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One Arrow, One Life
by Jackson Morisawa Kenneth KushnerOne Arrow, One Life is the ultimate study of kyudo (the art of traditional Japanese archery) and its relation to the ideals and practice of Zen Buddhism. But it's much more: It also serves perfectly as an informal manual of practice for anyone who wants to bring a living, moving Zen into the activities of everyday life. Beginning with a solid introduction to the foundation techniques of both kyudo and zazen-breathing, posture, and concentration-and quickly moving on to the subtleties of advanced practice, Ken Kushner then ties it all together into a personal testimony of the pervasiveness of Zen in everyday life. For those interested in Zen and moving meditation, kyudo practitioners of all levels, as well as students of the Way of martial arts, this volume, beautifully illustrated with line drawings by Jackson Morisawa, is an indispensable guidebook.
One Beat More: Existentialism and the Gift of Mortality
by Kevin AhoA keen athlete in his late forties, philosophy professor Kevin Aho hadn’t given much thought to his own mortality, until he suffered a sudden heart attack that left him fighting for his life. Confronted with death for the first time, he realized that the things he thought gave his life meaning, such as his independence or his ability to plan his own future, were in tatters. Aho turned to those thinkers who have reflected deeply on the meaning of life and the anxiety of living when every heartbeat might be your last: the existentialists. Armed with insights from the likes of Kierkegaard, Heidegger, Nietzsche, and de Beauvoir, he found new meaning and comfort in a view of life that strives for authenticity and accepts aging and death as part of what makes life worthwhile. Existentialism asks us to face the frailty of our existence and to live with a sense of urgency and gratitude toward its manifold beauties. It is only then that we can be released from patterns of self-deception and begin to appreciate what truly matters in our fleeting, precious lives.
One Bird, One Stone: 108 Contemporary Zen Stories
by Sean Murphy“Anyone looking for insightful quotes, humor, Zen wisdom, or even just a good story will find something in these bite-sized anecdotes.” —Tricycle MagazineDrawn from the archives of major Zen centers in America and interviews with some of the most seminal figures of American Zen, including Philip Kapleau, Bernie Glassman, Gary Snyder, and Walter Nowick, One Bird, One Stone presents the notable encounters between teachers and students, the moments of insight and wisdom, the quotable quotes, and the humor of Zen as it has flowered in America over the last one hundred-plus years.Murphy, a Zen student and an accomplished writer, conducted numerous personal interviews and distilled over one hundred pithy stories. He covers Zen masters Suzuki, Maezumi, Seung Sahn, Robert Aitken, and Philip Kapleau along with earnest students Gary Snyder, Alan Watts, and Philip Whalen and others.“Sean Murphy’s eloquent book is thought-provoking and lovely. This collection of 108 new teaching stories in the American Zen Buddhist tradition is a poetic account of the transplanting of Zen Buddhism to this new Western soil and some of the various ways it has taken root here in the lives of a wide spectrum of teachers and practitioners.” —Sharon Salzberg, New York Times–bestselling author and cofounder of The Insight Meditation Center“The book gives you a profound glimpse into the well of the Zen mind.” —Santa Fe New Mexican“Stories to inspire the mind and to find the true heart.” —Stephen and Ondrea Levine, authors of Who Dies?“Intelligent, funny, wise and, best of all, speaks to the heart.” —Rafe Martin, Zen Bow
One Blade of Grass: Finding the Old Road of the Heart, a Zen Memoir
by Henry Shukman"If you've ever wondered how a messed up kid like you or me might master the wisdom of Zen, One Blade of Grass is the adventure for you. It's great company—and after reading it, you might recognize that you're further along than you imagined." —David Hinton, editor and translator of The Four Chinese Classics and author of The Wilds of PoetryOne Blade of Grass tells the story of how meditation practice helped Henry Shukman to recover from the depression, anxiety, and chronic eczema he had had since childhood and to integrate a sudden spiritual awakening into his life. By turns humorous and moving, this beautifully written memoir demystifies Zen training, casting its profound insights in simple, lucid language, and takes the reader on a journey of their own, into the hidden treasures of life that contemplative practice can reveal to any of us."This heartfelt and beautifully written memoir provides one of the most insightful, informative, and honest accounts of Zen practice yet to appear in English." —Stephen Batchelor, author of After Buddhism
One City
by Ethan NichternWhat you wear. What you say. What you think/ignore/buy/don't buy... Welcome to One City-Population: Everyone-where EVERYTHING you do matters. You've lived here your whole life, whether you know it or not. Ethan Nichtern, the charismatic and creative force behind New York's upstart Interdependence Project is your guide to the beauty that is everywhere in the urban jungle-in the rattling of subway trains, the screechings of traffic, the hum and drone of millions scurrying for work, food, sustenance, art, culture, and meaning. There may be no greater setting for exploring the great truth that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. expounded: "Whatever effects one directly, effects all indirectly." One City melds Dr. King's message with modern Buddhist wisdom to offer a new way of understanding what binds us all together-no matter where we are, no matter who. With its pop-culture savvy, humor, and literary liveliness, One City will speak to--and even, it's fair to say, help define--the spiritually-inclined, conscious Next Generation.
