Confronting myself, my past, and my present state of being


Book Description

This book is written for all human beings who suffer from mental, physical, and sexual abuse and all human beings with dream, hopes, and talents to become whatever their hearts desires. It feels great to let out your feelings and talk about your mishaps even when they are at the worse peak possible. Holding it in can make things worse. I am living proof. Unfortunately, repeated abuse awaits the ones who are afraid and not knowing. Confront yourself, your past, and begin your new wonderful future. We all deserve a good life. Life is only what you make it.




Making the Change.


Book Description

Making the Change is a part personal story, part in-depth look into life, and part inspirational message, for you the reader, to Make the Change You Long to in your Life! For much of my life I desired growth in some form or another but for reasons unknown to me at the time, I remained stuck. Today, I understand I share a pain and struggle that is common amongst many; a void that causes most of us to become stagnate and lose sight of our true potential. However, no matter what it is holding you back in life, know that it is never too late to seize the day. This book sets out to aid the reader in identifying personal discoveries and applying your new awareness in the effort to bring about the happiness and fulfillment you seek. Allow this work to guide you in your personal journey, by urging you to become more self-aware through a series of questions, serving as both a guide and a journal. My hope is that this book will share that message with those who are experiencing both internal and external conflict, to find a means to heal old wounds and learn to forgive and therefore grow into the individual that you were truly always meant to be!




The Mind Illuminated


Book Description

The Mind Illuminated is a comprehensive, accessible and - above all - effective book on meditation, providing a nuts-and-bolts stage-based system that helps all levels of meditators establish and deepen their practice. Providing step-by-step guidance for every stage of the meditation path, this uniquely comprehensive guide for a Western audience combines the wisdom from the teachings of the Buddha with the latest research in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Clear and friendly, this in-depth practice manual builds on the nine-stage model of meditation originally articulated by the ancient Indian sage Asanga, crystallizing the entire meditative journey into 10 clearly-defined stages. The book also introduces a new and fascinating model of how the mind works, and uses illustrations and charts to help the reader work through each stage. This manual is an essential read for the beginner to the seasoned veteran of meditation.




Letter from Birmingham Jail


Book Description

A beautiful commemorative edition of Dr. Martin Luther King's essay "Letter from Birmingham Jail," part of Dr. King's archives published exclusively by HarperCollins. With an afterword by Reginald Dwayne Betts On April 16, 1923, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., responded to an open letter written and published by eight white clergyman admonishing the civil rights demonstrations happening in Birmingham, Alabama. Dr. King drafted his seminal response on scraps of paper smuggled into jail. King criticizes his detractors for caring more about order than justice, defends nonviolent protests, and argues for the moral responsibility to obey just laws while disobeying unjust ones. "Letter from Birmingham Jail" proclaims a message - confronting any injustice is an acceptable and righteous reason for civil disobedience. This beautifully designed edition presents Dr. King's speech in its entirety, paying tribute to this extraordinary leader and his immeasurable contribution, and inspiring a new generation of activists dedicated to carrying on the fight for justice and equality.




A Commentary on Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness


Book Description

"[A Commentary on Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness] represents, I believe, a very important beginning of a deservingly serious effort to make the whole of Being and Nothingness more readily understandable and readable. . . . In his systematic interpretations of Sartre's book, [Catalano] demonstrates a determination to confront many of the most demanding issues and concepts of Being and Nothingness. He does not shrink—as do so many interpreters of Sartre—from such issues as the varied meanings of 'being,' the meaning of 'internal negation' and 'absolute event,' the idiosyncratic senses of transcendence, the meaning of the 'upsurge' in its different contexts, what it means to say that we 'exist our body,' the connotation of such concepts as quality, quantity, potentiality, and instrumentality (in respect to Sartre's world of 'things'), or the origin of negation. . . . Catalano offers what is doubtless one of the most probing, original, and illuminating interpretations of Sartre's crucial concept of nothingness to appear in the Sartrean literature."—Ronald E. Santoni, International Philosophical Quarterly







Cutting Ties with Darkness


Book Description

Paul wrote 2 Corinthians with a heavy heart, wrestling to maintain his relationship with the young church that he established. The way that Paul handled this painful situation provides an example for us today. When should we reconcile, and when should we walk away? How do we cut ties with darkness--whether in ourselves or in others? In this volume from the Transformative Word series, edited by Craig Bartholomew, John D. Barry explores how we deal with such scars in light of Jesus' example. Endorsements In beautiful prose, John Barry offers a plethora of practical insights for our lives, relationships and ministries from 2 Corinthians. He shows how the letter as a whole fits together, and his heart for the world shines through as he provides illustrations from a range of cultures as well as what he has witnessed personally. --Craig Keener, F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies, Asbury Theological Seminary In his work, Cutting Ties with Darkness, John Barry walks us through Second Corinthians, opens our eyes to the heart of Paul, and connects his message to our world in language and illustrations anyone can understand. This is not like most commentaries. It is both stimulating and enjoyable to read. The clarity with which he communicates Paul's message demonstrates that he has delved deeply into each passage and thought through each one's implications. John Barry is masterful in bridging the cultural gap and making Paul's message contemporary and practical. --Gary W. Derickson, Professor of Biblical Exposition and Greek Department Chair, Bible and Theology Corban University School of Ministry




Embodied Spirits


Book Description

First book addressing the concerns and issues of people of color in spiritual direction “These essays speak of how we have incorporated our contemplative practices into our family life; our urban, non-religious background; how we have been nurtured in struggles for health and life through our contemplative prayer practices and our courage to survive and even thrive in the midst of dire circumstances. We speak of the unfolding bridge between faith and culture; our conflicts with an Interspiritual journey with a Christian foundation; our sexuality; our journey to healing and authenticity; and how we are taking this practice that began in the first centuries of the church with the desert mothers and fathers to the present and into the future with spiritual direction through the Internet across the world.” —from the Introduction




The Poetics of Philosophy [A Reading of Plato]


Book Description

The Poetics of Philosophy is my attempt to hear what academic philosophy attempts to silence, namely, how reason resonates with madness. It is thus a stinging of the great steed of academia in order to recover and re-experience what otherwise would be repressed by the exigencies of bureaucratic-commodity life in the late capitalist world. An analysis of Plato’s principal dialogues with a view towards developing the author’s conception of thinking, knowing, and loving, it incorporates the insights of Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Derrida. Provoking the world mind to reflect upon its phenomenological possibility for Being dispersed within its daily routines or business, the book argues for the metaphysicality of physical reality articulated through the narrative trope of fractal dialectical logic. The present volume’s more general implications extend the insights of the author’s previous work in the area of social science. I refer to the possibility for world communist revolution, which is predicated on communism’s thorough ridding itself of its naïve materialist perspective, the relics of a Newtonian Universe, and its embracing of a fractal-dialectical logic (or similar) that is better able to incorporate the yearning for immortality, desire to experience beauty, and the need to have a meaningful life that define human species life. To articulate such a framework is the aim of my general research.




Intersubjectivity and Transcendental Idealism


Book Description

The threat of solipcism nagged Husserl. The question of the status of others occupied him during the last years of his life and remained a question that seemed to challenge the foundation of his life's work. This book offers new answers to this persistent philosophical question by defining the question in specifically Husserlian terms and by means of a careful examination of Husserl's later texts, including the unpublished Nachlass.