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Debates about the nature of the Enlightenment date to the eighteenth century, when Imanual Kant himself addressed the question, “What is Enlightenment?” The contributors to this ambitious book offer a paradigm-shifting answer to that now-famous query: Enlightenment is an event in the history of mediation. Enlightenment, they argue, needs to be engaged within the newly broad sense of mediation introduced here—not only oral, visual, written, and printed media, but everything that intervenes, enables, supplements, or is simply in between. 

With essays addressing infrastructure and genres, associational practices and protocols, this volume establishes mediation as the condition of possibility for enlightenment. In so doing, it not only answers Kant’s query; it also poses its own broader question: how would foregrounding mediation change the kinds and areas of inquiry in our own epoch? This Is Enlightenment is a landmark volume with the polemical force and archival depth to start a conversation that extends across the disciplines that the Enlightenment itself first configured.

Product Description
A comprehensive, visionary guide to the karmic cycle and its role within our life-both the life we're living and the lives to come.

There is life after death, and Barbara Martin has seen it. Now for the first time comes her inspired, firsthand account of the intricate world of spiritual rebirth. The award-winning authors of Change Your Aura, Change Your Life reveal the afterlife in a work based directly on Martin's personal explorations of the world to come and awe-inspiring clairvoyant experience with the spiritual world.

Both a fully practical handbook to the ins and outs of the karmic cycle and a field guide to the spiritual plane and how reincarnation works, Karma and Reincarnation:

-Brings together the design of the world beyond and the mechanics of karma;

-Gives practical guidelines and tools to deal effectively with karmic situations and avoid generating adverse karma;

-Helps align readers with their spiritual purpose;

-Shows readers how to face and resolve their karmic troubles; and

-Provides essential keys to spiritual development.

A true spiritual wonder in a single, fully accessible volume, Karma and Reincarnation is perfect for both those taking their first steps down a spiritual path and longtime spiritual students. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Must read book
I was born and raised in Taiwan. Reincarnation is fully recognized and embraced in my culture but until I read this book I had no idea how does it really work. Being interested in metaphysical study for about 20 years, I've read a lot of books, been to many workshops, seminars, and events. There are books that I consider as cornerstone for my journey such as Celestine Prophecy, Way of the Peaceful Worrier, Autobiography of a Yogi ..., and now this book would mark a newest cornerstone as I continue my journey.
If people could understand how reincarnation work, I think we will reach world peace because we would treat everybody, every situation differently. Compassion is given because there's no need to hate or angry at any other people. It's a perfect working system from a higher perspective. There is no victim. We created everything ourselves.

The Bigger Picture
Karma and Reincarnation is an amazing read! The topics discussed, relationship karma, money karma, national karma etc., present the reader with a clear understanding of the spiritual principles at work on an individual basis and as a whole.

Barbara's gift of clairvoyance is exercised brilliantly as she provides a compete account of our history, and offers answers to questions like, "How could a loving God allow there to be so much pain and suffering in the world?"

Karma and Reincarnation has helped me to see "the bigger picture" and has opened me to experience and express a deeper level of compassion towards myself and others. It has inspired me beyond words.

We are all learning.
Thank you Barbara and Dimitri for helping us grow.

There is HOPE
Barbara Martin and Dimitri Moraitis have a straightforward and easily understood writing style. The new book on karma and reincarnation has many examples that illustrate their points in a clear and interesting way.This is a new genre of writing that incorporates spirituality and personal histories over many lifetimes. Karma and reincarnation takes a trans-personal viewpoint showing how each of us has played every possible role over 800 incarnations. It details how each of us has the opportunity to choose the good and the just in each life and to learn valuable lessons. There is a strong ethical and spiritual lesson because we must choose righteous action or we will continue to face the same choices over and over again until we choose the way towards God.We must also love our neighbor and turn the other cheek or else we are condemned to repeat the lesson.This book gives me hope that I can choose to be free from reincarnation and reach enlightenment--soon!

Mysteries of Karma and Reincarnation Eplained
After waiting two years to see this book in print, all I can say is that it was worth the wait! While the "Change Your Aura, Change Your Life" book explains how to use light to change and improve your challenges in life now, and "The Healing Power of Your Aura" shows how light can be used to heal yourself, this book makes the whole grand scheme of life come into focus.It's very comforting to know that enlightenment is a long and sometimes winding road, and that there is "no sin past redemption".We are given many chances to improve ourselves, remove old negative Karma, and create the dynamic good Karma that comes back to us multiplied! I like to think of it as the "Divine Do-Over". Judgement of others is reduced when we realize we have been where they are, and made numerous poor choices, too.

Give this book to anyone who is struggling with problems right now(even yourself) and this can be a very pivital life in YOUR 800 Lives to Enlightenment. Welcome!
Karma and Reincarnation: Unlocking Your 800 Lives to Enlightenment

A Life Changed
I've been studying with Barbara Martin now for almost six years and have loved all of her books including "Change Your Aura, Change Your Life" and "The Healing Power of Your Aura."In "Reincarnation and Karma," Barbara and her co-writer Dimitri Moraitis, tell us about the reason we are all here: to live our lives to the point that we become a being ready to assume a greater role in the grand scheme of life, or en-light-ened.This book is the most accessible and concise book on karma and reincarnation that I have read.It also provides really practical ways to identify and address karma in our lives.I think anyone who reads this book who has an interest in this topic will come away marveling at the loving intricacy of life, and will also feel more profoundly guided and connected to all of life.Best of all, this work is now accessible to all.It will lead to a life or many lives changed.Enjoy! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Our Tangled Religious History
I bought this book after reading some news items describing an effort by conservative Christians on Texas's school textbook review board to recast the Founding Fathers as deeply Christian, rather than the more neutral, if not even hostile in Jefferson's case, descriptions that have been the norm.More generally, I've often wondered how a country that started as a colony of very dour Calvinists came to embrace a form of government that is so ambigouous towards religion.Professor May delivers an excellent picture of how the American Revolution occurred during a very particular period in our social history, when much of the religious activity among the powerful in the colonies was dominated by Anglicans and other "latitudinarians" who were comfortable with the intellectual skepticism of the Enlightenment, especially as espoused by Hume and the other Scottish Enlightenment thinkers.This period followed a much different one, known as The Great Awakening, that was dominated by strong Calvinist tendencies and the sort of "enthusiastic" revivalism that we see today.Ironically, the forces that supported the rise of the Anglican and other "softer" religions died with the end of British rule; so, as the 18the Century ended, professor May explains, the sort of "enthusiastic" religions---especially the Baptists---started to overtake the more "intellectual" religions and the period known as the The Second Great Awakening began.Reading this book in conjunction with Richard Hofstader's excellent history "Anti-Intellectualism if American Life" brings much clarity to the political and cultural battles we have experienced over time and especially today.

Excellent
The Enlightenment in America is a detailed survey of the impact and life of Enlightenment ideas in 18th century America. Characterized by excellent writing and thoughtful scholarship, this is an insightful book. May begins with a division of the Enlightenment into 4 useful categories; the Moderate Enlightenment, the Skeptical Enlightenment, the Revolutionary Enlightenment, and the Didactic Enlightenment.The Moderate Enlightenment is very much the Enlightenment of Locke, Montesquieu, Samuel Clarke, Francis Hutcheson, and similar figures.Pervaded by a strong sense of rational design of the universe, a commitment to deism or very moderate forms of Protestantism, and of a need for order and balance, the Moderate Enlightenment exerted a strong influence on the American colonies.May is particularly good on the strong interaction between the Moderate Enlightenment and different strains of Protestantism.Melded with aspects of colonial Protestantism and the Republican Whig/Commonwealth tradition, the Moderate Enlightenment would contribute considerably to the ideology of the Founders.May sees the Skeptical Enlightenment, associated with several of the more skeptical French philosophes and with Hume, as being less influential, though he points out the importance of some of Hume's political ideas.The Revolutionary Enlightenment, whose greatest apostle would be Rousseau and whose most important American contributor is Thomas Paine, had a considerable vogue following the outbreak of the French Revolution but was later discredited, along with the Skeptical Enlightenment, by the reaction against the French Revolution and Bonaparte.The final phase of the Enlightenment in America was the very strong influence of the Didactic Enlightenment, May's term for the influence of the Scottish 'Commonsense' school of James Beattie, Dugald Stewart, and Thomas Reid.Partly a reaction to Hume and partly a reaction to more radical Enlightenment figures, these largely second and third rate thinkers put forward a version of epistemology and psychology that was easily incorporated into the burgeoning evangelical movement in America.Their influence in American education was great and largely defused the radicalism associated with prior aspects of the Enlightenment. Accompanying the success of the Didactic Enlightenment was a definite decline in the intellectual vigor of the former colonies.May does an excellent job of discussing a wide variety of major and minor figures in American life.He as good on a number of now largely unknown writers and clergymen as he is on Jefferson and other major figures.The integration of his intellectual history with political and social history is very good.I'm surprised this book isn't better known.