One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism
by Joseph GoldsteinOne of America’s foremost Buddhist teachers shares a “wise and mature vision of Buddhism [that is] destined to be a classic”—preface by the Dalai Lama (Jack Kornfield).Buddhism has evolved in various ways across time and geography. Now, as a genuine Western Buddhism takes root on American soil, Buddhist teacher Joseph Goldstein explores its unique traditions as well as its essential adherence to the universal principles of mindfulness, loving-kindness, and nonattachment. In One Dharma, Goldstein distills a lifetime of practice and teaching, including his years at the renowned Insight Meditation Society, to present a groundbreaking, contemporary vision of Buddhism.
One Health Implications of Agrochemicals and their Sustainable Alternatives (Sustainable Development and Biodiversity #34)
by Sylvester Chibueze Izah Matthew Chidozie OgwuThis book focuses on the United Nations SDG 3, SDG 12, and SDG 15. The book covers the full range of issues associated with agrochemical use from a One Health standpoint to promote a cleaner and safer alternative that leaves little to no negative legacy on Earth’s natural, social, and economic systems. The main focus of the book is to address the biodiversity and human health, food security, and socio-environmental implications of agrochemical use in food production. It deals with the need to move away from the use of harmful chemicals in agriculture. The threat to key aspects of One Health will be used as evidence in support of the need to transition to safer and cleaner food production systems as well as the social, economic, health, and environmental viability of sustainable alternatives. One Health is the innovative convergence approach that encourages collaborative, cross-sectoral, and transdisciplinary methods to monitor, assess, report, and implement shared human health, biodiversity, and environmental challenges and goals such as agrochemical use. Conventional agrochemicals are chemicals used to protect plants, improve crop yield and manage agricultural fields but also have a negative legacy on Earth’s systems. This book is of interest and useful to agricultural trainees and trainers, soil, food and agricultural institutes, food and soil systems specialists, biodiversity and environmental managers, activists, practitioners, and students. It is also a useful read for conservationists and industries interested in promoting organic agriculture for a sustainable community, regional and global development.
One Holy and Happy Society: The Public Theology of Jonathan Edwards (G - Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary Subjects)
by Gerald McDermottJonathan Edwards (1703–58) was arguably this country's greatest theologian and its finest philosopher before the nineteenth century. His school if disciples (the "New Divinity") exerted enormous influence on the religious and political cultures of late colonial and early republican America. Hence any study of religion and politics in early America must take account of this theologian and his legacy.Yet historians still regard Edward's social theory as either nonexistent or underdeveloped. Gerald McDermott demonstrates, to the contrary, that Edwards was very interested in the social and political affairs of his day, and commented upon them at length in his unpublished sermons and private notebooks. McDermott shows that Edwards thought deeply about New England's status under God, America's role in the millennium, the nature and usefulness of patriotism, the duties of a good magistrate, and what it means to be a good citizen. In fact, his sociopolitical theory was at least as fully developed as that of his better-known contemporaries and more progressive in its attitude toward citizens' rights.Using unpublished manuscripts that have previously been largely ignored, McDermott also convincingly challenges generations of scholarly opinion about Edwards. The Edwards who emerges from this nook is both less provincial and more this-worldly than the persona he is commonly given.
