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The Xmas Files: The Philosophy of Christmas
by Stephen LawA philosophical but fun look at the meanings of Christmas myths and rituals, from carving the turkey to why Santa wears red.Picture the scene: Aunt Gertrude has just given you the most appalling Christmas tie, complete with snow-flecked kittens in a bowler hat. Do you smile, nod, and confine it to the bottom drawer? Or do you tell the truth and spare yourself future ties from hell? Kant would say that we must, at all costs, tell the truth - whilst Mill would insist that we should think of the consequences. THE XMAS FILES is a philosophical meander though the myths and rituals of Christmas today, asking such important questions as does Santa exist? What's wrong with Christmas kitsch? Is it all just a commercial racket? What was Augustine's attitude to 'peace on earth'? And what would David Hume have to say about the virgin birth? For underneath all the festive fun, the way we celebrate Christmas does raise serious questions about the beliefs that sustain us, and the ways in which we still value ritual and tradition as a means of coming together.
The Year of Intelligence in the United States: Public Opinion, National Security, and the 1975 Church Committee
by Dafydd TownleyThis book will offer a unique approach to the Year of Intelligence, the sixteen-month period between January 1975 and April 1976 that saw the innermost secrets of various US intelligence agencies laid bare before the world. After allegations of intelligence abuses were made in the press, Congress investigated and revealed numerous cases of unwarranted and unconstitutional activity conducted by a number of intelligence agencies. Chief among the investigations was the Senate enquiry, popularly known as the Church Committee after its chairman, Senator Frank Church of Idaho. This study’s objective is to examine the relationship between national security policy and public opinion using extensive archival evidence, including previously unidentified indicators of public opinion. This monograph makes an important contribution to the historiography of the Church Committee, of public opinion, and of national security policy. The research contributes to the debate on the effectiveness of the Church Committee by challenging the conclusions within the established historiography of the limited impact of the committee’s quest for reform. Furthermore, it widens the very limited scholarship that engages with public opinion’s effect on national security policy. And the project also indicates to policymakers the lessons that can be learnt from the case study, principally, that public opinion is a vital ingredient in the decision making process of successful national security policy.
The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis
by Alan JacobsAlan Jacobs explores the poems, novels, essays, reviews, and lectures of these five central figures, in which they presented, with great imaginative energy and force, pictures of the very different paths now set before the Western democracies. Working mostly separately and in ignorance of one another's ideas, the five developed a strikingly consistent argument that the only means by which democratic societies could be prepared for their world-wide economic and political dominance was through a renewal of education that was grounded in a Christian understanding of the power and limitations of human beings. The Year of Our Lord 1943 is the first book to weave together the ideas of these five intellectuals and shows why, in a time of unprecedented total war, they all thought it vital to restore Christianity to a leading role in the renewal of the Western democracies.
The Years of Theory: Lectures on Modern French Thought
by Fredric JamesonMagisterial lectures on the major figures of French theory from 'America&’s leading Marxist critic'Fredric Jameson introduces here the major themes of French theory: existentialism, structuralism, poststructuralism, semiotics, feminism, psychoanalysis, and Marxism. In a series of accessible lectures, Jameson places this effervescent period of thought in the context of its most significant political conjunctures, including the Liberation of Paris, the Algerian War, the uprisings of May &’68, and the creation of the EU.The philosophical debates of the period come to life through anecdotes and extended readings of work by the likes of Sartre, Beauvoir, Fanon, Barthes, Foucault, Althusser, Derrida, Deleuze, groups like Tel Quel and Cahiers du Cinéma, and contemporary thinkers such as Rancière and Badiou. Eclectic, insightful, and inspired, Jameson&’s seminars provide an essential account of an intellectual moment comparable in significance to the Golden Age of Athens, historically fascinating and of persistent relevance.
