In Buchan's view, money is civilizations's greatest invention. All manner of things can be called money, and almost every culture has given money an ideal existence. Even so, Buchan points out, "money, which we see and hold every day, is diabolically hard to comprehend in words." It is this very elusiveness that is at the root of money's power to seduce. As Buchan explains, money is "frozen desire" - and because money can fulfill any mortal purpose, for many people the pursuit of money becomes the point of life. In a learned and elegant survey, Buchan illuminates the many different views of money across the centuries. Money was a subject in Homer and Herodotus. The Gospels glitter with money. The New World was colonized by men in search of money. The Age of Faith was followed by our present Age of Money, which, like the Age of Faith, is bound to end; and it was fear of the end that led to widespread panic after the stock market crashed in 1929 and 1987. Whether or not money is humanity's greatest invention, its meanings reveal a great deal about human nature; in showing us what we think of money, James Buchan shows us who we are.

“Desire is here to stay. The challenge we all face, and which I intend to guide you through, is to learn how to take into account the full measure of who you are and use the positive force of all four of your soul’s desires to lead you to your best life.” —Rod Stryker According to ancient Yogic tradition, your soul has four distinct desires: • The desire for purpose, the drive to become who you are meant to be • The desire for the means (money, security, health) to prosper in this world • The desire for pleasures like intimacy, beauty, and love • The desire for spiritual fulfillment and lasting freedom Learning to honor these four desires is the key to happiness, and to a complete and balanced life. But how can you discern what will truly satisfy your desires? How can you increase your capacity to achieve them? What if your desires seem to conflict with one another? Is it really possible to live a spiritual life while also wanting material pleasures and success? For more than three decades, master teacher Rod Stryker has taught yoga in the context of its deepest philosophy. His course, called The Yoga of Fulfillment™, has helped thousands recognize their soul’s call to greatness and to achieve their dreams. Now, in this wise and richly practical book, he has distilled those broad teachings into a roadmap for becoming the person you were meant to be. It is filled with revealing true stories, provocative exercises, and practices for unlocking your inner guidance. And even if you’ve never done a yoga pose, you can follow this step-by-step process to: • discover your soul’s unique purpose—the one you came into this world to fulfill. • recognize the goal(s) you need to focus on at any given time and enliven your capacity to reach them. • overcome self-defeating ideas and behavior. • recruit your deepest energies and strengthen your resolve to meet any challenge. • learn to live with joy at every stage of your growth. The Four Desires is nothing less than a complete path toward living your best life possible—a life that is rich in meaning and in means, a life that attracts and emanates happiness, a life that is your unique gift to yourself and the world.

Die Wise does not offer seven steps for coping with death. It does not suggest ways to make dying easier. It pours no honey to make the medicine go down. Instead, with lyrical prose, deep wisdom, and stories from his two decades of working with dying people and their families, Stephen Jenkinson places death at the center of the page and asks us to behold it in all its painful beauty. Die Wise teaches the skills of dying, skills that have to be learned in the course of living deeply and well. Die Wise is for those who will fail to live forever. Dying well, Jenkinson writes, is a right and responsibility of everyone. It is not a lifestyle option. It is a moral, political, and spiritual obligation each person owes their ancestors and their heirs. Die Wise dreams such a dream, and plots such an uprising. How we die, how we care for dying people, and how we carry our dead: this work makes our capacity for a village-mindedness, or breaks it. Table of Contents The Ordeal of a Managed Death Stealing Meaning from Dying The Tyrant Hope The Quality of Life Yes, But Not Like This The Work So Who Are the Dying to You? Dying Facing Home What Dying Asks of Us All Kids Ah, My Friend the Enemy

The suns rays filtered in from the partially opened shades of the plane. They lit up the world in front of me and warmed my soul, knowing I was almost to my destination. The beautiful golden light replaced the grey and hazy cobwebs from my eyes, revealing the most spectacular scene I had ever seen in my entire life. I looked out the small seven-inch window and witnessed something that Ill never forget! I beheld something in this magnificent world that the majority of people never get to see. I was looking out at Mount Everest, the worlds highest peak! I was at the tail end of a three-flight journey with two layovers in between, nearly logging twenty-four hours of flight time. I hadnt gotten any real sleep in the last thirty-six hours. My bloodshot eyes were heavy, my mind was slow and sluggish, and my body was even slower in response. How did I get here? I thought to myself. Am I d-r-e-a-m-i-n-g? As Lao and Confucius once said, A journey of one-thousand miles begins with one step. My story is about inspiring you to take your own journey one step at a time. Its about dreaming and accomplishing the impossible. Its not only about aiming for the sky and reaching for the stars but enjoying the journey along the way. Begin your personal journey today, press forward to the top, and dont you ever stop. As you move toward your dreams, there will be obstacles and setbacks along the way; dont be afraid. You can get to the top of your world by following the signs and guide posts within these pages. You can do it with others! You can do it with me! We can do it together, one step at a time! Impossible! - Jeff Griffin

New in paperback from the author of Outrageous Openness: a witty and spirited guide to radically releasing the burdens of financial fears. It's natural to crave prosperity. Some seek to manifest it in myriad ways--using anything from vision boards to writing a pretend check for a million dollars from the Bank of Divinity. Yet whatever comes, or doesn't, the mind always seems to want more. But what if there was a whole other way? Instead of grasping and chasing, what if we offered everything--our money (or lack of it), our triumphs, our problems, our desires--fully back to Love? What if this offering itself was actually the secret to abundance? Tosha Silver, internationally beloved spiritual guide, has created a practical and powerful financial book unlike any other. Leading you through a deeply transformative eight-week process, she shares the mental, emotional, and spiritual steps that anyone can take to learn to fully receive and prosper. Her step-by-step guidance is filled with prayers, meditations, and stories to help you find and heal the source of these fears and unworthiness. As you come to know you are part of something larger--something that you serve and that longs to serve you--you begin to feel a new sense of freedom and abundance. You yourself become a vehicle for Divine Flow.

Positively re-assesses the relationship between body and soul in Plato's later dialogues, focusing on the harmony between them.

Explaining how to become a Christian hedonist, a bestselling author offers guidance on how to find spiritual joy to readers who are unsure of where to seek it.