Books

The Wisdom of James Allen : Including As a Man Thinketh, The Path to Prosperity, The Mastery of Destiny, The Way of Peace, and Entering the Kingdom (Radiant Life)

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From 1864!! There's good reason this is still being read and treasured today!
"Oh Be Wise", This helps!
Get All Three Volumes
Great Wisdom
Book review

The Wisdom of James Allen : Including As a Man Thinketh, The Path to Prosperity, The Mastery of Destiny, The Way of Peace, and Entering the Kingdom (Radiant Life)
James Allen
Manufacturer: Radiant Summit Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Wisdom of James Allen III: Out from the Heart/Byways of Blessedness/from Passion to Peace/the Heavenlylife
As a Man Thinketh
As a Woman Thinketh
Day by Day with James Allen
As a Man Does: Morning and Evening Thoughts (Square One Classics)

ASIN: 1889606006

Book Description

James Allen's classic bestseller, As a Man Thinketh, combined with four of his other titles: The Path to Prosperity, The Mastery of Destiny, The Way of Peace, and Entering the Kingdom.

Customer Reviews:

From 1864!! There's good reason this is still being read and treasured today!.......2007-05-10

'Mind is the Master-Power that molds and makes,
And Man is Mind, and evermore he takes
The tool of Thought, and shaping what he wills,
Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills:-
He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass:
Environment is but his looking glass.'
-From the book

This book was my introduction to 'Change your thoughts, change yourlife'. A friend gave me this book several years ago and it dramatically changed the way I began to think. It just made sense, it clicked with me. I was also very surprised to find out that all those years I was thinking that my thoughts were private, no one but me could know them. Then, I read this and realized that our thoughts do show in many ways: appearance, health, our circumstances, etc.

I have read many books on this subject and this is one that will ALWAYS remain in my collection. I still pull it off the shelf and read it occassionally. It's overflowing with valuable wisdom on how your thoughts create your world.

This volume has 5 books in one. It's a small but somewhat chunky book with 384 pages.

"Oh Be Wise", This helps!.......2007-04-10

Great book. His writings are inspiring. You will also note some interesting biographical info in the beginning.

Get All Three Volumes.......2007-03-16

This is the volume to start with, but I would recommend all three volumes in "The Wisdom of James Allen" series. These books are valuable to read in marathon sessions, yet they can be practically consumed in short sittings. A meal of just a few pages will give you sufficient spiritual energy for the day. I recommend reading and re-reading because the wisdom is timeless and the principles can be applied daily. This is important reading for clergy, counselors and anyone who wants to start the quest of being a guide by first learning to guide themselves.

Great Wisdom.......2007-01-10

As a Man Thinketh is a must read and has been for most of the 20th and now the 21st century. To get this companion piece with other great writings by James Allen is amazing. I would suggest it for anyone who is interested in finding the tools necessary to command their own lives.

Book review.......2007-01-04

A very enjoyable read. The simplicity of his ideas is refreshing. I do believe it really can be this simple. This small pocket size book is easy to fit into a bag/purse, or pocket and take with you wherever you go. I find spending a few minutes here and there reading it works well. Pleasant and easy to follow. Seems like a very sincere person.

The Wisdom Way of Knowing: Reclaiming An Ancient Tradition to Awaken the Heart

Average customer rating:

Clarity, Depth and, yes, Wisdom
The Wisdom Way of Knowing: Reclaiming An Ancient Tradition to Awaken the Heart
Freedom and Surrender
short but terrific

The Wisdom Way of Knowing: Reclaiming An Ancient Tradition to Awaken the Heart
Cynthia Bourgeault
Manufacturer: Jossey-Bass
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Centering Prayer and Inner Awakening
Mystical Hope: Trusting in the Mercy of God (Cloister Books)
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Putting on the Mind of Christ: The Inner Work of Christian Spirituality

ASIN: 078796896X

Book Description

"Drawing on resources as diverse as Sufism, Benedictine Monasticism, the Gurdjieff Work, and the string theory of modern physics, Cynthia Bourgeault has crafted her own unique vision of the Wisdom way in this very accessible book, nicely balanced between concept and practice."
â Gerald May, senior fellow, Shalem Institute, and author, Addiction and Grace and Will and Spirit

"The spiritual wisdom and practical suggestions in this lively and beautiful book will be helpful to many who find themselves setting out on the interior journey."
â Bruno Barnhart, a Camaldolese monk and author, Second Simplicity: The Inner Shape of Christianity

"Cynthia Bourgeault's book is a valuable contribution to the much-needed reawakening of spiritual practice within a Christian context. Her sincerity, good sense, metaphysical depth, and broad experience make her a source to be trusted."
â Kabir Helminski, Sufi Shaikh, the Threshold Society

Customer Reviews:

Clarity, Depth and, yes, Wisdom.......2006-03-31

An Episcopal priest myself, time and again while reading "The Wisdom Way of Knowing" I wanted to jump up, rejoice and exclaim, "Yes, this is what I've come to about Christianity after all these years!" It was like drinking draughts of crystal clear water. With a graceful touch, the author peels back layer after layer of accretions to the faith to leave one close to the pulsing heart of the tradition. She obviously lives this path and warrants the name "teacher." Do read this book. And practice the prayer and path to which it points. (Couldn't resist a little sermon.)