The Yellow Pad: Making Better Decisions in an Uncertain World
by Robert E. RubinRobert Rubin, former secretary of the Treasury and co-chairman of Goldman Sachs, shares thoughts on decision-making developed over more than six decades in markets, business, government, and politics, and offers readers an astute and original guide for navigating uncertain timesIn 1958, as a college sophomore, Robert Rubin took a class that changed his life. The class was introduction to philosophy, and the professor, Raphael Demos, instilled in his students an idea that was simple yet profound: There is no such thing as certainty. For Rubin, this led to a critically important question: How can we make sound decisions in a fundamentally uncertain world?While serving in some of the most significant roles in markets, business, and government, Rubin has grappled with that question. Time and again, when faced with a high-stakes decision, he turned to his most trusted tool: a simple yellow legal pad. Rubin&’s yellow pad (or more recently, his iPad) became an expression of a larger decision-making philosophy that has both lasted and shaped a lifetime. In The Yellow Pad, Rubin lays out that philosophy with depth and detail, and presents a compelling intellectual framework for confronting some of the most difficult issues we face today.The Yellow Pad contains a former Treasury secretary&’s approach to economic policymaking. A former Goldman Sachs senior partner&’s approach to personal investing and understanding risk. A former director of the National Economic Council&’s approach to managing people in both private- and public-sector organizations. And much more. Yet despite his lifetime of experiences, Rubin remains refreshingly open-minded, interested in exploring ideas rather than promoting ideologies. With its combination of wisdom and relevance, The Yellow Pad is an essential guide for anyone looking to make better decisions in life, work, and public policy.
The Yi River Commentary on the Book of Changes (World Thought in Translation)
by Cheng YiA translation of a key commentary on perhaps the most broadly influential text of classical China This book is a translation of a key commentary on the Book of Changes, or Yijing (I Ching), perhaps the most broadly influential text of classical China. The Yijing first appeared as a divination text in Zhou-dynasty China (ca. 1045–256 bce) and later became a work of cosmology, philosophy, and political theory as commentators supplied it with new meanings. While many English translations of the Yijing itself exist, none are paired with a historical commentary as thorough and methodical as that written by the Confucian scholar Cheng Yi, who turned the original text into a coherent work of political theory.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
by Patañjali James Haughton WoodsOne of yoga's most important and influential works, The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali forms a keystone of Indian philosophical and religious thought. Written by a sage in the second century B.C., the sutras have been translated many times. This interpretation by Professor James Haughton Woods, originally published under the aegis of the highly esteemed Harvard Oriental Series, ranks among the most acclaimed translations.Patañjali's path is that of Raja Yoga, the royal yoga, or the yoga of the eight steps: restraint, observances, posture, breath control, sublimation (or withdrawal from the senses), attention, concentration, and meditation. The complete sutras appear here, encompassing a four-part analytical study intended to purify the practitioner's mind, body, and soul. Additional features include a commentary by Veda-Vyāsa and explanations by Vāchaspati-Miҫra that are crucial to developing an understanding of Patañjali's intent, along with invaluable background information provided by the translator's introduction and appendixes.This outstanding English edition of a profound work of spiritual enlightenment is essential reading for all scholars and practitioners of yoga.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
by PatanjaliThe 'Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali' are 196 Indian sūtras (aphorisms) that constitute the foundational text of Ashtanga Yoga, also called Raja Yoga. In medieval times, Ashtanga Yoga was cast as one of the six orthodox āstika schools of Hindu philosophy.
The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali (Library of Arabic Literature #68)
by Abū Rayḥān al-BīrūnīA brilliant cross-cultural Arabic interpretation of a key text of yoga philosophyThe Yoga Sutras of Patañjali is the foundational text of yoga philosophy to this day and is still used by millions of yoga practitioners and students worldwide. Written in a question-and-answer format, The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali deals with the theory and practice of yoga and the psychological question of the liberation of the soul from attachments.This book is a new edition and translation into English of the Arabic translation and commentary on this text by the brilliant eleventh-century polymath al-Bīrūnī. Given the many historical variants of the Yoga Sutras, his Kitāb Bātanjali is important for yoga studies as the earliest translation of the Sanskrit text. It is also of unique value as an Arabic text within Islamic studies, given the intellectual and philosophical challenges that faced the medieval Muslim reader when presented with the intricacy of composition, interpretation, and allusion that permeates this translation.A bilingual Arabic-English edition.
