Download or read book Measuring the Immeasurable Mind written by Matthew Owen and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2021-05-11 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Measuring the Immeasurable Mind: Where Contemporary Neuroscience Meets the Aristotelian Tradition, Matthew Owen argues that despite its nonphysical character, it is possible to empirically detect and measure consciousness. Toward the end of the previous century, the neuroscience of consciousness set its roots and sprouted within a materialist milieu that reduced the mind to matter. Several decades later, dualism is being dusted off and reconsidered. Although some may see this revival as a threat to consciousness science aimed at measuring the conscious mind, Owen argues that measuring consciousness, along with the medical benefits of such measurements, is not ruled out by consciousness being nonphysical. Owen proposes the Mind-Body Powers model of neural correlates of consciousness, which is informed by Aristotelian causation and a substance dualist view of human nature inspired by Thomas Aquinas, who often followed Aristotle. In addition to explaining why there are neural correlates of consciousness, the model provides a philosophical foundation for empirically discerning and quantifying consciousness. En route to presenting and applying the Mind-Body Powers model to neurobiology, Owen rebuts longstanding objections to dualism related to the mind-body problem. With scholarly precision and readable clarity, Owen applies an oft forgotten yet richly developed historical vantage point to contemporary cognitive neuroscience.
Download or read book The Immeasurable Mind written by William R. Uttal and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2010-05 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Is psychology a science? Unlike Darwinian theory in biology or relativity and quantum theory in physics, psychology lacks the basic quantitative or conceptual foundation for a consensus view about how the mind works. Is psychology on the verge of developing such a foundation? "Probably not," answers psychologist William R. Uttal in this iconoclastic and critical examination of psychology''s underlying principles, assumptions, and concepts. In five in-depth chapters and one appendix, he explores the following key issues: *What do we mean by "science" and can psychology be legitimately described as a science? *What are the general principles that should be applied to any science? *What is the role of mathematics in psychology? *Given the current fragmented state of the discipline, is it possible to identify the general principles of a scientific psychology? *Is experimental psychology just applied epistemology and not really scientific? Uttal comes to the conclusion that psychology is a science only to the extent that it is behaviorist in orientation. By comparing his discipline to other sciences, he identifies its limits, establishes a set of principles that help to define psychology as a science, and suggests plausible future developments.
Download or read book Discover The Immeasurable written by Jiddu Krishnamurti and published by SCB Distributors. This book was released on 2014-02-28 with total page 86 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For nearly sixty years, J. Krishnamurti, one of the most distinguished voices of modern times, tirelessly traveled the world lecturing on the need to know the mind, and earned the respect of countless people. Dozens of books document his talks both in the US and in Europe. Discover the Immeasureable contains a series of six lectures given by J. Krishnamurti in the Fall of 1956. It includes the original questions from his listeners, together with his insightful and practical answers. These lectures, as all of the great philosopher’s work, are based on the need for radical change in understanding our own minds. With the term “immeasurable,” Krishnamurti is urging us to explore “what is beyond the beliefs and theories, beyond the sentimental hopes and intellectual assertions [and] mere projections of the mind” that determine our lives. He calls us to passionate action in experiencing life directly, since “only direct experience has validity.” To directly experience what is immeasurable will have an extraordinary significance in our lives, even to the point of realizing what is God, or what is truth. The practice of knowing oneself is not an esoteric one, the author asserts. What we discover, with focused attention, is that truth is revealed in every relationship and at every moment. Krishnamurti advocates the practice of meditation not as some otherworldly transport, but as the method for initiating self-knowledge. Through meditation the mind becomes stilled, without demands. In this state, he speculates, “that which is not measurable comes into being.” Attachment to any belief undermines the search for truth. A book for seekers of wisdom & truth from any tradition ... or no tradition. For readers of J. Krishnamurti’s previous books, and for bookstores and libraries—university & public—everywhere.
Download or read book The Four Immeasurables written by B. Alan Wallace and published by Snow Lion Publications, Incorporated. This book was released on 2004 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a rich suite of practices that open the heart, counter the distortions in our relationships to ourselves, and deepen our relationship to others.
Download or read book Teachings on Love written by Thich Nhat Hanh and published by Parallax Press. This book was released on 2002-12-09 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thich Nhat Hanh’s timeless meditations on love, family, and friendship—with step-by-step practices for cultivating intimacy in your relationships. Weaving together traditional stories, personal experiences, and a deep understanding of the Buddha’s way of mindful living, Thich Nhat Hanh provides step-by-step practices that foster understanding and intimacy in any relationship and extend our love even to those that cause us pain. Teachings on Love is a treasure-trove of guidance for couples, co-workers, or friends who wish to nourish the gift and strength of their relationships and deal creatively with their weaknesses and difficulties. We all yearn to experience a love that is deeper and more joyful. Teachings on Love provides a time-tested path that anyone can follow to nurture the deepest love in ourselves and others.