The Wisdom Way of Knowing: Reclaiming An Ancient Tradition to Awaken the Heart.......2005-09-22

Cynthia Bourgeault has a wonderful writing style that explains complicated ideas in a very easy-to-understand manner. This book is a must read for people interested in deepening their personal spirituality. A gifted writer who obviously is deeply spiritual helps those of us seeking find the path.

Freedom and Surrender.......2004-03-13

I have read Cynthia Bourgeault's THE WISDOM WAY OF KNOWING five times now. From start to finish, I find what I always find in her writing - the rich, inner tradition of Christianity which is so universally appealing. I have probably read her chapter on Freedom and Surrender ten times, and I quote my favorite lines, "Spirituality at its no-frills simplest is learning not to do anything in a state of internal brace. It is never worth the cost."

short but terrific.......2004-02-07

If you are a student of the Gnosis and want to learn more about it, and about mysticism within the Western Wisdom traditions, this is as good a place to start as anything. Unlike some other literature of this kind of subject, it is clear, lucid and very readable. The author is an ordained Episcopal priest, but esoteric Christianity is to her I believe a piece of a bigger puzzle, and a frame of reference in particular. She quotes a bit from other enlightened authors, past and present, such as Jakob Boehme. There is also an excellent recommended reading list for further study.

The book is short but covers a great deal of ground in little time, so kudos here for the editing.

Recommended with enthusiasm.

The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika

Average customer rating:

attachment to emptiness
Excellent resource book!
Tough but Worthwhile Reading
great translation but mediocre interpretation/exposition
A precious resource, but I suspect it tames Nagarjuna

The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way: Nagarjuna's Mulamadhyamakakarika
Nagarjuna
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Introduction to the Middle Way: Chandrakirti's Madhyamakavatara with Commentary by Ju Mipham
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Nagarjuna's Seventy Stanzas: A Buddhist Psychology of Emptiness
The Sun of Wisdom: Teachings on the Noble Nagarjuna's Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way

ASIN: 0195093364

Book Description

For nearly two thousand years Buddhism has mystified and captivated both lay people and scholars alike. Seen alternately as a path to spiritual enlightenment, an system of ethical and moral rubrics, a cultural tradition, or simply a graceful philosophy of life, Buddhism has produced impassioned followers the world over. The Buddhist saint Nagarjuna, who lived in South India in approximately the first century CE, is undoubtedly the most important, influential, and widely studied Mahayana Buddhist philosopher. His many works include texts addressed to lay audiences, letters of advice to kings, and a set of penetrating metaphysical and epistemological treatises. His greatest philosophical work, the Mulamadhyamikakarika--read and studied by philosophers in all major Buddhist schools of Tibet, China, Japan, and Korea--is one of the most influential works in the history of Indian philosophy. Now, in The Foundations of the Philosophy of the Middle Way, Jay L. Garfield provides a clear and and eminently readable translation of Nagarjuna's seminal work, offering those with little of no prior knowledge of Buddhist philosophy a view into the profound logic of the Mulamadhyamikakarika. Translated from the Tibetan, the tradition through which Nagarjuna's philosophical influence has largely been transmitted, Garfield presents a superb translation of Mulamadhyamikakarika in its entirety. Illuminating the systematic character of Nagarjuna's reasoning, as well as the works profundity, Garfield shows how Nagarjuna develops his doctrine that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence and essenceless. But, he argues, phenomena nonetheless exist conventionaly, and that indeed conventional existence and ultimate emptiness are in fact the same thing. This represents the radical understanding of the Buddhist doctrine of the two truths, or two levels of reality. Nagarjuna reinterprets all of Buddhist metaphysics and epistemology through this analytical framework--"a systematic and beautifully elegant philosophical dissection of reality." In turn, Garfield goes on to offer the only verse-by-verse commentary based upon the Indo-Tibetan Prasangika-Madhyamika reading of Nagarjuna, the school most influential in the development of Mahayana philosophy in Tibet, China, Korea, and Japan. Written specifically for the Western reader, the commentary explains Nagarjuna's positions and arguments in the language of Western metaphysics and epistemolgy, and connects Nagarjuna's concerns tho those of Western philosophers such as Sextus, Hume, and Wittgenstein. A fascinating and accessible translation of the foundational text for all Mahayana Buddhism text, The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way will enlighten all those in search of the essence of reality.

Customer Reviews:

attachment to emptiness.......2007-01-22

i have not studied all of nagarjunas logic carefully in this book, it seems that he is arguing for the underlying emptiness of all things on the basis of his assumption of dependent or mutual arising. perhaps its a bit more complicated than this though. a cup of tea is not a cup of tea in itself. nor does the teabag have any individual or inherent identity, rather the teabag is a collection of collections without any individuality. just as my finger is a collection of cells, so a teabag is a combination of dependent things. infact he believes that everything depends on the presence or absence of something else. tea leaves depend on the presence of tanins, flavins, cells, maturation, drying, there is nothing inherently existent that could be called the individuality of the teabag. this of course defies common sense, but is reasonable. why cannot a collection be at one and the same time an individuality. ie one in many, or many as one. such an argument though would be contrary to nagarjunas thrust, which is to emphasise the existence of emptiness through dependence. ie everything that is dependent has no individual uniqueness (or soul) since all individuals are merely collections.