The Enlightenment in America
The Enlightenment in America by Henry F. May is a serious work about how and why eighteenth-century enlightenment occured. This book works two main themes or ideas in early America. The enlightenment and protestantism, but this book goes deeper as enlightenment with protestantism always in the background as matrix, rival, ally, and of course enemy.This book is about Enlightenment as religion.

This book is divided into four sections:The Moderate Enlightenment, 1688-1787; The Skeptical Enlightenment, 1750-1789; The Revolutionary Enlightenment, 1776-1800; and The Didactic Enlightenment, 1800-1815.The author takes us through each of these time frames and gives the reader a basic comparitive analysis as to the times and events of the day.Politics, law, education, science and epistemology all are interplayed and are important in general discussion.To understand the political thought better we start with religion.

Men of the late eighteenth century, no matter what their calling, seldom thought about any branch of human affairs without referring consciously to some general beliefs about the nature of the universe and man's place in it.So, with this tome, enlightenment is itself basic.. to believe in two propostions:first, that the present age is more enlightened than the past; and second, that we understand nature and man best through the use of our natural faculties.We find that in the years that enlightenment and protestantism were either allies or rivals neither was simple or undivided.

This book brings into play ideas, ideas of Voltaire, Hume and Paine; Rousseau, Locke, Samuel Clarke, and Montesquieu all work toward the final outcome of the enlightenment that worked through to the Founding Fathers.Most of the Founding Fathers were deists, but perplexity of the American culture has always been deeply Calvinistic.

Your brain will get a workout reading this book, as this is the most comprehensive survey of enlightenment as it relates to the eighteenth-century America.When reading about the Founding Fathers and their lives and times, reading this book about the history of ideas will put things into perspective. ... Read more

Product Description
The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Llam rim chen mo) is one of the brightest jewels in the world's treasury of sacred literature. The author, Tsong-kha-pa (1357-1419), completed this masterpiece in 1402 and it soon became one of the most renowned works of spiritual practice and philosophy in the world of Tibetan Buddhism. Tsong-kha-pa took great pains to base his incisive insights on the classical Indian Buddhist literature, illustrating his points with classical citations as well as with sayings of the masters of the earlier Kadampa tradition. In this way the text demonstrates clearly how Tibetan Buddhism carefully preserved and developed the Indian Buddhist traditions.

The second volume explains how to train in the six perfections in order to develop the heart of compassion, indispensable for any student who wants to put the Dharma into practice. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

There is a way
This is volume two of a three volume series that is the first complete translation ever into English of one of the world's great spiritual classics. Noted Tibetan scholar Robert Thurman, in his Forward to the first book states that this work is "one of the greatest religious or secular works in the library of our human heritage." That is high praise indeed but 100% true. This text known in Tibetan as Lam Rim Chen Mo was written by the great Tibetan Lama/scholar/adept Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), and has been highly influential throughout the world of Tibetan Buddhism ever since. For those who have some knowledge of the Tibetan teachings generally known as the 'stages of the path,' the lack of availabilty of this greatest masterwork of that tradition has always been a tremendous loss. Most every work on the Lam Rim (stages of the path teachings) refers back to Tsongkhapa's epic Lam Rim Chen Mo, but up until Snow Lion's publication of these three volumes (all three are now available), the student has been compelled to read about this classic without being able to actually read it. All that has changed (for the first time in the history of the human race). The Lam Rim teachings represent a comprehensive, systematic, sequential, clear and concise presentation of all 84,000 of the Buddha's teachings in one graduated system of teaching and pratice. Within these teachings is a way to live and not just exist. Interested in waking up inside your life? Interested in becoming a more skillful person so that you can stop hurting people with your behavior as a first step toward actually being skillful enough to really help others? Interested in the actual practice of the Path? Hold these books in your hands reverently, open them respectfully, offer a prayer of gratitude for your marvelous good fortune and at last begin the great work that you were born to do.

The Great Treatise
The books are a great help in doing essays on refuge and boddh. vows great learning tool for those that only get to see their teacher once a month

Good explanation of the ultimate method of the Buddhist mahayana
(Because this is volume two, please refer to my review on volume one, ISBN 1559391529, for a general introduction to this important series).

If you want to learn how to lead a truly meaningful life, and truly benefit yourself and others, then it is wonderful to be able to read and study volume two in this series.

This volume covers the superior training in Tibetan Buddhism, which is the mahayana training in developing the spirit of enlightenment. This is a mind training practice that descends from the great Indian teacher Atisha, and is commonly known as the "sevenfold causes and effect", while that which descends from Shantideva is known as "equalizing self and others". Here, in the tradition of Tsong-kha-pa, the two lineages are combined.

Training in the spirit of enlightenment comprises the method of the path. This method is not separate from the wisdom of the path, which is the knowledge of emptiness.
According to Tsongh-kha-pa: "In general, just as both father and mother are needed to have a child, you need the entire complement of method and wisdom to have a complete path. In particular you need the main method, the spirit of enlightenment; and the main wisdom, the knowledge of emptiness. This is how the two belong together.

Once you understand that the spirit of enlightenment is the only entrance to ultimate and complete realization, and you know how to develop the spirit of enlightenment, you then learn how to engage in the bodhisattva deeds of the transcendent virtues and wisdoms (paramitas) - which are also well-known from Shantideva's famous work, "The Way of the Bodhisattva" (ISBN 1590300572), another essential must-read.

I like this volume very much, in general because it shows how these teachings fit into the entire path of the "three precious trainings" - which comprise the entire Tibetan buddhist path - and in particular because it combines the lineages of Atisha and Shantideva.

As a study companion to this second volume, I would certainly suggest "Achieving Bodhichitta" (0918753147) with the elaborate and marvelous oral explanation by Sermey Khensur Lobsang Tharchin. This allows you to even better understand the meaning, and in more detail.

Once you understand the equality of all sentient beings, and you understand that exchanging your own well-fare for that of all others is the ultimate method of the path, then you truly possess a wish-fulfilling gem - indeed, you become one!

If you want to do something truly meaningful for other beings, then this is the way to proceed, according to the mahayana view.

An effective manual for spiritual self-improvement
The second volume of The Great Treatise On The Stages Of The Path To Enlightenment continues the three-volume classic treatise of Tibetan Buddhism, first completed in 1402. Author Tsong-kha-pa (1357-1419) was careful to base his insights upon Indian Buddhist literature, using citations as well as sayings from the masters to clarify his points. The Great Treatise On The Stages Of The Path To Enlightenment is especially for any student or follower of Buddhist teachings searching for means to put the wisdom and generosity of a divine being to practical application. For example, tenets of how to give unselfishly and for universal benefit are discussed - one such tenet cautions against storing unneeded goods rather than freely giving them, as the guilt to disburse the goods will eventually cause one to impulsively give to those who may not be in need, rather than see that the goods are given to those who need them most. Other chapters discuss ethical discipline, the virtues of patience and perseverance, how to maintain the spirit of enlightenment, and much more. A must-read for anyone seeking to better understand the principles of Buddhism, as well as an effective manual for spiritual self-improvement.
... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

Difficult But Profound
The historian Tim Blanning used the phrase "difficult but profound" to describe this book.Profound because of its insightful treatment of enlightment intellectual history, difficult because Cassirer employs a fairly technical and unfamiliar vocabulary and the often intricate analysis.This book, however, definitely repays careful reading.Cassirer believed in the Hegelian idea that the study of a period's philosophy allows definition of the distinguishing spirit of that period.Consequently, this is not a conventional chronological history but a thematic treatment of key areas.Cassirer treats the natural sciences, psychology and epistemology, treatment of religion, attitudes to history, what we would now call political theory and political science, and aesthetics.Each section is distinguished by Cassirer's remarkable erudition.In addition to analysis of major thinkers like Voltaire and Leibnitz, Cassirer discussion of now obscure thinkers to illuminate important issues.Another important feature is Cassirer's careful attention to the German enlightenment, particularly the intellectual tradition initiated by Leibnitz.

