Philosophy and Religion

What spiritual or esoteric practices took place within the mysterious and often controversial Knights Templar? Whilst little is known about this aspect of the Order's history, speculation and wild rumours continue to persist. Having taken the three vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, the members of the Templar Order were required to live the life of other monastic orders. However, their remar

Hafiz (1315-1390) was a Persian poet who "lauded the joys of love and wine but, also, targeted religious hypocrisy". His collected works, the Divan being the most well-known, are regarded as a pinnacle of Persian literature and are often found in the homes of people in the Persian speaking world, who learn his poems by heart and still use them as proverbs and sayings. Hafiz primarily wrote in the 

From Genesis to Christ, the Bible testifies to God's love and concern for animals. The same self-centeredness that led to the violence and abuse that has marked human relations also caused the abuse and exploitation of animals. The Bible, argues the author, calls upon human beings to stop their violence and abuse of each other and all other creatures. It promises that when they do, the sorrow and

Thomas Keating has spent over fifty years in sustained practice and devotion to the spiritual life. The results of this creative humble activity are now summarized in his remarkable book: FRUITS AND GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT. As Father Keating says, the spiritual journey is a gradual process of enlarging our emotional mental and physical relationship with the divine reality that is present in us but one

Thomas Keating has been crucial in reviving centering prayer which in effect is a work of praying in the medieval spiritual tradition of lectio divina (sacred reading). This collection of essays by Keating Thomas R. Ward Sarah A. Butler George F. Cairns Paul David Lawson and Gail Fitzpatrick-Hopler furthers that work by expounding centering prayer itself and applying it to other and more outwardly

In many situations and throughout the ages, when people have petitioned God for the relief of their suffering, or the suffering of others, God has said "No." In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prayed that the "cup be taken from him," if it be God’s will. God answered no. Three times St. Paul begged God to remove the "thorn from his side." Three times God said no. When, says Father Lanahan, my fami

Being Upright takes us beyond the conventional interpretation of ethical precepts to the ultimate meaning that informs them. Reb Anderson first introduces us to the fundamental ideas of Zen Buddhist practice. Who was Shakyamuni Buddha and what was his central teaching? What does it mean to be a bodhisattva and take the bodhisattva vow? Why should we confess and acknowledge our ancient twisted karm

If you think that you have to retreat to a cave in the Himalayas to find the enlightenment that yoga promises, think again. In this second edition of Living Your Yoga, Judith Hanson Lasater stretches the meaning of yoga beyond its familiar poses and breathing techniques to include the events of daily life—all of them—as ways to practice. This edition includes three new chapters (Relaxa

In 1963, Jane Roberts met a spiritual entity named Seth. He spoke through her and the lessons he taught proved timeless and crucial. From 1968 to 1975, Roberts held an ESP class, during which she channeled Seth. Susan Watkins was a member of that class. The knowledge gained from Seth helped Watkins and her classmates face serious illness, painful relationships, financial hardship, and natural cata

This DVD contains no lewd or graphic imagery and is illustrated entirely by the world's heritage of art. The knowledge and wisdom presented is the synthesis of the teachings of Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Padmasambhava, the Dalai Lama, Samael Aun Weor and many more. Temptation. The serpent. The expulsion from Paradise. Archetypal stories that have moved millions of human beings: but who has understood t

For thousands of years, many have wondered at the tales of the mysterious force called the serpent power or the kundalini, yet the method to attain this power has been hidden, misunderstood or sometimes, intentionally sabotaged. Now, like a refreshing spring breeze, Samael Aun Weor wipes away the dust and reveals the sacred mysteries of our most ancient and holy science. With a firm foundation in

The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard was one of the most original thinkers of the 19th Century – and one of the most enigmatic men who ever walked the Earth.Philosophically, Kierkegaard was the “bridge” that led from Hegel to Existentialism.Kierkegaard abhorred Hegel's abstract, Know-it-all idealism that tried to capture reality in a few words. Kierkegaard's attack on social and religious comp

Deconstruction is so labyrinthine (and rumored to be fatal) that it's become the monster that murdered philosophy. When Jacques Derrida, the father of deconstruction, uses buzz-words such as “phallogocentrism” and “transcendental signified,” humanities students and aspiring philosophers may get weak in the knees.Following up on the success of DERRIDA FOR BEGINNERS, Jim  Powell's DERRIDA FOR BEGINN

Jacques Lacan is probably the most influential psychoanalyst since Freud (of the roughly 20,000 psychoanalysts in the world, about half are 'Lacanians') yet most people know nothing about him. The 10,000 analysts who use Lacan's ideas work mostly in France, Spain, Italy, and South America. To the rest of the world, including England and America, Lacan is a genius-in-waiting, due to be 'discovered'

Return To Source invites Black people around the world to reconnect with their lost heritage and find healing, self-love and transformation. This book is an empowering call to journey home to a new way of looking after yourself. A new way that is, in fact, the old way. Globally, Africans and Diasporans are rediscovering that, even while navigating an oppressive and often unsafe world, we are c

In this, his most influential work, the great political and social thinker John Stuart Mill examines the relationship of the individual and the state, the ethics of utilitarianism and the essential liberties of individuals, beginning with the right to free thought and speech.

Fragments written in preparation of a defence of Christianity, unfinished at Pascalâ€s death in 1669 and published posthumously, Pensées has long been regarded as a literary masterpiece as well as a great work of philosophy and theology.

"He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee." Expanding on his ideas from Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche's radical polemic Beyond Good and Evil undermines the assumptions of traditional morality and encourages us to think more critically about the world in which we live. In this famo