i am still studying nagarjuna, it seems that a statement such as "walker is not the same as walking, nor is it different from walking" can be argued any way which can. "walker is not the same as walking, if it were how could the two be told apart, nor is walker different from walking, or otherwise there would be walking without walker." it could be argued on the grounds of oneness that walker and walking are one and the same, that structure and function are inseperable. you could just as easily say that walker is the same as walking and that is why there isnt walking without walker. if nagarjuna says that legs are not the same as arms because they can be told apart he is right, because they can be told apart, but wrong because arms and legs are all part of one body and cannot be separated. so paradoxically one can say that walker and walking are not the same, but one can also say that they are the same (the same body/oneness).

it can be argued that walker is walking, walker is not walking, and as nagarjuna says walker is not the same as, nor different from walking. infact whatever you seek to prove, if you are clever enough, you can prove it. this is the nature of reason and logic. a donkey that is lead by the carrot of the person who possesses it.

i find his logic is clear (it is)infact, it is pure genius, but as with all logic one has to realise that at this moment logic is thoroughly illogical. though perhaps when he wrote it was thoroughly logical. logic being logical? logic being illogical? two sides of the same coin. if logical can be illogical why discuss something as important as emptiness using logic? this defies a common understanding of nagarjuna, unless of course he wished to impress buddhist emptiness upon the minds of the common people. or, perhaps he really did believe in the immutable logos (reason) of plato. that insoluble all pervasive notion of truth. personally i see that reason has its uses (many of them groundbreaking and earth shattering), but can often be used to say what you want, especially when it comes to philosophy.

i find the argument for emptiness grounded in dependent arising 'can' be compelling, or not compelling. its just how you approach it. in that a collection does not necessarily indicate an individuality, it could be seen as a collective, for example a sea sponge colony 'may' have no singular conscious individuality as the colony as a whole, but then a human being is a collection with a consciousness . but as i see it, dependent arising could be used as a proof against emptiness just as much as a proof for it. i believe that the buddha would have days where he took time out from such an approach, that is he would respect the agile logical display of nagarjuna, but have said "not on mondays nagarjuna".

i dont think that the buddha was about dogmatising certain concepts and words such as emptiness, as useful as they may be. even freedom can become an obstacle to relationship and his word "liberation" can be in buddhism taken to mean many different things. it may just be that mental freedom and freedom from suffering are synonymous. emptiness is representative of water and air, but one should not forget the presence of fire, or gold (earth)(male elements)that are representative of fullness/form. to argue away form for emptiness seems unbalanced. just as to argue away emptiness for form would be unbalanced, though it may be an interesting excercise (and not too difficult). infact rising to the challenge if one looks in minute detail/huge magnification at an area of space one will find it a quantum soup, and not nearly as empty as one expected. infact buddha is implacable when he says emptiness is form for this could imply that there is no emptiness, only form. or visa-versa one could argue that all is empty.

i have also read nagarjunas, i think its called the flower garland, which was less a discussion of emptiness and logical proof for such, though his approach in the middle way comes across in this book too. no, i remember now its called the discourse of the precious flower garland.

i realise that my comments on nagarguna's mulamadhyamakakarika may seem disrespectful regarding the buddhist saint, and have no desire to show disrespect, but i do feel that all in all, though brilliant his arguments are not compelling ground for emptiness. this is because i am aware of the bias behind reason. there are other ways to illustrate emptiness. the buddhas "emptiness is form" for example is a much clearer statement of anti-logic, that i find very elegant. also the prescence of the zero in any effective numerical system requires a hypothetical emptiness.

i have no doubt that in the original tongue nagarjuna was a marvellous poet, sadly this does not come across in this translation or in "verses from the centre" a different translation of the same work. perhaps, in his poetic form his genius would have shone out as much as it does from his rational genius.

this is an interesting book to read, a fascinating insight into the mind of an early buddhist saint and an example of how one can use logic to prove anything, even that which intuitively seems almost impossible. but personally i dont feel it tells me anything, other than showing patterns of logic, which are a useful thing to aquire. i must say though that i am 'astonished' by the mans logical dexterity.

i would have found nagarjuna more interesting if he had tried to prove the existence of form and balanced this with a proof for the existence of emptiness. for in truth it is not balanced to prove the existence of emptiness without proving the existence of form. and you cannot prove the existence of emptiness without proving the existence of form, for emptiness is form. it can be argued that all is emptiness, but it can also be argued that all is form. whatever you look for is whatever you find. such is the nature of reality. seek and you will find.

infact... making things fun, and killing the buddhas word, i would say that "form is not emptiness, form is form" is just as true as "emptiness is form". this is the buddas freedom. playing with logic, one does not take reason too seriously on mondays, but... aah, on tuesdays it is profoundly important.

thank you nagarjuna for the encouragement you have given many.

love, flakey xxx.

Excellent resource book!.......2007-01-09

For those desiring a 'meat & potatoes' study of the Middle Way, this is an excellent book.

Tough but Worthwhile Reading.......2006-03-19

I spent the better part of year getting into this book. Having begun to understand Nagarjuna's project, however, I have fond that this book has completely changed the way I think.

