Spirituality From The Stars

The profound influence of ancient cosmologies on our ideas about the human spirit • Shows how ancient myths contain a sophisticated understanding of our relationship to the cosmos, derived from thousands of years of observation of the night sky • Explains how ideas of the mind and spirit are still entwined with these ancient cosmologies despite the disruptive effects of modern astronomy • Reveals how ancient ideas and contemporary cosmology might be combined into a new model for spiritual meaning Thousands of years before the first written records, humans were turning to the night sky as a source of meaning for existence and their place within it. The conclusions drawn from these observations are embodied in stories from across the world known as Creation Myths. Contrary to the popular belief that these myths were meant to explain the origins of the universe, Pete Stewart shows that they were actually designed to create a harmony and order in the lives of humans that reflected, in their society and architecture, the ordered patterns they saw evidenced in the sky. These ancient myths also record, in the story of “the separation of Heaven and Earth,” the discovery of a disastrous discord in this ancient harmony, which the mythmakers overcame by imagining a vastly expanded architecture, one in which the individual soul had a role to play in the evolution of the cosmos. Today science presents a similar challenge to our sense of meaning. Stewart explores how, by reexamining the myths of creation in this light, we can learn how contemporary cosmology might yield a new architecture for the spirit and how the ancient sense of being in the cosmos might be reconstructed for our age.

From the bestselling author of Einstein's Dreams—“an elegant and moving paean to our spiritual quest for meaning in an age of science" (The New York Times Book Review). As a physicist, Alan Lightman has always held a scientific view of the world. But one summer evening, while looking at the stars from a small boat at sea, Lightman was overcome by the overwhelming sensation that he was merging with something larger than himself—an eternal unity, something absolute and immaterial. The result is an inspired, lyrical meditation from the acclaimed author of Einstein's Dreams that explores these seemingly contradictory impulses. Lightman draws on sources ranging from Saint Augustine's conception of absolute truth to Einstein's theory of relativity, and gives us a profound inquiry into the human desire for truth and meaning, and a journey along the different paths of religion and science that become part of that quest. This small but provocative book explores the tension between our yearning for certainty and permanence versus the modern scientific view that all things in the physical world are uncertain and impermanent.

This collated book presents 84 channelled teachings of spiritual wisdom in an a-z format from apparitions through to yoga from a spiritual and cosmic being of light. This book will also help those of you experiencing psychic awareness and development to compare your experiences with that of the authors to date.

"Scott R. Jones deftly breaks down the barriers between the bright logic of our daytime intellect and the fearful non-Euclidean symmetries of our darkest dreams, revealing the Black Gnosis: a radical mode of being that anticipates a new appreciation of humanity's place in an increasingly dire and indifferent cosmos. When The Stars Are Right asks the reader a simple question: 'Are you keeping it R'lyeh?' The answers may surprise you"--Back cover.

Is it possible to be grounded AND have a rich interior life? Is it possible to get through the day with poise when everything hits the fan? Is it possible to have a spiritual life and not be a wing-nut? For Jen Weigel, the answer to all three questions is a resounding YES. This is an honest, amusing teaching memoir rooted in Weigel’s everyday experience as a mother, television personality, and performance artist. Weigel provides 13 common-sense rules for developing a sane and satisfying interior life--ranging from “trust that you are where you are supposed to be in every moment” to “always look for signs,”--to “don’t get lost in a guru.” What makes this book so fun and refreshing is Weigel’s voice--and the fact that, in the words of one of her friends, she is a “magnet for really bizarre shit.”Whether she is playing chicken with deranged Chicago drivers with “Jesus Saves” bumper stickers, trying to keep those extra pounds off, interviewing celebrities on television, or encountering the spirit of her dead father (who keeps appearing in the guise of a cardinal--a bird, not a prelate), Weigel maintains a zest for learning, living, and loving. Her high-spirited stories illustrate core life principles and convey an immediacy and energy that readers will find delightful.

Living with the Stars tells the fascinating story of what truly makes the human body. The body that is with us all our lives is always changing. We are quite literally not who we were years, weeks, or even days ago: our cells die and are replaced by new ones at an astonishing pace. The entire body continually rebuilds itself, time and again, using the food and water that flow through us as fuel and as construction material. What persists over time is not fixed but merely a pattern in flux. We rebuild using elements captured from our surroundings, and are thereby connected to animals and plants around us, and to the bacteria within us that help digest them, and to geological processes such as continental drift and volcanism here on Earth. We are also intimately linked to the Sun's nuclear furnace and to the solar wind, to collisions with asteroids and to the cycles of the birth of stars and their deaths in cataclysmic supernovae, and ultimately to the beginning of the universe. Our bodies are made of the burned out embers of stars that were released into the galaxy in massive explosions billions of years ago, mixed with atoms that formed only recently as ultrafast rays slammed into Earth's atmosphere. All of that is not just remote history but part of us now: our human body is inseparable from nature all around us and intertwined with the history of the universe.

This collection of short, informal pieces that are both theologically substantial and genuinely popular is aimed at helping us get our bearings in the life of the spirit today. These essays reveal the staleness and oppressive nature of many of our spiritual practices at a time when, more than ever, we need to stand back and let the fresh winds of the Spirit blow through our lives and surprise us. Whether about the spirituality of shopping or social justice, discernment or channel-surfing, these pieces will delight you and make you think. Ideal for retreats and as a source for sermon ideas, the book can be read in one day, or spread over a month or more.

A fascinating collection of short biographies of the greatest spiritual stars of the last thousand years, ranging from St Anselm to Martin Luther King. Some of the greatest living scholars have contributed to this series - Eamon Duffy on Dante, Rowan Will