The Texture of the Divine explores the central role of the imagination in the shared symbolic worlds of medieval Islam and Judaism. Aaron W. Hughes looks closely at three interrelated texts known as the Hayy ibn Yaqzan cycle (dating roughly from 1000--1200 CE) to reveal the interconnections not only between Muslims and Jews, but also between philosophy, mysticism, and literature. Each of the texts is an initiatory tale, recounting a journey through the ascending layers of the universe. These narratives culminate in the imaginative apprehension of God, in which the traveler gazes into the divine presence. The tales are beautiful and poetic literary works as well as probing philosophical treatises on how the individual can know the unknowable. In this groundbreaking work, Hughes reveals the literary, initiatory, ritualistic, and mystical dimensions of medieval Neoplatonism. The Texture of the Divine also includes the first complete English translation of Abraham Ibn Ezra's Hay ben Meqitz.

This book reveals how Moses ibn Ezra, Judah Halevi, Moses Maimonides, and Shem Tov ibn Falaquera understood metaphor and imagination, and their role in the way human beings describe God. It demonstrates how these medieval Jewish thinkers engaged with Arabic-Aristotelian psychology, specifically with regard to imagination and its role in cognition. Dianna Lynn Roberts-Zauderer reconstructs the process by which metaphoric language is taken up by the imagination and the role of imagination in rational thought. If imagination is a necessary component of thinking, how is Maimonides’ idea of pure intellectual thought possible? An examination of select passages in the Guide, in both Judeo-Arabic and translation, shows how Maimonides’ attitude towards imagination develops, and how translations contribute to a bifurcation of reason and imagination that does not acknowledge the nuances of the original text. Finally, the author shows how Falaquera’s poetics forges a new direction for thinking about imagination.

The series Religion and Society (RS) contributes to the exploration of religions as social systems - both in Western and non-Western societies; in particular, it examines religions in their differentiation from, and intersection with, other cultural systems, such as art, economy, law and politics. Due attention is given to paradigmatic case or comparative studies that exhibit a clear theoretical orientation with the empirical and historical data of religion and such aspects of religion as ritual, the religious imagination, constructions of tradition, iconography, or media. In addition, the formation of religious communities, their construction of identity, and their relation to society and the wider public are key issues of this series.

Sri Aurobindo’s magnum opus, The Life Divine, is considered to be one of the premier philosophical expositions, covering the meaning and significance of human life, the role of the individual and the structure and operation of the universal creation. In its more than 1000 pages, a wide variety of themes and subjects have been covered. Sri M.P. Pandit was secretary to the Mother of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram and a long-time disciple, prolific author and exponent of Sri Aurobindo’s teachings. These talks were given to introduce various topics covered in The Life Divine, during the year 1977 at the author’s residence.

Received opinion imagines Judaism and Islam as two distinct religions interacting in the centuries following the death of Muhammad in the early seventh century. Tradition describes the relations between the two groups using such tropes as "symbiosis." In this revisionist work, Aaron W. Hughes instead argues that various porous and marginal groups-neither fully Muslim nor fully Jewish-exploited a shared terminology to make sense of their social worlds in response to the rapid process of Islamicization. What emerged as normative rabbinic Judaism on the one hand, and Sunni and ShiEven the spread of rabbinic Judaism, especially at the hands of Saadya Gaon (882-942 CE), was articulated Islamically. In the so-called "Golden Age" that emerged in places like Muslim Spain and North Africa, this "Islamic" Judaism could still be found in the writings of luminaires such as Bahya ibn Paquda, Abraham ibn Ezra, Judah Halevi, and Moses Maimonides. Drawing on social theory, comparative religion, and the analysis of original sources, Hughes presents a compelling case for rewriting our understanding of Jews and Muslims in their earliest centuries of interaction. Not content to remain solely in the past, Shared Identities examines the continued interaction of Muslims and Jews, now reimagined as Palestinians and Israelis, into the present.

Clothes Encounters of the Divine Kind is a recapitulation of the authors life from early childhood to the present time and the role that her passions for fashion and healing played in her own spiritual awakening. While it seems like an autobiography, in truth, it is an invitation for the reader to take that tumble down the rabbit hole and dare to wear the clothing of their dreams while learning about and experiencing the wonderful healing benefits of clothing & colors. An added benefit is that it is jam packed with ideas for dressing to express rather than the old dress for success paradigm. Hop on the Peace Train to experience true Freedom!

This is the second book of two volumes which completes Herb Fitch's interpretation on The Revelation of St. John the Divine. It was transcribed word for word from the tapes of classes 14 through 25 of the Revelation Seminar he gave in 1970. Over the centuries, John's Revelation was in plain sight, yet, not understood, and the reason is because only the Christ Mind in man can reveal the Truth of Being. Not until the year 1970, did a man (who also experienced the Mind which was in Christ Jesus), sit still in meditation over many months, until, at last, the entire message of the Revelation was revealed once again. That man was Herb Fitch. For those of you who have learned to make that contact with Spirit within, this book will now take you further on the Spiritual path. This book will show you how to let that Spirit take over your life. In other words, it will help you to die out of humanhood and be a transparency for Christ; bringing to you an actual awareness of your own Christhood. It is suggested that you find a quiet place and read only one chapter at a time, until Something calls to you from these pages. Then, put these writings down, and walk away, find a place and sit down to meditate on what has stirred you within. I can tell you with a certainty born of experience that you can walk in another Dimension, right here, and right now, a Kingdom, an inner Temple, not made with hands, incomprehensible to the human mind. It is the Dimension in which your Eternal Self walks. It is the Kingdom in which your Spiritual identity resides. It is an inner Presence, the Spirit, closer than breathing, nearer than hands and feet, and it must take over your entire living experience, both within and without. Only then will you be obeying the message, You must be born of the Spirit.

Enrich your spiritual experience of Shabbat by exploring the writings of mystical masters of Hasidism. Drawing from some of the earliest teachings in the family of the Ba'al Shem Tov through late 19th-century Poland and the homilies of the Sefat 'Emet, Eitan Fishbane evokes the Sabbath experience, from candle lighting and donning white clothing to the Friday night Kiddush and the act of sacred eating.