Download or read book The Immeasurable World written by William Atkins and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2018-07-24 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year (UK) "William Atkins is an erudite writer with a wonderful wit and gaze and this is a new and exciting beast of a travel book."—Joy Williams In the classic literary tradition of Bruce Chatwin and Geoff Dyer, a rich and exquisitely written account of travels in eight deserts on five continents that evokes the timeless allure of these remote and forbidding places. One-third of the earth's surface is classified as desert. Restless, unhappy in love, and intrigued by the Desert Fathers who forged Christian monasticism in the Egyptian desert, William Atkins decided to travel in eight of the world's driest, hottest places: the Empty Quarter of Oman, the Gobi Desert and Taklamakan deserts of northwest China, the Great Victoria Desert of Australia, the man-made desert of the Aral Sea in Kazkahstan, the Black Rock and Sonoran Deserts of the American Southwest, and Egypt's Eastern Desert. Each of his travel narratives effortlessly weaves aspects of natural history, historical background, and present-day reportage into a compelling tapestry that reveals the human appeal of these often inhuman landscapes.
Download or read book Knowledge and Liberation written by Anne Carolyn Klein and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 1987-01-01 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Buddhist philosophy is concerned with defining and overcoming the limitations and errors of perception. To do this is essential to Buddhism's purpose of establishing a method for attaining liberation. Conceptual thought in this view can lead to a liberating understanding, a transformative religious experience. The author discusses the workings of both direct and conceptual cognition, drawing on a variety of Tibetan and Indian texts. The Gelukba interpretation of Dignaga and Dharmakirti is greatly at variance with virtually all other scholarship concerning these seminal Buddhist logicians.
Download or read book Wake Up To Your Life written by Ken McLeod and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2002-03-26 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The key to becoming fully alive and joyful is to develop our natural capacity for attention and to be fully present here and now. In this informative guidebook to practical Buddhism you discover: How to live life with equanimity, loving-kindness, compassion, and joy How to cut through obsessions with the external world, relationships, harmful emotions, pleasure and power, and self Tried-and-true methods for cultivating active attention with your body and mind.
Download or read book Qigong and the Tai Chi Axis written by Mimi Kuo-Deemer and published by Courier Dover Publications. This book was released on 2019-10-16 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reduce stress, release pain, and create bodily harmony with this introduction to qigong and tai chi. Includes practical information, insights, and widely practiced sequences and forms that lead to improved health.
Download or read book Immeasurable written by Skye Jethani and published by Moody Publishers. This book was released on 2017-10-03 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CHRISTIANITY TODAY'S PASTORAL/CHURCH LEADERSHIP BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017 “In my first seminary class, we were asked to introduce ourselves and say why we enrolled. I’ll never forget what one student said… ‘My denomination wants me to have an M.Div., but once they see I can grow a big church, I don't think they'll make me finish the program.’” The priorities of this future pastor were startling, but he’s not alone in them.In the years since that class, author and minister Skye Jethani has seen more and more pastors swallowed by the celebrity syndrome. Not long ago, ministers were among the most trusted and admired people in our culture. But not anymore. A 2013 study from Gallop revealed that Americans’ admiration for clergy has reached an all-time low. That, taken with reduced trust of institutional religion overall, makes it easy to see why ministers feel insecure about their calling. In response to this trend, some pastors have looked to emulate those who are praised by the culture—business leaders, entertainers, and social activists. This has led to a new understanding of what a minister should be. We’ve turned away from viewing our pastors as shepherds, and now expect them to be celebrities. Immeasurable will help ministers recognize the cultural forces shaping their view of the calling, and then reimagine what faithful church leaders can look like in the twenty-first century. Through short essays and reflections on the pastor’s soul and skills, this book will help prospective pastors explore their calling to ministry, and it will help veteran pastors reframe their vision for the work. Drawing on cultural dynamics, personal stories, and his own experience working in a church and with church leaders, Skye Jethani will address matters like ambition, anger, community, consumerism, fame, health, justice, platform, preaching, rest,simplicity, success, vision, and more. There are endless resources to help pastors do the practical work of ministry, but there are far fewer that speak to the pastor’s soul and spirit. Immeasurable provides affirmation and encouragement for church leaders faithfully serving God. It commends the true work of ministry—shepherding, teaching, encouraging—while redefining what we mean by success in ministry. It’s a book church leaders can return to again and again for insight and inspiration.
