Tending Fire

The wildfires that spread across Southern California in the fall of 2003 were devastating in their scale-twenty-two deaths, thousands of homes destroyed and many more threatened, hundreds of thousands of acres burned. What had gone wrong? And why, after years of discussion of fire policy, are some of America's most spectacular conflagrations arising now, and often not in a remote wilderness but close to large settlements? That is the opening to a brilliant discussion of the politics of fire by one of the country's most knowledgeable writers on the subject, Stephen J. Pyne. Once a fire fighter himself (for fifteen seasons, on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon) and now a professor at Arizona State University, Pyne gives us for the first time a book-length discussion of fire policy, of how we have come to this pass, and where we might go from here. Tending Fire provides a remarkably broad, sometimes startling context for understanding fire. Pyne traces the "ancient alliance" between fire and humanity, delves into the role of European expansion and the creation of fire-prone public lands, and then explores the effects wrought by changing policies of "letting burn" and suppression. How, the author asks, can we better protect ourselves against the fires we don't want, and better promote those we do? Pyne calls for important reforms in wildfire management and makes a convincing plea for a more imaginative conception of fire, though always grounded in a vivid sense of fire's reality. "Amid the shouting and roar, a central fact remains," he writes. "Fire isn't listening. It doesn't feel our pain. It doesn't care-really, really doesn't care. It understands a language of wind, drought, woods, grass, brush, and terrain, and it will ignore anything stated otherwise." We need to think about fire in more deeply biological ways and recognize ourselves as the fire creatures we are, Pyne argues. Even if, in recent times, "we have gone from being keepers of the flame to custodians of the combustion chamber," tending fire wisely remains our responsibility as a species. "The Earth's fire scene," he writes of us, "is largely the outcome of what this creature has done, and not done, and the species operates not according to strict evolutionary selection but in the realm of culture, which is to say, of choice and confusion." Rich in insight, wide-ranging in its subject, and clear-eyed in its proposals, Tending Fire is for anyone fascinated by fire, fire policy, or human culture.

With the ever increasing popularity of the French horn and the demand for French horn music, this book is published for the benefit of the American student and professional, to acquaint him with the most popular French horn solo parts of symphonic and standard literature.

This small powerful book goes right to the core of what the popular new men's group is or can be all about. By describing the practical, theoretical & spiritual elements of a small ritual men's group Wayne Liebman challenges men to create their own sacred spaces & invites them to reach into art, psychology, literature & mythology to enlarge their sense of men & the experience of masculinity. Due out in May 1992 by the same publisher: SINGING ALL NIGHT: AN ANTHOLOGY CELEBRATING ROBERT BLY'S 65TH BIRTHDAY. This collection brings together over 40 writers & artists who have contributed essays, poems, songs & graphics in celebration of Robert Bly's work & life. Contributors include Galway Kinell, Donald Hall, William Stafford, David Ignatow & Tomas Transtromer. ISBN 0-915408-48-1.

A Valiant Call to Live ManfullyYou and I are brothers in the battle of our age.We are at war with complacency, abdication of responsibilities, anxiety, and those who are hell bent on the eradication of anything resembling whole, healthy, and authentic masculinity. One of the greatest weapons we have in the fight is to live deliberately and with the courage to earnestly tend the fire God has placed in our hearts.In Tending the Fire, Mike Yarbrough inspires and equips men to break free from the status quo and take up the High Calling of manliness.Filled with timeless principles, poetic insights, and touching humor, this book is a must read for every man in every season of life.

This book explores the notion of creativity as an internal fire or sense of aliveness and vitality in the self. Ellen Levine brings together a theoretical understanding drawn from psychoanalytic literature, with clinical material from practice as a child psychotherapist and expressive artist. Now in its second edition with a new Introduction.

"We are created in rhythm, kept alive in rhythm, evolve through rhythm. Tides, breath, and blood flow in rhythm. We are born into a universe of currents, and our heart is the great conductor of the body, orchestrating our flow." The mystical foundations of all the world's spiritual paths meet in a single, sacred place: the heart of the seeker. We have reached a time when scientific understanding mirrors the teachings of the great wisdom traditions in revealing our energetic heart as the light of consciousness, the fire of love, a field of intelligence. Tending the Heart Fire, the first book by pioneering yogini Shiva Rea, is an invitation to embody our extraordinary potential at this turning point in time, to reconnect your life to the rhythms of your body and the natural world—to live in flow with the pulse of life. Weaving together wisdom from the great world traditions—including yoga, Ayurveda, Tantra, and modern science—Shiva presents an essential resource for becoming a firekeeper of the sacred heart. This diverse treasury is filled with mediations, life guidance, seasonal rituals, and daily practices, including: Insights for harmonizing with the sacred junctures of time—the daily, weekly, lunar, and solar cycles of manifestation and renewalAligning with the seasons—how to adapt your diet, exercise, and yoga rhythms throughout the annual cycle Ways to honor the great sacred holidays, rites, and festivalsAwakening of sahaja—the natural flow at the origins and source of yoga asana and sacred embodiment at the heart of yoga and TantraSkills for tending your inner fire in every aspect of life and healing imbalances that can support a renewable energy lifestyleA visual teaching with over a hundred full-color images, including reference charts, diagrams, illustrations, and ancient poetry for inspiration The legacy of the Heart Fire is more than eight hundred thousand years old—and in our modern world, we need more than ever to consciously reconnect to the radiant field that transcends time, space, and culture. "The direct awakening of the heart often happens when we are at a crisis point, when the armor of our heart has to crack," writes Shiva Rea. "Let us return to the power and magnificence of our hearts—as living fire, as intelligent energy and electromagnetic radiance, and as our illuminating guide toward love, creativity, and deep knowing of our true sacred nature."