Understanding the Consecrated Life in Canada


Book Description

The story of the consecrated life in Canada since the 1960s should be about much more than numerical decline. Although the falling numbers are significant among Catholic religious in communities that pre-date Vatican II, many communities continue to show stability and even growth. This book provides nuance to that story by adding detailed portraits of movements, communities and institutions. In four parts, this book presents essays from the leading scholars on religious life in Canada that seek to address the state of religious communities dedicated to religious virtuosity normally characterized by formal promises of chastity, poverty, and obedience. The essays examine a broad range of topics related to the general state of consecrated (or “religious” or “monastic”) life in contemporary Canadian Christian and Buddhist traditions. In the first section, the contributors trace the demographics and definitions of religious life in Canada. The second section examines Canadian developments in Catholic religious life during the Vatican II and the post-Vatican II eras. A third section explores trends in contemporary Canadian religious life, while the fourth section describes the consecrated life in other Canadian religious traditions.




Integral Yoga Psychology


Book Description

Integral Yoga Psychology is a new attempt to position the Integral Yoga of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother within the frame of yoga psychology, as an inquiry related to transpersonal and whole-person psychologies. This book contains 11 essays by leading scholar-practitioners of integral yoga, sketching its possibility-space as a psychology. It attemps this through a hermeneutics of the texts of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother, as well as their own and their disciples' practices and experiences. It also makes a beginning at locating the field in its larger contexts, through comparative, qualitative and empirical studies, as well as probing the clinical possibilities of its models.




Trump and a Post-Truth World


Book Description

A provocative and balanced examination of our social and political situation in the wake of the Trump presidency—by a cutting-edge philosopher of our times The world is in turmoil. As populist waves roil in the UK, Europe, Turkey, Russia, Asia—and most visibly, the U.S., with the election of Donald Trump—nationalist and extremist political forces threaten the progress made over many decades. Democracies are reeling in the face of nihilism and narcissism. How did we get here? And how, with so much antagonism, cynicism, and discord, can we mend the ruptures in our societies? In this provocative work, philosopher Ken Wilber applies his Integral approach to explain how we arrived where we are and why there is cause for hope. He lays much of the blame on a failure at the progressive, leading edge of society. This leading edge is characterized by the desire to be as just and inclusive as possible, and to it we owe the thrust toward women’s rights, the civil rights movement, the environmental movement, and the concern for oppression in all its forms. This is all evolutionarily healthy. But what is unhealthy is a creeping postmodernism that is elitist, “politically correct,” insistent on an egalitarianism that is itself paradoxically hierarchical, and that looks down on “deplorables.” Combine this with the techno-economic demise of many traditional ways of making a living, and you get an explosive mixture. As Wilber says, for some Trump voters: “Everywhere you are told that you are fully equal and deserve immediate and complete empowerment, yet everywhere you are denied the means to actually achieve it. You suffocate, you suffer, and you get very, very mad.” It is only when members of society’s leading edge can heal themselves that a new, Integral evolutionary force can emerge to move us beyond the social and political turmoil of our current time to offer genuine leadership toward greater wholeness.




Bede Griffiths' Images of God


Book Description

This book reveals how the images Bede Griffiths OSB Cam used for God are richly embedded with concepts ancient and new, making them especially relevant for our current times. It prompts insight into the great deposit of wisdom and scholarship that was his source, and will benefit those interested in religious imagery, gender equality, monastic life, interfaith dialogue, evolution of consciousness, practical theology and spirituality, and integral thought. Led by Christ, “the Golden String,” Griffiths made the sea-change from Great Britain to India, promoting “the marriage of East and West,” the essential value of the feminine, contemplative prayer, interreligious dialogue, and integral life. His initiation to Christian sannyasa and faith in the evolutionary process reflect his openness to change and to grow, and highlight this great sage’s masterful use of images grounded in his motto, to “always go beyond.”




The Collected Works of Ken Wilber, Volume 8


Book Description

Volume Eight of The Collected Works of Ken Wilber includes: • In The Marriage of Sense and Soul: Integrating Science and Religion (1998), Wilber takes on the centuries-old problem of the relationship between science and religion. After surveying the world's great wisdom traditions and extracting features they all share, he offers compelling arguments that not only are these compatible with scientific truth, they also share a similar scientific method. • One Taste: The Journals of Ken Wilber (1999) is a lively and entertaining glimpse into a year in the life of Ken Wilber—as well as a thought-provoking series of short essays on current trends in spirituality and psychology, daily reflections, meditation experiences, and advice to spiritual seekers.




