Author : John Templeton
Publisher : Templeton Foundation Press
Page : 57 pages
File Size : 16,27 MB
Release : 2000-06
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 1890151416
Understanding and expressing unconditional love can be a lifelong quest. This book seeks to define pure, unlimited love.
Author : Stephen G. Post
Publisher : Templeton Foundation Press
Page : 247 pages
File Size : 12,22 MB
Release : 2003-05
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 1932031316
What if we could prove that love heals mental illness and is vital to successful therapeutic outcomes in all areas of health care? What if we could prove that people who live more for others than for self have greater psychological well-being? Professor Stephen G. Post, who heads the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, is developing a new positive scientific program that integrates practice with high-level empirical research and religious-ethical ideas in order to explore these questions. The goal is to understand how our complex brains, unique imaginations, communicative abilities, reasoning powers, moral sense, and spiritual promptings give rise to the remarkable practice of unselfish love for our neighbors--or for those we do not even know. In Unlimited Love, Post examines the question of what we mean by unlimited love; his focus is not on falling into love, which is altogether natural, easy, and delusional. Rather, he focuses on the difficult learned ascent that begins with insight into the need for tolerance of ubiquitous imperfection, and matures into unselfish concern, gratitude, and compassion. He considers social scientific and evolutionary perspectives on human altruistic motivations, and he analyzes these perspectives in a wide interdisciplinary context at the interface of science, ethics, and religion. Teilhard de Chardin commented that the scientific understanding of the power of unselfish love would be as significant in human history as the discovery of fire. In Unlimited Love, Stephen Post presents an argument for the creation of a new interdisciplinary field for the study of love and unlimited love, engaging great minds and hoping to shape the human futureaway from endless acrimony, hatred, and violence.
Author : Stephen G. Post
Publisher : Templeton Foundation Press
Page : 391 pages
File Size : 11,78 MB
Release : 2014-05-12
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 1599474239
This book draws from previously unpublished letters and interviews with physicists, theologians, and Sir John’s close associates and family to present Sir John’s ideas on pure unlimited love. Post, who was in dialogue with Sir John for fifteen years on this topic and who had founded the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love (www.unlimitedloveinstitute.com), addresses how John Templeton arrived at his philosophy as a youth growing up in Tennessee. Post also shares how classical Presbyterian ideas came to synergize in his mind with the more Eastern influences of American transcendentalism and the Unity School of Christianity and ponders if Sir John truly believed that science and spirituality might fully converge on the same view of Ultimate Reality with their very different ways of knowing. Is Ultimate Reality Unlimited Love? presents Sir John’s hope for spiritual progress with the eventual convergence of ultimate reality and unlimited love.
Author : Sir John Templeton
Publisher : Templeton Foundation Press
Page : 113 pages
File Size : 17,16 MB
Release : 2008-01-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1890151750
The tradition of agape, or unconditional love, is not exclusive to any religion. It is a primary underlying principle found in religions worldwide. The concept of altruistic love challenges the spiritual person to "love your enemies" or to "love without thought of return." It is a love that flows out to others through compassion, kindness, tenderness, and charitable giving. Buddhists have a path of compassion, where caring for others becomes the motivating force behind existence. Hindus have a branch of yoga, the heart-centered path, that leads to enlightenment through an overwhelming love for God that takes the form of loving all humanity. Eastern religions, such as Taoism and Confucianism, see transcendent love as essential to true wisdom. Love is a universal theme of love found in all religious traditions, Buddhist, Christian, Islam, or others. As we realize that all religions have this spiritual principle of love at their core, we can develop a sense of shared humanity. The religious tradition of agape love examined in this book will inspire those who are learning to grow in compassion and love for all people.
Author : John Templeton
Publisher : Templeton Foundation Press
Page : 113 pages
File Size : 18,13 MB
Release : 1999-10
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 1890151297
The rich variety of world religions is a testimony to the essential spiritual nature of our human existence. And yet, within this amazing and sometimes fascinating diversity can be found an equally amazing unity, the basis of which is love. All the world's great religions both teach and assume the priority of love in religious practice, and any religion or system of beliefs that teaches or tolerates hatred towards others does not deserve to be considered a religion in the first place. Agape love is not directed towards a single person or small group of friends but towards all humanity, even all of creation. It is altruistic love, love that is given for its own sake without expecting anything in return, it is pure love, and the kind of love in which the religions of the world may find basis for unity.
Author : Stephen G. Post
Publisher : Templeton Foundation Press
Page : 161 pages
File Size : 40,67 MB
Release : 2008-11-01
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1599471515
In this uplifting new book, author Stephen G. Post explores the mysteries and the wonder of Godly love. This all-important love is personal, unconditional, unlimited, generative, and omnipresent. The title alludes to Isaiah 35, how Godly love is said to plant a rose in our hearts precisely when we feel like a desert with no more love to give. Post draws on his life experiences and works at the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love as he intersperses personal anecdotes with spiritual truths and research on human happiness. In the process, he defines the concept of Godly love and illustrates how important it can be in our lives—not only emotionally and spiritually but physically as well. "Godly love," he writes, "is the only foundation in the universe that we can really lean on." We all have deserts in life, so we all need Godly love. Without it, the downward slide to cynicism, hostility, and cool indifference can be too easy. These meditations on the subject will nurture our confidence in the power of a love greater than our own when we need it most.