Several key themes run throughout all sections.One is the importance of reason which Cassirer treats usefully as the use of analysis. Very much inspired by the success of Newtonian physics, analysis is an empirically oriented investigation of natural, psychological,and social worlds, the description of the dynamic processes, and the search for mechanisms.As Cassirer remarks, "the power of reason does not consist in in enabling us to transcend the empirical world but rather in teaching us to feel at home in it".The emphasis on reason/analysis is accompanied by a heightened sense of human capacities and the possibility of real human progress.Cassirer distinguishes these features from both traditional religious dogma and the deductive rationalistic systems characteristic of 17th century philosophy.The ironic limitations of this approach are discussed well.Enlightenment psychology, for example, leads to Humean epistemology with its limitation of certainty.Cassirer is also very good on how the Enlightenment tradition will lead to new developments that would generate the Romantic movement, particulary the Liebnitzian tradition in Germany.Cassirer's ability to situate the Enlightment in historic context is just outstanding.He shows, for example, the links between Renaissance humanism and the Enlightenment are discussed concisely but insightfully.

This wonderful book also has a somewhat sad tinge.Published originally in Germany in 1932, it was written in the late 1920s and early 1930s, when these kind of ideals were under vigorous attack in Germany.Cassirer's sympathetic but objective treatment constitutes a powerful defense of enlightenment values.Within a few years of the publication of this book, Cassirer, the first Jew to be rector of a German university and one of the towering figures of German intellectual life, had to go into exile.

Excellent Historical Overview
Ernst Cassirer's "The Philosophy of the Enlightenment" is an excellent historical overview of this period of intellectual history.He highlights the major themes that unite this diverse group of thinkers.I previously read and enjoyed Peter Gay's two-volume history of the Enlightenment, but I wish I had read Cassirer's book before Gay's.I would definitely have appreciated Gay's work more.I highly recommend Cassirer's work.

First Rate Work by a Prominent Philosopher
Ernst Cassirer was one of the more important philosophers of the 20th Century, although his work is less well-known in this country than on the Continent.Cassirer was also a Kant scholar who wrote an influential biography of Kant "Kant's Leben und Lehre" (Kant's Life and Teachings).This book, written in the mid-1930s, but not available in English until much later, is perhaps still the best serious survey of the Enlightenment, with more emphasis on the German Enlightenment than we are used to seeing.(The term 'enlightenment' itself comes from the German word "Aufklaerung"). Unlike many of the more recent writers on the Enlightenment, Cassirer is sympathetic to the Enlightenment enterprise and does not have an axe to grind (Peter Gay and Lester Crocker come to mind).Although well-written, and the subject is interesting to anyone concerned about the growth of the modern world, this is not an easy book: Cassirer presents a more nuanced view of the Enlightment and the philosophes than even most educated readers are used to and the reader must actively think about the arguments presented.The effort is absolutely worthwhile.

Classic Synopsis of Voltaire vs. Pascal
Yes! Amazing how the eighteenth century is still here today, in our many institutions and political ideals. Cassirer's heady analysis of the culture, debates and ideals of the time informs our current cultural mosaic, where rap lives side by side with the Lincoln Center. I especially return to his synopsis of the debate about faith in the XVIIIth c., that centers on Voltaire's attack against Pascal. When the thoughts of moral titans collide, the sparks endure. ... Read more

Product Description
What would it be like to have access to an all-knowing being to get answers about everything from your daily life to the meaning of life? Answers From Silence describes that experience. It is the record of one person’s dialogues with the Enlightened Self, which is the part of each of us that has all the answers we need. As his Enlightened Self reveals one answer after another, the author feels his awareness evolve from a narrow personal focus to a cosmic viewpoint of timeless existence. Using this book, you can communicate with your own Enlightened Self.Although its theme of enlightenment is ageless, Answers From Silence delivers fresh insights on problems of living in the 21st century. You can dip into it for answers on everything from money to food, from relationships to health, and from reincarnation to September 11. The clarity and conciseness of the answers can eliminate confusion in a few words, and the broad range of topics means that there’s something here for every reader. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

The best book on Enlightenment I have found yet
I'm in love with Jeffrey Chappell. I'm in love with God. I can't tell where one begins and the other leaves off. And let's not forget to give a shout out to singing joy. Because this book strengthens my own God-connection, too. Wow!

But settle down, Reviewer Rose, and focus on the book. Plus what it can do to a reader like you or me.

What genre is ANSWERS FROM SILENCE anyway? One answer is that it's self-help, verging on how-to. Only in disguise. Mostly the author teaches by example. (Sure, Chappell supplies a how-to exercise all the way at the end of the book, but that's pallid, compared to the brilliance preceding it.)

The plot of this story is simple. For years, Jeffrey sought answers from God. And got them. And wrote them down. Along the way, he became spiritually Enlightened.
After some introductory chapters, the author simply presents some highlights of this evolutionary journey, grouped by categories like "Answers about Relationships" and "Answers about Career."

Reading these, you get into a groove, tasting an amazingly clear sound/feeling/inner vision/experience of truth. It feels so natural being in the presence of this Divine conversation, the example can help you have one of your own. If you're like me, you like those free samples at Costco. Here is something different to eat, a contagious taste of the Divine.

What a rare treat, even if arguably free! Jeffrey Chappell certainly made me break out in bliss, better far than chicken pox or a few sample chocolate chip cookies.
This author's consciousness creates this contact high, much as any particular words. Reading Answers from Silence creates a momentum: very personal, beyond inspiring.

His momentum brings consequences for readers like you and me. That is, mostly, why I am in love with this book.

But there's more. To some readers, Answers from Silence may be perfectly satisfying as a dip-in book, something to read like a bag of chips. When you're in the mood for a munch of wisdom, you simply dig in.

What could be easier than to snack on a quick sight-bite like this?

* Question from Jeffrey: Why did I have that episode where I felt so much physical pain?

* Answer from God: You collected much pain and felt it all in one moment to get it over with.

What's got me smiling, however, is something more. Answers from Silence is a kind of Enlightened Spiritual Autobiography, a rare type of book because, at this time, so few people or writers are truly Enlightened. Others that come to mind are OZ POWER by Bill Bauman and YOU ARE THE ANSWER by Michael Tamura.

How can you tell if someone is really Enlightened? You need energetic literacy, the ability to read auras in depth and detail. Then you can find the author photo, read its energies chakra by chakra, and decide for yourself.

Does the author have an energy field that is STUFF-free, sparkling, enormous, balanced, aglow with delight? With Jeffrey Chappell, the truth is right there on the author's photo the back of the book, ready to knock your socks off.

And his descriptions of living in Enlightenment are, simply, the best I have read anywhere. Far as I'm concerned, the twinkly-eyed jazz composer and concert pianist has found the best way to communicate spiritual connection I've ever read. Move over, BHAGAVAD-GITA. (Fortunately there's plenty of space on that blessed bookshelf.)

Thus, his ANSWERS FROM SILENCE is in the tradition of Autobiography of a Yogi. Paramahansa Yogananda's magnificent autobiography no longer stands quite alone on my bookcase shelf. Indirectly but substantially, Chappell has told us his life story - the parts that count: His petty jealousies and insecurities, the guilt and confusion and all the other milestones of his personal development. No holding back for him and, perhaps, consequently, less holding back for us.

Speaking of famous authors, I can just imagine a mainstream editor taking a look at this book, a profit-fixated editor for one of the big houses, like Hay House, HarperCollins, or Bantam-Doubleday-Dell. "Oh, that's been done," the editor might say. "Neale Donald Walsch has been there, done that. And there's only room for one such author. Who is this brand, Jeffrey Chappell?"

Sadly, many an editor today thinks that way, or even a book buyer. Come on, folks. Is there room for more than one mystery book or romance novel? How about publishing more than one sample of that gritty and (to me, disgusting) pleasure known as "true crime"? Sure, intelligent readers might be willing to entertain the notion of more than one author writing about a certain xyz. Readers might be downright entertained by Sue Grafton plus Robert Parker plus Dorothy Sayers -- plus what, about a jillion? -- other mystery writers.

Not only is there room enough in the world, and in the wallets of book buyers, for someone beside Neale Donald Walsch.

In case you don't have energetic literacy yet, let me break it to you. Walsh isn't anywhere near Enlightened spiritually. Hey, most of us aren't yet. I'm not.
At least I have energetic literacy, so I can pop into Walsch's chakras.

So I'm glad to report that he has a find intellect and a very analytical mind. He has brought the world wonderful freedom. Nonetheless, his conversations with God come through a mind-body-spirit container with definite limits, limits that you will not find in ANSWERS FROM SILENCE.

