A collection of poems examining love, self, devotion, and opening to a wider cosmos. Whimsical, meditative, rapturous, these poems are a contemporary expression of spirit.there, wobbling on the wireof my neighbour's rooftopaerialbacklit againstthe early summerskythis young magpie riffs,delirious with the possibilitiesof joyVictor Marsh is the author of Mr Isherwood Changes Trains: Christopher Isherwood and the Se...

Perth in the 1950s. After being caught wearing his mother's yellow dress, young Victor had to hide any tendency towards gender inappropriate behaviour. But his interest in dancing and theatre (and mooning over Rudolph Nureyev on the telly) were bound to make the facade collapse at some point. Emerging sexuality and the sense of not being 'at home' in his body, let alone the world, ran alongside a search for meaning that brought him eventually to a spiritual awakening under the young guru M...

After being caught wearing his mother's yellow dress, young Victor Marsh had to hide any tendency towards the non-masculine. But the façade had to collapse at some point. Emerging sexuality and the sense of not being 'at home' in his body, let alone the world, ran alongside a search for meaning that brought him to a spiritual awakening under guru Maharaji. But after ten years in the ashram, it was time to come out. Hermit Crab Seeks Home joins Victor in the early 1990s working in Hollywood...

British expatriate writer Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986) moved to America prior to the Second World War and lived more than half his life in California, writing for the Hollywood studios. Famous initially for the stories he wrote during the rise of the Nazis, he attracted a second wave of interest in the 1970s with his 'out' autobiography 'Christopher and His Kind' (1976). But much less is known about Isherwood's writing during his forty years as a student of a guru from the Ramakrishna...

A collection of essays, reflections and personal stories from 'enthusiasts, acceptors, sceptics and hesitants' showing the passion and depth around the issue of same-sex marriage.Over thirty writers, a mix of activist and reflective voices, explore the legacy of the 2004 changes to the Australian Marriage Act, which now states - and which must be stated at every wedding - 'marriage is between a man and a woman'.CONTRIBUTORS:Dennis Altman AM, Barbara Baird, A...

In this powerful, compassionate work, one of anthropology’s most distinguished ethnographers weaves together rich fieldwork with a compelling critical analysis in a book that will surely make a signal contribution to contemporary thinking about violence and how it affects everyday life. Veena Das examines case studies including the extreme violence of the Partition of India in 1947 and the massacre of Sikhs in 1984 after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In a major de...

A guide to all kinds of addiction from a star who has struggled with heroin, alcohol, sex, fame, food and eBay, that will help addicts and their loved ones make the first steps into recovery.“This manual for self-realization comes not from a mountain but from the mud . . . My qualification is not that I am better than you but I am worse.”—Russell BrandWith a rare mix of honesty, humor, and compassion, comedian and mo...

Witty, acerbic, insightful musings from Robert Dessaix, one of Australia's finest writers.One Sunday night in Sydney, Robert Dessaix collapses in a gutter in Darlinghurst, and is helped to his hotel by a kind young man wearing a T-shirt that says FUCK YOU. What follows are weeks in hospital, tubes and cannulae puncturing his body, as he recovers from the heart attack threatening daily to kill him.While lying in the hospital bed, Robert chances upon Philip L...

From the local to the global level, religion is – more than ever – an important and hotly debated part of modern life in the twenty-first century.From silver rings to ringtones and from clubs to headscarves, we often find the cultural role and discussion of religion in unexpected ways.Now in its second edition, Religion: The Basics remains the best introduction to religion and contemporary culture available. The new edition has been fully revised and updated, and i...

“Ruth Ozeki, a Zen Buddhist priest, sets herself the task of staring at her face in a mirror for three full, uninterrupted hours; her ruminations ripple out from personal and familial memories to wise and honest meditations on families and aging, race and the body.” —Minneapolis Star TribuneWhat did your face look like before your parents were born? In The Face: A Time Code, bestselling author and Zen Buddhist priest Ruth Ozeki recounts, ...

Musings from a truly original thinker on eveything under the sun and many things over the moon.There are few aspects of existence to which Michael Leunig has not turned his renaissance mind, as a bemused and committed member of the human plight. From his cartoonist's sensibilities comes a peculiar journalism made of parable, memoir and soliloquy, on subjects ranging from the sublime to the subhuman.From the fragile ecosystem of the spirit to the brutalisation of th...

The Cambridge Companion to Religious Studies is both informative and provocative, introducing readers to key debates in the contemporary study of religion and suggesting future research possibilities. A group of distinguished scholars takes up some of the most pressing theoretical questions in the field. What is a 'religious tradition'? How are religious texts read? What takes place when a religious practitioner stands before a representation of gods or goddesses, ghosts, ancestors, saints...