The Yoga Sutras: A New Translation and Study Guide
by Nicholas SuttonThis short course sets out a detailed study of the text, philosophy, and significance of the millennia-old yoga system defined in the Yogasutras. The popular practice of yoga finds its origin in one of the most venerated wisdom books of India: the Yogasutras. Comprised of 196 short statements on the essential teachings of yoga, Patanjali&’s Yogasutras holds the position of being the seminal work that defines the yoga system. Over the centuries many important commentaries have been written that seek to explain and extrapolate the full meaning of the sutras, and to this day, the text continues to be appreciated for the profound wisdom contained within it. While the Yogasutras were originally written in Sanskrit, this short course offers an accessible translation and commentary without sacrificing any of its profound wisdom. This edition will allow the reader to study and dive into the meaning and philosophy of this ancient text with its significant contemporary relevance. Yoga students, practitioners, and scholars alike will appreciate the way in which this short course guides the reader through the text.
The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy and Practice
by Georg FeuersteinThe author is founder-director of the Yoga Research Center in Northern California and the author of 30 books on yoga. The present volume is a revised and greatly enlarged edition of the author's 1989 work, Yoga: The Technology of Ecstasy .
The Yoga of Truth: The Ancient Path of Silent Knowledge
by Peter MarchandA guide to Jnana Yoga--the Way of Silent Knowledge--by direct contemplation of the Unchangeable • Shows that everything in one’s body, personality, thoughts, memories, and experiences has form and is changeable and, thus, is neither essential nor eternal • Identifies the witnessing consciousness within--all that remains when the ephemeral is eliminated--as the real Self, the one and only unchanging eternal Being In The Yoga of Truth, Peter Marchand, through a series of deceptively simple introspective questions, leads the seeker into discarding everything--body, personality, thoughts, memories, experiences--that disguises the ego’s relentless masquerade as the Self. This form of contemplation, with its constant commitment to witnessing without attachment, disempowers the ego’s fixation on its products, leading instead to the realization that the witnessing consciousness is, in fact, the one immutable Being within or without--the real Self, the true You. The universal illusion rests upon space and time, body and elements, the life force, mind, intellect, ego, and Self. Jnana Yoga reveals not only the insubstantial and illusory nature of our presumptions but also our habitual commitment to the illusion of being an individual that they create. This illusion collapses like a house of cards before direct inspection. When something has form, when it can change, it cannot be the eternal with which we seek union. Witnessing consciousness stands alone as that which is without form. In The Yoga of Truth, Marchand leads us simply, and compellingly, to the truth of our nature and the peaceful bliss of true Being.
The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali: A New Translation with Commentary
by Chip HartranftIn just 196 short aphorisms, this classic work of Indian philosophy spells out succinctly how the mind works, and how it is possible to use the mind to attain liberation. Compiled in the second or third century CE, the Yoga-Sutra is a road map of human consciousness--and a particularly helpful guide to the mind states one encounters in meditation, yoga, and other spiritual practices. It expresses the truths of the human condition with great eloquence: how we know what we know, why we suffer, and how we can discover the way out of suffering. Chip Hartranft's fresh translation and extensive, lucid commentary bring the text beautifully to life. He also provides useful auxiliary materials, including an afterword on the legacy of the Yoga-Sutra and its relevance for us today.