How intimidating would it be to bring Jeffrey Chappell, this fully Enlightened man, into your living room, or at least your kitchen bookshelf? I dare you. Just how serenely joyful are you willing to be?

Rose Rosetree
Author AURA READING THROUGH ALL YOUR SENSES

Food for thought
A very well-written account of one man's personal search for truth and self-enlightenment.Nicely organized and comprehensive, covering many aspects of life--including career, relationships, personal growth, and spirituality. I like the pithy statements that encapsulate his philosophy.

A Modern-Day Experience of Enlightenment
Thank you, Jeffrey, for cracking open a modern-day experience of enlightenment.In "Answers From Silence", a world class pianist systematically analyses and shares his spiritual journey. This master musician describes his meditation practice and how he deepens his connection with spirit.Ultimately the author experiences a profound shift in his state of being. Chappell's book puts forward ideas that I expect to carry with me for a long time.
... Read more

Product Description
The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lam rim chen mo) is one of the brightest jewels in the world's treasury of sacred literature. The author, Tsong-kha-pa (1357-1419), completed this masterpiece in 1402 and it soon became one of the most renowned works of spiritual practice and philosophy in the world of Tibetan Buddhism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (19)

For those who need structure
.....in there spiritual path, to the maximum extent, that is the Lam-Rim. For others it can be an impediment.

The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment
I found this book as most difficult.It was written for Tibetan mind and that is not what I have.The book was not helpful to me and I am sorry I bought it.I am sure Tibetans love it for it had been popular in Tibet for many years.

Good foundation but needs work
I have all three books of the Lam Rim. The Books are helpful depending on the stage of the development you are at. A couple of years ago when my practice was going nowhwere I dropped Tibetan Buddhism because at a certain stage in your practice you realize that to develop your meditation you need to find a way that gets beyond words and concepts.

It led me to Zen, especially the work of Ikkyu Sojun. His poetry by itself will surely enlighten you to the real meaning behind the Buddha's dharma. If you can laugh and cry at his poetry than you will begin to understand the Buddha's dharma.

If you still believe that words such as sacred, enlightenment, liberation have meaning than you will never really know the truth beyond words and concepts.

Never really know what the Buddha's liberation was all about.

All the best.

These three volumes are a must-read
If you want to know what you must do to become enlightened, these three volumes are the ones to read.The steps are laid out very plainly.Be prepared -- these books are not a quick-read.It took 6 months of daily effort just to read through them once because the reading is heavy and thought-provoking.The third volume is the hardest to understand because it goes into Buddhist logic (Madhyamaka) so people who have not been exposed to those ideas before reading this book might find the third volume challenging.(My suggestion is to listen to Chapter 9: Wisdom and the Bodhisattva Path of Pema Chodron's CD set on the Way of the Bodhisattvah available at http://www.pemachodrontapes.org/bodhisattva.htm#bodhi or read Center of the Sunlit Sky by Karl Brunnholzl available through Amazon.com at The Center of the Sunlit Sky: Madhyamaka in the Kagyu Tradition (Nitartha Institute Series).)I have read a lot of books on this topic and this set is the most comprehensive and easiest to follow, albeit longest.Of course, putting what is contained within is the hard part, but at least the explanation is there so you have a leg up on the work.If I was only allowed three books to own for the rest of my life, these would be the ones I would keep.

Je Tsongkapa's classic commentary on Atisha's Lam Rim
I have been trying my best to follow Je Tsongkapa's advice for years now.These teachings are very special as they are the 'Lam Rim' or 'Stages of The Path' teachings originally formulated by Atisha for Tibetans.It is a very condensed yet essential presentation of all Buddha's teachings.In Geshe Kelsang Gyatso's Lam Rim texts, the number of meditations is 21.In other contemporary Lam Rim texts like that of Geshe Rabten, H.H. Dalai Lama, or Geshe Sopa, the number varies.

What is amazing is the Lam Rim's simplicity and clarity. Add to that Je Tsongkapa's stainless reasoning and vast scriptural knowledge and you have a spiritual masterpiece.

This is not to say other texts from other traditions aren't valid.I just relate to these teachings most powerfully.

If I have any complaints about the text it would be in the translation the word 'sin' is used instead of 'negativity' or something less charged.Also, there was not one Tibetan out of like 20 people on the translationcommittee for this book. That's why 4 stars.

... Read more

Product Description
The 18th-century Enlightenment was one of the most exciting and significant currents of European culture. Battling against tyranny, ignorance, and superstition, it formulated the ideals of thought, religion, and expression, the value of science, and the pursuit of progress. Enlightenment thinkers undermined the ancien regime and provided the ideas for the French Revolution. Modern scholarship, however, has shown it was a more complex and ambiguous movement than commonly recognized. This book, now in a fully updated second edition, sympathetically explores the complexities of the Enlightenment. Synthesizing and evaluating the latest scholarship, it offers a new and comprehensive vision of this many-faceted movement. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

concise summary of the academic literature
this succinct text is basically a very high quality, informed and judicious "cliff's notes" overview of the sprawling academic literature on the enlightenment -- summarized at the end as an annotated, 13 page bibliography and a detailed, 7 page index. with repeated hat tips to peter gay's landmark, two volume study (1960), porter reviews subsequent confirmations and dissents from gay's narrative and major conclusions about the enlightenment in an "on the one hand ... on the other hand" style. the compact, briskly written chapters cover definitions of the enlightenment, the enlightenment project of creating a secular "science of man," the politics and religious attitudes of the philosophes, and the unity or diversity among the various enlightenment participants, both as individuals and as national, social and class movements. Porter's verdict: "The Enlightenment helped to free man from his past. In so doing, it failed to prevent the construction of future captivities" (tyrannies such as the french revolution and napoleonic era, exploitation of labor by capital, technological alienation, etc.).

not Porter's best book
I recently discovered the late Roy Porter through his last book Flesh in the Age of Reason: The Modern Foundations of Body and Soul. After devouring that book I ordered both The Enlightenment and The Creation of the Modern World: The Untold Story of the British Enlightenment. The latter book lives up to my expectations but I was disappointed in the shorter book, which was no doubt constrained by the publisher's expectations since it is part of a series.
My chief complaint is that because the book is so short, it seems to assume that the reader is already familiar with the main characters of period. For me this was only partially true. Therefore, I would not recommend this as a introduction to the subject.

Impressive, but...
It appears that Roy Porter has a full-length book on British Enlightenment published by Penguin, and my review refers to that book and not this one, although both have the same title.

Impressive
130 pages of endnotes in fine print for under 500 pages of text, plus another 77 pages (again in fine print) of bibliography, and then a full index - this book is a scholar's dream.Yet its easy style is aimed at a wide readership too.

Who can doubt the seminal role of Britain in the Enlightenment?The French may have started it.But Britain carried the movement forward.I'm impressed by the evidence.

Porter gives prominent place to the roles of Hume, Locke, and especially Priestley, with justice.Also mentioned are Gibbon, Swift, Malthus, and Samuel Johnson, and of course Adam Smith.Ben Franklin was a giant of the Enlightenment, but not of BRITISH Enlightenment, although he spent many adult years living in London, and knew many of these men.(Indeed Franklin brought Priestley over to America.)So Franklin is not covered in depth here. He was American.

This is the kind of book I'd love to read on the couch in many a long Canadian winter night.I also recommend Jenny Uglow's "The Lunar Men," which covers similar but not the same ground (and has much to say about Priestley too, who was also a "Lunar Man") ... Read more

Product Description
Over the centuries, Buddhism has responded to sexuality in a variety of fascinating ways, sometimes suppressing the sexual urge, sometimes sublimating it, sometimes cultivating it, and, on the highest levels, transcending it.This book reveals how Buddhists, beginning with Buddha himself, relate to the "inner fire" that drives humankind.Included are chapters on the Buddha's love life before his enlightenment, and his later relationships with women; the tantric approach to sex among Buddhists of ancient India, Tibet, China, and Japan; Zen in the art of love, and a positive discussion of women and Buddhism. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Very entertaining!
Entertaining stories about the secret randy lives of Buddhist monks and nuns! From hypocritical "puritans" and indulgent Tantrics to Buddha (Gotama) himself - fun to read. NOT a how-to book! Try the Tao of the Loving Couple if that's what you're looking for.