One Hundred Prisoners and a Light Bulb
by Hans Van Ditmarsch Barteld KooiA group of 100 prisoners, all together in the prison dining area, are told that they will be all put in isolation cells and then will be interrogated one by one in a room containing a light with an on/off switch. The prisoners may communicate with one another by toggling the light switch (and that is the only way in which they can communicate). The light is initially switched off. There is no fixed order of interrogation, or interval between interrogations, and the same prisoner may be interrogated again at any stage. When interrogated, a prisoner can either do nothing, or toggle the light switch, or announce that all prisoners have been interrogated. If that announcement is true, the prisoners will (all) be set free, but if it is false, they will all be executed. While still in the dining room, and before the prisoners go to their isolation cells (forever), can the prisoners agree on a protocol that will set them free? At first glance, this riddle may seem impossible to solve: how can all of the necessary information be transmitted by the prisoners using only a single light bulb? There is indeed a solution, however, and it can be found by reasoning about knowledge. This book provides a guided tour through eleven classic logic puzzles that are engaging and challenging and often surprising in their solutions. These riddles revolve around the characters' declarations of knowledge, ignorance, and the appearance that they are contradicting themselves in some way. Each chapter focuses on one puzzle, which the authors break down in order to guide the reader toward the solution. For general readers and students with little technical knowledge of mathematics, One Hundred Prisoners and a Light Bulb will be an accessible and fun introduction to epistemic logic. Additionally, more advanced students and their teachers will find it to be a valuable reference text for introductory course work and further study.
One Hundred Twentieth-Century Philosophers
by Stuart Brown Robert Wilkinson Diané CollinsonOne Hundred Twentieth-Century Philosophers offers biographical information and critical analysis of the life, work and impact of some of the most significant figures in philosophy this century.Taken from the acclaimed Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Philosophers, the 100 entries are alphabetically organised, from Adorno to Zhang Binglin, and cover individuals from both continental and analytic philosophy.The entries have an identical four-part structure making it easy to compare and contrast information, comprising:* biographical details * a bibliography of major works * a listing of relevant secondary and critical literature * an appraisal of the philosopher's thoughts and achievements.A separate glossary provides an introduction to the origins, development and main features of major philosophical schools and movements and offers select bibliographies to guide the reader to further research.
One Hundred Years of Chemical Warfare: Research, Deployment, Consequences
by Martin Wolf Dieter Hoffmann Jürgen Renn Bretislav Friedrich Florian SchmaltzThis book is open access under a CC BY-NC 2.5 license. On April 22, 1915, the German military released 150 tons of chlorine gas at Ypres, Belgium. Carried by a long-awaited wind, the chlorine cloud passed within a few minutes through the British and French trenches, leaving behind at least 1,000 dead and 4,000 injured. This chemical attack, which amounted to the first use of a weapon of mass destruction, marks a turning point in world history. The preparation as well as the execution of the gas attack was orchestrated by Fritz Haber, the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physical Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Berlin-Dahlem. During World War I, Haber transformed his research institute into a center for the development of chemical weapons (and of the means of protection against them).Bretislav Friedrich and Martin Wolf (Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, the successor institution of Haber’s institute) together with Dieter Hoffmann, Jürgen Renn, and Florian Schmaltz (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science) organized an international symposium to commemorate the centenary of the infamous chemical attack. The symposium examined crucial facets of chemical warfare from the first research on and deployment of chemical weapons in WWI to the development and use of chemical warfare during the century hence. The focus was on scientific, ethical, legal, and political issues of chemical weapons research and deployment — including the issue of dual use — as well as the ongoing effort to control the possession of chemical weapons and to ultimately achieve their elimination.The volume consists of papers presented at the symposium and supplemented by additional articles that together cover key aspects of chemical warfare from 22 April 1915 until the summer of 2015.
