“Despite the obvious contradictions, complexity, and apparent randomness that assault any human being day after day, everything is somehow nevertheless connected, orchestrated. The universe is filled with meaning.... In Jewish mysticism, the river is a metaphor for the Holy Oneness that unifies all creation. Just imagine it: a sacred stream, luminous and ubiquitous, a river of light.” —from the Preface to the Anniversary Edition This is an invitation to wade into a deeper spiritual consciousness. Taking us step-by-step, Kushner helps us to allow “the river of light”—the deepest currents of consciousness—to rise to the surface and animate our lives.

From the targeted demolition of Mostar’s Stari-Most Bridge in 1993 to the physical and social havoc caused by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami, the history of cities is often a history of destruction and reconstruction. But what political and aesthetic criteria should guide us in the rebuilding of cities devastated by war and natural calamities? The title of this timely and inspiring new book, Architects Without Frontiers, points to the potential for architects to play important roles in post-war relief and reconstruction. By working “sans frontières”, Charlesworth suggests that architects and design professionals have a significant opportunity to assist peace-making and reconstruction efforts in the period immediately after conflict or disaster, when much of the housing, hospital, educational, transport, civic and business infrastructure has been destroyed or badly damaged. Through selected case studies, Charlesworth examines the role of architects, planners, urban designers and landscape architects in three cities following conflict - Beirut, Nicosia and Mostar - three cities where the mental and physical scars of violent conflict still remain. This book expands the traditional role of the architect from 'hero' to 'peacemaker' and discusses how design educators can stretch their wings to encompass the proliferating agendas and sites of civil unrest.

The second edition of the classic Jewish Views of the Afterlife features new material on the practical implications of Jewish afterlife beliefs, including funeral, burial, shiva, and more. With an updated look at how views on life after death have changed in recent years, Simcha Paull Raphael guides the reader through 4,000 years of Jewish thought on the afterlife by investigating pertinent sacred texts produced in each era. Through a compilation of ideas found in the Bible, Apocrypha, rabbinic literature, medieval philosophy, medieval Midrash, Kabbalah, and Hasidism, the reader learns how Judaism conceived of the fate of the individual after death throughout Jewish history. While many affirm a belief in the afterlife, a scarce few are aware of where these teachings can be found in Jewish literature. Among the topics discussed in this fascinating volume are heaven and hell, Olam Ha-Ba (The World to Come), Gan Eden, resurrection of the dead, immortality of the soul, and divine judgment prior to death. Both historical and contemporary, this book provides a rich resource for scholars and lay people, for teachers and students, and makes an important Jewish contribution to the growing contemporary psychology of death and dying.

This little book is a collection of essays on discipleship and community, and one story, written for the Spiritus Christi community in Rochester, New York. Taken together, these essays become the story of one woman's inner journey through mid-life. Beginning at a time when the author still had children at home, the essays move through her time in seminary and her work at St. Joseph's House of Hospitality, the Rochester Catholic Worker, as she explores God's call and learns that life after children is full and rich after all. Profits from the sale of this book will benefit the Spiritus Christi Mental Health Ministry.

This book considers a range of twentieth-century novelists who practise a creative mode of reading the Bible, exploring aspects of the Book of Genesis which more conventional biblical criticism sometimes ignores. Each chapter considers some of the interpretive challenges of the relevant story in Genesis, especially those noted by rabbinic midrash, which serves as a model for such creative rewriting of the biblical text. All the novelists considered, from Mark Twain, John Steinbeck and Thomas Mann to Jeanette Winterson, Anita Diamant and Jenny Diski, are shown to have been aware of the midrashic tradition and in some cases to have incorporated significant elements from it into their own writing. The questions these modern and postmodern writers ask of the Bible, however, go beyond those permitted by the rabbis and by other believing interpretive communities. Each chapter therefore attempts to chart intertextually where the writers are coming from, what principles govern their mode of reading and rewriting Genesis, and what conclusions can be drawn about the ways in which it remains possible to relate to the Bible.

What would you do if a near-death experience in a capsized, water-filled canoe offered you a sense of liberation like never before? For Roman Castilleja, the short answer at age twenty-nine was to drag his traumatized body into a new job days later and to forget the spiritual freedom found while underwater. The long answer involved a journey of rediscovering what matters in life after uncovering buried physical and emotional wounds and then, finally, finding healing and freedom in his innermost being. In Rowing Home, Castilleja takes readers from Washington State to Texas as he recaps the highs and lows of rediscovering the spiritual truths that underpin life. Based on years of personal examination since his rowing experience, as well as spontaneous writings that began after reawakening his spiritual connection, Castilleja also provides dozens of accessible meditations about life's biggest mysteries, such as how to animate your soul, harness your ego, and face tragedies.

An 1880 report describing an expedition from Chengdu, China along the eastern edge of Tibet to Bhamo in northern Burma.