Author: Mark W. Gura
Publisher: Inneraction Press LLC
ISBN: 9781939691231
Category : Atheism
Languages : en
Pages : 214
Book Description
Finally, a book about meditation and meaning in life that is based on reason, not religious or supernatural explanations... Provocative and truly inspirational! One of the best books I've ever read.-Rachel Patel We think we perceive reality, but we live in our minds, in self-created realities, hypnotized by our conditioning and habitual ways of thinking. I am sure seekers will find much to support their efforts to awaken in this book.-Jack Elias "Atheist Meditation Atheist Spirituality" is a guide and memoir which shows that spirituality and meditation can be practiced without faith in God(s), gurus, or the supernatural. Techniques such as mindfulness and vipassana meditation have been practiced for thousands of years, are corroborated by reason, psychology and neuroscience, and help develop a sense of compassion, charity and the pursuit of meaning and knowledge. These secular practices are consistent with the best science available and are perfect for atheists, skeptics, humanists, freethinkers, as well as all others who wish to practice spirituality without religion or reference to supernatural forces. This is the complete version of the book, contains 214 pages. Note: The difference between "Atheist Meditation/Atheist Spirituality" and "Exploring Your Life" is that Exploring Your Life is an expanded edition, and it's intended for a general audience, while "Atheist Meditation" begins with a special message to the atheist community.
Waking Up
Author: Sam Harris
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451636024
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
Spirituality.The search for happiness --Religion, East and West --Mindfulness --The truth of suffering --Enlightenment --The mystery of consciousness.The mind divided --Structure and function --Are our minds already split? --Conscious and unconscious processing in the brain --Consciousness is what matters --The riddle of the self.What are we calling "I"? --Consciousness without self --Lost in thought --The challenge of studying the self --Penetrating the illusion --Meditation.Gradual versus sudden realization --Dzogchen: taking the goal as the path --Having no head --The paradox of acceptance --Gurus, death, drugs, and other puzzles.Mind on the brink of death --The spiritual uses of pharmacology.
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451636024
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 256
Book Description
Spirituality.The search for happiness --Religion, East and West --Mindfulness --The truth of suffering --Enlightenment --The mystery of consciousness.The mind divided --Structure and function --Are our minds already split? --Conscious and unconscious processing in the brain --Consciousness is what matters --The riddle of the self.What are we calling "I"? --Consciousness without self --Lost in thought --The challenge of studying the self --Penetrating the illusion --Meditation.Gradual versus sudden realization --Dzogchen: taking the goal as the path --Having no head --The paradox of acceptance --Gurus, death, drugs, and other puzzles.Mind on the brink of death --The spiritual uses of pharmacology.
Confession of a Buddhist Atheist
Author: Stephen Batchelor
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1588369846
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
Does Buddhism require faith? Can an atheist or agnostic follow the Buddha’s teachings without believing in reincarnation or organized religion? This is one man’s confession. In his classic Buddhism Without Beliefs, Stephen Batchelor offered a profound, secular approach to the teachings of the Buddha that struck an emotional chord with Western readers. Now, with the same brilliance and boldness of thought, he paints a groundbreaking portrait of the historical Buddha—told from the author’s unique perspective as a former Buddhist monk and modern seeker. Drawing from the original Pali Canon, the seminal collection of Buddhist discourses compiled after the Buddha’s death by his followers, Batchelor shows us the Buddha as a flesh-and-blood man who looked at life in a radically new way. Batchelor also reveals the everyday challenges and doubts of his own devotional journey—from meeting the Dalai Lama in India, to training as a Zen monk in Korea, to finding his path as a lay teacher of Buddhism living in France. Both controversial and deeply personal, Stephen Batchelor’s refreshingly doctrine-free, life-informed account is essential reading for anyone interested in Buddhism.
