Restoring The Soul Of The World

Humanity’s creative role within the living pattern of nature • Explores important scientific discoveries that reveal the self-organizing intelligence at the heart of nature • Examines the idea of a living cosmos from its roots in the earliest cultures, to its eclipse during the Scientific Revolution, to its return today • Reveals ways to reengage our creative partnership with nature and collaborate with nature’s intelligence For millennia the world was seen as a creative, interconnected web of life, constantly growing, developing, and restoring itself. But with the arrival of the Scientific Revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries, the world was viewed as a lifeless, clock­like mechanism, bound by the laws of classical physics. Intelligence was a trait ascribed solely to human beings, and thus humanity was viewed as superior to and separate from nature. Today new scientific discoveries are reviving the ancient philosophy of a living, interconnected cosmos, and humanity is learning from and collaborating with nature’s intelligence in new, life-enhancing ways, from ecological design to biomimicry. Drawing upon the most important scientific discoveries of recent times, David Fideler explores the self-organizing intelligence at the heart of nature and humanity’s place in the cosmic pattern. He examines the ancient vision of the living cosmos from its roots in the “world soul” of the Greeks and the alchemical tradition, to its eclipse during the Scientific Revolution, to its return today. He explains how the mechanistic worldview led to humanity’s profound sense of alienation, for if the universe only functioned as a machine, there was no longer any room for genuine creativity or spontaneity. He shows how this isn’t the case and how, even at the molecular level, natural systems engage in self-organization, self-preservation, and creative problem solving, mirroring the ancient idea of a creative intelligence that exists deep within the heart of nature. Revealing new connections between science, religion, and culture, Fideler explores how to reengage our creative partnership with nature and new ways to collaborate with nature’s intelligence.

From old-fashioned bricks-and-mortars to cutting-edge startups, businesses are moving into uncharted territory as they determine how to move from an analog past to a digital future effectively. How can you make sure not to leave human instinct behind? Businesses are leaving behind traditional meetings in favor of virtual ones, transitioning from surveys and studies to analytics and algorithms. The startling and often unacknowledged truth is that?the promise of digital transformation can only be realized when we find a way to balance it with the promise of people.?In the end, it’s the people that matter, and companies must never forget the soul that drives them. In Restoring the Soul of Business, business leader Rishad Tobaccowala?teaches you to: Understand how to unleash the significant benefit that can be realized by combining emotion and data, human and machine, analog and digital. Spot the warning signs of data-blinded companies: cold cultures with little human interaction, poor innovation stemming from discouraged employees who don’t contribute ideas, and poor customer service due to automated, robotic processes. Explore how organizations of various sizes and from different industries have successfully reoriented their thinking on how to fuse technology and humanity. Gain skills to become an expert in connections critical to growth and success, including the connection between being creative and using technology. Everyone working in an organization will find penetrating observations and guidance about how and why establishing the proper balance between human intuition and creativity and data-driven insights can lead to increased revenue, profitability, retention—and even joy—in their careers and business. Restoring the Soul of Business provides practical tools and techniques that every organization can and should implement, and challenges you to move forward with the kind of balance that capitalizes transformation and produces one great success after another.

Christianity Today's 2018 Book of the Year Award of Merit - Politics/Public Life Has the American university gained the whole world but lost its soul? In terms of money, prestige, power, and freedom, American universities appear to have gained the academic world. But at what cost? We live in the age of the fragmented multiversity that has no unifying soul or mission. The multiversity in a post-Christian culture is characterized instead by curricular division, the professionalization of the disciplines, the expansion of administration, the loss of community, and the idolization of athletics. The situation is not hopeless. According to Perry L. Glanzer, Nathan F. Alleman, and Todd C. Ream, Christian universities can recover their soul—but to do so will require reimagining excellence in a time of exile, placing the liberating arts before the liberal arts, and focusing on the worship, love, and knowledge of God as central to the university. Restoring the Soul of the University is a pioneering work that charts the history of the university and casts an inspiring vision for the future of higher education.

With economies in peril, war in the Middle East, genocides, global warming, and a host of other grim phenomena, the world has never seemed so besieged. The solution, says Robert Sardello, lies with the individual. In this timely, thoughtful book, he explains how the soul can engage with the outer world to produce radical change. Because we think of the world as a vast mechanism and behave as mechanical objects in it, the results are devastation and dysfunction. The key is to learn to identify with the plight of the Earth by developing a true sense of individual imagination and conscious awareness of inner purpose and beauty in conjunction with the soul of the world. Sardello shows how to achieve this awareness and bring what is inside out into the world, inspiring balance and stability. Using the Grail legend and the myth of Sophia—known as the Soul of the World—as well as writings by Jung, James Hillman, and Rudolf Steiner, Love and the Soul helps readers imagine a revitalized Earth by exploring the significance of grieving, the transformative power of radical receptivity, the creative power of dreaming, and a new basis for community.

It's easy to get discouraged by the headlines. It can often feel as if God has left the building, like we are on our own. We want to believe God's promises to us, and we search for signs of his continuing restoration of the world in which we live. Now, with passion and heart, two leading experts on Christianity and culture cut through the chaos and uncertainty to show readers how God is powerfully active and intensely engaged in fulfilling his promise to restore all things unto himself. Through inspiring real-life stories of justice, mercy, love, and forgiveness in our midst, Smith and Stonestreet present a God who is intimately involved in his creation and using his church to work out the redemption of this world.