Interesting topic!
Big on all things Japanese, the author teaches in a Japanese University. I enjoyed his book. It is an intriguing topic. The puritan elders upheld that enlightenment and sexual activity are incompatible. However,
Tantric Buddhism (Vajrayana) says that ruthless suppression of the natural propensity to seek union with a member of the opposite sex sours people, making them morbid, compulsive and neurotic. We should re-direct and transform our natural desires instead. Now the question is: are the teachings of the tantras to be taken literally or just imaginatively? In Tantric sex there is always a sense of detachment, an emphasis on transcending the physical form of one's partner, and focusing on his or her impersonal, universal aspects (see Sexual Secrets). Check out The Prayer Mat of the Flesh by Li Yu.

a very good book
Just for the record, my real name is D. Green. Now about the book...

This book was like nothing I have seen before on the subject of Buddhism. With that said, let me say that Stevens, even though he is a Westerner, has done a heck of a job breaking down the romanticized stereotypical Western view of Buddhism. What I mean is that, the author looks past the trendiness and glamour that is often associated with Buddhism and its followers in the west.

Stevens orchestrates a look into the uncovered side, the not so tready and not so glamorous side of the religion. He uncovers the reality. Buddhist nuns and monks indulging themselves in wild acts of passion. The common "Temple illnesses." Zen monks, their famous courtesans, and the children they fathered. The wild sex lives of past Dali Lamas. And even the sex life of the historical Buddha (of course, before he realized his Buddha nature). Its all within these pages. But do keep in mind that this is only a review.

What Stevens' also does, which is as equally important, in addition to uncovering the truth, is provide just explanations
to why all these things happened. The Book reminds readers that nothing is never as it appears to be, which oddly enough seems to be very apart of the Buddhist prospective and belief system. Thus, making this book an important read for any one who is a Buddhist (especially Western Buddhist) or anyone who is remotely interested in the religion/philosophy.

I would not be surprized if this very book is banned in certain parts of the world. ...

A very good book
Just for the record, my real name is D. Green. Now about the book...

This book was like nothing I have seen before on the subject of Buddhism. With that said, let me say that Stevens, even though he is a Westerner, has done a heck of a job breaking down the romanticized stereotypical Western view of Buddhism. What I mean is that, the author looks past the trendiness and glamour that is often associated with Buddhism and its followers in the west.

Stevens orchestrates a look into the uncovered side, the not so tready and not so glamorous side of the religion. He uncovers the reality. Buddhist nuns and monks indulging themselves in wild acts of passion. The common "Temple illnesses." Zen monks, their famous courtesans, and the children they fathered. The wild sex lives of past Dali Lamas. And even the sex life of the historical Buddha (of course, before he realized his Buddha nature). Its all within these pages. But do keep in mind that this is only a review.

What Stevens' also does, which is as equally important, in addition to uncovering the truth, is provide just explanations
to why all these things happened. The Book reminds readers that nothing is never as it appears to be, which oddly enough seems to be very apart of the Buddhist prospective and belief system. Thus, making this book an important read for any one who is a Buddhist (especially Western Buddhist) or anyone who is remotely interested in the religion/philosophy... ... Read more

Product Description
In the late eighteenth century, an array of European political thinkers attacked the very foundations of imperialism, arguing passionately that empire-building was not only unworkable, costly, and dangerous, but manifestly unjust. Enlightenment against Empire is the first book devoted to the anti-imperialist political philosophies of an age often regarded as affirming imperial ambitions. Sankar Muthu argues that thinkers such as Denis Diderot, Immanuel Kant, and Johann Gottfried Herder developed an understanding of humans as inherently cultural agents and therefore necessarily diverse. These thinkers rejected the conception of a culture-free "natural man." They held that moral judgments of superiority or inferiority could be made neither about entire peoples nor about many distinctive cultural institutions and practices.

Muthu shows how such arguments enabled the era's anti-imperialists to defend the freedom of non-European peoples to order their own societies. In contrast to those who praise "the Enlightenment" as the triumph of a universal morality and critics who view it as an imperializing ideology that denigrated cultural pluralism, Muthu argues instead that eighteenth-century political thought included multiple Enlightenments. He reveals a distinctive and underappreciated strand of Enlightenment thinking that interweaves commitments to universal moral principles and incommensurable ways of life, and that links the concept of a shared human nature with the idea that humans are fundamentally diverse. Such an intellectual temperament, Muthu contends, can broaden our own perspectives about international justice and the relationship between human unity and diversity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Global modernities
We are so beset with Enlightenment critiques that we can fail to look closely at the depth of its defining events. In this engaging book, and surprise find, we discover a veiled side to the Enlightenment in its broad spectrum of seminal anthropology and philosophy of history, as in Kant, Herder. A mysterious balance is built in, witness the counterpoints of Kant and Herder, and the very themes we bring against the period are often born in that period. And that would seem to be the case with the very Eurocentrism brought in evidence against modernity. That a critique of empire emerged at the very moment of expansive imperialism is an important history, and this work exhumes a brighter corner of that. Excellent job. ... Read more

Product Description
This title explores the achievement of the Scottish Enlightenment. It looks not only at the thought, ideas and people who lived then but also at the creations that were animated by that thought. Also explored are the new traditions created which still inspire the world and Scotland today. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Truly"an accessible primer"
I came to this book as a general reader with only the slightest knowledge of the Scottish Enlightenment and, to be honest, no appreciation of its significant and lasting impact on religious, political, economic, scientific, and aesthetic thinking right into the present day. On the back cover of the book, the Edinburgh Review is quoted and it is worth repeating: "an accessible primer on the main ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment." Broadie's book is accessible and I am all the more grateful for that fact as I reflect on the relevance of the ideas of the Enlightenment to my Western identity. In that sense, this is not dry history but rather essential content and context for today's political and "culture wars" and, indeed, why we resist the barbarian's demand that we submit and return to the 7th century. Mind you, that's just me talking; Broadies's "The Scottish Enlightenment" is not a polemic. It is forthright, unbiased history without any agenda other than, well, providing the reader with "an accessible primer" on the Scottish Enlightenment. I highly recommend this book. Important stuff, well delivered. Thank you, Alexander Broadie.

One of the great cultural movements in the world
Alexander Broadie is Professor of Logic and Rhetoric at Glasgow University- a chair once occupied by Adam Smith author of "Wealth of Nations".This book, "The Scottish Enlightenment", written for the general reader, is a great treatise on a most astonishing period of Scottish history during the 18th century.Broadie writes; "that what gave the Scottish Enlightenment its character as a distinct historical movement was the complex set of relations with a group of geniuses and other immensely creative people living in each others intellectual pockets.Broadie writes about the leading Scottish luminaries in the fields of science, philosophy, history, economics, and the arts.Men such as Hume, Smith, Reid, Ferguson and others ideas had an immense influence on the great thinkers of Europe as well as our founding fathers here in America.

The term "Enlightenment" suggests emergence from darkness.There are two essential features of the enlightenment.First, a demand that people think for themselves.You do not take ideas on faith but you inquire study and observe for yourself.Second, social virtue of tolerance of ideas.The state and church cannot punish one for their ideas.This allows literati of men to meet and exchange ideas on a plethora of subjects and to spread these ideas through their writings so that other literati in Europe can comment and react to them.Thinking becomes a civil activity with ideas in the public domain.These men love liberty and are looking to build a better society for humanity.They believe that if morality is about anything it is about - protecting the civilized values vested in society.No wonder these men had a great influence on our founding fathers!

If you are truly interested in a classical education put this book on the top of your reading list!I recommend this book for anyone interested in philosophy, history, political science, and history of America's founding era.

If It's Not Scottish, It's ....
As a person of mildly above average intelligence and a very broad range of interests, I often have friends suggest that I should try out for Jeopardy.My standard [and honest] response [regardless of whether the comment was meant as a compliment or an insult] is that I have incredibly large gaps in my knowledge and I'd probably stink at Jeopardy.Alexander Broadie and his scholarly AND entertaining book The Scottish Enlightenment came to rescue me from one of my more embarrassing knowledge gaps.You'd've figured a person with some Scottish blood in his veins and who teaches at a high school that has a Scottish theme and a Highlander as a mascot would know a whole bunch about the pivotal period in history know as the Scottish Enlightenment?!The knowledge gap surfaced when I read Jack Repcheck's recent biography of James Hutton [The Man Who Found Time].I researched the available literature on the Scottish Enlightenment and Broadie's book appeared to have the qualities needed to plug my knowledge gap.Written for the interested reader, The Scottish Enlightenment was scholarly enough to give me the short course that I wanted, but interesting and idiosyncratic enough to avoid reading like a textbook.It left me feeling quite satisfied about my knowledge of the Scottish Enlightenment and, like any good book, left me with a few questions to explore further [the connection between the Scottish Enlightenment and the American Revolution - enquiring minds want to know!].I highly recommend Alexander Broadie's book to anyone with an interest in history, Scotland, the Enlightenment, or the Scottish Enlightenment. ... Read more

Product Description
Instead of promising a straight and clear path to enlightenment, author and teacher Geri Larkin shows us that even stumbling along that path can lead to self-discovery and awakening, especially if we prize the journey and not the destination. With candor, affection, and earthy wisdom, Larkin shares her experiences as a beginning and continuing Buddhist. This spirituality classic shows any seeker that it's possible to stumble, smile, and stay Zen through it all. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

Stumbled onto a great book
This is a wonderful book. It has profound concepts, but is easy to understand and digest. Ms. Larkin takes you thoughtfully through different Buddhist concepts and illustrates them with events in her own life. I feel like she is talking just to me.

