This collection of brief essays and still briefer commentaries is a personal reflection on some topics that have been thematic in the development of my theoretical work. These essays are not meant to extend the theory into yet-uncharted territory, but rather to draw out some of its implications for clinical neuroscience, philosophy of mind, and everyday life. The point of view guiding these reflections can be found in prior works, but the discerning reader will not fail to see a departure from current models of mind and brain based on circuit board diagrams, modular and computational theories that conflict with a processual account in which the mind/brain is more like a living organism. This perspective, which is often at odds with common sense and folk psychology, has particular relevance to our concepts of the self, the inner life, subjective time, adaptive process, and the world represented in perception.

This is the second volume in Jeffrey Hopkins' valuable series on the Mind-Only School of Buddhism and a focal description of it in Dzong-Ka-ba's The Essence of Eloquence. Dzong-Ka-ba (1357-1419) is generally regarded as one of the greatest Tibetan philosophers, and his Mind-Only discourse on emptiness is considered a landmark in Buddhist philosophy. In Volume I, Emptiness in the Mind-Only School of Buddhism, Hopkins provided a translation of the introduction and the section on the Mind-Only School in The Essence of Eloquence. The present volume places this enigmatic and influential exposition in its historical and philosophical contexts. Reflections on Reality conveys the intellectual vibrancy of the different cultural interpretations of this text and expands the key philosophical issues it addresses. Hopkins, one of the leading scholarly voices in Tibetan studies, begins this volume with two introductory chapters contextualizing Tibetan scholarship in general. He then goes on to discuss in detail the religious significance of the central topic of the three natures in the Mind-Only School. He also considers various views on the status of reality, including the doctrine of other-emptiness promulgated by the fourteenth century Jo-nang savant Shay-rap-gyel-tsen. Presenting accurate and insightful translations of a large amount of material that has never been available in English before, he shows how these topics have been debated among scholars in Tibet over six centuries. Comparing these with presentations in Europe, Japan, and the United States today, he created a lively conversation between normally disparate voices.

Among the various approaches to the question of the nature of the mind (or soul), Augustine’s philosophical arguments for the existence of an incorporeal and spiritual substance in man and against materialism are here thoroughly examined on their merits as a source of insight for contemporary discussion. This book, originally published in 1986, employs Augustine’s method of introspection, and argues that, as a philosopher, Augustine can teach the modern mind how to detect the reality of such a spiritual subject in and through basic human acts and faculties, such as imagination, memory, knowledge, free-will and self-knowledge. It presents a critical dialogue with various materialistic anthropologies directly addressed by Augustine himself, or those which have arisen at later periods, including epiphenomenalism, mind-brain identity theory, Marxism and others.

A LIFE-CHANGING SPIRITUAL MASTERWORK ON GOD, HUMAN DESTINY, AND THE BIBLE A UNIQUE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY GUIDE When Time and Eternity Kiss is a boldly provocative and highly original new interpretation of the Bible--a page-turner for believers, seekers, skeptics, and secularists alike. By harmonizing the Bible with 21st c. quantum physics and the "Big Bang" theory, Maddox leads us into the labyrinth of God's mind. What are we? Where do we come from? Do we have a destiny? The Bible proclaims: "You are gods." What does that mean? Is there an objective reality or just the illusion of one, as Eastern spiritual traditions assert, quantum physics theorizes, and Einstein suggested? In When Time and Eternity Kiss, author Sean Maddox argues passionately that the Bible answers life's most perplexing questions. He supports his propositions by integrating wisdom and insight from mythologies, biblical Hebrew, Kabbalah, Hindu Chakras, Buddhism, psychology, archetypal symbolism, dream work, and quantum physics. His multidisciplinary perspective allows readers to see with new eyes how the Bible is the spiritual guide par excellence to the psycho-spiritual evolution of divine and human consciousness. INSPIRED, GROUNDBREAKING SCHOLARSHIP This revolutionary work is the culmination of the author's twenty-five-year journey of psycho-spiritual inquiry, study, and singular personal sacrifices. Maddox emerges as a daringly independent scholar and visionary who peers into the Bible's riveting mysteries and reveals God's Feminine Side in the texts. Aptly titled, When Time and Eternity Kiss is a passionate cosmic love story from start to finish. At the climax of the book, Maddox upends traditional interpretations as he illuminates the two Genesis Creation stories and shares his vision of why God shattered the silence of Eternity to create life in time and space. In radiant lucid prose, Maddox restores the Bible to 21st c. relevancy as the cornerstone of Western civilization.

