The Meaning of Love in Human Experience


Book Description

This book presents an integrative theory of love as the most important of human experiences, drawing on data from psychology, psychoanalysis, anthropology and history. It distinguishes and analyzes the differences between love cultures and hate cultures, showing how these differences affect social history, child-rearing practices and personal mental health. The book also examines the meaning of love from genetic, cultural, intrapersonal, and interpersonal perspectives.




Elevating the Human Experience


Book Description

Wall Street Journal bestseller Have you ever struggled to feel worthy at work? Do you know or lead people who do? When Amelia Dunlop first heard the phrase "elevating the human experience" in a leadership team meeting with her boss, she thought, "He is crazy if he thinks we will ever say those words out loud to each other much less to a potential client." We've been conditioned to separate our personal and professional selves, but work is fundamental to our human experience. Love and worth have a place in work because our humanity and authentic identities make our work better. The acknowledgement of our intrinsic worth as human beings and the nurturing of our own or another's growth through love ultimately contribute to higher performance and organizational growth. Now as the Chief Experience Officer at Deloitte Digital, a leading Experience Consultancy, Amelia Dunlop knows we must embrace elevating the human experience for the advancement and success of ourselves and our organizations. This book integrates the findings of a quantitative study to better understand feelings of love and worth in the workplace and introduces three paths that allow individuals to create the professional experience they desire for themselves, their teams, and their clients. The first path explores the path of the self, an inward path where we learn to love ourselves when we show up for work, and examines the obstacles that hinder us. The second path centers around learning to love and recognize the worth of another in our lives, adding to the worth we feel and providing a source of meaning to our lives. The third path considers the community of work and learning to love and recognize the worth of those we meet every day at work, especially for those who may be systematically marginalized, unseen, or unrepresented. Drawing on her own personal journey to find love and worth at work in her twenty-year career as a management consultant, Amelia also weaves together insights from philosophers, theologians, and sociologists with the stories of people from diverse backgrounds gathered during her research. Elevating the Human Experience: Three Paths to Love and Worth at Work is for anyone who has felt the struggle to feel worthy at work, as well as for those who have no idea what it may feel like to struggle every day just to feel loved and worthy, but love people and lead people who do. It’s a practical approach to elevating the human experience that will lead to important conversations about values and purpose, and ultimately, meaningful change.




Meaning in Life, Volume 2


Book Description

An acclaimed philosopher offers a systematic mapping of the various facets of love. In his widely acclaimed trilogy The Nature of Love, Irving Singer traced the development of the concept of love in history and literature from the Greeks to the twentieth century. In this second volume of his Meaning in Life trilogy, Singer returns to the subject of his earlier work, exploring a different approach. Without denying his previous emphasis on the role of imagination and creativity, in this book Singer investigates the ability of them both to make one's life meaningful. A “systematic mapping” of the various facets of love (including sexual love, love in society, and religious love), The Pursuit of Love is an extended essay that offers Singer's own philosophical and psychological theory of love. Rich in insight into literature, the history of ideas, and the complexities of our being, The Pursuit of Love is a thought-provoking inquiry into fundamental aspects of all human relationships.




Radical Compassion


Book Description

One of the most beloved and trusted mindfulness teachers in America offers a lifeline for difficult times: the RAIN meditation, which awakens our courage and heart Tara Brach is an in-the-trenches teacher whose work counters today's ever-increasing onslaught of news, conflict, demands, and anxieties--stresses that leave us rushing around on auto-pilot and cut off from the presence and creativity that give our lives meaning. In this heartfelt and deeply practical book, she offers an antidote: an easy-to-learn four-step meditation that quickly loosens the grip of difficult emotions and limiting beliefs. Each step in the meditation practice (Recognize, Allow, Investigate, Nurture) is brought to life by memorable stories shared by Tara and her students as they deal with feelings of overwhelm, loss, and self-aversion, with painful relationships, and past trauma--and as they discover step-by-step the sources of love, forgiveness, compassion, and deep wisdom alive within all of us. A PENGUIN LIFE TITLE




