Against Empathy

Against Empathy PDF Author: Paul Bloom
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062339354
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
New York Post Best Book of 2016 We often think of our capacity to experience the suffering of others as the ultimate source of goodness. Many of our wisest policy-makers, activists, scientists, and philosophers agree that the only problem with empathy is that we don’t have enough of it. Nothing could be farther from the truth, argues Yale researcher Paul Bloom. In AGAINST EMPATHY, Bloom reveals empathy to be one of the leading motivators of inequality and immorality in society. Far from helping us to improve the lives of others, empathy is a capricious and irrational emotion that appeals to our narrow prejudices. It muddles our judgment and, ironically, often leads to cruelty. We are at our best when we are smart enough not to rely on it, but to draw instead upon a more distanced compassion. Basing his argument on groundbreaking scientific findings, Bloom makes the case that some of the worst decisions made by individuals and nations—who to give money to, when to go to war, how to respond to climate change, and who to imprison—are too often motivated by honest, yet misplaced, emotions. With precision and wit, he demonstrates how empathy distorts our judgment in every aspect of our lives, from philanthropy and charity to the justice system; from medical care and education to parenting and marriage. Without empathy, Bloom insists, our decisions would be clearer, fairer, and—yes—ultimately more moral. Brilliantly argued, urgent and humane, AGAINST EMPATHY shows us that, when it comes to both major policy decisions and the choices we make in our everyday lives, limiting our impulse toward empathy is often the most compassionate choice we can make.

Bodhisattva Precepts

Bodhisattva Precepts PDF Author: Rulu
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1467064661
Category : Mahayana Buddhism
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
The spiritual training of a Buddhist comprises the Three Learning: precepts, meditation, and wisdom. Observance of precepts is the foundation of one's spiritual journey to Buddhahood. Classified into three clusters-restraining precepts, precepts for doing good dharmas, and precepts for benefiting sentient beings-Bodhisattva precepts are called the three clusters of pure precepts.This book, Rulu's third, presents seven s'tras in English, all translated from texts in the Chinese Buddhist Canon. Five of these seven English translations have never before been published in book form. S'tras 1 and 2 cover the ten good karmas; S'tra 3 teaches repentance of sins; S'tra 4 expounds the Mah'y'na Vinaya; S'tras 5–7 each contain time-honored Bodhisattva precepts. S'tra 6 is the well-known Brahma Net S'tra; S'tra 7, S'tra of the Up'saka Precepts, also covers the six p'ramit's in detail. Buddhist terms are explained in the glossary.The translator's introduction presents sets of Buddhist precepts and describes the arrival of the H'nay'na Vinaya in China. It explains the development of the Vinaya School, a Mah'y'na school originated in China, and summarizes its tenets. It compares voice-hearer precepts with Bodhisattva precepts, and discusses five texts of the latter. It also touches on selecting those Bodhisattva precepts that suit our modern times. Such precepts will be fewer in number but complete in spirit. Buddhist or non-Buddhist, those who seek to benefit themselves and others need to learn and observe such Bodhisattva precepts.

Against Empathy

Against Empathy PDF Author: Paul Bloom
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062339354
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 190

Get Book Here

Book Description
New York Post Best Book of 2016 We often think of our capacity to experience the suffering of others as the ultimate source of goodness. Many of our wisest policy-makers, activists, scientists, and philosophers agree that the only problem with empathy is that we don’t have enough of it. Nothing could be farther from the truth, argues Yale researcher Paul Bloom. In AGAINST EMPATHY, Bloom reveals empathy to be one of the leading motivators of inequality and immorality in society. Far from helping us to improve the lives of others, empathy is a capricious and irrational emotion that appeals to our narrow prejudices. It muddles our judgment and, ironically, often leads to cruelty. We are at our best when we are smart enough not to rely on it, but to draw instead upon a more distanced compassion. Basing his argument on groundbreaking scientific findings, Bloom makes the case that some of the worst decisions made by individuals and nations—who to give money to, when to go to war, how to respond to climate change, and who to imprison—are too often motivated by honest, yet misplaced, emotions. With precision and wit, he demonstrates how empathy distorts our judgment in every aspect of our lives, from philanthropy and charity to the justice system; from medical care and education to parenting and marriage. Without empathy, Bloom insists, our decisions would be clearer, fairer, and—yes—ultimately more moral. Brilliantly argued, urgent and humane, AGAINST EMPATHY shows us that, when it comes to both major policy decisions and the choices we make in our everyday lives, limiting our impulse toward empathy is often the most compassionate choice we can make.