Author : Craig A. Boyd
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 166 pages
File Size : 44,89 MB
Release : 2017-03-02
Category : Religion
ISBN : 1351875655
This book brings together philosophical and theological perspectives on agapistic love. The aim of the text is to illuminate the nature of unlimited love by distinct and integrative approaches to the intersection of the divine and the human. Various scientific approaches to human forms of love seem to shed light on our nature as social beings. But to what extent are the natural desires for affection, sexual love and friendship augmented, revised, perfected or replaced by the gift of grace? In other words, we can ask how is it that agapé modifies or shapes the natural loves? Diverse theological and moral traditions address the question in quite startling contrast. Thomists follow the dictum that 'Grace does not destroy nature but perfects it'. Lutherans draw a sharp contrast between law and Gospel while Wesleyans see charity as the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. Some feminist theorists see the idea of self-giving love as contrary to genuine self-fulfilment while the neo-Kantians see love as a duty to others, and some Kierkegaardians see the command to love as an unusual manifestation of divine command ethics. These diverse approaches, in light of contemporary research in the natural and social sciences, can provide fertile ground for the exploration of the intersection of human and divine love. To date, there is no text available that brings scholars from various theological and philosophical backgrounds together to engage in interdisciplinary dialogue on this important and much neglected aspect of research into the human and divine loves. This book offers a significant attempt to remedy the situation.
Author : Matthew T. Lee
Publisher : Lexington Books
Page : 248 pages
File Size : 12,51 MB
Release : 2012-03-01
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 073916788X
Godly Love: Impediments and Possibilities examines the theory of “Godly Love,” understood as including a vertical axis denoting the love of God and a horizontal axis involving the love of others, is at the core of a new field of research that studies how divine love influences the love of others and vice-versa. It is a multi-disciplinary research program into the benevolent expressions of the Great Commandment of the Christian tradition involving the theological and social sciences. Theological and social scientific essays ask why there is not more Godly Love in this world and what might be done to change the situation. This book focuses on the problems confronting, challenging, prohibiting, and perhaps even resisting the concrete expression of Godly Love in the world, utilizing a range of theological and especially social scientific methodologies.
Author : Maria Jesus Marin Lopez
Publisher : Lulu.com
Page : 155 pages
File Size : 38,23 MB
Release : 2015-12-17
Category : Self-Help
ISBN : 1326508873
To be able to heal a broken heart, you need to be an empowered individual. That means being in complete acceptance of who you are. If you find that you attract conflict or discord at home, at work, with your friends or even with innocent salespeople in stores, it's time to look at your relationship with yourself. There are always valid reasons for building defences, but when you can become aware of your triggers and make peace with past wounds that no longer serve you, you can thrive and evolve into an empowered, compassionate, peaceful individual - the best version of yourself. Former students of mine have found that as their lives opened up, they steadily experienced a degree of freedom, self-trust, love and compassion they never knew was possible. Ultimately, this heart opening changes your relationships for the better. As you become more conscious, you will notice new relationship patterns emerging while old patterns disappear. That creates a ripple effect that leads to fulfilled relationships.
Author : Stephen Post
Publisher : Templeton Foundation Press
Page : 303 pages
File Size : 43,99 MB
Release : 2003-05-15
Category : Family & Relationships
ISBN : 1932031324
Research on Altruism and Love is a compendium of annotated bibliographies reviewing literature and research studies on the nature of love. An essay introduces each of the annotated bibliographies. A variety of literature either directly related to science-and-love issues or supporting literature for those issues is covered in the Religious Love Interfaces with Science section. This annotated bibliography is unique in that it approaches the field from a decidedly religious perspective. It includes classical expositions of love that continue to influence contemporary scholars, including Platos' work on eros, the work and words of Jesus, Aristotle, Augustine of Hippo, Martin Luther, Kierkegaard, and Ghandi, among others. The contemporary discussion includes Anders Nygren's theological arguments in his classic, Agape and Eros; Pitirim Sorokin; and others. An issue that often emerges in this literature is the question of the nature and definition of love. A second annotated bibliography features current empirical research in the field of Personality and Altruism, with a focus on social psychology. Among the topics covered are the altruistic personality, altruistic behavior, empathy, helping behavior, social responsibility, and volunteerism. Methodologies are diverse, and studies include experiments, local and national surveys, naturalistic observation, and combinations of these. The Evolutionary Biology annotated bibliography covers the most significant works on altruism and love in the field of biology and evolutionary psychology. The fourth and final annotated bibliography in this volume is entitled Sociology of Faith-Based Volunteerism. Here the focus is on literature on the interface of helping behavior and religious organizations, as well as major pieces on voluntary associations.