Excellent instruction/wisdom; very funny.
I love this book.I have loved all of this author's books.The author practises the principles of Buddha and she is so very authentic in her approach.I am usually laughing as I read it and her struggles re. meditation etc. are mine.It normalizes the experience(s).I would love to have her as my teacher but due to where I live I'm taking her instruction via her books.

An everyman's approach to Zen Meditation
Geri Larkin's humor embeded in her journey in Zen meditation makes for a delightful read.Used it in a monthly meditation group.

Timeless, heartwarming inspiration and practical advice
After a testing weekend I reached for this book and it immediately served the grounded zen perspective with a sense of humor which I needed to tap. This book is fun, easy to read, and has practical advice with many personal short stories and examples. It is not preachy. It will help you to accept that we are all works in progress, and will inspire you to step over your ego, and pick yourself up when you trip. A personal bonus is that I knew Geri Larkin while she was exploring Unitarian Universalism in Ann Arbor, so it is even more powerful for me as I can hear her easy laughter interspersed. Her books are like her, authentic and readily accessible.

there are much better books out there...
I just didn't think this book had a lot of value to it.
She is probably a nice woman and she's doing her best to follow her path.
But she really doesn't have a lot to offer anyone on a Buddhist path.
There was nothing "wrong" with the book, really, I just really didn't find it that inspiring or useful.
Half way through I felt like I was wasting my time and in the end I confirmed that I had indeed pretty much wasted my time.
That said, okay, there are a few worthwhile stories in it. ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description

ARE YOU READY TO PLAY SOME DUNGEONS AND FUCKING DRAGONS?

The Kobold Wizard's Dildo of Enlightenment +2 is an absurd comedy about a group of adventurers (elf, halfling, bard, dwarf, assassin, thief) going through an existential crisis after having discovered that they are really just pre-rolled characters living inside of a classic AD&D role playing game. While exploring the ruins of Tardis Keep, these 6 characters must deal with their inept Dungeon Master's retarded imagination and resist their horny teenaged players' commands to have sex with everything in sight.

Featuring: punk rock elf chicks, death metal orcs, porn-addicted beholders, a goblin/halfling love affair, a gnoll orgy, and a magical dildo that holds the secrets of the universe.

"Carlton Mellick III has the craziest book titles... and the kinkiest fans!" --CHRISTOPHER MOORE

"If you like satires which are highly imaginative, subversive, gory, funny as hell and completely surreal CM3 may be your literary messiah." --RICARDO GONZALEZ DEL VALLE

"Mellick is smarter than the dumbness he tries to coat his writing in; you feel like you're reading a comic or watching MTV - but underneath there is something deeper and smarter than the cartoonish presentation before your eyes." --EUCHIRD

... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Not as Expected
Just too childish -- I played D&D briefly... but was perhaps too old when I played to enjoy the humor in this book.

An homage to an adolescence wasted rolling dice in basements
This book is enormously entertaining, funny, and enjoyable. It is obvious that Mellick has a genuine understanding of, and affection for role-playing games and the people who play them.

In a nutshell, the plot describes a group of fictional characters in a fantasy role-playing game who have become aware of their fictional existence, and must struggle to free themselves from the whims of their players.

The story takes place on two levels; a group of undersexed, maladjusted teen players, and the fictional characters they have invented to represent them within the game itself. This proves to be an excellent device for character development, as the fictional characters serve to illustrate the wish fulfillment fantasies as well as the insecurities of the players. There are other interesting parallels; As adolescents, the players are in many ways living lives controlled by authority figures, occupying prescribed roles just as their fictional characters are. At its best moments, the novel briefly touches on issues of free will and existentialism, albeit in a delightfully immature way.

In a further clever touch, the book comes complete with all the maps, diagrams, character sheets, and doodles in the margins you would expect to find in a role-playing game.

Brilliantly stupid.
This book blew me away. It is probably the dumbest thing I've ever read, yet it's brilliant in that "you'd have to be a genius to come up with something so dumb" kind of way. If you take yourself too seriously then this might not be the book for you, but I just loved it.

The character sheets, maps, drawings, and DM notes spread throughout this novel are worth the price alone. The ending is the absolute best possible ending the book could have had. I highly recommend this book. Even if you don't like the story, it's worth it for the novelty alone. If you've ever played D&D before it's a must read.

D & F'ing D!
I got this as a gag gift for a friend when I saw it advertised on Boing Boing.Now this book is making its way through my circle of friends. FUNNY and totally worth it.

My favorite part: the Dungeon Master's algebra notes show the hilariously warped mind of a teenage DM including awesome doodles of the genitalia of the different D&D races and the calculation for the area of a gelatinous cube.

Kobold Wizard FTW!

Wizards oh my!
So - bought this book and my husband disappeared to read it first.About ten minutes later I could hear him laughing SO hard from the bedroom he could barely breathe.Now - he used to play D&D and found the book really, really funny and witty.

I'm the one who reads Mellick's books normally.Haven't ever played D&D but still found the book to be a great read.

What I love about Mellick's books is that they always surprise me.Sometimes I'm shocked by what I read - sometimes I'm shocked that I'm not shocked.Sometimes, I'm shocked that I'm laughing.

Absolutely READ THIS BOOK. ... Read more

Product Description
Living Enlightenment offers a radically authentic spirituality for the twenty-first century. Engaging with some of the most challenging questions facing seekers today, this groundbreaking book illuminates the simple yet profound understanding that the spiritual evolution of each one of us is not separate from the evolution of humanity as a whole. Andrew Cohen guides us to the threshold of our highest potential, and calls on each of us to take the crucial next step. Infused with the wisdom of the ages yet expressing a wholly contemporary vision, Living Enlightenment redefines the very purpose of spiritual life for the modern Western seeker.Amazon.com Review
Guru of enlightenment Andrew Cohen has a radical message of evolutionary advancement. In Living Enlightenment, Cohen continues the work of his previous books and his magazine on the same topic--that enlightenment is available here and now but involves a radical transformation of both outlook and behavior. Like Krishnamurti, Cohen is relentless in his commonsense approach to spirituality, insisting that enlightenment means a complete relinquishment of the ego. This naturally leads to nonattachment, humility, responsibility, and love. In enlightenment, one's perspective shifts from the personal to the impersonal, and this means a deepening of, rather than a distancing from, constructive relationships. Although Cohen comes out of the Indian tradition, his language is thoroughly modern, with very little jargon and no references to world religions. He has a tendency to be vague on the details, but his invitation to enlightenment is clear and his challenge refreshing. --Brian Bruya ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

No Middle Ground ...
If you've "got it", you will know Cohen is speaking Truth.If you are in "seeking mode" and are not willing to shift, I predict you will just get frustrated and the words will just sound like a bunch of noise.

I think the book is most valuable as a reminder and reinforcement for the spiritually "mature" individual.

The book, I think, is actually a good "acid test" for your ontological "status"!

I admire Andrew for his unswerving commitment to Truth.He is way ahead of his time, and is "planting seeds" for an
entirely new society that, I believe, will emerge over the next few HUNDRRED years.

If you have psycho-physical tools for navigating the rapids, Andrew can take you "home".

A remarkable book for any true seeker!
In twenty relatively short chapters starting with "What is Enlightenment?" and ending with "The Imperative to Evolve", this remarkable book gives any true seeker what might be called, "the keys to the kingdom." Written in dialogue form, Andrew Cohen is asked every possible question a seeker might have and perhaps ones that haven't even been thought of.The answers inform, delight and go deeply into one's being, coming forth, as they do, from one who is undoubtedly truly living enlightenment.
I had read "Living Enlightenment: A Call for Evolution Beyond Ego" a number of years ago and now re-reading it, I am struck by how it is still so totally fresh and relevant for anyone interested in going deeper into the spiritual dimension; interested in a life of depth, greater purpose and wisdom. Andrew Cohen says in the preface why he wrote this book: "I have tried to convey the uncompromising yet ecstatically liberating perspective of enlightenment. And my purpose is to clarify the truly revolutionary nature of that perspective in relationship to the human experience in the Western World at the beginning of the twenty-first century. My hope is that the timeless and always overwhelming impact of this revelation will be able to be intimately felt, intuitively known and directly seen by the reader." Andrew Cohen absolutely fulfills this intention in these illuminating, delightful and penetrating dialogues that bring the reader to an understanding, insight and felt experience into what it means to truly live enlightenment in the twenty-first century. I cannot emphasize enough what a treasure this book is and one that can be read over and over again.