One Hundred Years of Gauge Theory: Past, Present and Future Perspectives (Fundamental Theories of Physics #199)
by Claus Kiefer Silvia De BianchiThis book presents a multidisciplinary guide to gauge theory and gravity, with chapters by the world’s leading theoretical physicists, mathematicians, historians and philosophers of science. The contributions from theoretical physics explore e.g. the consistency of the unification of gravitation and quantum theory, the underpinnings of experimental tests of gauge theory and its role in shedding light on the relationship between mathematics and physics. In turn, historians and philosophers of science assess the impact of Weyl’s view on the philosophy of science. Graduate students, lecturers and researchers in the fields of history of science, theoretical physics and philosophy of science will benefit from this book by learning about the role played by Weyl’s Raum-Zeit-Materie in shaping several modern research fields, and by gaining insights into the future prospects of gauge theory in both theoretical and experimental physics. Furthermore, the book facilitates interdisciplinary exchange and conceptual innovation in tackling fundamental questions about our deepest theories of physics. Chapter “Weyl’s Raum-Zeit-Materie and the Philosophy of Science” is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com
One Hundred Years of History of the French Communist Party: The Red Party (Marx, Engels, and Marxisms)
by Roger Martelli Jean Vigreux Serge WolikowThe Communist Party appeared a hundred years ago on the French political and social scene. According to opinions and moments, it has been the party of Moscow, of those shot, of the working class, of the union of the left, the party of the foreigner or that of the nation. It has been underground, in government, in town halls, in factories or in the streets. Some considered it too revolutionary, others not enough. More than others, it aroused passions, positive or negative. It attracted many and repelled just as many. After the fall of the USSR, it decided to remain a communist party, while many others gave it up. But it no longer has the place it once had, in reality as in the imagination. This book does not intend to judge, but to provide keys to understanding. It is based on a considerable number of archives that are now available and is an ordered and distanced look at an object that is not lacking in complexity and no doubt even in mystery. This book has been translated from French to English thanks to a financial help from the Gabriel Péri Foundation and the LIR3S UMR Cnrs 7366 of Dijon.
One King, One Faith: The Parlement of Paris and the Religious Reformations of the Sixteenth Century
by Nancy Lyman RoelkerThis title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1996.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived</DIV
One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder
by Brian DoyleA playful and moving book of essays by a "born storyteller" (Seattle Times) who invites us into the miraculous and transcendent moments of the everydayWhen Brian Doyle passed away at the age of sixty after a bout with brain cancer, he left behind a cult-like following of devoted readers who regard his writing as one of the best-kept secrets of the twenty-first century. Doyle writes with a delightful sense of wonder about the sanctity of everyday things, and about love and connection in all their forms: spiritual love, brotherly love, romantic love, and even the love of a nine-foot sturgeon.At a moment when the world can sometimes feel darker than ever, Doyle's writing, which constantly evokes the humor and even bliss that life affords, is a balm. His essays manage to find, again and again, exquisite beauty in the quotidian, whether it's the awe of a child the first time she hears a river, or a husband's whiskers that a grieving widow misses seeing in her sink every morning. Through Doyle's eyes, nothing is dull. David James Duncan sums up Doyle's sensibilities best in his introduction to the collection: "Brian Doyle lived the pleasure of bearing daily witness to quiet glories hidden in people, places and creatures of little or no size, renown, or commercial value, and he brought inimitably playful or soaring or aching or heartfelt language to his tellings." A life's work, One Long River of Song invites readers to experience joy and wonder in ordinary moments that become, under Doyle's rapturous and exuberant gaze, extraordinary.
One Nation Under Taught: Solving America’s Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Crisis
by Steve Forbes Dr Vince M. BertramAmerica has been steadily sliding in global education rankings for decades. In particular, our students are increasingly unable to compete globally in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. According to the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), in 2010 only 26 percent of high school seniors in the U.S. scored at or above proficient level in math. Another 36 percent were failing. Only 3 percent scored at an advanced level in math, and only 1 percent scored at an advanced level in science.Students in K-12 across the U.S. struggle with STEM subjects, often because the subjects are poorly presented or badly taught. When students reach college, they choose to pursue non-STEM degrees, and too many struggle to find jobs upon graduation. Meanwhile, U.S. employers are having an increasingly hard time filling STEM jobs. Economic projections for the next decade show we will need approximately 1 million more professionals in STEM fields than our education system will produce. If we want to maintain our historical pre-eminence in science and technology, we must increase the number of students graduating with STEM degrees by 34 percent each year.One Nation Under Taught offers a clear solution, providing a blueprint for helping students fall in love with STEM subjects, and giving them the tools they need to succeed and go on for further study in these fields. The book challenges our whole way of thinking about education, and encourages educators and policy-makers at all levels to work together to make our schools places that promote curiosity and inspire a love of learning. If we do not change course, we will set our students and our country on the path to a lifetime of poverty. But if we can implement the reforms Dr. Bertram suggests, we can achieve long-lasting prosperity for our children and our nation as a whole.