Download or read book Mind in the Balance written by B. Alan Wallace and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2009-03-03 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By establishing a dialogue in which the meditative practices of Buddhism and Christianity speak to the theories of modern philosophy and science, B. Alan Wallace reveals the theoretical similarities underlying these disparate disciplines and their unified approach to making sense of the objective world. Wallace begins by exploring the relationship between Christian and Buddhist meditative practices. He outlines a sequence of meditations the reader can undertake, showing that, though Buddhism and Christianity differ in their belief systems, their methods of cognitive inquiry provide similar insight into the nature and origins of consciousness. From this convergence Wallace then connects the approaches of contemporary cognitive science, quantum mechanics, and the philosophy of the mind. He links Buddhist and Christian views to the provocative philosophical theories of Hilary Putnam, Charles Taylor, and Bas van Fraassen, and he seamlessly incorporates the work of such physicists as Anton Zeilinger, John Wheeler, and Stephen Hawking. Combining a concrete analysis of conceptions of consciousness with a guide to cultivating mindfulness and profound contemplative practice, Wallace takes the scientific and intellectual mapping of the mind in exciting new directions.
Download or read book The Forerunner of All Things written by Maria Heim and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-11 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholars have long been intrigued by the Buddha's defining action (karma) as intention. This book explores systematically how intention, agency, and moral psychology were interpreted in all branches of early Theravada thought, paying special attention to the thought of the 5th-century commentator Buddhaghosa.
Download or read book Voice of the Buddha written by Maria Heim and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-12 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What would a Buddhist theory of texts look like through the lens of the 5th-century thinker Buddhaghosa? In Voice of the Buddha, Maria Heim reads from the principal commentator, editor, and translator of the Theravada intellectual tradition, yielding fresh insight into all three collections of the early Pali texts: Vinaya, the Suttas, and the Abhidhamma. Buddhaghosa considered the Buddha to be omniscient, the Buddha's words to be "oceanic." Every word, passage, book--indeed the corpus as a whole--is taken to be "endless and immeasurable" in Buddhaghosa's view. Commentarial practice thus requires disciplined methods of expansion, drawing out the endless possibilities for meaning and application. Heim considers Buddhaghosa's theories of texts, and follows his practices of exegesis to discover how he explored scripture's infinity. By examining the significance of the immeasurability of scripture in commentarial practice and as a general principle, this book offers new tools to understand the huge scriptural and commentarial literature of the Pali tradition. And by taking seriously a traditional commentator's theory of texts, it beckons us to learn from commentaries themselves how we might read and interpret them and the texts on which they comment.
Download or read book How to Free Your Mind written by Thubten Chodron and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2013-07-09 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tara, the feminine embodiment of enlightened activity, is a Buddhist deity whose Tibetan name means "liberator," signaling her ability to free beings from the delusion and ignorance that keep them trapped in ever-recurring patterns of negativity. She embodies a challenge, but one that is profoundly nurturing: to transform our minds and become like her, reflecting the tranquility, compassion, and wisdom that make her so beautiful. Thubten Chodron describes a simple meditation on Tara, explaining its benefits and its application to daily life. She also presents two well-loved praises—"Homage to the Twenty-one Taras" and "A Song of Longing for Tara, the Infallible"—together with reflections on their meanings for modern practitioners.
Download or read book Boundless Heart written by Christina Feldman and published by Shambhala Publications. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An esteemed Insight Meditation teacher leads you through the sublime qualities of Buddhism—kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity—and how they can enrich your life Compassion, kindness, equanimity, and joy are not only the fruits of the awakened life but also the path to it—attitudes of mind that can be cultivated through intention and dedication. Also known as the brahma viharas (sublime abodes) and the “Four Immeasurables,” these enobling qualities are far more than simply the “feel-good” states they are often mistaken for. They must be pursued sincerely as a spiritual practice—not just as a means of getting a “spiritual high”—in order to experience the full extent of their power. In Boundless Heart, Christina Feldman presents teachings on the Four Immeasurables, exploring how they balance each other in a way that enhances them all. Her simple practices will lead you toward a life infused with kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity—and to a way of being that promotes those qualities to the world at large.
Download or read book Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand written by Pha-boṅ-kha-pa Byams-pa-bstan-ʼdzin-ʼphrin-las-rgya-mtsho and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2006-11-03 with total page 897 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pabongka Rinpoche was one the twentieth century's most charismatic and revered Tibetan lamas, and in Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand we can see why. In this famous twenty-four-day teaching on the lamrim, or stages of the path, Pabongka Rinpoche weaves together lively stories and quotations with frank observations and practical advice to move readers step by step along the journey to buddhahood. When his student Trijang Rinpoche first edited and published these teachings in Tibetan, an instant classic was born. The flavor and immediacy of the original Tibetan are preserved in Michael Richards' fluid and lively translation, which is now substantially revised in this new edition.
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.