The notion of “self” and “other” and its representation in artwork and literature is an important theme in current cultural sciences as well as in our everyday life in contemporary Western societies. Moreover, the concept of “self” and “other” and its imaginary dichotomy is gaining more and more political impact in a world of resurfacing ideology-ridden conflicts. The essays deal with Jewish reality in contemporary Germany and its reflection in movies from the special point of view of cultural sciences, political sciences, and religious studies. This anthology presents challengingly new insights into topics rarely covered, such as youth culture or humor, and finally discusses the images of Jewish life as realities still to be constructed.

This is the first book to explore all central issues surrounding the relationship between the film-image and philosophy. It tackles the work of particular philosophers of film (Žižek, Deleuze and Cavell) as well as general philosophical positions (Cognitivist and Culturalist), and analyses the ability of film to teach and create philosophy.

Transurfing is a powerful technology of managing reality. Apply it – and life will begin to change under YOUR order. The goal during using Transurfing doesn't reached, but implemented for the most part itself. It's impossible to believe , but only at first sight. The ideas presented in the book have already found practical confirmation. Those who tried to do the Transurfing, was surprised, bordering on delight. The surrounding world of Transurfer is inexplicably changing before our eyes.

New essays by the Women's Prize and Pulitzer Prize winning author of Gilead, Home and Lila. In this collection, Marilynne Robinson impels us to action and offers us hope. 'Grace and intelligence ...[her work] defines universal truths about what it means to be human' BARACK OBAMA Marilynne Robinson has plumbed the human spirit in her renowned novels, including Lila, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award; Home, winner of the Orange Prize; and Gilead, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. In this new essay collection she trains her incisive mind on our modern political climate and the mysteries of faith. Whether she is investigating how the work of great thinkers about America like Emerson and Tocqueville inform our political consciousness or discussing the way that beauty informs and disciplines daily life, Robinson's peerless prose and boundless humanity are on full display.

George Eastwood is a fifty-two year old, middle-aged man, husband and proud father of two grown children. George has been brought up within the old traditional values of working hard for a living and getting on with life, no matter what it may throw at you. The problem is life is not being very kind to him at the moment: he is getting older, out of work and the demands of family life are pushing him to the edge of despair. He feels anxious and depressed and cant seem to look forward to anything that can make him feel better. Then, one day, he finds himself on his way to a job interview with a promise that it could be just what he needs to turn his life around. As he rushes to cross the busy road to catch his train, he is helplessly hacked down by a speeding car driven by a seventeen year old drop-out. Georges story continues as he wakes up in strange surroundings: an old Library containing the knowledge of the universe. It is within this place of no time but all time that he looks around believing he is dead but yet not dead . . . and then the strangest of occurrences takes place. He is confronted by a voice that speaks to him of his true destiny; a voice that gives reason to a world that has become confused and lost within the false identity that has created it. He is astounded as a friendship is pulled together, and the big fundamental questions of who we truly are and our purpose upon the earth are revealed to him in a series of conversations and reflections that lead him towards peace, forgiveness, the relinquishment of fear and finally to know that life can be happy on the earth plane, when the false self that has held us tightly in its grip for thousands of years is finally released. George is fascinated by the voice that holds all the answers to a freedom that has been long lost, but, even more astonished to know that the voice is his own . . . . . his own true self.