One Nation, Under Gods: A New American History
by Peter ManseauA groundbreaking new look at the story of AmericaAt the heart of the nation's spiritual history are audacious and often violent scenes. But the Puritans and the shining city on the hill give us just one way to understand the United States. Rather than recite American history from a Christian vantage point, Peter Manseau proves that what really happened is worth a close, fresh look. Thomas Jefferson himself collected books on all religions and required that the brand new Library of Congress take his books, since Americans needed to consider the "twenty gods or no god" he famously noted were revered by his neighbors. Looking at the Americans who believed in these gods, Manseau fills in America's story of itself, from the persecuted "witches" at Salem and who they really were, to the persecuted Buddhists in WWII California, from spirituality and cults in the '60s to the recent presidential election where both candidates were for the first time non-traditional Christians.One Nation, Under Gods shows how much more there is to the history we tell ourselves, right back to the country's earliest days. Dazzling in its scope and sweep, it is an American history unlike any you've read.
One Robe, One Bowl: The Zen Poetry of Ryokan
by John StevensThe hermit-monk Ryokan, long beloved in Japan both for his poetry and for his character, belongs in the tradition of the great Zen eccentrics of China and Japan. His reclusive life and celebration of nature and the natural life also bring to mind his younger American contemporary, Thoreau. Ryokan's poetry is that of the mature Zen master, its deceptive simplicity revealing an art that surpasses artifice. Although Ryokan was born in eighteenth-century Japan, his extraordinary poems, capturing in a few luminous phrases both the beauty and the pathos of human life, reach far beyond time and place to touch the springs of humanity.
One Taste
by Ken WilberAs one who has written extensively about the interior life, meditation, and psychotherapy, Ken Wilber--the leading theorist in the field of integral psychology--naturally arouses the curiosity of his numerous readers. In response to this curiosity, this one-year diary not only offers an unprecedented entrée into his private world, but offers an introduction to his essential thought. "If there is a theme to this journal," Wilber writes, "it is that body, mind, and the luminosities of the soul--all are perfect expressions of the Radiant Spirit that alone inhabits the universe, sublime gestures of that Great Perfection that alone outshines the world."Wilber's personal writings include: * Details of his own spiritual practice * Advice to spiritual seekers * Reflections on his work and that of other prominent theorists in the field of integral psychology * His day-to-day personal experiences * Dozens of his short theoretical essays on topics from art to feminism to spirituality to psychotherapy
One True Life: The Stoics and Early Christians as Rival Traditions
by C. Kavin RoweIn this groundbreaking, cross-disciplinary work of philosophy and biblical studies, New Testament scholar C. Kavin Rowe explores the promise and problems inherent in engaging rival philosophical claims to what is true. Juxtaposing the Roman Stoics Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius with the Christian saints Paul, Luke, and Justin Martyr, and incorporating the contemporary views of Jeffrey Stout, Alasdair McIntyre, Charles Taylor, Martha Nussbaum, Pierre Hadot, and others, the author suggests that in a world of religious pluralism there is negligible gain in sampling from separate belief systems. This thought-provoking volume reconceives the relationship between ancient philosophy and emergent Christianity as a rivalry between strong traditions of life and offers powerful arguments for the exclusive commitment to a community of belief and a particular form of philosophical life as the path to existential truth.
One World Now: The Ethics of Globalization
by Peter SingerOne World Now seamlessly integrates major developments of the past decade into Peter Singer's classic text on the ethics of globalization, One World. Singer, often described as the world's most influential philosopher, here addresses such essential concerns as climate change, economic globalization, foreign aid, human rights, immigration, and the responsibility to protect people from genocide and crimes against humanity, whatever country they may be in. Every issue is considered from an ethical perspective. This thoughtful and important study poses bold challenges to narrow nationalistic views and offers valuable alternatives to the state-centric approach that continues to dominate ethics and international theory. Singer argues powerfully that we cannot solve the world's problems at a national level, and shows how we should build on developments that are already transcending national differences. This is an instructive and necessary work that confronts head-on both the perils and the potentials inherent in globalization.