The Yogasūtra of Patañjali: A New Introduction to the Buddhist Roots of the Yoga System
by Pradeep P. GokhaleThis book offers a systematic and radical introduction to the Buddhist roots of Pātañjala-yoga, or the Yoga system of Patañjali. By examining each of 195 aphorisms (sūtras) of the Yogasūtra and discussing the Yogabhāṣya, it shows that traditional and popular views on Pātañjala-yoga obscure its true nature. The book argues that Patañjali’s Yoga contains elements rooted in both orthodox and heterodox philosophical traditions, including Sāṅkhya, Jaina and Buddhist thought. With a fresh translation and a detailed commentary on the Yogasūtra, the author unearths how several of the terms, concepts and doctrines in Patañjali’s Yoga can be traced to Buddhism, particularly the Abhidharma Buddhism of Vasubandhu and the early Yogācāra of Asaṅga. The work presents the Yogasūtra of Patañjali as a synthesis of two perspectives: the metaphysical perspective of Sāṅkhya and the empirical–psychological perspective of Buddhism. Based on a holistic understanding of Yoga, the study explores key themes of the text, such as meditative absorption, means, supernormal powers, isolation, Buddhist conceptions of meditation and the interplay between Sāṅkhya and Buddhist approaches to suffering and emancipation. It further highlights several new findings and clarifications on textual interpretation and discrepancies. An important intervention in Indian and Buddhist philosophy, this book opens up a new way of looking at the Yoga of Patañjali in the light of Buddhism beyond standard approaches and will greatly interest scholars and researchers of Buddhist studies, Yoga studies, Indian philosophy, philosophy in general, literature, religion and comparative studies, Indian and South Asian Studies and the history of ideas.
The Yogi and the Devotee: The Interplay Between the Upanishads and Catholic Theology (Routledge Revivals)
by Ninian SmartFirst published in 1968, Ninian Smart’s The Yogi and the Devotee: The Interplay Between the Upanishads and Catholic Theology is based on lectures given in Delhi and explores in a novel way the relation between Hinduism and Christianity. The author puts forward a general theory of the relationship between religious experience and doctrines, a theory he had developed in earlier works. He argues that a new form of ‘natural theology’ should be presented, which would show the relevance of religious experience and ritual to what is given in revelation. Smart believes this could be the key to a new understanding between Christianity and Indian religions, and also examines what Christians can learn from other faiths. During a career as a Professor of Religious Studies and Philosophy, Ninian Smart was hugely influential in the way Religious Studies was taught, not only in Britain but around the world.
The Yogin and the Madman: Reading the Biographical Corpus of Tibet's Great Saint Milarepa (South Asia Across the Disciplines)
by Andrew QuintmanTibetan biographers began writing Jetsun Milarepa's (1052–1135) life story shortly after his death, initiating a literary tradition that turned the poet and saint into a model of virtuosic Buddhist practice throughout the Himalayan world. Andrew Quintman traces this history and its innovations in narrative and aesthetic representation across four centuries, culminating in a detailed analysis of the genre's most famous example, composed in 1488 by Tsangnyön Heruka, or the "Madman of Western Tibet." Quintman imagines these works as a kind of physical body supplanting the yogin's corporeal relics.
The Young Carnap's Unknown Master: Husserl’s Influence on Der Raum and Der logische Aufbau der Welt
by Guillermo E. HaddockExamining the scholarly interest of the last two decades in the origins of logical empiricism, and especially the roots of Rudolf Carnap’s Der logische Aufbau der Welt (The Logical Structure of the World), Rosado Haddock challenges the received view, according to which that book should be inserted in the empiricist tradition. In The Young Carnap's Unknown Master Rosado Haddock, builds on the interpretations of Aufbau propounded by Verena Mayer and of Carnap's earlier thesis Der Raum propounded by Sahotra Sarkar and offers instead the most detailed and complete argument on behalf of an Husserlian interpretation of both of these early works of Carnap, as well as offering a refutation of the rival Machian, Kantian, Neo-Kantian, and other more eclectic interpretations of the influences on the work of the young Carnap. The book concludes with an assessment of Quine's critique of Carnap's 'analytic-synthetic' distinction and a criticism of the direction that analytic philosophy has taken in following in the footsteps of Quine's views.
