Download or read book Pursuing Consciousness written by Peter Ralston and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2015-03-10 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Building on his previous groundbreaking work, Peter Ralston once again proves to be a sure-footed guide for readers seeking to negotiate the challenging terrain of personal and spiritual growth. In accessible language, Ralston demonstrates how the lofty goals of self-transformation and enlightenment can be achieved with a no-nonsense approach available to anyone willing to reach beyond their current experience of self and reality. Pursuing Consciousness is a down-to-earth handbook for staying focused on the work at hand, even while tackling such unsettling tasks as investigating deeply ingrained psychological beliefs and identifying common areas of misunderstanding that hamper transformative growth. Ralston explains that deeper levels of consciousness aren't just for monks—anyone can have an enlightenment experience. He shows that enlightenment does not transform the self, and transforming the self does not produce enlightenment. Once we grasp that these two pursuits take place in entirely different domains of consciousness, we can use each to empower the other. Ralston provides specific tools for changing the very person that we experience being. His work has been acclaimed by people from a diverse range of disciplines—including spiritual teachers, psychiatrists, cognitive scientists, physicists, and artists. As with Ralston’s previous works, this book points the way to a direct encounter with the true nature of Being and the possibility of real personal change. From the Trade Paperback edition.
Download or read book The Genius of Being written by Peter Ralston and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter Ralston’s exceptionally lucid trilogy on the nature of human consciousness culminates here in The Genius of Being, a book of deep contemplations on the unseen elements that create our world. The first volume, The Book of Not Knowing, garnered much praise as a comprehensive exploration of the depths of self and consciousness. The second volume, Pursuing Consciousness, clarifies the difference between enlightenment and self-transformation, and then pairs these two goals in a strikingly effective way. This third book is both shorter and more complex, taking us straight to the heart of the origins of our experience. In a progression of illuminating assertions, Ralston shows us how human consciousness carves out distinctions from whatever is absolutely true. This dynamic not only generates both self and reality from nothing, it imbues them with the quality of objective truth. From the time we first distinguish between self and not-self as infants, we begin making a sequence of existential assumptions that result in the illusion that a self is some ethereal “object” within. This universally accepted assumption persists despite the failure of exhaustive investigations to locate this inner self. This book is not for the faint of heart or the casual seeker, but contemplating the assertions here empowers you to personally and experientially grasp what is rarely even glimpsed: a profound consciousness of the genesis of human experience.
Download or read book Consciousness Dialogues written by Peter Ralston and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2018-06-12 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter Ralston responds to 150 questions about consciousness from a global spectrum of people striving to grasp the nature of their own selves This illuminating collection of 150 questions and responses between Peter Ralston and a global spectrum of seekers provides a rare and nuanced look at the nature of consciousness and the path to understanding our true selves. Ralston is the author of the groundbreaking trilogy on the existential foundations of the human condition—The Book of Not Knowing, Pursuing Consciousness, and The Genius of Being. Here he has selected inquiries from more than two decades of question-and-answer exchanges with students as they work their way through his communications. The mosaic of viewpoints from an astonishing diversity of real people at all levels of consciousness work yields a narrative that is intricate, wide-ranging, intimate, and emotionally honest. These dialogues expand our understanding of consciousness, test our assumptions, and interrogate the very process of inquiry.
