The Presence of Other Worlds

The Presence of Other Worlds PDF Author: Wilson Van Dusen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description

The Presence of Other Worlds

The Presence of Other Worlds PDF Author: Wilson Van Dusen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Book Description


The Presence of Other Worlds

The Presence of Other Worlds PDF Author: Wilson Van Dusen
Publisher: Chrysalis Books
ISBN: 9780877853121
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
An account of the monumental journey of eighteenth-century scientist and philosopher Emanuel Swedenborg into the depths of his own mind and to spiritual worlds beyond.

The Presence of Other Worlds

The Presence of Other Worlds PDF Author: Wilson Miles Van Dusen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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The Hidden Levels of the Mind

The Hidden Levels of the Mind PDF Author: Douglas Taylor
Publisher: Swedenborg Foundation
ISBN: 9780877853404
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Swedish scientist and theologian Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) devoted his life to exploring the mysteries of the soul. Scattered throughout his theological works is a description of a complex system of interaction between our "natural" minds (our everyday thoughts and feelings) and our spiritual minds, which are in touch with the divine. This book takes those scattered descriptions and weaves them into a coherent system that is invaluable for understanding Swedenborg's thought -- and our own.

How God Becomes Real

How God Becomes Real PDF Author: T.M. Luhrmann
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691211981
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
The hard work required to make God real, how it changes the people who do it, and why it helps explain the enduring power of faith How do gods and spirits come to feel vividly real to people—as if they were standing right next to them? Humans tend to see supernatural agents everywhere, as the cognitive science of religion has shown. But it isn’t easy to maintain a sense that there are invisible spirits who care about you. In How God Becomes Real, acclaimed anthropologist and scholar of religion T. M. Luhrmann argues that people must work incredibly hard to make gods real and that this effort—by changing the people who do it and giving them the benefits they seek from invisible others—helps to explain the enduring power of faith. Drawing on ethnographic studies of evangelical Christians, pagans, magicians, Zoroastrians, Black Catholics, Santeria initiates, and newly orthodox Jews, Luhrmann notes that none of these people behave as if gods and spirits are simply there. Rather, these worshippers make strenuous efforts to create a world in which invisible others matter and can become intensely present and real. The faithful accomplish this through detailed stories, absorption, the cultivation of inner senses, belief in a porous mind, strong sensory experiences, prayer, and other practices. Along the way, Luhrmann shows why faith is harder than belief, why prayer is a metacognitive activity like therapy, why becoming religious is like getting engrossed in a book, and much more. A fascinating account of why religious practices are more powerful than religious beliefs, How God Becomes Real suggests that faith is resilient not because it provides intuitions about gods and spirits—but because it changes the faithful in profound ways.

The Presence of Grace and Other Book Reviews by Flannery O'Connor

The Presence of Grace and Other Book Reviews by Flannery O'Connor PDF Author: Flannery O'Connor
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
ISBN: 0820331392
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
During the 1950s and early 1960s Flannery O'Connor wrote more than a hundred book reviews for two Catholic diocesan newspapers in Georgia. This full collection of these reviews nearly doubles the number that have appeared in print elsewhere and represents a significant body of primary materials from the O'Connor canon. We find in the reviews the same personality so vividly apparent in her fiction and her lectures--the unique voice of the artist that is one clear sign of genius. Her spare precision, her humor, her extraordinary ability to permit readers to see deeply into complex and obscure truths-all are present in these reviews and letters.

Dream Not of Other Worlds

Dream Not of Other Worlds PDF Author: Huston Diehl
Publisher: University of Iowa Press
ISBN: 1587297167
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 262

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Book Description
When Huston Diehl began teaching a fourth-grade class in a "Negro" elementary school in rural Louisa County, Virginia, the school’s white superintendent assured her that he didn't expect her to teach "those children" anything. She soon discovered how these low expectations, widely shared by the white community, impeded her students' ability to learn. With its overcrowded classrooms, poorly trained teachers, empty bookshelves, and meager supplies, her segregated school was vastly inferior to the county's white elementary schools, and the message it sent her students was clear: "dream not of other worlds." In her often lyrical memoir, Diehl reveals how, in the intimacy of the classroom, her students reached out to her, a young white northerner, and shared their fears, anxieties, and personal beliefs. Repeatedly surprised and challenged by her students, Diehl questions her long-standing middle-class assumptions and confronts her own prejudices. In doing so, she eloquently reflects on what the students taught her about the hurt of bigotry and the humiliation of poverty as well as dignity, courage, and resiliency. Set in the waning days of the Jim Crow South, Dream Not of Other Worlds chronicles an important moment in American history. Diehl examines the history of black education in the South and narrates the dramatic struggle to integrate Virginia's public schools. Meeting with some of her former students and colleagues and visiting the school where she once taught, she considers what has--and has not--changed after more than thirty years of integrated schooling. This provocative book raises many issues that are of urgent concern today: the continuing social consequences of segregated schools, the role of public education in American society, and the challenges of educating minority and poor children.

The Illusion of God's Presence

The Illusion of God's Presence PDF Author: John C. Wathey
Publisher: Prometheus Books
ISBN: 1633880745
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 464

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Book Description
An essential feature of religious experience across many cultures is the intuitive feeling of God's presence. More than any rituals or doctrines, it is this experience that anchors religious faith, yet it has been largely ignored in the scientific literature on religion.Starting with a vivid narrative account of the life-threatening hike that triggered his own mystical experience, biologist John Wathey takes the reader on a scientific journey to find the sources of religious feeling and the illusion of God's presence. His book delves into the biological origins of this compelling feeling, attributing it to innate neural circuitry that evolved to promote the mother-child bond. Dr. Wathey argues that evolution has programmed the infant brain to expect the presence of a loving being who responds to the child's needs. As the infant grows into adulthood, this innate feeling is eventually transferred to the realm of religion, where it is reactivated through the symbols, imagery, and rituals of worship. The author interprets our various conceptions of God in biological terms as illusory supernormal stimuli that fill an emotional and cognitive vacuum left over from infancy. These insights shed new light on some of the most vexing puzzles of religion, like the popular belief in a god who is judgmental and punishing, yet also unconditionally loving; the extraordinary tenacity of faith; the greater religiosity of women relative to men; religious obsessions with sex; the mysterious compulsion to pray; the seemingly irrepressible feminine attributes of God, even in traditionally patriarchal religions; and the strange allure of cults. Finally, Dr. Wathey considers the hypothesis that religion evolved to foster reproductive success, arguing that, in an age of potentially ruinous overpopulation, magical thinking has become a luxury we can no longer afford, one that distracts us from urgent threats to our planet.Deeply researched yet elegantly written in a jargon-free and accessible style, this book presents a compelling interpretation of the evolutionary origins of spirituality and religion.

The Practice of the Presence of God

The Practice of the Presence of God PDF Author: Brother Lawrence
Publisher: BEYOND BOOKS HUB
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 3

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Book Description
The Practice of the Presence of God is a spiritual classic written by Brother Lawrence, a 17th-century Carmelite monk. This small but impactful work is a compilation of letters and conversations attributed to Brother Lawrence, offering profound insights into cultivating a continuous awareness of the presence of God in everyday life.

Swedenborg's Garden of Theology

Swedenborg's Garden of Theology PDF Author: Jonathan S. Rose
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780877853336
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Swedenborg's Garden of Theology provides an ideal introduction for anyone seeking a starting point to delve into the religious philosophy of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772).