Action Versus Contemplation

Action Versus Contemplation PDF Author: Jennifer Summit
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022603237X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 253

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Book Description
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone,” Blaise Pascal wrote in 1654. But then there’s Walt Whitman, in 1856: “Whoever you are, come forth! Or man or woman come forth! / You must not stay sleeping and dallying there in the house.” It is truly an ancient debate: Is it better to be active or contemplative? To do or to think? To make an impact, or to understand the world more deeply? Aristotle argued for contemplation as the highest state of human flourishing. But it was through action that his student Alexander the Great conquered the known world. Which should we aim at? Centuries later, this argument underlies a surprising number of the questions we face in contemporary life. Should students study the humanities, or train for a job? Should adults work for money or for meaning? And in tumultuous times, should any of us sit on the sidelines, pondering great books, or throw ourselves into protests and petition drives? With Action versus Contemplation, Jennifer Summit and Blakey Vermeule address the question in a refreshingly unexpected way: by refusing to take sides. Rather, they argue for a rethinking of the very opposition. The active and the contemplative can—and should—be vibrantly alive in each of us, fused rather than sundered. Writing in a personable, accessible style, Summit and Vermeule guide readers through the long history of this debate from Plato to Pixar, drawing compelling connections to the questions and problems of today. Rather than playing one against the other, they argue, we can discover how the two can nourish, invigorate, and give meaning to each other, as they have for the many writers, artists, and thinkers, past and present, whose examples give the book its rich, lively texture of interplay and reference. This is not a self-help book. It won’t give you instructions on how to live your life. Instead, it will do something better: it will remind you of the richness of a life that embraces action and contemplation, company and solitude, living in the moment and planning for the future. Which is better? Readers of this book will discover the answer: both.

Action Versus Contemplation

Action Versus Contemplation PDF Author: Jennifer Summit
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022603237X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 253

Get Book Here

Book Description
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone,” Blaise Pascal wrote in 1654. But then there’s Walt Whitman, in 1856: “Whoever you are, come forth! Or man or woman come forth! / You must not stay sleeping and dallying there in the house.” It is truly an ancient debate: Is it better to be active or contemplative? To do or to think? To make an impact, or to understand the world more deeply? Aristotle argued for contemplation as the highest state of human flourishing. But it was through action that his student Alexander the Great conquered the known world. Which should we aim at? Centuries later, this argument underlies a surprising number of the questions we face in contemporary life. Should students study the humanities, or train for a job? Should adults work for money or for meaning? And in tumultuous times, should any of us sit on the sidelines, pondering great books, or throw ourselves into protests and petition drives? With Action versus Contemplation, Jennifer Summit and Blakey Vermeule address the question in a refreshingly unexpected way: by refusing to take sides. Rather, they argue for a rethinking of the very opposition. The active and the contemplative can—and should—be vibrantly alive in each of us, fused rather than sundered. Writing in a personable, accessible style, Summit and Vermeule guide readers through the long history of this debate from Plato to Pixar, drawing compelling connections to the questions and problems of today. Rather than playing one against the other, they argue, we can discover how the two can nourish, invigorate, and give meaning to each other, as they have for the many writers, artists, and thinkers, past and present, whose examples give the book its rich, lively texture of interplay and reference. This is not a self-help book. It won’t give you instructions on how to live your life. Instead, it will do something better: it will remind you of the richness of a life that embraces action and contemplation, company and solitude, living in the moment and planning for the future. Which is better? Readers of this book will discover the answer: both.

Action, Contemplation, and Happiness

Action, Contemplation, and Happiness PDF Author: C. D. C. Reeve
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674065476
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
The notion of practical wisdom is one of Aristotle's greatest inventions. It has inspired philosophers as diverse as Martin Heidegger, Hans-Georg Gadamer, Elizabeth Anscombe, Michael Thompson, and John McDowell. Now a leading scholar of ancient philosophy offers a challenge to received accounts of practical wisdom by situating it in the larger context of Aristotle's views on knowledge and reality. That happiness is the end pursued by practical wisdom is commonly agreed. What is disputed is whether happiness is to be found in the practical life of political action, in which we exhibit courage, temperance, and other virtues of character, or in the contemplative life, where theoretical wisdom is the essential virtue. C. D. C. Reeve argues that the dichotomy is bogus, that these lives are in fact parts of a single life, which is the best human one. In support of this view, he develops innovative accounts of many of the central notions in Aristotle's metaphysics, epistemology, and psychology, including matter and form, scientific knowledge, dialectic, educatedness, perception, understanding, political science, practical truth, deliberation, and deliberate choice. These accounts are based directly on freshly translated passages from many of Aristotle's writings. Action, Contemplation, and Happiness is an accessible essay not just on practical wisdom but on Aristotle's philosophy as a whole.

