, J. Krishnamurti talks about our quest for the sacred, exploring the futility of pursuing knowledge of the ‘unknowable’. He explains that only by relinquishing the pursuit with our intellects can we achieve true liberation, enabling us to experience reality, truth, and bliss in their purest forms. Krishnamurti presents ‘the religious mind’ as one that directly apprehends the sacred rather than adhering to religious dogma. According to Krishnamurti, in order to discover God, we must comprehend the process of thought—the process of self-discovery. He dispels common misconceptions about God and religion, paving the way for original thought. In this transformative exploration, readers are invited to embark on a journey toward genuine wisdom, where the constraints of belief dissolve, and the essence of reality and divinity is unveiled in all its raw splendour.