The Young Lords: A Radical History
by Johanna FernándezAgainst the backdrop of America's escalating urban rebellions in the 1960s, an unexpected cohort of New York radicals unleashed a series of urban guerrilla actions against the city's racist policies and contempt for the poor. Their dramatic flair, uncompromising socialist vision for a new society, skillful ability to link local problems to international crises, and uncompromising vision for a new society riveted the media, alarmed New York's political class, and challenged nationwide perceptions of civil rights and black power protest. The group called itself the Young Lords.Utilizing oral histories, archival records, and an enormous cache of police surveillance files released only after a decade-long Freedom of Information Law request and subsequent court battle, Johanna Fernandez has written the definitive account of the Young Lords, from their roots as a Chicago street gang to their rise and fall as a political organization in New York. Led by poor and working-class Puerto Rican youth, and consciously fashioned after the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords occupied a hospital, blocked traffic with uncollected garbage, took over a church, tested children for lead poisoning, defended prisoners, fought the military police, and fed breakfast to poor children. Their imaginative, irreverent protests and media conscious tactics won reforms, popularized socialism in the United States and exposed U.S. mainland audiences to the country's quiet imperial project in Puerto Rico. Fernandez challenges what we think we know about the sixties. She shows that movement organizers were concerned with finding solutions to problems as pedestrian as garbage collection and the removal of lead paint from tenement walls; gentrification; lack of access to medical care; childcare for working mothers; and the warehousing of people who could not be employed in deindustrialized cities. The Young Lords' politics and preoccupations, especially those concerning the rise of permanent unemployment foretold the end of the American Dream. In riveting style, Fernandez demonstrates how the Young Lords redefined the character of protest, the color of politics, and the cadence of popular urban culture in the age of great dreams.
The Young Nietzsche's Education: An Interpretation of Nietzsche's Untimely Considerations
by Jozef MajerníkA new interpretation of what is arguably Nietzsche's most neglected work.This study is an interpretation of the four essays that comprise Nietzsche's Untimely Considerations (also called the Untimely Meditations) as a single, coherent whole whose focus is to educate their readers toward self-cultivation and genuine culture and ultimately to the philosophic life. Jozef Majerník engages in a close reading of each of the essays, finding in them Nietzsche's theoretical understanding of human life in general as well as the best possible kind of life and plans for large-scale cultural reform in conjunction with Wagner's Bayreuth project. The focal point of Majerník's interpretation is the complex understanding of the nature of the human soul found in the Untimely Considerations, which he terms the "erotic-historic soul" after its two main constituent parts, desiring and memory. He argues that this conception of the soul is, at its core, the same model that we find in Nietzsche's mature works.
The Zen Arts: An Anthropological Study of the Culture of Aesthetic Form in Japan (Royal Asiatic Society Books)
by Rupert CoxThe tea ceremony and the martial arts are intimately linked in the popular and historical imagination with Zen Buddhism, and Japanese culture. They are commonly interpreted as religio-aesthetic pursuits which express core spiritual values through bodily gesture and the creation of highly valued objects. Ideally, the experience of practising the Zen arts culminates in enlightenment.This book challenges that long-held view and proposes that the Zen arts should be understood as part of a literary and visual history of representing Japanese culture through the arts. Cox argues that these texts and images emerged fully as systems for representing the arts during the modern period, produced within Japan as a form of cultural nationalism and outside Japan as part of an orientalist discourse.Practitioners' experiences are in fact rarely referred to in terms of Zen or art, but instead are spatially and socially grounded. Combining anthropological description with historical criticism, Cox shows that the Zen arts are best understood in terms of a dynamic relationship between an aesthetic discourse on art and culture and the social and embodied experiences of those who participate in them.