Including the Earth in Our Prayers tells a story of love and prayer, how spiritual practice is not just for ourselves, our own journey, but for life itself. It steps back to reclaim the wisdom of our ancestors, including the "Original Instructions" of Indigenous peoples—instructions that describe how we need to "get along" with all of creation—and relates these teachings to the need of our present time. With our ecosystem in crisis and our culture increasingly divisive, it suggests ways in which the energy and transformative potential of our spiritual nature can be applied to these critical issues, and reconnects us with a spiritual understanding of the living Earth. The simple premise of this book is that there is a vital need to shift our collective culture from a story of separation and exploitation into a new story of living oneness, and that spiritual practice, and the love and light it generates, have an essential part to play in this shift. (Including the Earth in Our Prayers is a revised and updated edition of Awakening the World: A Global Dimension to Spiritual Practice, which was originally published in 2006.) “The call of the soul in our time is to become loving partners with our world in manifesting the potentials of blessing and wholeness innately within us and within the Earth. In this wonderful book, Llewellyn eloquently shows us that we each have within us the power to answer this call and embody this partnership. In a time when we are beset with fear and divisiveness, he offers a vision of wholeness and healing, hope and empowerment. It is definitely a book whose time has come.” —David Spangler, author of Journey into Fire “Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee is a rare mystic who honors the eternal truths of the wisdom traditions while recognizing the ever-evolving ways that these truths must be accessed and lived... this book opens our eyes and hearts to the true potential of spiritual practice to go beyond self-transformation to play a vital role in the well-being and awakening of the Earth as a whole. He suggests that ours is a time when new pathways are being revealed that use spiritual practice as a way of nourishing the whole of life, pointing the way to a form of spiritual service that belongs to the future.” —David T. Nicol, author of Subtle Activism: The Inner Dimension of Social and Planetary Transformation “... this luminous book shows us the way to navigate these tumultuous times with a clear mind, a hopeful heart, and a renewed relationship with holy awe. In Including the Earth in Our Prayers, Vaughan-Lee, one of the great wisdom teachers of our age, invites us to participate in nothing less than the radical rebirth of all that is.” —Mirabai Starr, author of God of Love and Wild Mercy “The Earth is luminous. From being a dark and degraded "thing," the earth is in reality an angelic being. Our relationship with the Earth, not one of domination but one grounded in harmony, adoration, and contemplation is a powerful indicative of our relationship with the Divine, with the feminine, and ultimately with the entire realm of the Spirit. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee opens up this connection in a lucid and luminous way. Highly recommended for devotees of spiritual pursuit and ecological sustainability.” —Omid Safi, author of Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition; Professor, Duke University; Leader, Illuminated Tours “As we enter the Anthropocene era when no part of the world remains untouched by the human imprint, the need for action is urgent. Any talk now of contemplation or spirituality might appear to be self-centered, and much of what passes for spirituality has fallen into this quagmire. But as Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee shows us, ‘Real spiritual practice is never for ourself alone, but always for the whole, always for the sake of the Beloved.’ Drawing on the deep tradition of Sufi wisdom, Including the Earth in our Prayers is a call to place the wellbeing of the Earth at the center of our spiritual practice. With lucidity, grace, and wisdom, Vaughan-Lee has given us a cleverly disguised resistance manual for our time.” —Fred Bahnson, author Soil & Sacrament: A Spiritual Memoir of Food and Faith, and director of the Food, Health, and Ecological Well-Being Program at Wake Forest University School of Divinity

Many of us have endless demands and stifling daily routines. Learn why Sabbath is essential to our full humanity and faith, a rhythm of work and rest set by God that if restored to our lives will bring prolonged life, enriched relationships, increased fruitfulness, and abundant joy. We are waylaid by endless demands and stifling routines. Even our vacations have a panicky, task-like edge to them. “If I only had more time,” is the mantra of our age. But is this the real problem? Pastor Mark Buchanan believes that what we’ve really lost is the rest of God—the rest God bestows and, with it, that part of himself we can know only through stillness. In The Rest of God, you’ll: Form a deeper relationship with God by understanding Sabbath’s true purpose Learn how Sabbath allows us to live more fully into our status as free people, released from the grueling, incessant demands of life Connect Sabbath to the ultimate rest—heaven Receive practical advice for restoring Sabbath in your life With this book, Buchanan reminds us that Sabbath is about much more than going to church on Sunday. It's about the much-needed time to be still. The gift of Sabbath is essential to our full humanity and faith. God, knowing that and knowing how easily we might neglect it, made it a command. Begin your own journey of restoration and renewal!

WINNER OF THE WORD GUILD 2019 CHRISTIAN LIVING BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD "The pages you are about to read may feel like a literal rescue." —Ann Voskamp, New York Times Bestselling author Survival Guide for the Soul is a profound spiritual exploration of God's love—a love that many of us understand intellectually without fully grasping or relying on in our day-to-day experiences—a love that fills our sails with joy and frees us to truly flourish. Many of us are driven by an ambition to accomplish something big outside ourselves. On all sides, we're pressured to achieve—professionally, socially, financially. Even when we're aware of this pressure, it can be hard to escape the vicious circles of accomplishment, frustration, and spiritual burn-out. Drawing on a wide range of sources from Scripture to church history to psychology and modern neuroscience—as well as deeply personal stories from his own life—Ken Shigematsu, recipient of the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal and pastor of Tenth Church in Vancouver, BC, vividly demonstrates how the gospel redeems our desires and reorders our lives. Pastor Shigematsu offers fresh perspective on how certain spiritual practices help orient our lives so that our souls can flourish in the midst of a demanding, competitive society. And he concludes with a liberating and counter-cultural definition of true greatness. If you long to experience a deeper relationship with Christ within the daily pressures to succeed, Survival Guide for the Soul is packed with biblical wisdom and a godly approach to transcend the human tendency to define ourselves by our productivity and success. "Loaded with practical insights and encouraging thoughts, every reader will benefit from Ken's work." —Max Lucado, New York Times Bestselling author