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1588369846
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 354
Book Description
Does Buddhism require faith? Can an atheist or agnostic follow the Buddha’s teachings without believing in reincarnation or organized religion? This is one man’s confession. In his classic Buddhism Without Beliefs, Stephen Batchelor offered a profound, secular approach to the teachings of the Buddha that struck an emotional chord with Western readers. Now, with the same brilliance and boldness of thought, he paints a groundbreaking portrait of the historical Buddha—told from the author’s unique perspective as a former Buddhist monk and modern seeker. Drawing from the original Pali Canon, the seminal collection of Buddhist discourses compiled after the Buddha’s death by his followers, Batchelor shows us the Buddha as a flesh-and-blood man who looked at life in a radically new way. Batchelor also reveals the everyday challenges and doubts of his own devotional journey—from meeting the Dalai Lama in India, to training as a Zen monk in Korea, to finding his path as a lay teacher of Buddhism living in France. Both controversial and deeply personal, Stephen Batchelor’s refreshingly doctrine-free, life-informed account is essential reading for anyone interested in Buddhism.
Believing in Dawkins
Author: Eric Steinhart
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030430529
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 412
Book Description
Dawkin's militant atheism is well known; his profound faith less well known In this book, atheist philosopher Eric Steinhart explores the spiritual dimensions of Richard Dawkins’ books, which are shown to encompass: · the meaning and purpose of life · an appreciation of Platonic beauty and truth · a deep belief in the rationality of the universe · an aversion to both scientism and nihilism As an atheist, Dawkins strives to develop a scientific alternative to theism, and while he declares that science is not a religion, he also proclaims it to be a spiritual enterprise. His books are filled with fragmentary sketches of this ‘spiritual atheism’, resembling a great unfinished cathedral. This book systematises and completes Dawkins’ arguments and reveals their deep roots in Stoicism and Platonism. Expanding on Dawkins’ ideas, Steinhart shows how atheists can develop powerful ethical principles, compelling systems of symbols and images, and meaningful personal and social practices. Believing in Dawkins is a rigorous and potent entreaty for the use of science and reason to support spiritually rich and optimistic ways of thinking and living.
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030430529
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 412
Book Description
Dawkin's militant atheism is well known; his profound faith less well known In this book, atheist philosopher Eric Steinhart explores the spiritual dimensions of Richard Dawkins’ books, which are shown to encompass: · the meaning and purpose of life · an appreciation of Platonic beauty and truth · a deep belief in the rationality of the universe · an aversion to both scientism and nihilism As an atheist, Dawkins strives to develop a scientific alternative to theism, and while he declares that science is not a religion, he also proclaims it to be a spiritual enterprise. His books are filled with fragmentary sketches of this ‘spiritual atheism’, resembling a great unfinished cathedral. This book systematises and completes Dawkins’ arguments and reveals their deep roots in Stoicism and Platonism. Expanding on Dawkins’ ideas, Steinhart shows how atheists can develop powerful ethical principles, compelling systems of symbols and images, and meaningful personal and social practices. Believing in Dawkins is a rigorous and potent entreaty for the use of science and reason to support spiritually rich and optimistic ways of thinking and living.
Atheist Meditation Atheist Spirituality
Author: Mark W. Gura
Publisher: Inneraction Press LLC
ISBN: 9781939691231
Category : Atheism
Languages : en
Pages : 214
Book Description
Finally, a book about meditation and meaning in life that is based on reason, not religious or supernatural explanations... Provocative and truly inspirational! One of the best books I've ever read.-Rachel Patel We think we perceive reality, but we live in our minds, in self-created realities, hypnotized by our conditioning and habitual ways of thinking. I am sure seekers will find much to support their efforts to awaken in this book.-Jack Elias "Atheist Meditation Atheist Spirituality" is a guide and memoir which shows that spirituality and meditation can be practiced without faith in God(s), gurus, or the supernatural. Techniques such as mindfulness and vipassana meditation have been practiced for thousands of years, are corroborated by reason, psychology and neuroscience, and help develop a sense of compassion, charity and the pursuit of meaning and knowledge. These secular practices are consistent with the best science available and are perfect for atheists, skeptics, humanists, freethinkers, as well as all others who wish to practice spirituality without religion or reference to supernatural forces. This is the complete version of the book, contains 214 pages. Note: The difference between "Atheist Meditation/Atheist Spirituality" and "Exploring Your Life" is that Exploring Your Life is an expanded edition, and it's intended for a general audience, while "Atheist Meditation" begins with a special message to the atheist community.