The Zen Book of Life: Wisdom from the Great Masters, Teachers, and Writers of All Time
by Mark ZocchiInspired by the teachings of the Buddha and other great masters, teachers, and writers, this is a book designed to help people connect to their inner divinity and find their spiritual path. It is overflowing with profound quotes, sayings, and insights, each presented alone, allowing the reader to dip in at any time. Each reading is guaranteed to inspire immediately and provide food for thought.Quotations and sayings have been chosen from Gautama Buddha and other "buddhas"--masters of spirituality and inspiration, such as Milarepa, Longchenpa, his Holiness the 14th Dali Lama, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Sogyal Rinpoche, along with other "greats" including Cicero, Rumi, Lao Tzu, Mother Teresa, and Shakespeare. <P><P>A wonderful book to place on your office desk, coffee table, or bookshelf or by your bed, it is designed to provide daily comfort, wisdom, and spiritual nourishment.
The Zen Collection: Zen Dictionary and Zen and Shinto
by Ernest Wood Dr. Chikao FujisawaTwo classic texts essential to understanding Zen Buddhism—its ideas, history, and profound cultural legacy. In Zen Dictionary, theosophist Ernest Wood offers a comprehensive guide to the most important Zen ideas, along with a general history of the growth of Zen in China and Japan. Presenting names and terms in alphabetical order, Zen Dictionary is an ideal reference text for any student of Zen. More than just a survey of Zen and Shinto, Dr. Chikao Fujisawa&’s Zen and Shinto is an impassioned plea to restore Shinto as the cornerstone of Japanese life and thought. Fujisawa offers new insight into the depth and vitality of Japanese culture, demonstrating its remarkable capacity to assimilate foreign thought and ideas, and thus contribute to the world&’s hope for permanent peace.
The Zen Koan: Its History and Use in Rinzai Zen
by Isshu Miura Ruth Fuller SasakiThe first scholarly examination in any language of the historical development and traditional method of koan study in Zen Buddhism. Foreword by Ruth Fuller Sasaki; Index; ink drawings by Hakuin Ekaku.A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book.
The Zen Mama: Your guilt-free guide to raising brave, kind children
by Sarah IvensLet go of parenting expectations and fears to raise courageous, confident children.The Zen Mama philosophy is that mother and child complement each other in adventures and experiences, always putting safety first but without getting caught up in the anxieties, drama, impossible expectations and mental baggage that too often comes along with modern parenting. Learning to become a Zen Mama will help you grow and nurture a Zen Child - someone who isn't afraid to be different, who can stand up for himself or his friends, and can travel the world and experiment with new things without being overwhelmed with self-doubt or being scared. Full of facts, actionable advice and practical tips, this book will be about combining the heart and the head with what works for you and your family, not comparing yourselves to others or meeting a societal standard. It will support and nurture the mother's journey like a wise and sympathetic friend and offers ideas and experience rather than judgement.The Zen Mama will help you to find your purpose as a mother. It will instil the self-belief you need to help create a resilient, creative, caring and smart child - and help to survive the journey.
The Zen Mama: Your guilt-free guide to raising brave, kind children
by Sarah IvensLet go of parenting expectations and fears to raise courageous, confident children.The Zen Mama philosophy is that mother and child complement each other in adventures and experiences, always putting safety first but without getting caught up in the anxieties, drama, impossible expectations and mental baggage that too often comes along with modern parenting. Learning to become a Zen Mama will help you grow and nurture a Zen Child - someone who isn't afraid to be different, who can stand up for himself or his friends, and can travel the world and experiment with new things without being overwhelmed with self-doubt or being scared. Full of facts, actionable advice and practical tips, this book will be about combining the heart and the head with what works for you and your family, not comparing yourselves to others or meeting a societal standard. It will support and nurture the mother's journey like a wise and sympathetic friend and offers ideas and experience rather than judgement.The Zen Mama will help you to find your purpose as a mother. It will instil the self-belief you need to help create a resilient, creative, caring and smart child - and help to survive the journey.