Basically, Nagarjuna works against two types of philosophical view: the view of the naive realist, which assumes, for example, that motion, perception, and causal force are inherently existing things, and the view of the nihilist, who would say that all these things are nonexistent or illusory.

Take causality. It seems that one event must surely cause another because of some sort of inherently existing causal force, right? The problem is that this causal power, if it exists, must either (1) appear as an essential property of certain events under certain conditions, or (2) it must appear as a property of those events mysteriously, for no particular reason. In the first case, causality itself requires a causal explanation--an infinite regress. In the second case, the explanation of causality, which is supposed to explain all regularities which we perceive in the universe, rests upon an ineffable mystery. So events do occur in a particular order with a certain degree of regularity. However, there is no need to posit some additional, basic force in order to explain this causal regularity.

A good way to appreciate Nagarjuna's perspective is to look at certain recent ideas from science and the humanities according to its light. For example, the theory of evolution tells us that the idea of "species" does not refer to some inherently existing type of essence, but rather that "species" is a handy designation for organisms which are of a certain degree of similarity to one another at this particular point in time. As organisms of a given "species" give birth to offspring, the very definition of this "species" changes, since it was never a monolithic, stable, inherently existing thing to start with.

I strongly recommend this book, difficult though it is. I would also suggest the Dalai Lama's commentary on the Heart Sutra (Essence of the Heart Sutra) and Chogyam Trungpa's book Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism as partners to this text.

great translation but mediocre interpretation/exposition.......2005-05-10

i've read multiple english translations of the mulamaadhyamika kaarikaa and strongly feel that jay garfield's is easily the most lucid one available on the ancient text. but from the start i felt garfield's interpretation lacking in hard logic and so concentrated only on the translation. for an intellectual understanding on the subject i used trv murti's "central philosophy of buddhism" which imo is probably the best exposition on the subject in english (garfield himself cites murti's work as one of his references). garfield's translation and murti's exposition complement each other rather nicely. after a few years of study i feel amply rewarded and am thankful to garfield (as well as murti) for it. a piece of friendly advice for madhyamika students : don't be seduced by the subtle dialectic. most often it is the ordinary sounding verses (often sounding out of place in the chapters) which represent the true light in the text. you need to reconcile the dialectic with these verses for true understanding to dawn. to be carried away by the dialectic is like catching a snake by the tail - as the classic commentator chandrakirti warns. the day the "cries of the intellect" have subsided in you and your mind neither accepts nor rejects anything, you can set this book aside!

A precious resource, but I suspect it tames Nagarjuna.......2002-07-14

This book has been a treasure to those of us who had stared in consternation at K. Inada's translation or wrestled with the misprints in D. Kalupahana's edition. Here lucidity reigns. But there is something excessively dry and scholastic about Garfield's Nagarjuna. I think this is partly due to the fact that Garfield translates from the Tibetan, not the original Sanskrit. Compare his translation of Ch. 19, verse 1: "If the present and the future/Depend on the past,/Then the present and the future/Would have existed in the past", with Sprung's: "If what is arising here and now and what is not yet realized are dependent on what is past, what is arising here and now and what is not yet realized will be in past time" (which could be further improved by translating "atita" as "what has been"). So dry is Garfield's diction that his retention of a verse format seems pointless. The Gelug-pa Tibetan interpretation of Nagarjuna is a scholasticizing one, and loses some of the savor of emptiness and liberation which gives meditative point to Nagarjuna's laconic logic. Also, Garfield keeps referring to Hume and Wittgenstein in a way that further domesticates and scholasticizes Nagarjuna, making him a linguistic therapist who frees us from substantializations and reifications, but who also allows us to install ourselves comfortably in the conventional dependently co-arising world. It seems to me that in Buddhism this samsaric world is always painful, radically unsatisfactory, and that Nagarjuna is not just curing us of false theories about it, but is revealing it as radically self-contradictory even in its everyday pragmatic or conventional texture. To say that emptiness "is not a self-existent void standing behind a veil of illusion comprising conventional reality, but merely a characteristic of conventional reality" (p. 91) sounds very bland. Emptiness is not just any characteristic, but a radically subversive quality of our world, which it is by no means easy to realize. "The actuality of the entire phenomenal world, persons and all, is recovered within that emptiness" (p. 95) is again too bland. Only a Buddha can grasp the world in its ultimate emptiness and its conventional texture at once. The recovery of the conventional from the point of view of ultimate emptiness is not a comfortable restoration or even a disillusioned Humean resignation to conventions. It means realizing that the apparently solid world of experience is only a flimsy, provisional raft or skillful means, surpassed by the empty ultimacy which it can serve to indicate. "The eventual equation of the phenomenal world with emptiness, of samsara with nirvana, and of the conventional and the ultimate" (p. 101) is very, very eventual, so that only a Buddha can perceive it correctly. Asserted too early, too sweepingly, it can short-circuit the path to liberation.

