Time Kills All Things

Time kills all things, but it also heals all things. Somewhere in the midst of those two--healing and dying--is where this book lives. There is healing in the process of dying. We get sick, we get better, but we will inevitably one day die. Millions are killed in a genocide, but like a gash in your skin, the world comes together to heal that wound. There is pain and then forgiveness. The world is a big place. These essays are struggles to explore the way the world works, and as a consequence, how we should operate within it. How do we heal others? Ourselves? How do we die well? How does time make all things beautiful?These pieces were written between 2012-2019 with a personal, poetic energy which just might help you navigate your own way through this foggy terrarium we call earth.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains a complete record of the twelve messages given by webcast from Anaheim, California, as the December 2020 semiannual training on the crystallization-studies of the books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. The key statements in the following section embody and summarize the crucial truths and main burdens in these twelve messages. The Reports and Announcements section contains an update concerning Europe, reports from regions across Europe, and the winter 2020 mass distribution update. Also included is information concerning upcoming conferences and trainings hosted by Living Stream Ministry and a website link for information related to similar events in Europe.

In this original and far-reaching contribution to the philosophy of religion, Brian R. Clack examines the manner in which religious belief emerges from the turbulence and anxiety of human existence. Taking his cue from Freud's suggestion that human life is so hard to bear that it requires nothing short of cultural and psychological palliative care, Clack explores each of the 'palliative measures' Freud catalogues - intoxicants, religion, art and love - and evaluates their role in the mitigation of suffering and the provision of the assistance required for an endurable life. This examination provides the context for an investigation into the meaning and function of religious belief when considered as a palliative. Clack initially subjects religion to ferocious critique, defending the psychoanalytic judgment that religious beliefs operate as wish-fulfilling illusions, but then elaborates a revised understanding of religion, one in which comforting illusions are banished and in which religious belief faces up to reality and reconciles us both to the pains and disappointments of existence and to our nullity and inevitable annihilation. in this genuinely interdisciplinary work, Clack breaks new ground by using detailed explorations of the phenomena of drug-use, romantic love and the enjoyment of art in order to throw light on the meaning and nature of religion. This book will be vital reading for anyone concerned with the fundamental questions of religious belief, the psychoanalytic approach to culture, or simply the unavoidable existential problems lying at the very heart of human life.

The great narratives of religion and nationhood were battered in the twentieth century by the dual forces of globalization and postmodernism. In the uncertainty of broken traditions, many people looking for God retreated into a regressive fundamentalism, and others abandoned themselves to nihilism and cynicism. But is there another way? In this volume, esteemed sociologist and therapist Mark W. Teismann offers a fresh approach to spiritual pursuits, one that neither relies upon absolutes nor leaves seekers in a void of disbelief. This approach is to consider the exercise of spirituality as a type of play. Teismann takes the reader on a whirlwind ride through the different aspects of play and how they relate to spirituality. Teismann draws on classical philosophers, memories of childhood, developmental science, poets, and his long career as a psychotherapist to create a deep understanding of how the spirit of play informs our moral pursuits and spiritual yearnings. A conclusion and epilogue summarize the book’s tenets and touch on Mark Teismann’s battle with cancer and how the practices of meditation and play accompanied him on his spiritual journey in the context of an incurable disease. The book’s appendix gives interested readers a detailed description of how to approach the practice of meditation.

Breaking box office records, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has achieved an unparalleled level of success with fans across the world, raising the films to a higher level of narrative: myth. This is the first book to analyze the Marvel output as modern myth, comparing it to epics, symbols, rituals, and stories from world religious traditions. This book places the exploits of Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, and the other stars of the Marvel films alongside the legends of Achilles, Gilgamesh, Arjuna, the Buddha, and many others. It examines their origin stories and rites of passage, the monsters, shadow-selves, and familial conflicts they contend with, and the symbols of death and the battle against it that stalk them at every turn. The films deal with timeless human dilemmas and questions, evoking an enduring sense of adventure and wonder common across world mythic traditions.