Download or read book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind written by Julian Jaynes and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2000-08-15 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: National Book Award Finalist: “This man’s ideas may be the most influential, not to say controversial, of the second half of the twentieth century.”—Columbus Dispatch At the heart of this classic, seminal book is Julian Jaynes's still-controversial thesis that human consciousness did not begin far back in animal evolution but instead is a learned process that came about only three thousand years ago and is still developing. The implications of this revolutionary scientific paradigm extend into virtually every aspect of our psychology, our history and culture, our religion—and indeed our future. “Don’t be put off by the academic title of Julian Jaynes’s The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. Its prose is always lucid and often lyrical…he unfolds his case with the utmost intellectual rigor.”—The New York Times “When Julian Jaynes . . . speculates that until late in the twentieth millennium BC men had no consciousness but were automatically obeying the voices of the gods, we are astounded but compelled to follow this remarkable thesis.”—John Updike, The New Yorker “He is as startling as Freud was in The Interpretation of Dreams, and Jaynes is equally as adept at forcing a new view of known human behavior.”—American Journal of Psychiatry
Download or read book Power and Freedom in the Space of Reasons written by Tuomo Tiisala and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2024-07-31 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book argues that the received view of the distinction between freedom and power must be rejected because it rests on an untenable account of the discursive cognition that endows individuals with the capacity for autonomy and self-governed rationality. In liberal and Kantian approaches alike, the autonomous subject is a self-standing starting point whose freedom is constrained by relations of power only contingently because they are external to the subject’s constitution. Thus, the received view defines the distinction between freedom and power as a dichotomy. Michel Foucault is arguably the most important critic of that dichotomy. However, it is widely agreed that Foucault falls short of justifying the alternative view he develops, where power and freedom are essentially entangled instead. The book fills out the gap by investigating the social preconditions of discursive cognition. Drawing on pragmatist-inferentialist resources from the philosophy of language (Wittgenstein, Sellars, and Brandom), it presents a new interpretation of Foucault’s philosophy that is unified by his overlooked idea of “the archaeology of knowledge.” As a result, the book not only explains why and how power and freedom must be entangled but also what it means ethically to pursue and gain autonomy with respect to one’s own understanding. Power and Freedom in the Space of Reasons will appeal to scholars and advanced students working in social and political philosophy, critical theory, ethics, philosophy of language, and the history of 20th-century philosophy.
Download or read book The Power of Now written by Eckhart Tolle and published by New World Library. This book was released on 2010-10-06 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It's no wonder that The Power of Now has sold over 16 million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 30 foreign languages. Much more than simple principles and platitudes, the book takes readers on an inspiring spiritual journey to find their true and deepest self and reach the ultimate in personal growth and spirituality: the discovery of truth and light. In the first chapter, Tolle introduces readers to enlightenment and its natural enemy, the mind. He awakens readers to their role as a creator of pain and shows them how to have a pain-free identity by living fully in the present. The journey is thrilling, and along the way, the author shows how to connect to the indestructible essence of our Being, "the eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death." Featuring a new preface by the author, this paperback shows that only after regaining awareness of Being, liberated from Mind and intensely in the Now, is there Enlightenment.
Download or read book The Genius of Being written by Peter Ralston and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Peter Ralston’s exceptionally lucid trilogy on the nature of human consciousness culminates here in The Genius of Being, a book of deep contemplations on the unseen elements that create our world. The first volume, The Book of Not Knowing, garnered much praise as a comprehensive exploration of the depths of self and consciousness. The second volume, Pursuing Consciousness, clarifies the difference between enlightenment and self-transformation, and then pairs these two goals in a strikingly effective way. This third book is both shorter and more complex, taking us straight to the heart of the origins of our experience. In a progression of illuminating assertions, Ralston shows us how human consciousness carves out distinctions from whatever is absolutely true. This dynamic not only generates both self and reality from nothing, it imbues them with the quality of objective truth. From the time we first distinguish between self and not-self as infants, we begin making a sequence of existential assumptions that result in the illusion that a self is some ethereal “object” within. This universally accepted assumption persists despite the failure of exhaustive investigations to locate this inner self. This book is not for the faint of heart or the casual seeker, but contemplating the assertions here empowers you to personally and experientially grasp what is rarely even glimpsed: a profound consciousness of the genesis of human experience.