The Way: Using the Wisdom of Kabbalah for Spiritual Transformation and Fulfillment

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The Way to Eternal Life
A wonderful book!!!
........
USE THE WISDOM OF THE WAY
The Way

The Way: Using the Wisdom of Kabbalah for Spiritual Transformation and Fulfillment
Michael Berg
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0471228796

Book Description

"The simple and practical wisdom I have gained by reading this book and studying Kabbalah is immeasurable."
—Madonna

"This book will inspire your soul. Michael Berg has accomplished the monumental task of translating the eternal truths of life into spiritual common sense. Without a doubt, The Way will become one of the sacred texts of your own life."
-Caroline Myss, Ph.D., author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Sacred Contracts

The spiritual way of Kabbalah has grown from a hidden treasure into a widespread mainstream movement that has helped people from every walk of life, all around the world, to improve their lives. In this bestselling book, Michael Berg of The Kabbalah Centre-the world's leading educational institution teaching the wisdom of Kabbalah-shows you how to recognize and understand the key spiritual laws in order to improve your life and the lives of everyone around you. The Way will teach you meditation and prayer techniques and how to reduce emotional chaos and increase personal harmony. At once groundbreaking and so clearly written that it is accessible to anyone following any spiritual path, The Way provides the spiritual power tools to attain true fulfillment and happiness.

Customer Reviews:

The Way to Eternal Life.......2007-01-19

This book helps to develop personal relationship with God and find the way to Eternal Life. The person who gains Eternal Life has accomplished the goal of life. This book helps the humanity to accomplished the goal of life.

A wonderful book!!!.......2006-08-05

This is a very interesting book. I fully recommend it to anyone looking for spiritual answers. You may not agree with everything -- and that's OK. But take whatever you get from this book and simply make it yours. You don't have to become a follower of Kabbalah to put some of the ideas into practice. Try it. You may like it.

Also recommended: "What Did Jesus Really Say, How Christianity Went Astray: [What To Say To A Born Again Christian Fundamentalist, But Never Had The Information]" by Peter Cayce

...............2006-02-20

"The Way" -- with a title like that you'd think you were purchasing your very own spiritual epiphany. In less than one hundred pages if I remember correctly.

I actually picked this up when I was walking through the mall. I'd already been sort of curious about the subject, I've been studying Wicca and Buddhism for years and I'm always open to new ideas.

So as you might be able to imagine, I with my new found interest, curled up in a chair and began reading about "The Way". Oooh.
A mere 30 minutes later it was done. Nothing had been said in that thing that a teenager can't sit and think about on their own. For being a ten dollar book, this thing can seriously just as well serve as an intro to a much more thorough book. But then again that wouldn't make as much money. Had this been written out of passion it wouldn't have been so vague and brief.

Don't waste your time on this, or on anything written by the Bergs.

Kabbalah has a lot of great ideas and I still haven't given up hope, I'm still reading and looking for good writing. Someone give me something thought provoking and detail oriented.

USE THE WISDOM OF THE WAY.......2005-12-29

Michael Berg wrote a wonderful introduction to Kabbalah. Anyone, from the beginner to the advanced will find this book useful.
Michael Berg introduces the reader to Kabbalah, and quickly teaches-not preaches-the beautiful path that is Kabbalah.
This is something that shouldn't be missed!
I urge you to read this book.

The Way.......2005-08-19

I found this book very easy to understand and put to use. Rav. Berg makes you feel like you are talking to a good friend.

The Emerging Christian Way: Thought, Stories, And Wisdom for a Faith of Transformation

Average customer rating:

Weak on Sin
from Copperhead Press

The Emerging Christian Way: Thought, Stories, And Wisdom for a Faith of Transformation

Manufacturer: Northstone Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Living the Heart of Christianity: A Guide to Putting Your Faith into Action
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A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity

ASIN: 1551455218

Customer Reviews:

Weak on Sin.......2007-06-20

I love reading Fox and Borg, but often find a pollyanish treatment of the terrible consequences of human sin, especially in the omission of any mention of those consequences, is unsatisfactory. I'm also not sure that denominational identity in Christian life is dead, given the increasing, rather than decreasing, number of theological perspectives with adherents today. I have it, but i'll probably give it away soon.

from Copperhead Press.......2006-07-07

Chrisitianity is changing. In recent years and in rapidly increasing numbers, people have begun to understand the core message and purpose of Christianity in a different way. They have returned to its ancient roots and found a wisdom that speaks to their experience of faith and God today. According to this emerging vision, Christianity is primarily about transformation--about the transformation of the self through a living and dynamic experience og God, who is not separate from us but who is a part of us; and about the transformation of society. This amazing collection of fourteen essays, by some of the leading authors and creative thinkers in the field, covers every aspect of this developing Christianity. Key concepts--such as deep ecology, social justice, radical inclusion, and the importance of honoring the wisdom of other world faiths--are explored. So, too, are the implications for worship, music, pastoral care, and education.

Average customer rating:

Ways of Wisdom
Steve Smith
Manufacturer: University Press of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0819133884

Book Description

Images of living well of happiness, satisfaction, fulfillment, personal well-being) are the heart of this book. Drawn from classical and contemporary authors of both Eastern and Western traditions, they are organized around prominent motifs of the good life: "Emptiness, Pleasure, Detachment, Becoming Human, Nature, God, Authentic Existence," and "Universe." Most selections are brief, and are chosen not only for their quality, but also for their impact and accessibility. Philosophical writings by Plato, Epicurus, Epictetus, Shankara, Mill, Nietzsche, Dewey, Sartre and others are supplemented by selections from literature, psychology and religion, including excerpts from Tolstoy, Kafka, Freud, Maslow, Rogers, Fromm, Chuang Tzu, Suzuki, and scriptural sources. Each chapter begins with a brief editorial essay, sympathetically introducing the views of that chapter.