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction

The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction PDF Author: Alan Jacobs
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019983167X
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 172

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Book Description
In recent years, cultural commentators have sounded the alarm about the dire state of reading in America. Americans are not reading enough, they say, or reading the right books, in the right way. In this book, Alan Jacobs argues that, contrary to the doomsayers, reading is alive and well in America. There are millions of devoted readers supporting hundreds of enormous bookstores and online booksellers. Oprah's Book Club is hugely influential, and a recent NEA survey reveals an actual uptick in the reading of literary fiction. Jacobs's interactions with his students and the readers of his own books, however, suggest that many readers lack confidence; they wonder whether they are reading well, with proper focus and attentiveness, with due discretion and discernment. Many have absorbed the puritanical message that reading is, first and foremost, good for you--the intellectual equivalent of eating your Brussels sprouts. For such people, indeed for all readers, Jacobs offers some simple, powerful, and much needed advice: read at whim, read what gives you delight, and do so without shame, whether it be Stephen King or the King James Version of the Bible. In contrast to the more methodical approach of Mortimer Adler's classic How to Read a Book (1940), Jacobs offers an insightful, accessible, and playfully irreverent guide for aspiring readers. Each chapter focuses on one aspect of approaching literary fiction, poetry, or nonfiction, and the book explores everything from the invention of silent reading, reading responsively, rereading, and reading on electronic devices. Invitingly written, with equal measures of wit and erudition, The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction will appeal to all readers, whether they be novices looking for direction or old hands seeking to recapture the pleasures of reading they first experienced as children.

Love in the New Millennium

Love in the New Millennium PDF Author: Can Xue
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300240481
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
The most ambitious work of fiction by a writer widely considered the most important novelist working in China today In this darkly comic novel, a group of women inhabits a world of constant surveillance, where informants lurk in the flowerbeds and false reports fly. Conspiracies abound in a community that normalizes paranoia and suspicion. Some try to flee—whether to a mysterious gambling bordello or to ancestral homes that can only be reached underground through muddy caves, sewers, and tunnels. Others seek out the refuge of Nest County, where traditional Chinese herbal medicines can reshape or psychologically transport the self. Each life is circumscribed by buried secrets and transcendent delusions. Can Xue's masterful love stories for the new millennium trace love's many guises—satirical, tragic, transient, lasting, nebulous, and fulfilling—against a kaleidoscopic backdrop drawn from East and West of commerce and industry, fraud and exploitation, sex and romance.

The Sweet Spot

The Sweet Spot PDF Author: Paul Bloom
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062910582
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
“This book will challenge you to rethink your vision of a good life. With sharp insights and lucid prose, Paul Bloom makes a captivating case that pain and suffering are essential to happiness. It’s an exhilarating antidote to toxic positivity.” —Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife One of Behavioral Scientist's "Notable Books of 2021" From the author of Against Empathy, a different kind of happiness book, one that shows us how suffering is an essential source of both pleasure and meaning in our lives Why do we so often seek out physical pain and emotional turmoil? We go to movies that make us cry, or scream, or gag. We poke at sores, eat spicy foods, immerse ourselves in hot baths, run marathons. Some of us even seek out pain and humiliation in sexual role-play. Where do these seemingly perverse appetites come from? Drawing on groundbreaking findings from psychology and brain science, The Sweet Spot shows how the right kind of suffering sets the stage for enhanced pleasure. Pain can distract us from our anxieties and help us transcend the self. Choosing to suffer can serve social goals; it can display how tough we are or, conversely, can function as a cry for help. Feelings of fear and sadness are part of the pleasure of immersing ourselves in play and fantasy and can provide certain moral satisfactions. And effort, struggle, and difficulty can, in the right contexts, lead to the joys of mastery and flow. But suffering plays a deeper role as well. We are not natural hedonists—a good life involves more than pleasure. People seek lives of meaning and significance; we aspire to rich relationships and satisfying pursuits, and this requires some amount of struggle, anxiety, and loss. Brilliantly argued, witty, and humane, Paul Bloom shows how a life without chosen suffering would be empty—and worse than that, boring.

A Short Method of Prayer & Other Writings

A Short Method of Prayer & Other Writings PDF Author: Madame Guyon
Publisher: Hendrickson Publishers
ISBN: 1565639413
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
Prayer is the application of the heart to God, and the internal exercise of love." --from A Short Method of Prayer Despite a difficult childhood, a loveless marriage, an early widowhood, and life-long persecution, French mystic Jeanne Guyon produced works of extraordinary spiritual power. Admired by Christians for 300 years--including John Wesley, Charles Spurgeon, Hudson Taylor, and A.W. Tozer--her writings offer penetrating insight into cultivating unfettered communion with God. Hendrickson Christian Classics is planned to include all the timeless books that generations of believers have treasured. Each volume in the series is freshly retypeset, while thoughtful new prefaces explore their spiritual and historical contexts. For contemporary readers, here is an essential library of Christian wisdom through the ages.