Publisher: Inneraction Press LLC
ISBN: 9781939691231
Category : Atheism
Languages : en
Pages : 214
Book Description
Finally, a book about meditation and meaning in life that is based on reason, not religious or supernatural explanations... Provocative and truly inspirational! One of the best books I've ever read.-Rachel Patel We think we perceive reality, but we live in our minds, in self-created realities, hypnotized by our conditioning and habitual ways of thinking. I am sure seekers will find much to support their efforts to awaken in this book.-Jack Elias "Atheist Meditation Atheist Spirituality" is a guide and memoir which shows that spirituality and meditation can be practiced without faith in God(s), gurus, or the supernatural. Techniques such as mindfulness and vipassana meditation have been practiced for thousands of years, are corroborated by reason, psychology and neuroscience, and help develop a sense of compassion, charity and the pursuit of meaning and knowledge. These secular practices are consistent with the best science available and are perfect for atheists, skeptics, humanists, freethinkers, as well as all others who wish to practice spirituality without religion or reference to supernatural forces. This is the complete version of the book, contains 214 pages. Note: The difference between "Atheist Meditation/Atheist Spirituality" and "Exploring Your Life" is that Exploring Your Life is an expanded edition, and it's intended for a general audience, while "Atheist Meditation" begins with a special message to the atheist community.
Secular Meditation
Author: Rick Heller
Publisher: New World Library
ISBN: 1608683699
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
Meditation is a form of mental exercise with numerous scientifically verified physical and psychological benefits. As meditation teacher Rick Heller shows, the benefits of the practice extend beyond the personal to enrich relationships with others, with one’s community, and with the world. In Secular Meditation, step-by-step instructions, personal stories, and provocative questions teach empathy for others, stress reduction, and the kind of in-the-moment living that fosters appreciation for life and resilience in the face of adversity. Heller simplifies what is often found mysterious, describing and providing detailed instructions for thirty-two different practices, ensuring that anyone can find the right one.
Publisher: New World Library
ISBN: 1608683699
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 306
Book Description
Meditation is a form of mental exercise with numerous scientifically verified physical and psychological benefits. As meditation teacher Rick Heller shows, the benefits of the practice extend beyond the personal to enrich relationships with others, with one’s community, and with the world. In Secular Meditation, step-by-step instructions, personal stories, and provocative questions teach empathy for others, stress reduction, and the kind of in-the-moment living that fosters appreciation for life and resilience in the face of adversity. Heller simplifies what is often found mysterious, describing and providing detailed instructions for thirty-two different practices, ensuring that anyone can find the right one.
Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations
Author: Jules Evans
Publisher: New World Library
ISBN: 1608682307
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Book Description
When philosophy rescued him from an emotional crisis, Jules Evans became fascinated by how ideas invented over two thousand years ago can help us today. He interviewed soldiers, psychologists, gangsters, astronauts, and anarchists and discovered the ways that people are using philosophy now to build better lives. Ancient philosophy has inspired modern communities — Socratic cafés, Stoic armies, Epicurean communes — and even whole nations in the quest for the good life. This book is an invitation to a dream school with a rowdy faculty that includes twelve of the greatest philosophers from the ancient world, sharing their lessons on happiness, resilience, and much more. Lively and inspiring, this is philosophy for the street, for the workplace, for the battlefield, for love, for life.