Download or read book Seeing Red written by Nicholas Humphrey and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A brilliantly inventive account of the evolution of consciousness, the best yet” (Paul Broks, Prospect). “Consciousness matters. Arguably it matters more than anything. The purpose of this book is to build towards an explanation of just what the matter is.” Nicholas Humphrey begins this compelling exploration of the biggest of big questions with a challenge to the reader, and himself. What’s involved in “seeing red”? What is it like for us to see someone else seeing something red? Seeing a red screen tells us a fact about something in the world. But it also creates a new fact—a sensation in each of our minds, the feeling of redness. And that’s the mystery. Conventional science so far hasn’t told us what conscious sensations are made of, or how we get access to them, or why we have them at all. From an evolutionary perspective, what’s the point of consciousness? Humphrey offers a daring and novel solution, arguing that sensations are not things that happen to us, they are things we do—originating in our primordial ancestors’ expressions of liking or disgust. Tracing the evolutionary trajectory through to human beings, he shows how this has led to sensations playing the key role in the human sense of Self. The Self, as we now know it from within, seems to have fascinating other-worldly properties. It leads us to believe in mind-body duality and the existence of a soul. And such beliefs—even if mistaken—can be highly adaptive, because they increase the value we place on our own and others’ lives. “Consciousness matters,” Humphrey concludes with striking paradox, “because it is its function to matter. It has been designed to create in human beings a Self whose life is worth pursuing.” Praise for Seeing Red “A wonderful amalgam of science, philosophy, and art. [Seeing Red] is based on deep knowledge of visual processing by the brain and poetic understanding of human experience. This is a remarkable achievement.” —Richard Gregory, Emeritus Professor of Neuropsychology, University of Bristol, and editor of The Oxford Companion to the Mind “A brief, brilliant, and wonderfully lucid contribution to consciousness studies. By combining empirical scientific method, evolutionary theory, and a sensitive appreciation of the arts, Nicholas Humphrey argues plausibly that the “hard problem” of consciousness—the difficulty of explaining the connection between the material brain and the phenomenon of individual selfhood—may itself be the answer to a bigger question: what makes us human?”—David Lodge, author of Consciousness and the Novel: Connected Essays “Illustrating his argument with the musings of poets and painters, Humphrey stylishly inspires curiosity about consciousness.” —Gilbert Taylor, Booklist
Download or read book Philosophical Consciousness and Scientific Knowledge written by Debi Prasad Chattopadhyaya and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 596 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Main Issues That Figure In The Very Title Of This Volume Are Indicative Of Its Scope And Contents. First, Philosophical Studies In Consciousness Have Their Persuppositions As Well As Implications. Secondly, In Order To Understant Clearly The Said Pre-Suppositions And Implications, The Intended Reader Group Needs To Tbe Introduced At Least To Some Core Concepts Of Philosophy And Science In Their Modern Sense. Thirdly, Since This Work Is Cross-Disciplinary In Its Orientation, The Conceptual Linkages Between Science And Philosophy Have Been Explored By Distinguished Philosophers And Scientists In Several Contributions To This Publication. Finally, A Conscious Attempt Has Been Made In Many Papers Of This Work That Every Branch Of Valid Knowledge, Philosophy Or Science, However Theoretically Abstract It May Be, Has Its Practical Moorings And The Same Are Temporarily Traceable. From The Available History Of Philosophy And Science It Is Found That These Disciplines Were Integrated In The Ancient Times. Differentiation Has Been Due To Endlessly Increasing Specialization Within Each Discipline. Even Today Many Philosophers And Historians Of Science Are Studying Carefully The Relation Between Different Strata Of Disciplines. The Emphasis On The Above Issues Is Intended, Among Other Things, To Avoid The Extremes Of Reductionosm, Mistakes Of Value-Fact Dualism, And To Clarify The Connection Between Theory And Practice, Experience And Experiment, Discovery And Legitimization Of Truth-Claims. In An Anthology Like This, Difference In Pre-Suppositions And Conclusions Of The Contributors, Cannot Be Ruled Out. Respect For The Freedom Of Thought, A Hallmark Of The Project, Has Been Tempered By Commitment To Reasoning. This Book, Primary Meant For Fairly Educated Readers, Is Likely To Be Of Interest To The Researchers In The Areas Of Social And Natural Science, And The Reading Public.