The Art of Focused Conversation: 100 Ways to Access Group Wisdom in the Workplace (ICA)

Average customer rating:

An Excellent Resource for Productive Conversations
Good Solid Model
Simple and Powerful Concept

The Art of Focused Conversation: 100 Ways to Access Group Wisdom in the Workplace (ICA)

Manufacturer: New Society Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0865714169

Book Description

This book has served me so well in my new job. I can't tell you how many times I have pulled the book off the shelf to get some direction in creating my own questions. It has been a great asset in helping me have meaningful and directed conversations at a critical time in my new job. And it has saved me precious time. - Great book!?Marlene Lockwood, Group Leader, St. Helen's Hospital, Deer Park, California

Communication within many organizations has been reduced to email, electronic file transfer, and hasty sound bytes at hurried meetings. More and more, people appear to have forgotten the value of wisdom gained by ordinary conversations.

But, at different times in history, conversation has been regarded as an art form - a crucial component of human relations. Conversation has the power to solve a problem, heal a wound, generate commitment, bond a team, generate new options, or build a vision. Conversations can shift working patterns, build friendships, create focus and energy, cement resolve.

The Art of Focused Conversation convincingly restores this most human of attributes to prime place within businesses and organizations, and demonstrates what can be accomplished through the medium of focused conversation. The first Part describes the theory and background of the conversation method, which has been effectively used for group consensus making in: 1) problem solving; 2) troubleshooting; 3) coaching; 4) research and 5) interpretation of data. It also discusses how to prepare a conversation, how to lead a conversation, and what the common mistakes are. Part two then provides 100 sample conversations designed for use in many different situations, including: 1) reviewing and evaluating; 2) preparation and planning; 3) coaching, and mentoring; 4) data and media interpretation; 5) decision making; 6) managing and supervising; and 7) personal reflection and group celebrations.

Developed, tested, and extensively used by professionals in the field of organizational development, The Art of Focused Conversation is an invaluable resource for all those working to improve communications in firms and organizations.

"This book is absolutely fabulous. I started it last night, used a whole bunch of stuff

Customer Reviews:

An Excellent Resource for Productive Conversations.......2004-11-24

I like books that are practical and have real-world application. This book does that. You get 48 pages of enough explanation that you can learn how to use the Focused Conversation model. Then, you get the skeleton of 100 conversations that you can adapt and use. If you want to know more, read on.

In the 21st century, those workplaces that share information to create value for themselves and their customers have a competitive advantage. On page 14 Stanfield writes "These days most people are tired of blaiming and demanding; they want to solve problems. They want to go beyond input to push an innovation through and take responsibility for making the desired change." The focused conversation model is a technique for capturing the wisdom of a group and helping it become accountable for doing more than complaining or "giving input."

The model's four parts consist of asking and answering questions. The questions at the "objective" level begin to uncover facts about the topic being discussed. The "reflective" questions uncover how the group is relating to the facts discussed in the objective level. The "interpretive" level allows the groups to discuss implications and options. The "decisional" level then creates action based on the discussion. This book also contains hints and guidelines for leading focused conversations: what to do when someone gives a long answer, or when people start arguing, or when someone dominates teh conversation...and more.

I've used several dozen of the 100 conversations in various work settings. I have gotten especially good value from the conversations on evaluating a seminar, planning a study group, coaching a colleague, mediating a difficult situation, reflecting on a choatic meeting...well, you get the idea.

If you're interested in moving toward gathering, processing, and taking advantage of group wisdom, this book provides excellent tools. Its straight-forward, gentle manner and high practical value earn it five stars.

Good Solid Model.......2001-10-04

Ultimately conversations are the working process of most leadership. This book expands upon the conversation techniques presented in "Winning Through Participation". The model is simple and useful. When distilled down, a focused conversation proceeds through four stages:
- objective / data
- reactional / feeling
- interpretive / meaning and
- decisional / action.

The model takes about 50 pages to explain and is followed by about 150 pages of examples of its application. Many will find that the 10 pages in "Winning Through Participation" had enough information to get going.

Simple and Powerful Concept.......2000-12-05

Brian Stanfield and colleagues have written a meaningful book that provides a profound, yet simple method to help groups effectively grapple and address any kind of issue.

In the book, they say, "For whole systems to operate effectively, information must flow in every direction, up, down, sideways, and diagonally." They go on to describe leaders as askers of questions and state that "the participatory principle requires the art of asking questions."

Canada's Institute of Cultural Affairs developed the focused conversation method as part of its Technology of Participation, which leads people through certain phases of reflection, enabling them to process their experiences as a group. A leader/facilitator asks a series of questions to elicit responses that take a group from the "surface of a topic to a topic to its depth implications for their life and work."

The focused conversation uses questions at four levels:

1. The Objective Level- questions about facts and external reality. 2. The Reflective Level - questions to call forth immediate personal reaction to the data, an internal response, sometimes emotions or feelings, hidden images and associations with the facts, when we encounter an external reality (data/objective) we experience an internal response. 3. The Interpretive Level - questions to draw out meaning, values, significance, and implications. 4. The Decisional Level - questions to elicit resolution, bring the conversation to close, and enable the group to resolve about the future.