One World: The Ethics of Globalization
by Peter SingerKnown for his original and courageous thinking on matters ranging from the treatment of animals to genetic screening, Peter Singer now turns his attention to the ethical issues surrounding globalization. In this provocative book, he challenges us to think beyond the boundaries of nation-states and consider what a global ethic could mean in today's world. Singer raises novel questions about such an ethic and, more important, he provides illuminating and practical answers. The book encompasses four main global issues: climate change, the role of the World Trade Organization, human rights and humanitarian intervention, and foreign aid. Singer addresses each vital issue from an ethical perspective and offers alternatives to the state-centric approach that characterizes international theory and relations today. Posing a bold challenge to narrow or nationalistic views, Singer presents a realistic, new way of looking at contemporary global issues-through a prism of ethics.
One of Us: Conjoined Twins and the Future of Normal
by Alice Domurat DregerMust children born with socially challenging anatomies have their bodies changed because others cannot be expected to change their minds? One of Us views conjoined twinning and other "abnormalities" from the point of view of people living with such anatomies, and considers these issues within the larger historical context of anatomical politics. Anatomy matters, Alice Domurat Dreger tells us, because the senses we possess, the muscles we control, and the resources we require to keep our bodies alive limit and guide what we experience in any given context. Her deeply thought-provoking and compassionate work exposes the breadth and depth of that context--the extent of the social frame upon which we construct the "normal." In doing so, the book calls into question assumptions about anatomy and normality, and transforms our understanding of how we are all intricately and inextricably joined.
One over Many: The Unitary Pluralism of Plato's World (SUNY series in Ancient Greek Philosophy)
by Necip Fikri AlicanFinalist for the 2022 PROSE Award in the Philosophy category presented by the Association of American PublishersOne over Many is a groundbreaking interpretation of Plato's philosophical outlook, solving longstanding problems in the scholarly literature. Its originality and its strength consist in replacing the metaphysical dualism of the traditional interpretation with the paradigm of unitary pluralism: one world with a gradation of reality, including three different types of Forms, as well as the entire spectrum of sensible phenomena, with intermediate ontological constructs in between. The model thus combines a monism of worlds with a pluralism of things, positing a unitary reality of infinite possibilities through ontological stratification. This tightly integrated collection of essays, conceived and developed by the author in pursuit of corrective intervention in Plato’s metaphysics, combines his previously published work with newly drafted material for the present volume. The book replaces the standard view of Plato as a metaphysical dualist with a novel interpretation providing greater explanatory power through the paradigm of unitary pluralism in a single reality built on ontological diversity.
One unbounded ocean of consciousness: Simple answers to the big questions in life
by Dr. Tony NaderWorld renowned leader at the core of the Maharishi Foundations, a Harvard graduate neuroscientist, renowned Vedic scholar and world reference in Transcendental Meditation, Dr.Tony Nader formulates in this book a series of fundamental existential questions (what is our purpose in life, do we have true control over our destinies?) and, through the study of Consciousness, brings us answers with practical benefits that aim to give us enlightenment, peace and fulfillment. «In this landmark book, Dr. Tony Nader presents ideas that can change the world. He proposes profound solutions to questions that have long fascinated and intrigued philosophers and scientists. What is Consciousness, do we have freedom? How to get the best out of life, fulfill wishes and create peace and harmony among peoples and nations? He offers these solutions, based on a simple underlying paradigm, that unifies mind, body, and environment into an ocean of pure Being, Pure Consciousness. A must read for any seeker of answers to the mysteries of life, the absolute and ultimate truth».David Lynch «I want everyone to know what Consciousness is and how to develop it to enjoy the full potential of individual and social life».Dr. Tony Nader Is there some hidden purpose in life, a secret design, a meaningful logic, a goal to be achieved? Where do we come from and where do we go after we leave? Why should we be fighting? Can we choose? Are we free or slaves of destiny, of the laws of nature or of God? As sentient beings who wish to take control of their lives, these questions are fundamental, and everyone ends up making assumptions or strongly subscribing to beliefs about many of them. Those convictions become our underlying "cosmovision" that influences everything we do. I turned to the study of medicine, psychiatry, and neurology to understand why, although we are so similar, we can be so different in our opinions, mentality, and points of view. But the answers to my fundamental questions were too complex and abstract for scientific investigation. It was Transcendental Meditation TM that allowed me to explore them through direct experience, rather than analysis and deduction. This book is dedicated to all seekers of knowledge, scientists, philosophers, teachers, wise leaders, and guides who investigate the secrets of how nature works and the effort to improve life on Earth.