Publisher: New World Library
ISBN: 1608682307
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Book Description
When philosophy rescued him from an emotional crisis, Jules Evans became fascinated by how ideas invented over two thousand years ago can help us today. He interviewed soldiers, psychologists, gangsters, astronauts, and anarchists and discovered the ways that people are using philosophy now to build better lives. Ancient philosophy has inspired modern communities — Socratic cafés, Stoic armies, Epicurean communes — and even whole nations in the quest for the good life. This book is an invitation to a dream school with a rowdy faculty that includes twelve of the greatest philosophers from the ancient world, sharing their lessons on happiness, resilience, and much more. Lively and inspiring, this is philosophy for the street, for the workplace, for the battlefield, for love, for life.
The Little Book of Atheist Spirituality
Author: André Comte-Sponville
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780670018475
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 236
Book Description
Poses an argument for living a spiritual life that is not dependent on religion, explaining that an acceptance of philosophical spiritual traditions and values does not require practitioners to embrace the existence of a higher order.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780670018475
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 236
Book Description
Poses an argument for living a spiritual life that is not dependent on religion, explaining that an acceptance of philosophical spiritual traditions and values does not require practitioners to embrace the existence of a higher order.
Atheist Yoga
Author: Anton Drake
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780983150237
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
Atheist Yoga makes the case for yoga's total compatibility with atheism, while simultaneously offering an in-depth explanation of advanced yoga techniques. It takes a close look at the full spectrum of yoga methodology and explains how to really advance your practice to higher levels of expertise, delving deeply into hatha yoga, pranayama and meditation while thoroughly exploring esoteric subjects such as Kundalini, tantra, sexual yoga, kumbhaka, pratyahara and yogic trance in sensible and easy to understand practical terms. From a starting point of realism and scientific materialism, it begins to decode and illuminate the ancient secrets of yoga in a way that readers will find highly accessible and enjoyable on multiple levels, while delving into the deep unconscious symbolism of Kundalini and the chakras and describing many highly effective and little-known "left hand path" techniques of meditation, yogic trance, sensory withdrawal, concentration, and yogic sex. Through it all, Atheist Yoga makes the case that yoga and meditation are much easier and far more genuine when the fuzzy idea of a Supreme Being no longer separates the meditator from his or her own individual self. ---------About the author: Anton Drake is a pseudonym of the contemporary artist Frank Aguirre.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780983150237
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 192
Book Description
Atheist Yoga makes the case for yoga's total compatibility with atheism, while simultaneously offering an in-depth explanation of advanced yoga techniques. It takes a close look at the full spectrum of yoga methodology and explains how to really advance your practice to higher levels of expertise, delving deeply into hatha yoga, pranayama and meditation while thoroughly exploring esoteric subjects such as Kundalini, tantra, sexual yoga, kumbhaka, pratyahara and yogic trance in sensible and easy to understand practical terms. From a starting point of realism and scientific materialism, it begins to decode and illuminate the ancient secrets of yoga in a way that readers will find highly accessible and enjoyable on multiple levels, while delving into the deep unconscious symbolism of Kundalini and the chakras and describing many highly effective and little-known "left hand path" techniques of meditation, yogic trance, sensory withdrawal, concentration, and yogic sex. Through it all, Atheist Yoga makes the case that yoga and meditation are much easier and far more genuine when the fuzzy idea of a Supreme Being no longer separates the meditator from his or her own individual self. ---------About the author: Anton Drake is a pseudonym of the contemporary artist Frank Aguirre.
The Happy Atheist
Author: PZ Myers
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307739805
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
On his popular science blog, Pharyngula, PZ Myers has entertained millions of readers with his infectious love of evolutionary science and his equally infectious disdain for creationism, biblical literalism, intelligent design theory, and other products of godly illogic. This funny and fearless book collects and expands on some of his most popular writings, giving the religious fanaticism of our times the gleeful disrespect it deserves by skewering the apocalyptic fantasies, magical thinking, hypocrisies, and pseudoscientific theories advanced by religious fundamentalists of all stripes. Forceful and articulate, scathing and funny, The Happy Atheist is a reaffirmation of the revelatory power of humor and the truth-revealing powers of science and reason.
