Caplan (TO TOUCH IS TO LIVE) asserts that "the reality of the present condition of contemporary spirituality in the West is one of grave distortion, confusion, fraud, and a fundamental lack of education." She claims that, as positive as the tremendous rise in spirituality is, there is not any context for determining whether any particular teaching, or teacher, is truly enlightening. Caplan compiles interviews with such noted spiritual masters as Joan Halifax, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee and Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi on the nature of enlightenment. In the first section, Caplan examines the motivations people have for seeking enlightenment and contends that very often they seek this state as a means of gratifying the ego. This "presumption of enlightenment," she says, often afflicts teachers masquerading as spiritual leaders. These teachers sometimes look down on their students and gloat over how far they have come and how far the students have to go. A second section focuses on "The Dangers of Mystical Experience," in which Caplan claims that many seekers mistake the mystical experience itself for enlightenment; she and the teachers she interviews all assert that enlightenment always involves gaining some knowledge about self and others. The third section, "Corruption and Consequence," focuses on the nature of power and corruption; the fourth section, "Navigating the Mine Field: Preventing Dangers on the Path," provides a survey of the ways in which practitioners can avoid the "pitfalls of false enlightenment." A final section, "Disillusionment, Humility and the Beginning of Spiritual Life," concludes that "the Real spiritual life [is] the life of total annihilation and the return to just what is." Caplan's illuminating book calls into question the motives of the spiritual snake handlers of the modern age and urges seekers to pay the price of traveling the hard road to true enlightenment.

Recently a top Christian leader wrote an article entitled: America is in Crisis: “What do we do?” This theme was very interesting to me thus I read it with great expectations, but was sorry to hear once again that the apparent answer to the question was to return to the old methods that we have been using in the past. The world is changing and there are myriads of new possible methods and tools that can be used in the proclamation of the Gospel. We need to seek new answers to the question of “What do we do?” The title of this book shows both the success of the past but also give us new challenges for the future. Our goal is to complete the great Commission of Jesus Christ and that is to “Make disciples of all nations”. We have had much success in that at the present time we can say that approximately one third of the world claims some adherence to the Christian Faith. But the job is not yet completed. We are only half way there. In climbing a mountain the start is easy and exciting. We look at the beautiful peaks and can imagine what it will be like when we reach the top of the mountain. Once we have reached the peak, we have an unspeakable joy as to our accomplishments. It is only when we are halfway up the mountain that real discouragement sets in. When we are half way towards our ultimate goal we need to get ready for the more difficult part of the task. We have accomplished much but still much needs to be done. There are twelve authors who have contributed to this book. All are experts in one of the ten mountains of culture. The writers of this book are suggesting how we can look at the ten mountains of culture and discover new and creative ways of making the Gospel known to all peoples. This book is intended to both inform the reader of the present situation and to challenge them to think on what we can accomplish when we apply mega thinking to our present satiation. Authors: Jenny Clark · Alan Cross · Timothy Goropevek · Thomas K. Johnson · John Langlois · David McAlvany · Mary-Catherine McAlvany · Timo Plutschinski · Charles Reynolds · Hans-Günter Schmidts · Walker Tzeng · Mark Wagner · William Wagner

Middlehood womenfrom forty to sixty-fiveare in a rich and challenging time of life, full of contradictory feelings brought on by our growing strengths and the waning of familiar ways of life. It often feels like a mountain climb, full of glorious vistas, sudden storms, and winding trails. Women and Middlehood: Halfway Up the Mountain is an exploration and celebration of how women journey through this unique time of our lives. It draws upon one of the most powerful methods that women often use for negotiating change in our lives: we talk to other women. Each of us has a wealth of experience, and when that is joined with the experiences of other women, we create a veritable well of wisdom for ourselves and others. In that spirit, many women contributed stories, experiences and insights to this book.