The first third portion of the book provides an understanding of the concept of focused conversation and is followed by 100 meeting topics with specific examples of questions at the four levels that would be appropriate.

The book has helped me to re-think the types and the order of questions that I address to a group.

The Bowden Way: 50 Years of Leadership Wisdom

Average customer rating:

Dad gummit good leadership book!
Best Leadership Book I Have Ever Read
Bobby Bowden is a Legend..
excellent
The Bowden Way

The Bowden Way: 50 Years of Leadership Wisdom
Bobby Bowden
Manufacturer: Longstreet Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Football | Biographies | Sports | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1563526840

Book Description

As head football coach at Florida State, Bobby Bowden has won two national championships and compiled an astounding resume of all-time credentials. Filled with personal anecdotes, famous names, and fascinating stories, The Bowden Way promises to be the leadership book that will redefine the game.

Customer Reviews:

Dad gummit good leadership book!.......2006-06-15

I'm a Penn State grad and fan, but I enjoyed Bobby Bowden's leadership book. It's very easy to read and has lots of good advice. Also, I respect his religious beliefs and that he openly shares them throughout the book. This is a good leadership book!

Best Leadership Book I Have Ever Read.......2004-02-08

I have read Maxwell and a host of other leadership books, but there is a world of difference between a consultant or a middle-manager telling you about leadership...and the winningest coach in college football telling you about leadership!

The thing I liked the most is that rather than vague affirmations or ambiguous principles, Bowden gives us SPECIFIC, hard-won advice regarding handling staff, planning for success, etc.

The fact that he has done so remarkably well--with his job "on the line" based on each season's performance, not to mention every time he plays a strong rival--Bowden gives us a CEO/Chairman of the Board-level view of how to handle matters.

I bought it because I am an FSU fan. I kept it because it was the best book on leadership I had ever read.

Bobby Bowden is a Legend.........2003-01-18

On the football field Bobby Bowden is king! He is also a very inspirational and motivated person. This book is amazing, in ALL aspects. You don't have to be a Florida State or even a football fan, this book goes so far beyond any sport. This book basically tells you how too live a better life, and Bobby Bowden obviously has a awesome one.

excellent.......2001-12-18

i would recommend this book to anyone who has to manage people in any capacity...from managing your children to managing your employees...Coach Bowden has proven himself to be a true leader both on and off the football field.

The Bowden Way.......2001-12-05

In The Bowden Way, Steve and Bobby Bowden combine to bring the reader practical, common sense approaches to issues every one of us face on a daily basis. Moreover, the content keeps you interested, is easy to follow, and is very linear in moving along from one topic to the next. Of course, with Bobby Bowden, there's always a bit of that geniune humor we've all come to expect. I would strongly recommend this book for any and all ages, football fan or not. It's a refreshing read.

Original Wisdom: Stories of an Ancient Way of Knowing

Average customer rating:

fabulous
The way back to where we are
Read this book!
Ancient Way of Knowing
Wise book written by a wise elder

Original Wisdom: Stories of an Ancient Way of Knowing
Robert Wolff
Manufacturer: Inner Traditions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0892818662
Release Date: 2001-08-01

Amazon.com

The most trenchant wisdom can be found in some of the most primitive people on earth, as Robert Wolff demonstrates in Original Wisdom. Wolff, once a government psychologist in Malaysia, fell in love with a stone age people called the "Sng'oi," a people who "had no neuroses, no fears ... had an immense inner dignity, were happy and content, and did not want anything." But he was mystified by their seemingly superhuman powers of knowing. Finally, in an experience of what he calls "oneness," ordinary distinctions dropped away, and he learned that there was a way of knowing beyond thinking. Wolff also describes his encounters in Suriname, Indonesia, and the Pacific islands, demonstrating that far from being "primitive," original tribal societies are the last bastions of true humanity. Wary of both anthropologists and shaman wannabes, Wolff follows a middle path of down-to-earth storytelling, making Original Wisdom an original find. --Brian Bruya

Book Description

• Explores the lifestyle of indigenous peoples of the world who exist in complete harmony with the natural world and with each other.

• Reveals a model of a society built on trust, patience, and joy rather than anxiety, hurry, and acquisition.

• Shows how we can reconnect with the ancient intuitive awareness of the world's original people.

Deep in the mountainous jungle of Malaysia the aboriginal Sng'oi exist on the edge of extinction, though their way of living may ultimately be the kind of existence that will allow us all to survive. The Sng'oi--pre-industrial, pre-agricultural, semi-nomadic--live without cars or cell phones, without clocks or schedules in a lush green place where worry and hurry, competition and suspicion are not known. Yet these indigenous people--as do many other aboriginal groups--possess an acute and uncanny sense of the energies, emotions, and intentions of their place and the living beings who populate it, and trustingly follow this intuition, using it to make decisions about their actions each day.