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307739805
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 210
Book Description
On his popular science blog, Pharyngula, PZ Myers has entertained millions of readers with his infectious love of evolutionary science and his equally infectious disdain for creationism, biblical literalism, intelligent design theory, and other products of godly illogic. This funny and fearless book collects and expands on some of his most popular writings, giving the religious fanaticism of our times the gleeful disrespect it deserves by skewering the apocalyptic fantasies, magical thinking, hypocrisies, and pseudoscientific theories advanced by religious fundamentalists of all stripes. Forceful and articulate, scathing and funny, The Happy Atheist is a reaffirmation of the revelatory power of humor and the truth-revealing powers of science and reason.
Religion for Atheists
Author: Alain De Botton
Publisher: Signal
ISBN: 0771025998
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 298
Book Description
From the author of The Architecture of Happiness, a deeply moving meditation on how we can still benefit, without believing, from the wisdom, the beauty, and the consolatory power that religion has to offer. Alain de Botton was brought up in a committedly atheistic household, and though he was powerfully swayed by his parents' views, he underwent, in his mid-twenties, a crisis of faithlessness. His feelings of doubt about atheism had their origins in listening to Bach's cantatas, were further developed in the presence of certain Bellini Madonnas, and became overwhelming with an introduction to Zen architecture. However, it was not until his father's death -- buried under a Hebrew headstone in a Jewish cemetery because he had intriguingly omitted to make more secular arrangements -- that Alain began to face the full degree of his ambivalence regarding the views of religion that he had dutifully accepted. Why are we presented with the curious choice between either committing to peculiar concepts about immaterial deities or letting go entirely of a host of consoling, subtle and effective rituals and practices for which there is no equivalent in secular society? Why do we bristle at the mention of the word "morality"? Flee from the idea that art should be uplifting, or have an ethical purpose? Why don't we build temples? What mechanisms do we have for expressing gratitude? The challenge that de Botton addresses in his book: how to separate ideas and practices from the religious institutions that have laid claim to them. In Religion for Atheists is an argument to free our soul-related needs from the particular influence of religions, even if it is, paradoxically, the study of religion that will allow us to rediscover and rearticulate those needs.
Publisher: Signal
ISBN: 0771025998
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 298
Book Description
From the author of The Architecture of Happiness, a deeply moving meditation on how we can still benefit, without believing, from the wisdom, the beauty, and the consolatory power that religion has to offer. Alain de Botton was brought up in a committedly atheistic household, and though he was powerfully swayed by his parents' views, he underwent, in his mid-twenties, a crisis of faithlessness. His feelings of doubt about atheism had their origins in listening to Bach's cantatas, were further developed in the presence of certain Bellini Madonnas, and became overwhelming with an introduction to Zen architecture. However, it was not until his father's death -- buried under a Hebrew headstone in a Jewish cemetery because he had intriguingly omitted to make more secular arrangements -- that Alain began to face the full degree of his ambivalence regarding the views of religion that he had dutifully accepted. Why are we presented with the curious choice between either committing to peculiar concepts about immaterial deities or letting go entirely of a host of consoling, subtle and effective rituals and practices for which there is no equivalent in secular society? Why do we bristle at the mention of the word "morality"? Flee from the idea that art should be uplifting, or have an ethical purpose? Why don't we build temples? What mechanisms do we have for expressing gratitude? The challenge that de Botton addresses in his book: how to separate ideas and practices from the religious institutions that have laid claim to them. In Religion for Atheists is an argument to free our soul-related needs from the particular influence of religions, even if it is, paradoxically, the study of religion that will allow us to rediscover and rearticulate those needs.