The Golden Lake

The Golden Lake PDF Author: Lyssa Royal-Holt
Publisher: Light Technology Publishing
ISBN: 1622338049
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 283

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Book Description
Beginning with the classic book The Prism of Lyra in 1989, Lyssa Royal-Holt’s channeling has focused on presenting profound galactic wisdom in a grounded way to assist our lives on Earth. In this book, the most detailed and powerful channeled teachings that have come through in recent years are presented in depth. These new teachings are sourced from ancient Vega mysticism — the awakening teachings brought to Earth in ancient days from both Sirius and the Pleiades called the School of the Nine Serpents. After millennia of absence, our Sirian and Pleiadian ancestors have now resumed their teachings to match the next phase of human evolution. This book contains two threads: The first thread is the awakening teachings of the Pleiades that were part of the ancient school called the Golden Lake Teachings. These work with the heart and have the gentle and distinct flavor of our Pleiadian ancestors. The second thread is the Sirian teachings that make up the structural foundation of the School of the Nine Serpents. You don’t need to believe in the reality of extraterrestrials to gain immense benefit from the wisdom in this book. These teachings are consciousness-centered and based on the necessary integration of body, mind, spirit, and emotion, as well as light and shadow. Together, the Pleiadian and Sirian teachings provide an invaluable road map for the next phase of human evolution — the integration of polarity and the awakening of human consciousness beyond duality.

Be the best version of yourself

Be the best version of yourself PDF Author: Srinivart
Publisher: Notion Press
ISBN:
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 139

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Book Description
Look around you, everything is constantly changing every moment. All the things are getting better day after day. You are born with the potential to be a better version of yourself each and every day. Be the Best Version of Yourself is a profound collection of insights, wisdom on hundreds of topics arranged in a better way to make you understand them easily. The purpose of the book is to bring more awareness into your life. It helps you to become a better version of yourself.

Chosen for Christ

Chosen for Christ PDF Author: Heather Holleman
Publisher: Moody Publishers
ISBN: 0802496482
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
Do you long to know your unique purpose? Do you feel you have a calling but wonder how to fulfill it? As we pursue a sense of purpose and scramble to be the ones chosen for internships, graduate schools, marriages, careers, or some special honor, we often tie our identity to people, places, and clear plans that leave us frustrated and unfulfilled. We feel like we’re missing the life we’re supposed to live and we somehow veered off course. We ask questions like, “Is this God’s plan for me? How do I know? What is His plan, anyway?” What if Scripture not only answered these questions but also taught us an entirely new way of living? Instead of waiting for the perfect person, place, or plan, what if we lived, above all else, as chosen for Christ? Chosen for Christ invites you to step into the life you’ve been missing. You were chosen for a Person, not a plan. Now it’s time to live out your calling to: worship Jesus live as His treasured possession belong to a new household become like Jesus display God’s power complete the good works He designed for you live differently from the rest of the world In a world fixated on personal purpose and impact, Chosen for Christ presents a new way to think about calling. Each chapter includes discussion questions that will help women embrace their identity as chosen ones and step into a new way of living each new day. Chosen for Christ completes Heather Holleman’s vivid verbs trilogy, which also includes Seated with Christ and Guarded by Christ. It works wonderfully as a stand-alone book or as a powerful companion to her previous works. It also provides an expansion of ideas that appear briefly in Holleman’s devotional Included in Christ.

This is Ancient Philosophy

This is Ancient Philosophy PDF Author: Kirk Fitzpatrick
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119879426
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
THIS IS ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY “A masterful introduction to ancient philosophy. Fitzpatrick knows the contemporary scholarship on these authors, so he can shift from summarizing their thought to scrutinizing individual arguments. Meanwhile the writing remains so accessible that a reader might not notice how much he covers. The prose is precise but relaxed, with details that enrich the texture: the Pythagoreans’ harmonies, the Stoic Horned Argument, Antisthenes’ daily walk to Socrates. Students and instructors alike will benefit.” —Nickolas Pappas, Professor at City College of New York (CUNY) This Is Ancient Philosophy is a fascinating introduction to the major philosophers and foundational concepts of classical antiquity. Assuming no prior knowledge, the book uses an intuitive, readable narrative style as it examines the ideas, influences, and interconnections of philosophers such as Socrates, the Sophists, Plato, and Aristotle, as well as philosophical schools of thought including Cynicism, Epicureanism, Stoicism, and Skepticism. Divided into three parts, the book opens with an overview of early Greek philosophy, describing the turn from mythological thinking to philosophical analysis. The second part focuses on the distinctions between the subjects of philosophy in both the Golden Age and today, followed by a survey of the Hellenistic period and a discussion of the relation between fate and freedom of action. Throughout, readers are aided by a wealth of instructive and engaging charts, grids, figures, and a detailed map illustrating the chronological development of philosophy, from Asia Minor to southern Italy and Athens. Part of the popular This Is Philosophy series, This Is Ancient Philosophy is an excellent text for students of philosophy, both introductory and advanced, and general readers with interest in the philosophy of the classical era.