Refreshingly honest
From the moment you read the straight-shooting introduction by Ken Wilber, you will get why the perspective Andrew Cohen so clearly and beautifully delineates in this book will open your eyes and heart to a totally captivating inquiry into truth, and one that has the ability to take you as far as you can go in its exact and precise exploration of modern spiritual life. All the questions you could possibly think of asking about how to live an enlightened existence are responded to not only in the words on the pages but in the awakened mind and spirit that is inevitably going to be drawn out by this compelling call to wake up forever. I highly recommend this straightforward dialogue with the soul...

Fake
It's easy to write about living in a way that makes perfect sense. Most people with a bit of imagination could do so fairly well. But living it? I went to see Cohen's spiritual community and found a narcissistic and arrogant spiritual teacher talking of how to live enlightenment. This man writes of things like true autonomy and 'creative friction' but his students have been reduced to a bunch of drones that dare not question him.
It's interesting to note that the only decent review was written by one of Cohen's closest students.
So, nice read, but shame it's not genuine.

glib and facile candy floss
These two men are pompous narcissistic nincompoops, skilled at hoodwinking credulous and psychically marginal lost souls with their ersatz wisdom. Wilber lost his way sometime ago....sad for a man of such obvious intellectual prowess. His self-importance and egomania have colonised his consciousness..indeed poisoned it. Ah the lack of real wisdom! As for Cohen, he is an intellectual midget and just churns out the same old soporific claptrap targeted at those poor humans who have given up any independent self-enquiry,and who have sacrificed their perhaps once possessed ability to discern and judge for themselves and just decided to immolate themselves on the altar of Cohen's ego. I know these sad followers and they are truly lost in madness. Cohen and Wilbur are oh so seductive in their smooth talk but ultimately have absolutely nothing to say that is of genuine help for suffering humanity. They are charlatans who are in deep personal denial and who have no right to preach to others about going 'beyond ego'. Hypocrites! ... Read more

Product Description
The Enlightenment Reader brings together the work of major Enlightenment thinkers to illustrate the full importance and achievements of this period in history. Extracts are gathered thematically into sections on such aspects of the Enlightenment as political theory, religion and belief, art and nature. In each section, the texts are introduced and a final a final section on 'Critical Reflections' provides a selection of modern critical opinions on the period. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Prepare to be Enlightened...
While I might quibble a bit with the chronological boundaries set by the editors of this text, it nonetheless incorporates the majority of the Enlightenment period in the selection of writings.The Enlightenment is primarily the post-Renaissance philosophical period around the eighteenth century, where reason and individualism in the various intellectual disciplines surpassed tradition as primary factors.Key figures in the Enlightenment strand of philosophy include Newton, Locke, Leibniz, Voltaire, Hume, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Diderot, Pope, Gibbon, Adam Smith, Bentham and Kant.Various artistic, literary, philosophical, and political movements that began in the Enlightenment are still primary factors in the world today.For example, the economic and political frameworks of the American Revolution and the French Revolution came out of this movement.Scientific and mathematical principles established during this period still remain powerful methodological tools in current practice.

Editors Paul Hyland, Olga Gomez and Francesca Greensides each bring a background of liberal arts, history and cultural studies to bear the task of developing this superb collection of readings and essays on the Enlightenment.The texts themselves come from as original of sources as were available -- the editors did not try to 'clean up' the language or standardise too much, but did do editorial changes to reduce awkwardness in punctuation, capitalisation and such.Most of these selections come from authoritative eighteenth century editions or translations.

Each section of sources is tied to a particular subject or theme; each section is introduced by a brief essay discussing the importance of the subject or theme to the overall context of the Enlightenment.For example, the very first subject section is on Human Nature -- given the importance of the rise of individualism as a key concept regarding human nature for the Enlightenment mindset, this is a good place to start.Alexander Pope is quoted as an Enlightenment champion for saying 'the proper study of mankind is man', in other words, the movement was away from theological ideas concerned more with a distance and unchanging/immutable God and more toward the human condition.

There are thirteen sections of sources, which include the following topics:Human nature; the search for knowledge; religion and belief; the natural world; science and invention; political rights and responsibilities; civil society; moral principles; gender and society; art, architecture and nature; Europeans and the wider world; radicalism and revolution; and a few autobiographical pieces (Rousseau, Franklin, and Madame de Roland). Within each of these sections are a selection of sources from the major writers, artists and other figures of the period, sources that had the greatest impact -- for example, under the topic of political rights and responsibilities is included passages from Locke and Montesquieu, as well as sources from political leaders Catherine II and Frederick II.Each author is introduced with a brief biographical sketch and contextual information; occasionally the editors insert more material to put the source selection in proper perspective.

The second part of the book (actually only one-tenth of the page number of the book) is a reader of various essays from modern writers such as Jurgen Habermas, Peter Gay, Jean-Francois Lyotard and Michel Foucault on different aspects of the Enlightenment, looking at it both as a piece of history and as a continuing force to be dealt with in modern times.The third part is a brief chronology, highlighting key events, publications, artistic accomplishments, political situations and more.Primary sources for further study are highlighted in this chronological listing.

The further readings listings are extensive and well organised according to general works, primary and secondary sources, national contexts, works from particular writers, and finally the chapter topics.The index is extremely well done and useful, an important piece in a large academic text such as this.

No sourcebook on a period such as the Enlightenment can ever be complete.I have several shelves of books from writers from this period of history; of course this could not be incorporated in a single volume.However, what the editors have done is a splendid job of selecting the most interesting, most insightful, most influential pieces from this period, and set the stage for a broad understanding of the Enlightenment, as well as (hopefully) stimulus for further research. ... Read more

Product Description

Everyone dreams of a better life. All the things you’ve ever wanted — happiness, loving relationships, well-being, abundance, and peace of mind — are all qualities of enlightenment, a way of embracing our fullest potential that seemed unavailable to us, until now.

For thousands of years, the secret to enlightenment has remained hidden in the distant reaches of the Himalayas, deep in wisdom impenetrable to all but the most dedicated seekers. For the first time in history, The Backdoor to Enlightenment burns the rules and barriers that have hindered our understanding and reveals the keys to immediate, profound realization to the rest of the world. Blending centuries-old texts with contemporary wisdom, readers of any faith can bypass the traps and limitations of modern life and achieve lasting peace every day.
More than just a heartfelt story of mystery and discovery, this revolutionary work stands out as a smart, clear guide, showing step-by-step how you can use these astonishing truths to transform every aspect of your life. There might not be a shortcut to your dreams, but there is a Backdoor!

Customer Reviews (15)

A book to read over and over again with new insights!
Innovative way by storytelling and intertwining with understanding the six perfections that ultimately integrated as enlightenment. But the most important concepts are the first-- knowing all things are impermanent which will almost immediately make the rest easier to digest and absorb. And the last one is the most difficult and most abstract-- emptiness. And that all already exist and we just have to understand it makes it easier for us to only need to learn a different perspective / approach! Excellent read!

The Backdoor to Enlightenment
What a wonderful mix of fable and teachings. This method helps make the learning more understandable from a personal perspective. I will read it again and take the time to highlight all of the teachings. This first read was too good to slow down. Happy reading and great teachings!

Great little book
This is a great little book that I wish I had read when I was younger!The authors combine logic with Buddhist concepts, interwoven with a good mystery story, to explain their ideas about attaining life goals.I haven't quite finished it, and I look forward to finding out how the story ends!

Entertaining, enlightening, and thoroughly enjoyable!
This book is definitely worth your time!I love how the teachings are interwoven with the story line, allowing the eight agreements to be more easily understood.These talented authors have created an outstanding book and I look forward to reading their next one, I hope it is in the works!

