Jung’s psychology describes the origin of the Gods and their religions in terms of the impact of archetypal powers on consciousness. For Jung this impact is the basis of the numinous, the experience of the divine in nature and in human nature. His psychology, while possessed of a certain claim to science, is based on depths of subjective experience which transcends psychology and science as ordinarily understood. Jung and his Mystics: In the end it all comes to nothing examines th...

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In this formula that Christians recite as though on autopilot lie the secrets for healing our world, rekindling our visionary imagination, and manifesting the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. It’s an astonishing claim, but one that is supported by Cynthia Bourgeault’s exploration of Trinitarian theology—and by her bold work in further articulating the deep truth it contains. She looks to the ancient concept in light of the ideas of G. I. Gurdjieff and Jaco...

Some twenty-five centuries after the Buddha started teaching, his message continues to inspire people across the globe, including those living in predominantly secular societies. What does it mean to adapt religious practices to secular contexts?   Stephen Batchelor, an internationally known author and teacher, is committed to a secularized version of the Buddha’s teachings. The time has come, he feels, to articulate a coherent ethical, contemplative, and philosophical vision of ...

The renowned psychoanalyst and New York Times –bestselling author of The Art of Loving unites philosophy from the East and West.In 1957, social philosopher and psychoanalyst Erich Fromm invited Daisetz T. Suzuki, the most famous Zen Buddhist master in the Western world, to a seminar at his new home in Cuernavaca, Mexico. Their discussion was one of the highlights of Fromm's lif...

"Psychoanalysis itself and the lines of thought to which it gives rise," said C. G. Jung, "are only a beginner’s attempt compared to what is an immemorial art in the East"—by which he was referring to the millennia-old study of the mind found in Yoga. That tradition was hardly known in the West when the discipline of psychology arose in the nineteenth century, but with the passing of time the common ground between Yoga and psychology has become ever more apparent. Georg Feuerstein here use...

The spiritualist author of The Seven Storey Mountain explores various religions and theologies and examines their similarities.Thomas Merton's devotion to the Roman Catholic Church never impeded his ability to appreciate the world's varieties of religious thought—if anything, the contemplative nature of his monasticism encouraged it. In Mystics and Zen Masters, Merton discusses diverse religious and theologies—f...

One of today's foremost mystics introduces readers to the thought of one of the most important spiritual teachers of the past century.Bede Griffiths—English Benedictine monk and lifelong friend of C.S. Lewis, who was his tutor at Oxford—wrote in 1955 to a friend: "I'm going out to India to seek the other half of my soul." There, he explored the intersection of Hinduism and Christianity and was a driving force behind the growth of interspiritual awareness so common ...

Fascinated by the polarity of being, Paz has boldly attempted to write a "history of man". Unlike countless other histories that simply chronicle civilizations and cultures, Paz's work explores the human heart, the meaning of human nature, and the duality that exists within all beings.

The Buddhist philosophical tradition is vast, internally diverse, and comprises texts written in a variety of canonical languages. It is hence often difficult for those with training in Western philosophy who wish to approach this tradition for the first time to know where to start, and difficult for those who wish to introduce and teach courses in Buddhist philosophy to find suitable textbooks that adequately represent the diversity of the tradition, expose students to important primary t...

Does God exist? What about evil and suffering? How does faith relate to science? Is there life after death? These questions fascinate everyone and lie at the heart of philosophy of religion. Chad Meister offers an up-to-date introduction to the field, focussing not only on traditional debates but also on contemporary concepts such as the intelligent creator. Key topics, such as divine reality and the self and religious experience, are discussed in relation to different faiths.I...

In this present work, the matter of faith based cultures is addressed as a developmental cultural stage corresponding to adolescence during which ideologies compete in violent confl icts which, with the present state of armament, promise human annihilation. The path towards an evolution towards a spiritual ecological maturity is discussed at length with particular emphasis on the relevance of spiritual teachings from both the Eastern and the Christian traditions. The work is an attempt to ...

This challenging set of lectures attempts to lift the veil from modern social and spiritual problems as experienced in the contrasts between East and West. By ascribing to human thinking only a shadowy, subjective validity, modern science tries to invalidate the very faculty that gives us our human dignity. At the same time, however, this "unreality" of thought images makes possible an inner freedom that scientific doctrine tends to deny in principle. The need arises from these contradictions...