Download or read book SmartData written by Inman Harvey and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-23 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: SmartData empowers personal data by wrapping it in a cloak of intelligence such that it now becomes the individual’s virtual proxy in cyberspace. No longer will personal data be shared or stored in the cloud as merely data, encrypted or otherwise; it will now be stored and shared as a constituent of the binary string specifying the entire SmartData agent. This agent proactively builds-in privacy, security and user preferences, right from the outset, not as an afterthought. SmartData: Privacy Meets Evolutionary Robotics includes the advances made in the technology of simulating virtual worlds, together with the ideas emerging from fields of evolutionary robotics and embodied cognition within a framework of dynamical systems as an approach toward this ultimate goal. The book brings together top researchers in the field and addresses current personal data privacy challenges in the online-world.
Download or read book Sacred Books of the Buddhists written by and published by . This book was released on 1927 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Further Dialogues of the Buddha written by and published by . This book was released on 1927 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Dual Process Theories of the Social Mind written by Jeffrey W. Sherman and published by Guilford Publications. This book was released on 2014-05-01 with total page 641 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This volume provides an authoritative synthesis of a dynamic, influential area of psychological research. Leading investigators address all aspects of dual-process theories: their core assumptions, conceptual foundations, and applications to a wide range of social phenomena. In 38 chapters, the volume addresses the pivotal role of automatic and controlled processes in attitudes and evaluation; social perception; thinking and reasoning; self-regulation; and the interplay of affect, cognition, and motivation. Current empirical and methodological developments are described. Critiques of the duality approach are explored and important questions for future research identified"--
Download or read book Galileo s Error written by Philip Goff and published by Pantheon. This book was released on 2019 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From a leading philosopher of the mind comes this lucid, provocative argument that offers a radically new picture of human consciousness--panpsychism, an exciting alternative that could pave the way forward.ward.
Download or read book Zen Body Being written by Peter Ralston and published by North Atlantic Books. This book was released on 2011-07-12 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this inspiring guide, Peter Ralston presents a program of "physical education" for anyone interested in body improvement. Using simple, clear language to demystify the Zen mindset, he draws on more than three decades of experience teaching students and apprentices worldwide who have applied his body-being approach. More of a transformative guide than a specific list of exercises devoted to any particular physical approach, Zen Body-Being explains how to create a state of mental control, enhanced feeling-awareness, correct structural alignment, increased spatial acuity, and even a greater interactive presence. Exercises are simple, often involving feeling-imagery and meditative awareness, which have a profound and sometimes instant effect. Where similar guides teach readers what to do, this book teaches readers how to be.
Download or read book The Pedagogical Seminary written by and published by . This book was released on 1896 with total page 430 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vols. 5-15 include "Bibliography of child study," by Louis N. Wilson.
Download or read book Being You written by Anil Seth and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-10-19 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER A Best Book of 2021—Bloomberg Businessweek; A Best Science Book of 2021—The Guardian; A Best Science Book of 2021—Financial Times; A Best Philosophy Book of 2021—Five Books; A Best Book of 2021—The Economist Anil Seth's quest to understand the biological basis of conscious experience is one of the most exciting contributions to twenty-first-century science. What does it mean to “be you”—that is, to have a specific, conscious experience of the world around you and yourself within it? There may be no more elusive or fascinating question. Historically, humanity has considered the nature of consciousness to be a primarily spiritual or philosophical inquiry, but scientific research is now mapping out compelling biological theories and explanations for consciousness and selfhood. Now, internationally renowned neuroscience professor, researcher, and author Anil Seth is offers a window into our consciousness in BEING YOU: A New Science of Consciousness. Anil Seth is both a leading expert on the neuroscience of consciousness and one of most prominent spokespeople for this relatively new field of science. His radical argument is that we do not perceive the world as it objectively is, but rather that we are prediction machines, constantly inventing our world and correcting our mistakes by the microsecond, and that we can now observe the biological mechanisms in the brain that accomplish this process of consciousness. Seth has been interviewed for documentaries aired on the BBC, Netflix, and Amazon and podcasts by Sam Harris, Russell Brand, and Chris Anderson, and his 2017 TED Talk on the topic has been viewed over 11 million times, a testament to his uncanny ability to make unimaginably complex science accessible and entertaining.