Practical, everyday and enchanting for all of us
Za Rinpoche and Ashley Nebelsieck write well in tandem to explain the basic Buddhist concepts of the Six Perfections and explain to the common reader how to seek happiness and enlightenment in their lives right now. Nebelsieck's engaging fiction, and Za Rinpoche's diamond-like wisdom and clarity provide a call-and-response effect that allows the reader to experience the journey of the central characters, and then apply those same lessons into their own life. A must-read for those seeking to break free from their self-imposed conceptions, and for those caught up in the mundane and the everyday of their lives. Za Rinpoche and Ms. Nebelsieck are the Johnny and June Carter Cash of the Middle Way - spiritual outlaws who break the rules for deliverance (of other sentient beings). Get the book! ... Read more

Product Description
A refreshingly honest spiritual exploration from the New York Times bestselling author of the Anna Pigeon novels.

Actor, adventuress, seeker of truth, and author of the New York Times bestselling Anna Pigeon mystery series, Nevada Barr beckons readers to share her spiritual search for meaning in life.

Hat by hat, step by step, Barr leads readers down her path to enlightenment by sharing personal episodes, some of them funny and revealing, others painfully honest. Each chapter offers a truth or an answer forged through experience and deep reflection, and a nugget of insight certain to encourage thought and discussion among readers, who may, in turn, find their own spiritual language. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

A lovely book - the title says it all.
I love to give this book as a gift.I'm continually buying new since I give my current copy away.A completely different take from Nevada Barr, but ifyou're a fan of Anna Pigeon, you won't be surprised.

Salve for the soul
This is a favorite author and she tried something new to do within her chosen career.It was wonderful, inspiring, sassy and sensitive, hilarious and very, very human.I would recommend it to anyone who needs a "pick-me-up" for life's journey.Instead of struggling through the rocks, she can make the river flow.

Enlightenment
I have enjoyed other Nevada Barr books and this one was a real "soul searcher" which I also thought was well worth the reading.

Loved it
I really loved this book. It's a great collection of essays that are food for thought, but like good food you don't want to gulp it. Read an essay an evening and then give yourself the next day to ponder what you've read.

A Godsend for any seeker's journey
Maybe it's just me....but this was the most suprisingly enjoyable and personally helpful book I have ever read.I have never read any other Nevada Barr books, nor had I ever even heard of them, as I don't generally read fiction books. (Though after reading this book and loving her writing style, I may have to see what Anna Pigeon is all about) I was absolutely in awe, page after page, that this woman, who I have never met, was taking words, feelings and experiences right out of my mind and soul, and putting them down on paper.I could absolutely relate to every page of her journey, to feeling uncomfortable with the southerners Jesus name dropping, to trying to find the truth between a higher power, and religious doctrine (full of human input and in my opinion, errors)The song Killing me softly comes to mind, as though she'd found my letters and read each one outloud.She made me feel not so alone, on a very personal quest to find meaning in God.From her growth from somewhat selfish, self-absorbed, addicted personality, to finding love growth and strength from other women, and letting herself become involed in and committed to a church.What a fabulous book.Thank you Nevada! ... Read more

Product Description
A whirlwind fictional tour through the utopias of our modernity.

The Curious Enlightenment of Professor Caritat is a brilliant fictional journey through Western political philosophy by one of our most original thinkers. Professor Caritat, a middle-aged Candide, walks naively through the neighbouring countries of Utilitaria, Communitaria and Libertaria, in his quest to find the best of all possible worlds. Cut loose from the confines of his ivory tower, this wandering professor is made to confront the perplexed state of modern thinking in this dazzling comedy of ideas.

Customer Reviews (1)

A fluently written and enjoyable satire
Professor Caritat (named after the surname of the Optimistic philosopher better known to us as the Marquis de Condorcet), a specialist on the thinkers of the Enlightenment, is a cross between a sophisticated Candide and a Gulliver.He is a citizen of Militaria, a repressive state run by a military dictatorship.He has to flee from that and embarks on a mission to find a state in which the ideas of 18th century philosophers have been applied and to see how these ideas have turned out in practice.He is looking for the best of all possible states.But in each of these countries he gets into trouble, wittily described, and has to move on.

The first country he visits is Utilitaria, which is governed by the ideas of Jeremy Bentham;and a soulless place it is, where there is no place for anything that cannot be proved to be `useful' to its society.

The next country is Communitaria. Its government is committed to total respect and equal treatment for every ethnic and every religious community, but it interprets respect in such a way that any comment which might suggest that one way of living or one set of ideas is superior to another, and every criticism of any group, is severely punished, so it is in effect an extremely intolerant state.

From there Caritat escapes to Proletaria - named, he is told, after the class that had brought it into being, although that class, like all others, has since withered away, as indeed has the state itself.

This turns out to be a phantasmagoria, from which he awakes to find himself in yet another country, Libertaria.Here free enterprise is rampant, every public service is in the process of being privatized, financial extortion is the name of the game, and woe betide those who can't play it.The country seems to be an ally of Militaria:though Libertarian `freedom' is missing there, Militaria'smaintenance of `order' is something the Libertarians admire.

Finally, on his way out of that country, the Professor makes it to Minerva, a border town in the North of Libertaria.There he comes to the wise conclusion that what was the matter with all the dystopian states he had visited was that the single-minded pursuit of just one desirable aim (Order, Welfare, Respect, Equality, Freedom of Action) leads to the suppression of all the others.Condorcet had observed that all human ideals are linked together in an indissoluble chain.More practically, Isaiah Berlin (whom Lukes does not name in the text, though he does mention him in the bibliography) has taught that there needs to be a trade-off between all these desirable aims.How to strike this balance must be a never-ending quest, requiring much Wisdom.

One of his interlocutors in Libertaria had told him that people once believed that there was a state called Egalitaria north of their country, but that they had found that it did not exist and was in fact a utopia.Perhaps that is the reason whythe book ends in Minerva, with Caritat seeing that just beyond the border is a crossroads from which several roads extended. ... Read more

Product Description
Do You Want to Live an Outrageously Wonderful Life?

The One Minute Guide to Prosperity and Enlightenment is a groundbreaking book, offering secret, easy-to-use techniques to help you attract health, wealth, love and happiness. Sri Siva, the spiritual teacher of the best-selling author Wayne Dyer, has written this book to help you live the life of your dreams. It reveals hidden teachings that have never been widely taught to people. Sri Siva, a member of the Tamil Siddha enlightenment lineage, has been given permission from his tradition to share this knowledge openly for the first time.

This book is ideal for busy people who do not have the time to spend hours in meditation or practicing complex spiritual techniques. Based on his personal experience in guiding countless people to miraculous manifestations, this book contains Sri Siva's most potent secrets for transformation. His goal is to help people lead an "outrageously wonderful life filled with abundance and new and expansive opportunities." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (30)

Simple Effective Manifestation
We make things complicated by our thoughts that are not channeled in the right direction.This small book deals with the value of sound in our life.The sound provides not only manifestation process to start but also gives such calming relaxing effect to the whole body that provides a overall holistic healthy body and mind. I recommend this book along with Dr Wayne Dyer's book on manifesting.

Amazing
This book is small, but jam-packed with useful information. I am very grateful to have found this book. Dattatreya Siva Baba (or Sri Siva) has so much information out there on the web, also, for those who would like to learn even more. Check him out on [...]

If you are looking to boost prosperity and enlightenment in your life, buy this book. What have you got to loose? You won't be disappointed.

Prosperity and Enlightment
The One Minute Guide to Prosperity and Enlightenment This book is excellent and provides all the mantras and explanations, as well as DVD's and other products. This is the Guru who inspired Professor Wayne Dyer with his teachings. For the first time in history these secrets are available to the public. Sri Siva has a Master's Degree in English Literature and a PhD from University of Pittsburgh.Order this guide while copies are still available. These mantras will work regardless what faith you belong to...remove karma, focus on the positive and change your life spiritually.
Chloe Anderson

phenomenal
All of his work is phenomenal.We are blessed and grateful to our creator for supplying us with such an insightful teacher.May SRI SIVA live a long existence on this plane so that he may impart 10000000 pearls of wisdom.

True to Title
This book is a gem filled with valuable tools for creating... just as it states "Prosperity AND Enlightenment".
Some of the other reviews seem negative about the fact that the author is telling people who to manifest material items with the use of these "spiritual" tools... hey why not?Let's face it we all need the basic material necessities to live and why not live in prosperity?Is it somehow discredited when a spiritual "guru" teaches how to manifest abundance and peace of mind.
I loved it, love the author and his products and services he offers. He is also on youtube under "dattatreyasivababa" with tons of free videos, amazing amazing divine tools!

Big thanks to the author for such a concise, clear presentation on divine tools to change one's life. ... Read more