MIND and LOVE: The Human Experience


Book Description

The new scientific paradigm of 'embodied mind' or 'situated cognition' is percolating into popular mind science, but its fundaments, autopoiesis and structural coupling, have never been thoroughly explained. Combines the paradigm shift in biology initiated by Maturana and Varela with the recent rush of ideas in social neuroscience to create what hopes to be a refreshingly new explanation of the way our mind works in our everyday experience and reveals the most common blind spots in what we thought we knew about our mind. These blind spots are spoiling our individual lives and harming our prospects for peaceful coexistence and care of our environment, e.g., the mistaken ideas that meaning is transferable, that decisions come from conscious awareness, or that knowledge is a commodity. The biological significance of love and the value of embracing uncertainty and respecting the unknown point to a very hopeful vision for our future. This is a scientific explanation of mind, leavened with process philosophy, also invoking spirituality without any religious connotation.




Creating a Life of Meaning and Compassion


Book Description

Clinical psychologists identify and describe the defensive process that constrains people from making positive changes in their lives. They summarize the insights they gained while developing a more decent and respectful way of living as a response to the destructiveness of society.




Love, Human and Divine


Book Description

Although the two great commandments to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves are central to Christianity, few theologians or spiritual writers have undertaken an extensive account of the meaning and forms of these loves. Most accounts, in fact, make love of God and love of self either impossible or immoral. Integrating these two commandments, Edward Vacek, SJ, develops an original account of love as the theological foundation for Christian ethics. Vacek criticizes common understandings of agape, eros, and philia, examining the arguments of Aquinas, Nygren, Outka, Rahner, Scheler, and other theologians and philosophers. He defines love as an emotional, affirmative participation in the beloved's real and ideal goodness, and he extends this definition to the love between God and self. Vacek proposes that the heart of Christian moral life is loving cooperation with God in a mutually perfecting friendship.




Love and Its Disappointment


Book Description

In Love and Its disappointment, which is rooted in common knowledge, David Brazier advances in clear and specific terms a radical and practical theory of human functioning, exploring the relationships between beauty and love, frustration and creativity, perception and healing.




Freedom After the Sharks


Book Description

Each of us is, to some extent or other, a reflection of the experiences of our lives. However, whether and how we succeed is determined at least in part by how we cope with those experiences and what we learn from them. This is the story of a man who, despite a difficult family life and professional setbacks, developed the determination, drive and skills to create a successful business and happy life. Geoff’s skills and self-motivation gave him the drive, determination and tenacity to continue a journey through hardship to reach self-fulfillment and, ultimately, success. His book describes the life journey of a young man’s heart and his desire to turn his dreams and vision into a business success. Freedom After The Sharks shows how, even in a declining economy, a business can survive and even succeed. It covers some real-life experiences and offers some suggestions for dealing with problems and issues. It provides a guide to finding your way in the business world. The book is suitable for entrepreneurs who might not be sure of the path to take or who want to benefit from other people’s mistakes and failures. Other audiences include middle management or junior executives who are looking for a fascinating life story of courage, drive and inspiration, as well as graduates and college students, who will find information that will help prepare them for their careers.




The Brain in Love


Book Description

You hold the key to stronger relationships, deeper connections, and heightened intimacy. Everyone wants to know how to improve his or her love life, but so few of us understand the integral role the brain plays in attraction, keeping us excited about our partner, and helping us feel a strong connection. Based on Dr. Daniel Amen’s cutting-edge neuroscience research, The Brain in Love shares twelve lessons that help you enhance your love life through understanding and improving brain function. Filled with practical suggestions and information on how to have lasting and more fulfilling relationships, The Brain in Love reveals: • How emotional and physical intimacy can help prevent heart disease, improve memory, stave off cancer, and boost your immune system • How the differences between men’s and women’s brains affect our perceptions and interest in sex • The science behind why breakups hurt so much, and what you can do to ease the pain • Surefire techniques to fix common problems–depression, PMS, ADD–that contribute to conflicts • How to make yourself unforgettable to your partner The Brain in Love explains everything there is to know about the brain in love and lust, guiding you to the emotional and physical intimacy you need.