Spirit, Soul, Body


Book Description

A perennial problem for spiritual traditions of all sorts is dualism--either a positing of a false distance between the Divine and the created or a rejection of creation and the human body. Many contemporary spiritual seekers have sensed this problem and sought to remedy it through myriad solutions drawn from various spiritual traditions and secular wisdom, both Eastern and Western. Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam, explores Christianity's contribution to the discussion. He offers a revisioning and rearticulation of this teaching, based on the prophetic seminal work of Bede Griffiths, toward a practical and integral spirituality that reverences all aspects of our being human--spirit, soul, and body.




One Spirit, Many Paths


Book Description

Dive into the expansive exploration of the human spirit in the revelatory book "One Spirit, Many Paths: Exploring Diverse Perspectives through Integral Spirituality". Serving as a comprehensive guide to integral spirituality, this book endeavors to acquaint readers with the universal human journey, encompassing a multifaceted collage of perspectives and experiences.Beginning with an understanding of Integral Spirituality, its definition, historical evolution, and the integral frame that encases it, this book sets the stage for a deep dive into the many components of this profound theory. Journey through Ken Wilber's renowned Integral Theory, its philosophical origins, and the key concepts that establish its foundation.This book carefully dissects the Four Quadrants, the Levels of Consciousness, Lines, States, and Types, elucidating their role in our day-to-day lives. Understand the role of Spiritual Intelligence, develop it through practical steps, and see its impact on life.Master the art of shadow work, a key aspect of integral theory, through an integral approach while learning about different practices and methods to overcome challenges. Discover Integral Life Practice and learn the steps to develop a personalized routine, along with practical tips for consistency.Explore the Integral approach to techniques for tranquility such as meditation and yoga. Understand their connection to consciousness and their scientific backing. Discover the benefits and techniques of Integral Yoga.The book presents a profound viewpoint on Ethics and Morality, Integral Leadership, as well as the Integral perspective on Relationships, exploring its nuanced understanding of love and sexuality. Delve into the relationship between Spirituality and the Environment, learning about Integral Ecology, our place within the global ecosystem, and concrete actions towards sustainable living.Visualize the future of Integral Spirituality and how technology may shape it. Understand the potential role of technology in harmonizing our collective evolution.Complete with insightful analysis and practical applications, "One Spirit, Many Paths" uncovers a comprehensive understanding of Integral Spirituality, merging mysticism with practicality, and the personal with the universal. A must-read for anyone seeking to explore the depths of their own spiritual journey and its place in the universal consciousness.




Evolutionary Enlightenment


Book Description

In Evolutionary Enlightenment, Andrew Cohen redefines spiritual awakening for our contemporary world—a world characterized by exponential change and an ever-expanding appreciation for the processes of evolution. Cohen’s message is simple, yet profound: Life is evolution, and enlightenment is about waking up to this fundamentally creative impulse as your own deepest, most authentic self. Through five tenets for living an enlightened life, Cohen will empower you to wholeheartedly participate in the process of change as your own spiritual practice. Evolutionary Enlightenment not only makes deep sense of life today; it will show you how to play an active role in shaping the world of tomorrow.




The Light of Asia


Book Description

This rich and enjoyable book by the acclaimed author of Japan Story explores the many ways in which Asia has influenced Europe and North America over centuries of tangled, dynamic encounters From the time of the ancient Greeks onwards the West's relationship with Asia consisted for the most part of outrageous tales of strange beasts and monsters, of silk and spices shipped over vast distances and an uneasy sense of unknowable empires fantastically far away. By the twentieth century much of Asia might have come under Western rule after centuries of warfare, but its intellectual, artistic and spiritual influence was fighting back. The Light of Asia is a wonderfully varied and entertaining history of the many ways in which Asia has shaped European and North American culture over centuries of tangled, dynamic encounters, and the central importance of this vexed, often confused relationship. From Marco Polo onwards Asia has been both a source of genuine fascination and equally genuine failures of comprehension. China, India and Japan were all acknowledged to be both great civilizations and in crude ways seen as superseded by the West. From Chicago to Calcutta, and from antiquity to the new millennium, this is a rich, involving story of misunderstandings and sincere connection, of inspiration and falsehood, of geniuses, adventurers and con-men. Christopher Harding's captivating gallery of people and places celebrates Asia's impact on the West in all its variety.




Pushing Ultimates


Book Description

A journey, encompassing the evolution of consciousness, while weaving mysticism, theology, psychology, philosophy, quantum physics, neurology, music, art, into meaningful and relevant patterns of clarification. This work is useful for people concerned with the essence of philosophical inquiry and spiritual growth.




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