Contemplation in Action

Contemplation in Action PDF Author: Richard Rohr
Publisher: Crossroad
ISBN: 9780824523886
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book, designed for bedside devotion, offers the best of Richard Rohr's "Radical Grace" newsletter.

Contemplation in a World of Action

Contemplation in a World of Action PDF Author: Thomas Merton
Publisher: Image
ISBN: 9780385025508
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
The American trappist monk outlines means of reorganizing monastic life to meet the needs of contemporary man

Action and Contemplation

Action and Contemplation PDF Author: Robert C. Bartlett
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791442517
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
European and North American scholars explore the political philosophy of Aristotle, with particular attention to questions arising from the Politics and the Nicomachean Ethics.

Contemplation and Action in World Religions

Contemplation and Action in World Religions PDF Author: Yūsuf Ībish
Publisher: University of Washington Press
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 280

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Book Description


The Universal Christ

The Universal Christ PDF Author: Richard Rohr
Publisher: Convergent Books
ISBN: 1524762105
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From one of the world’s most influential spiritual thinkers, a long-awaited book exploring what it means that Jesus was called “Christ,” and how this forgotten truth can restore hope and meaning to our lives. “Anyone who strives to put their faith into action will find encouragement and inspiration in the pages of this book.”—Melinda Gates In his decades as a globally recognized teacher, Richard Rohr has helped millions realize what is at stake in matters of faith and spirituality. Yet Rohr has never written on the most perennially talked about topic in Christianity: Jesus. Most know who Jesus was, but who was Christ? Is the word simply Jesus’s last name? Too often, Rohr writes, our understandings have been limited by culture, religious debate, and the human tendency to put ourselves at the center. Drawing on scripture, history, and spiritual practice, Rohr articulates a transformative view of Jesus Christ as a portrait of God’s constant, unfolding work in the world. “God loves things by becoming them,” he writes, and Jesus’s life was meant to declare that humanity has never been separate from God—except by its own negative choice. When we recover this fundamental truth, faith becomes less about proving Jesus was God, and more about learning to recognize the Creator’s presence all around us, and in everyone we meet. Thought-provoking, practical, and full of deep hope and vision, The Universal Christ is a landmark book from one of our most beloved spiritual writers, and an invitation to contemplate how God liberates and loves all that is.

Crisis Contemplation

Crisis Contemplation PDF Author: Barbara Holmes
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781623050559
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Radical Grace

Radical Grace PDF Author: Richard Rohr
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780867162578
Category : Meditations
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This collection of 408 meditations by America's foremost retreat master and preacher follows the Church's liturgical cycle, striking the spirit of each season.

Changing to Thrive

Changing to Thrive PDF Author: James O. Prochaska
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1616496304
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 175

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Book Description
Changing unhealthy behaviors is easier said than done. Through interactive exercises, backed by countless research studies, Changing to Thrive will help readers progress through the Stages of Change and find the will power to create lasting change that will allow them to thrive. Changing unhealthy behaviors is easier said than done. Through interactive exercises, backed by countless research studies, Changing to Thrive will help readers progress through the Stages of Change and find the will power to create lasting change that will allow them to thrive. Eat healthy. Exercise. Quit smoking. Cut down on drinking. Reduce stress. Changing unhealthy behaviors is easier said than done. If you’re like most of us, you have already made repeated attempts to change your lifestyle and improve your well-being without lasting success. You may attribute those failures to things like lack of motivation or the “wrong genes.” But it’s more likely that you simply don’t know how to change. In this groundbreaking book, James O. Prochaska, PhD, and Janice M. Prochaska, PhD, guide you through a six-stage process designed to help you assess your readiness to change, then tap the inner resources necessary to thrive physically, emotionally, and socially. Backed by countless research studies, the stages of change model, developed by James Prochaska in collaboration with Carlo DiClemente, PhD, has revolutionized the field of behavior change.Through interactive exercises, Changing to Thrive will help you progress through the stages of change and learn that you have the power within to thrive.