Fat, forty-four, father of three sons, and facing a vasectomy, Mark Obmascik would never have guessed that his next move would be up a 14,000-foot mountain. But when his twelve-year-old son gets bitten by the climbing bug at summer camp, Obmascik can't resist the opportunity for some high-altitude father-son bonding by hiking a peak together. After their first joint climb, addled by the thin air, Obmascik decides to keep his head in the clouds and try scaling all 54 of Colorado's 14,000-foot mountains, known as the Fourteeners -- and to do them in less than one year. The result is Halfway to Heaven, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Obmascik's rollicking, witty, sometimes harrowing, often poignant chronicle of an outrageous midlife adventure that is no walk in the park, although sometimes it's A Walk in the Woods -- but with more sweat and less oxygen. Half a million people try climbing a Colorado Fourteener every year, but only twelve hundred have reported summiting them all. Can an overweight, stay-at-home dad become No. 1,201? With his ebullient personality and sparkling prose, Obmascik brings us inside the quirky, colorful subculture of mountaineering obsessives who summit these mountains year after year. Honoring his concerned wife's orders not to climb alone, Obmascik drags old friends up the slopes, some of them lifelong flatlanders tasting thin air for the first time, and lures seasoned Rockies junkies into taking on a huffing, puffing newbie by bribing them with free beer, lunches, and car washes. Among the new friends he makes are an ex-drag racer trying to perform a headstand on every summit, the lead oboe player in a Hebrew salsa band, and a climber with the counterproductive pre-climb ritual of gulping down four beers and a burrito. Along the way, Obmascik experiences the raw, rowdy, and rarely seen intimacy of male friendship, braced by the double intoxicants of adrenaline and altitude. Though danger is always present -- the Colorado Fourteeners have killed more climbers than Mount Everest -- Mark knows his aging scalp can't afford the hair-raising adventures of Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, and his quest becomes a story of family, friendship, and fraternity. In Obmascik's summer of climbing, he loses fifteen pounds, finds a few dozen man-dates, and gains respect for the history of these storied mountains (home to cannibalism, gold rushes, shoot-outs, and one of the nation's most famed religious shrines). As much about midlife and male bonding as it is about mountains, Halfway to Heaven tells how weekend warriors can survive them all as they reach for those most distant things -- the summits of mountains and a teenage son. And as one man exceeds the physical achievements of his youth, he discovers that age -- like summit height -- is just a number.

A mountain girl, Maya, fights her fate in a traditional Indian family. Poetic and completely original.

A charming instant classic that celebrates the important things in life - family, nature, and time spent together.

After her brother dies and her parents get a divorce, twelve-year-old Dani sets out to hike the whole Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine on her own, but her mother soon figures out where she is and the two of them make the "journey" together.

“In climbing the Seven Summits, Silvia Vasquez-Lavado did nothing less than take back her own life—one brave step at a time. She will inspire untold numbers of souls with this story, for her victory is a win on behalf of all of us.”—Elizabeth Gilbert Endless ice. Thin air. The threat of dropping into nothingness thousands of feet below. This is the climb Silvia Vasquez-Lavado braves in her page-turning, pulse-raising memoir chronicling her journey to Mount Everest. A Latina hero in the elite macho tech world of Silicon Valley, privately, she was hanging by a thread. Deep in the throes of alcoholism, hiding her sexuality from her family, and repressing the abuse she’d suffered as a child, she started climbing. Something about the brute force required for the ascent—the risk and spirit and sheer size of the mountains and death’s close proximity—woke her up. She then took her biggest pain as a survivor to the biggest mountain: Everest. “The Mother of the World,” as it’s known in Nepal, allows few to reach her summit, but Silvia didn’t go alone. She gathered a group of young female survivors and led them to base camp alongside her. It was never easy. At times hair-raising, nerve-racking, and always challenging, Silvia remembers the acute anxiety of leading a group of novice climbers to Everest’s base, all the while coping with her own nerves of summiting. But, there were also moments of peace, joy, and healing with the strength of her fellow survivors and community propelling her forward. In the Shadow of the Mountain is a remarkable story of heroism, one which awakens in all of us a lust for adventure, an appetite for risk, and faith in our own resilience.

For every woman who has ever been called outdoorsy comes a collection of stories that inspires unforgettable adventure. Beautiful, empowering, and exhilarating, She Explores is a spirited celebration of female bravery and courage, and an inspirational companion for any woman who wants to travel the world on her own terms. Combining breathtaking travel photography with compelling personal narratives, She Explores shares the stories of 40 diverse women on unforgettable journeys in nature: women who live out of vans, trucks, and vintage trailers, hiking the wild, cooking meals over campfires, and sleeping under the stars. Women biking through the countryside, embarking on an unknown road trip, or backpacking through the outdoors with their young children in tow. Complementing the narratives are practical tips and advice for women planning their own trips, including: • Preparing for a solo hike • Must-haves for a road-trip kitchen • Planning ahead for unknown territory • Telling your own story A visually stunning and emotionally satisfying collection for any woman craving new landscapes and adventure.

Second novel in the chilling and epic new fantasy series from the bestselling and critically-acclaimed author of PRINCE OF THORNS and RED SISTER. 'If you like dark you will love Mark Lawrence. And when the light breaks through and it all makes sense, the contrast is gorgeous' ROBIN HOBB