Psychologist Robert Wolff lived with the Sng'oi, learned their language, shared their food, slept in their huts, and came to love and admire these people who respect silence, trust time to reveal and heal, and live entirely in the present with a sense of joy. Even more, he came to recognize the depth of our alienation from these basic qualities of life. Much more than a document of a disappearing people, Original Wisdom: Stories of an Ancient Way of Knowing holds a mirror to our own existence, allowing us to see how far we have wandered from the ways of the intuitive and trusting Sng'oi, and challenges us, in our fragmented world, to rediscover this humanity within ourselves.

Customer Reviews:

fabulous.......2007-05-30

I loved this book beyond words. It evokes the world of the Senoi better than a fat anthropological tome would. Pure magic, and well worth it.

My only gripe is that the author, himself an envoy of civilization that is busy destroying the remains of the Senoi, does not seem at all to reflect on the fact that he is part of the world that is killing them, and not moved (as far as we readers know) to do something to counteract the juggernaut whom he serves.

The way back to where we are.......2007-05-27

This is a very gentle book. It of course has to be gentle because of the subject matter; personal spiritual expierences. Attempting to write about these personal experiences is no mean feat. Words, in whatever language, cannot convey the personal experiences. The expierences take place where there are no words. This is a book to be felt rather than read. The expierences come from a place where we all are at, but due to the modern way of life we find it difficult to get back to that place. This book shows a way back to where we all are. A truly human book.

Read this book!.......2007-03-08

A quick and easy read that is well worth the while. Highly recommended.

Ancient Way of Knowing.......2007-01-24

I really loved this book. It provides a different view of what it is to be human, and to live in harmony with the earth. We have lost the wisdom of this unity with all creation. The shift to domination of the earth has and will continue to cost us dearly. Is it too late for us as a species? Where can we begin to enact change?

Wise book written by a wise elder.......2006-10-30

Western Culture has abandoned a fundamental feature of its ancestral roots: a faculty of knowing not predicated on rationalism. In our modern culture we race around endlessly on our freeways, hurry into and out of fast food restaurants, and hardly have a moment to spare for our families. So entranced are we with artificial values that rarely bring us a moments of peace.

Robert Wolff's book reacquaints the modern mind with a value long forgotten by Eurocentric peoples. It represents a primer of return to an ancient way of knowing, and being-in-the-world long before our seduction by materialism, consumption, and greed; along with the terrible price we pay to our spirits, often crushed as they are by the machine of modern living.

In this exploration to `learn' from an ancient people, we rediscover something we've long buried and denied in ourselves. The treasure waiting to be reclaimed deep inside is a rediscovery of who our authentic selves are. Within this rubric is the discovery of who we really are and not who we think we are. In this context the book is decisively spiritual and speaks to those who understand its meaning.

We have much to learn from all ancient people still living in their original ways. This book unlocks a door to an ancient way of knowing. If you decide to enter, be aware that to embrace the wisdom you find there is not a journey for the faint of heart.

Since change represents the only constant in the Universe, by aligning ourselves to this principle we also discover a deep and profound letting-go. If you decide to walk this path, your life may never be the same again.

What We Learned (the Hard Way) about Supervising Volunteers: An Action Guide for Making Your Job Easier (Collective Wisdom Series)

Average customer rating:

Some Nuggets, Too Busy, Part of a "Portal" Program
Excellent Resource Book for Volunteer Supervisors

What We Learned (the Hard Way) about Supervising Volunteers: An Action Guide for Making Your Job Easier (Collective Wisdom Series)
Jarene Frances Lee with Julia M. Catagnus
Manufacturer: Energize, Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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To Lead Is To Serve: How to Attract Volunteers & Keep Them

ASIN: 0940576201
Release Date: 2004-10-06

Book Description

Get advice from over 85 on-the-job supervisors of volunteers about how to define volunteer work expectations, build relationships based on trust and respect, expand communication, be a coach and facilitator, and resolve performance problems. Author Lee's extensive knowledge plus anecdotes from colleagues in the field clarify what works and what doesn't! A great tool for designing formal training programs for staff who supervise volunteers, or for that matter, for those who supervise paid staff.

Customer Reviews:

Some Nuggets, Too Busy, Part of a "Portal" Program.......2002-07-23

The bottom line on this book (actually an 8.5 by 11 "manual") is that it has some nuggets, including a fairly good but by no means comprehensive quasi-annotated bibliography, but it is very very "busy" and difficult to read easily. In essence, while the authors may have brought together some of the best annecdotes and insights on supervising volunteers, they have not done the more difficult work of integration and simplification that would have allowed the busy manager to absorb this material comfortably. Reading this book is a strain.

The book also appears to be part of a "portal program" that churns out books and articles on volunteer program management. On balance, I would get the book if you are the one person responsible for program-wide oversight of volunteer supervision, and not get it if you are simply one of many people superivising small numbers of volunteers.

Excellent Resource Book for Volunteer Supervisors.......2000-12-28

This is an excellent book for anyone who work with volunteers. It is truly a user friendly book, sparing the reader from `academic' jargons found in other volunteer handbooks. This book covers topics such as: volunteer recognition, volunteer communication, expectations of the volunteer, supervising performance problems, and many other helpful hints. Another helpful inclusion is quotes directly from volunteers. These quotes help to clarify and remind volunteer supervisors about the volunteers point of view. I enjoyed reading this book and it has really helped me remember the sometimes overlooked aspects of volunteer management.

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